Best Travel Destinations - Canada
The annual Winterlude festival in Ottawa, Canada, is a celebration of all things cold, icy, and distinctly Canadian. With ice sculpting contests, snow slides, and of course, skating on the famous Rideau Canal, it’s a chilly way to embrace the coldest month of the year—a time when most of us would rather be bundled up indoors. The main hubs of the Winterlude festival are Confederation Park, Jacques-Cartier Park, and the Rideau Canal, all of which have tons of family-oriented activities. Confederation Park, at the head of the Rideau Canal, is home to the Crystal Garden, where an international ice-sculpting contest takes place. Throughout the Winterlude festival, incredible feats of ice sculpting are on display, and guests can even try their own skills with hands-on demonstrations. ...
For ten solid days, a massive section of Montreal's downtown core is blocked off for the world's biggest jazz festival. Outdoor stages pop up in ten separate locations, and idling motors are replaced with live melodies as the streets and parks spill over with the 2.5 million peaceful music lovers that attend the Montreal Jazz Festival every year. The Festival International de Jazz de Montreal is the most anticipated summer festival of the city. You can almost feel the surging energy of the massive crowds from the Plateau: the neighbourhood just north of the downtown core where the Montreal Jazz Festival is held. The most impressive aspect of the Montreal Jazz Festival is that there is something for everyone. If you’re a penniless student, you ...
The Royal Ontario Museum, known as the “ROM,” is a museum of world culture and natural history located in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1912, the ROM opened in 1914 near the University of Toronto, and remained under the University’s control and management until 1968. Since then, the Royal Ontario Museum has been an independent organization. Over the years, the ROM underwent several expansions and constructions, the most notable one being the renovation project named Renaissance ROM that began in 2002. The Michael Lee-Chin Crystal (known simply as the Crystal) designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, replaced the old Terrace Galleries. The first phase of the reconstruction opened to the public in 2005, with the Crystal becoming available to visitors in 2007. It exemplifies Deconstructivist architecture, and ...
In order to get to some of the best biking trails in Toronto, you will need to take a boat trip out to Toronto Islands. Toronto Islands are a chain of small islands located offshore from downtown Toronto, and they have more than 10 km of cycle paths to explore. There are no cars on Toronto Islands, and undoubtedly the best way to explore it is by bike. Three ferries that leave from the ferry docks in Toronto connect the city to the three main islands of Toronto Island Park: Hanlan’s Point, Centre Island, and Ward’s Island. No matter what island you dock at, the ferry ride is a lot of fun, offering one of the best views of the Toronto skyline. Ward’s Island is ...
The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) is an art museum located in downtown Toronto, founded in 1913. It was first known as the Art Museum of Toronto, and was renamed the Art Gallery of Toronto 1919; and later in 1966 it became the Art Gallery of Ontario. The first formal exhibition of the museum opened in 1910 in the Grange: an historic Georgian-style mansion built in 1817 in Toronto. The AGO grew as several expansion projects took place throughout the 20th century. The most notable redevelopment of the gallery, called Transformation AGO, took place in 2004 and was planned by famous architect Frank Gehry. The new AGO opened to the public in November 2008, with its viewing space expanded by 47 percent. Today, the AGO ...
Toonik Tyme is a spring festival held annually in Iqaluit, on Canada’s Baffin Island. Initially started to promote tourism in the far northern province of Nunavut, it showcases traditional Inuit talents, crafts and other less conventional festivities such as Snow Golf. Making your way north to visit Nunavut for the Toonik Tyme celebration is well worth the trek, just be sure to pack extra warm woolies. The Toonik Tyme festival has been running for four decades, and has become quite a popular tourist attraction in recent years. People from all over the world come to attend the two-day festival that hosts hundreds of events. Some of the highlights are the North of 60 Idol Talent Competition, the Snowmobile Race, Ice Golf, Iglu Building and the ...
Ever wondered what it would be like to float miles high above the world in a hot air balloon? You can do just that and take your pick from hundreds of balloons at the annual International Balloon Festival in Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, on the outskirts of Montreal. The Canadian balloon festival began in 1984 and quickly attracted balloonists from around the world to compete. For just over a week in August, the skies of Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu are dotted with hot air balloons that launch each day at dusk and dawn. The launch times are chosen in relation to the drop in temperature around those times of day, vital for ballooning, and luckily, they also make for breathtaking photo opportunities. Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu festival visitors line cordoned pathways along the fields ...
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