Canada is a week of driving wide. These are the days worth stopping for.
Which Niagara boat gets you under the Horseshoe. What the Banff gondola costs before the queue builds. Whether the orca off Vancouver Island beat the belugas at Tadoussac. Reviews of every tour you can book in Canada.
Five days out that carry a first trip to Canada.
The falls, the Rockies lake loop, a whale run out of Vancouver, and two cities that walk far better than they drive. What each costs and what travellers make of it.
01The falls dayNiagara Falls Day Tour from TorontoThe coach down the QEW, the boat under the Horseshoe, back in Toronto for dinner. The trip almost every Toronto visitor ends up taking.
02The lake loopLake Louise, Moraine Lake, Banff Tour from Calgary/Canmore/BanffLake Louise, Moraine Lake and Banff in one run out of Calgary. Private cars cannot reach Moraine at all, so the seat on the bus is the point.
03The whale runVancouver Half-Day Whale Watching Adventure with Free PhotosHalf a day into the Salish Sea after orca and humpbacks, with a photographer on board and a poncho if the swell is up.
04The walled cityQuebec City Walking TourTwo hours through the only walled city north of Mexico, from the ramparts down the Escalier Casse-Cou to Petit Champlain.
05The Montreal plateMontreal Mile End Authentic Food Tour with 7 Delicacies TastingsMile End on foot: bagels boiled in honey water, smoked meat cut by hand, and seven stops before anyone mentions poutine.
Half of Canada only makes sense from a boat.
A hull under the Horseshoe Falls, orca in the Salish Sea, belugas where the Saguenay meets the St Lawrence, a harbour cruise past the Toronto skyline. Four kinds of day afloat, and what it costs to board each one.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Vancouver Half-Day Whale Watching Adventure with Free Photos
Whale daysOrca and humpbacks on the Pacific side, belugas and fin whales on the St Lawrence.
Into the HorseshoeThe one boat that goes under the falls. Ponchos on, phones at your own risk.
Thousand IslandsChannels, summer castles and a border that runs between the islands.
Every boat dayHarbour cruises, lake ferries, zodiacs and jet boats, coast to coast.
All 220 days on the water →
Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper: the three days people fly for.
Rock flour turns the meltwater that colour, a gondola runs to the ridge above Banff town, and the Icefields Parkway threads 230 km of glacier between the two parks. Book the lake mornings early; the shuttle seats go before the snow does.
The days out Canada books more than any other.
Every Canadian day out →From the falls coaches to the icefield buses, these are the ones that sell through the summer, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Premium Tour, Boat & Journey Behind the Falls
See Niagara Falls from above, below, and on the water with a small-group tour covering Journey Behind the Falls, Skylon Tower, and more.
From · $152
Read our review →
2
Banff Gondola Admission Ticket
from $53
3
Niagara Falls Day Tour with Optional Boat Cruise
from $53
4
Best of Niagara Falls Canada Premium Tour: Behind Falls and Boat
from $147
5
Guided Bus Tour
from $26
6
Big Bus Vancouver Hop-On Hop-Off Sightseeing Tour
from $48
7
Guided Tour of Fairmont Le Château Frontenac
from $19
8
Guided Sightseeing River Cruise
from $47
What a day out in Canada actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. Tower tickets and gondola rides sit lower than most people expect; the whale boats and the glacier days are where the money goes.
Old-town walks, tower and gondola tickets, ghost walks and the short hops out of the city.
- 1Quebec City Walking Tourfrom $30
- 2Guided Bus Tourfrom $26
- 3Big Bus Vancouver Hop-On Hop-Off Sightseeing Tourfrom $48
The full-day standards: Niagara from Toronto, the Rockies lake loop, whale runs and the icefield.
Float planes, helicopters over the falls, private drivers and the long Vancouver Island days.
Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City: three cities, three different countries.
A skyline on an inland sea, a French island in North America, and a walled town with cannon still pointing down the river. Each one walks better with somebody who knows the doors.
Toronto
Toronto works as a base as much as a sight: the tower and the islands ferry fill a morning, and the falls are ninety minutes down the QEW. The walking tours earn their fee in Kensington Market and the Distillery District, where the buildings are Victorian brick and the stories are about gin. Harbour cruises run from Queens Quay until the lake starts to ice.
- 1Niagara Falls Day Tour with Optional Boat Cruise★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 3,178 reviews
- 2Niagara Falls Day Tour from Toronto★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,889 reviews
- 3Casa Loma Entry Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 2,705 reviews
Montreal
Old Montreal is the postcard — cobbles, the blue-lit basilica, the port — but the food walks head north to Mile End, where the bagels are boiled in honey water and the smoked meat is still cut by hand. Winter pushes the whole city underground into the RESO tunnels; the first warm week puts it back out on the terrasses.
- 1Guided Bus Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 3,064 reviews
- 2Hop-On Hop-Off Double-Decker Bus Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 2,760 reviews
- 3Quebec City and Montmorency Falls Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,669 reviews
Quebec City
The only walled city north of Mexico is small enough to cross on foot in a morning and steep enough that a funicular runs between its halves. The Chateau Frontenac is a working hotel, not a castle. The good half-days head east instead: Montmorency Falls, taller than Niagara, and the farm road down the Ile d Orleans.
- 1Quebec City Walking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 4,716 reviews
- 2Guided Tour of Fairmont Le Château Frontenac★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 3,027 reviews
- 3Guided Sightseeing River Cruise★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 3,000 reviews
Half of Canada is only bookable half the year.
The falls boats haul out when the river ices, the whale fleets sail May to October, the aurora needs a dark cold sky, and the Moraine Lake road shuts the moment the snow arrives. Four things to check against your dates before you book anything else.
- 01Vancouver Half-Day Whale Watching Adventure with Free PhotosThe fleets sail roughly May to October on both coasts. Outside that window the whales have moved and the boats are on the hard.
- 02Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, Banff Tour from Calgary/Canmore/BanffPrivate cars are barred from the Moraine Lake road and it closes entirely under snow, so a seat on a guided run is the only way in.
- 03Northern Lights Tour YellowknifeYellowknife sells its aurora season from late August to April. Midsummer up there never gets dark enough to see anything.
- 04Premium Tour, Boat & Journey Behind the FallsThe falls boats stop for winter and restart with the spring thaw. In January you get the falls, but you get them from dry land.
By place — coast to coast
By kind of day — water, mountain, kitchen or road
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