Canada is a peaceful and an attractive destination that most travelers would love to visit any day. The country is blessed with a unique dazzling view from their transcending mountains, stunning beaches, open grasslands and their surprisingly Arctic tundra, alongside invigorating, energetic cities. Among the cities in Canada, this is a compilation of the best Canada cities to visit.
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What are the best Canada cities to visit?
Canada is the second largest world in the world in terms of land area. It has over 300 cities inhabited with millions of population on which we will be discussing the best cities to visit as a visitor. But the questions what is the best city to visit in Canada? Which city is most beautiful in Canada?
All the various cities have their peculiar attractions that attract tourists and foreigners. The top cities that are mostly visited include the following;
- Toronto
Toronto is a popular city of Canada that can be located along the Lake Ontario shore. The city which is the capital city of the Ontario province is a vibrant metropolis with a core of soaring skyscrapers, all dwarfed by the iconic, free-standing CN Tower.
Toronto also has many green spaces, from the orderly oval of Queen’s Park to 400-acre High Park and its trails, sports facilities and zoo. The exciting coastal city is sometimes called “New York City run by the Swiss” for its world-class theater, shopping and dining, different cultures, like Little Italy, Little India, Little Portugal and Korea town, resulting in a wide array of outstanding international cuisine with lovely and friendly people.
With the influx of different cultures mixed up in the city, it is one of the best cities in Canada to visit since tourist can easily adapt to their way of life.
There are interesting historical monuments and other attractions in the city of Toronto for travelers and tourist to explore.
2. Montreal
Montreal is also one of the best cities to visit in Canada. The city is the largest city in the province of Quebec that is situated on the Saint Lawrence River. The city which is the domicile to the French in the Northern America is a favorite destination to tourists for its outstanding events hosted annually.
Aside the feel of the French culture in the Canada, there are tourist attractions like Cirque de Soleil where the Summer Olympics in 1976 was hosted. Montreal also played host to Expo 67, considered to be the most successful world’s fair in the 20th Century. There are also the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Notre-Dame Basilica, La Ronde, Biodome and many more for explore.
Best Resorts And Hotels In Montreal
3. Ottawa
A friendly environment and capital city of Canada yet unpopular is the city of Ottawa. The city of Ottawa is located in the east of southern Ontario, near the city of Montréal and the U.S. border.
Ottawa has the Parliament Hill that is seated center on the Ottawa River with grand Victorian architecture and museums such as the National Gallery of Canada, with noted collections of indigenous and other Canadian art. The park-lined Rideau Canal is filled with boats in summer and ice-skaters in winter. This beguiling, all around arranged and serene city is the best of best of cities you cannot wait to visit.
Accommodation information in Ottawa
4. Vancouver
A city filled with lots activities where the ocean meets majestic mountains, the city of Vancouver. Vancouver a city located in west coats of the province of British Columbia. The city is one of the best cities in Canada heavily packed in diverse ethnicity.
Thinking of the reason why tourists visit Vancouver? The city which is also known to be one of the beautiful cities on earth is filled with forests, grand parks, lively pubs, world-class restaurants, museums and a wealth of shopping opportunities. The impressive landscape offers a natural playground where visitors can swim in the ocean, bike through scenic parks and ski down the slopes all in one day.
There is a popular filming location, it’s surrounded by mountains, and also has thriving art, theatre and music scenes. Vancouver Art Gallery is known for its works by regional artists, while the Museum of Anthropology houses preeminent First Nations collections.
5. Calgary
Calgary is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. The city is the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in Canada. Calgary is a sophisticated city that grew out of the Canadian West with the Calgary Stampede and its role as host of the 1988 Winter Olympics really put it on the map as one of Canada’s top destinations.
The city is situated at the confluence of the Bow River and the Elbow River in the south of the province, in the transitional area between the Rocky Mountain Foothills and the Canadian Prairies, about 80 km (50 mi) east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies, roughly 299 km (186 mi) south of the provincial capital of Edmonton and approximately 240 km (150 mi) north of the Canada–United States border.
The city anchors the south end of the Statistics Canada-defined urban area, the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. The city also balances the modern and traditional with pioneer charm, continuing to host the annual Stampede, complete with rodeos; line dancing and cowboy hats, which are always in fashion here.
Calgary has enjoyed great prosperity, growing significantly over the past two decades, which means you’ll find an abundance of dining, shopping and entertainment all year- round, in addition to the opportunity to make a short road trip to explore some of Canada’s best national parks.
Calgary hosts a number of annual festivals and events. These include the Calgary International Film Festival, the Calgary Folk Music Festival, the Calgary Performing Arts Festival, FunnyFest Calgary Comedy Festival, Sled Island music festival, Beakerhead, the Calgary Folk Music Festival, the Greek festival, Carifest, Wordfest, the Lilac Festival, GlobalFest, Otafest, the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, FallCon, the Calgary Fringe Festival, Summerstock, Expo Latino, Calgary Pride, Calgary International Spoken Word Festival, and many other cultural and ethnic festivals.
This experience makes the city of Calgary a great destination to most travelers.
6. Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. As of 2021, Winnipeg had a city population of 749,607 and a metropolitan population of 834,678, making it the sixth-largest city, and eighth-largest metropolitan area in Canada.
The city is named after the nearby Lake Winnipeg. The name comes from the Western Cree words for muddy water. The region was a trading centre for Indigenous peoples long before the arrival of Europeans; it is the traditional territory of the Anishinabe (Ojibway), Ininew (Cree), Oji-Cree, Dene, and Dakota, and is the birthplace of the Métis Nation.
French traders built the first fort on the site in 1738. A settlement was later founded by the Selkirk settlers of the Red River Colony in 1812, the nucleus of which was incorporated as the City of Winnipeg in 1873. Being far inland, the local climate is extremely seasonal even by Canadian standards with average January highs of around −11 °C (12 °F) and average July highs of 26 °C (79 °F).
Known as the “Gateway to the West”, Winnipeg is a railway and transportation hub with a diversified economy. This multicultural city hosts numerous annual festivals, including the Festival du Voyageur, the Winnipeg Folk Festival, the Jazz Winnipeg Festival, the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, and Folklorama.
Winnipeg offers a surprising number of things to do, and especially clean, fresh air to do it in. The city is the home of the top public space in Canada, a green oasis in the heart of Winnipeg with open green spaces, a tree-lined river walkway, interesting interpretive displays, inspiring sculptures, stone pictographs and ceremonial bronze gambling sticks that embody the site’s rich continuum of historical events spanning more than 6,000 years.
In the wintertime, visitors and locals alike enjoy skating on an outdoor rink, the city’s own version of Rockefeller Center. You’ll also discover an abundance of shopping opportunities, museums and art galleries.
7. Victoria
Victoria is the capital city of the British Columbia province, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada’s Pacific coast which is just a 90 minutes ride from a ferry. Being the southernmost major city in Western Canada, the city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Victoria is the 7th most densely populated city in Canada with 4,405.8 inhabitants per square kilometre (11,411/sq mi).
The city is one of the oldest in the Pacific Northwest and was named after Queen Victoria of the Great Britain since the British settled there in the year 1843. The city has retained a large number of its historic buildings, in particular its two most famous landmarks, the Parliament Buildings (finished in 1897 and home of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia) and the Empress hotel (opened in 1908).
The city’s Chinatown is the second oldest in North America, after San Francisco’s. The region’s Coast Salish First Nations peoples established communities in the area long before European settlement, which had large populations at the time of European exploration.
But why is it among the best cities in Canada to most travelers? The city of Victoria is also called “the Garden City”, for it glamorous attractive city and a popular tourism destination with a regional technology sector that has risen to be its largest revenue-generating private industry.
8. Edmonton
Another best city in Canada to visit is the city of Edmonton. A cultural, governmental and educational centre which hosts a year-round slate of festivals, reflected in the nickname “Canada’s Festival City”. It is home to North America’s second largest mall, West Edmonton Mall (the world’s largest mall from 1981 until 2004), and Fort Edmonton Park, Canada’s largest living history museum.
Edmonton is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta’s central region. The city anchors the north end of what Statistics Canada defines as the “Calgary–Edmonton Corridor”.
Edmonton is North America’s northernmost large city and metropolitan area comprising over one million people each. A resident of Edmonton is known as an Edmontonian.
9. Regina
Regina is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. Also known as the ”Queen City”, Regina was previously the seat of government of the North-West Territories, of which the current provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta originally formed part, and of the District of Assiniboia.
The site was previously called Wascana but was renamed to Regina in 1882 in honour of Queen Victoria under the decision of her daughter. Unlike other planned cities in the Canadian West, on its treeless flat plain Regina has few topographical features other than the small spring run-off, Wascana Creek.
Early planners took advantage of such opportunity by damming the creek to create a decorative lake to the south of the central business district with a dam a block and a half west of the later elaborate 260 m (850 ft) long Albert Street Bridge across the new lake. Regina’s importance was further secured when the new province of Saskatchewan designated the city its capital in 1906.
Wascana Centre, created around the focal point of Wascana Lake, remains one of Regina’s attractions and contains the Provincial Legislative Building, both campuses of the University of Regina, First Nations University of Canada, the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, the Regina Conservatory (in the original Regina College buildings), the Saskatchewan Science Centre, the MacKenzie Art Gallery and the Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts.
10. Saskatoon
Saskatoon is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as the cultural and economic hub of central Saskatchewan since its founding in 1882 as a Temperance colony.
With a 2021 census population of 266,141, Saskatoon is the largest city in the province, and the 17th largest Census Metropolitan Area in Canada, with a 2021 census population of 317,480.
Saskatoon is home to the University of Saskatchewan, the Meewasin Valley Authority (which protects the South Saskatchewan River and provides for the city’s popular riverbank park spaces), and Wanuskewin Heritage Park (a National Historic Site of Canada and UNESCO World Heritage applicant representing 6,000 years of First Nations history).
The Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344, the most populous rural municipality in Saskatchewan, surrounds the city and contains many of the developments associated with it, including Wanuskewin. Saskatoon is named after the saskatoon berry which is native to the region, and is itself derived from the Cree misâskwatômina.
The city has a significant Indigenous population and several urban Reserves. The city has nine river crossings and is nicknamed “Paris of the Prairies” and “Bridge City”.
11. Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls, Ontario, is a Canadian city at the famous waterfalls of the same name, linked with the U.S. by the Rainbow Bridge. It often confuses people whether it is in Canada or the United States.
Niagara Falls consists of two waterfalls on the Niagara River, which marks the border between New York and Ontario, Canada: the American Falls, located on the American side of the border, and the Canadian or Horseshoe Falls located on the Canadian side.
Elevators take visitors to a lower, wetter vantage point behind the falls. A cliffside park features a promenade alongside 520-ft.-high Skylon Tower with an observation deck. In summer between June and August, the Niagara Falls is best visited by tourists as they enjoy mists and breezes from the waterfalls can make the area feel cooler.
Most of the tallest falls in the world have very little water flowing over them. It’s the combination of height and volume that makes Niagara Falls so breathtaking. The rapids above the falls reach a maximum speed of 40 km/hr or 25 mph, with the fastest speeds occur at the falls themselves (recorded up to 68 mph.)
12. Cambridge
Cambridge is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The city can be situated at the confluence of the Grand and Speed rivers with a population of 138,479 as of the 2021 census. The city of Cambridge lies in one of Ontario’s most heavily industrialized areas and produces a variety of manufactured goods, including automotive parts and pharmaceuticals.
Cambridge is one of the linchpins, along with Kitchener and Waterloo, of the public-private economic development known as the Waterloo Region. The city of Cambridge has so much for visitors which makes it a great attraction to travelers.
Best accommodations in Cambridge
13. Mississauga
Mississauga historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, bordering Toronto to the east.
With a population of 717,961 as of 2021, Mississauga is the seventh-most populous municipality in Canada, third-most in Ontario, and second-most in the Greater Toronto Area after Toronto itself. Mississauga is a great place to live with strong communities, a wide selection of excellent housing, shopping and great schools.
There is an active cultural life with galleries, theatres, art centres, concert halls and museums.However, it is known for its vibrant art, historic villages, recreational parks and shopping centres. It is also home to the Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada’s largest and busiest airport, making it easily accessible to both domestic and international visitors.
The city is well known for the host of multicultural annual festivals which attracts tourists.
14. Whistler
One of the best cities in Canada widely remembered for the Winter Olympic Games 2010 is the city of Whistler. Whistler is a town north of Vancouver, British Columbia, that’s home to Whistler Blackcomb, one of the largest ski resorts in North America. Besides skiing and snowboarding, the area offers snowshoeing, tobogganing and ski jumping at the Olympic Park, a venue for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. The hub of Whistler is a compact, chalet-style pedestrian village at the base of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.
The best times to visit Whistler are from June through August and between December and March. The mountains see peak skiing conditions from December to February, and March brings warmer temperatures but still offers quality snow.
Whistler is known for its skiing and snowboarding in the winter and mountain biking and hiking in the summer. Other winter activities that are enjoyed in Whistler are cross country skiing, skate skiing, ice skating, snowshoeing, backcountry skiing, telemark skiing, and tobogganing. There are also the most luxurious resorts, spas, world-class restaurants and bars to serve you the best of hospitality services you could ever think of.
Accommodations information in Whistler
15. Halifax
Halifax, an Atlantic Ocean port in eastern Canada, is the provincial capital of Nova Scotia. A major business centre which is also known for its maritime history. The city is dominated by the hilltop Citadel, a star-shaped fort completed in the 1850s. The city of Halifax has the Waterfront warehouses known as the Historic Properties recall Halifax’s days as a trading hub for privateers, notably during the War of 1812.
With the world’s second-largest natural harbor and being the lively hub of Atlantic Canada, Halifax is best known for its historical charm, community spirit, fresh seafood and incredible natural landscapes. Make the most of your visit with these must visit attractions in Canada.
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