Most interesting place to visit by province ....

[Champ le monstre du lac]

Originally Posted by svelten

Canada's tourism appeal is primarily in its outdoors and natural scenery, but there are a half dozen or so metropolitan areas that are worth visiting on the basis of being vibrant, urban cities in their own right, beyond the big three - Victoria, Calgary, Ottawa, Quebec City, Halifax, St. John's. I'd call Edmonton, Winnipeg and Hamilton honestly moreso functional cities than destinations.
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I'd absolutely recommend St. John's, NL on it's own. I stayed in a 3rd floor flat on Jelly Bean Row with Air BnB for 4 nights, and for 3 days we didn't bother renting a car. There's a lot do just just walking around there between the charms of Water St, the Rooms (provincial museum), all the debauchery and music in the pubs of George Street, walking along the docks, and hiking over to Signal Hill to remind you just where you are in the world with a photogenic and rugged piece of Newfoundland along Atlantic Cliffs right on the edge of town. It's easy walk from downtown.

It's just a big town, but a compact, authentic, colorful, and very fun big town. I'd go back in a heartbeat.

[Natnasci]

Originally Posted by jambo101

That kinda leaves Montreal/Toronto and Vancouver
Montreal= the old port area.Crescent st, underground city
Toronto = Science center/zoo and the tower
Vancouver= China town/Aquarium/gas town

Your Vancouver options aren't great

Chinatown is a shadow of it's former self, although lately work has gone into improving it. If you want a better Asian experience, head to Richmond where Asian malls, and better Asian restaurants are located.

Aquarium. If it's your thing, but Vancouverites don't really think of it as a major tourist draw at all.

Gastown is a mostly a tourist trap. A revitalization from the 1970's, full of shops and restaurants that most locals don't bother with. There are some exceptions of course, like Abattoir, Revolver etc. Also the far end, referred to as Railtown has some cool places. So overall, a mix of good and bad.

If I had to choose three Vancouver musts,

1) Stanley Park. Truly one of the world's best urban parks.

2) The seawall. Many just do the Stanley Park bit, missing out on the other 19K which connects parks, beaches, neighbourhoods, and eateries.

3) Grouse Mountain. Assuming you would have seen Granville Island, etc by doing the seawall, Grouse Mountain gives you amazing views of the city. Technically not in Vancouver, but in North Vancouver. Or a cheaper version,( unless you do the Grouse Grind ) is Cypress Mountain in Cypress provincial park.

[sluggermatt15]

Originally Posted by Desert_SW_77

I'd absolutely recommend St. John's, NL on it's own. I stayed in a 3rd floor flat on Jelly Bean Row with Air BnB for 4 nights, and for 3 days we didn't bother renting a car. There's a lot do just just walking around there between the charms of Water St, the Rooms (provincial museum), all the debauchery and music in the pubs of George Street, walking along the docks, and hiking over to Signal Hill to remind you just where you are in the world with a photogenic and rugged piece of Newfoundland along Atlantic Cliffs right on the edge of town. It's easy walk from downtown.

It's just a big town, but a compact, authentic, colorful, and very fun big town. I'd go back in a heartbeat.

How did you like Newfoundland? Is it similar to the New England area? I am considering a trip and St. John's does sound beautiful.

[TLC1957]

Originally Posted by sluggermatt15

How did you like Newfoundland? Is it similar to the New England area? I am considering a trip and St. John's does sound beautiful.

Not easy to get to if you want to drive....take an 8 or 14 hour ferry from NS but ....
We are seniors so we did not do hardcore hiking . We spent 3 weeks in Newfoundland August 2018 it is beautiful place with the East and West coast being so different. It was amazing the number of gravel roads we had to drive on I am not talking about little side roads but roads with route numbers on them. We drove to Newfoundland with our suv so it was not a problem just surprised us. I had no problem on the gravel roads, just make sure your auto insurance carrier will cover your car in Canada and you have windshield coverage!!! Also locals drive the gravel roads like they are paved ie they do not slow down. I just pulled to the side and let them by.

A lot of one way roads meaning down the same road to get to a place, not many looping roads. So drive 2 hours down a road spend a few hours checking out the place and drive 2 hours back the same road you came back down. That got old after a while, BUT the views were amazing the entire time, folks very friendly so yea worth a visit.

COD you can only have so much cod it is the first 4 items on every menu which is great, but you can not have cod everyday well we did not. What cod we had was amazing.... but got old real fast. St. John’s had no problem finding OK food but venture out of St. John’s and it goes down hill fast. The food on the west coast say Port aux Basques, Deer Lake, Lobster Cove was not good. Bonavista (not on the west coast) has some nice places to dine.

Beware of moose while driving they are definitely around as well as bears. Once you get out of an area the next place not much around so if you are low on gas fill up! The weather was in the 60’s in August and it rained very often so bring layers and rain gear. Once you get out of St. John’s it get very rural very fast, lots of trees and more trees....lol

They LOVE coffee especially Tim Horton’s no matter what time of day we passed a Tim Horton’s they had a line both inside and the drive through!!!....lol Also the locals accent is sometimes hard to figure out particularly the older folks, I just kinda smiled and said yes.....Then again they probably had a hard time understanding my Jersey accent. Many locals we spoke to worked in the oil fields in Alberta and came back a few months at a time. The cod industry really never came back so many folks do what they have to get by.

ATV’s are everywhere in the rural area ie most of the island kinda like the 3 car in the family. Interesting we saw a group of about 25 stopped in a beautiful lookout, I asked a guy what they were doing...25 all in a group. They said they were traveling the island as a group and staying in B&B at night for 10 days ALL on ATV, wow long time riding an ATV....lol Apparently this is a common thing with locals as tour guide the entire time. The guy said when exploring the options you could have camped out instead of B&B.

Have fun it is a beautiful place.

Stuff we Liked

1. Bonavista

Dungeon Provincial Park
The town and fishing village
The puffins in Elliston and the root cellars
Cape Bonavista Lighthouse ( some puffins here but more in Elliston)
The Matthew Museum

2. Bell Island near St. John’s
(need to take a ferry to the island)
Iron ore mine tour ( go below into the mine very interesting)

3. Gross Morne National Park

Tablelands Trail where the earth mantle is exposed

West Brook Boat Tour would NOT recommend, they replaced the walkway through the forest with a 30’ wide gravel road 1 mile plus long to the lake. Boring boat tour of cliffs which you will see many along your travel through NB.

Green Point beautiful beach.

4. Rose Blanch
Pretty town with a granite lighthouse

5. Arches Provincial Park

6. Blow me Down Provincial Park

7. Trinity Village historic village, beautiful church and craft shops

8. St John’s

Signal Hill
Cape Spear Lighthouse
Petty Harbor ( great fish and chips at Chafe’s Landing when 2 times that good)
Pippy Park & Memorial University Botanical Garden
Downtown area including

Waterfront
Railway Coastal Museum
Anglican Cathedral
The Rooms (history museum)
Fort Amherst (Lighthouse and Fort)
Johnson Geo Center (great Titanic Exhibit)

9. Castle Hill National Historic Site ( near ferry to St John’s )

10. Salmonier Nature Park

[lio45]

I've been wanting to go to St. John's for a really long time, but it's hard to justify... if we're going to drive, it's further away than Florida; if we're going to fly, it's pricier than Western Europe. So it's competing at an expenditure level where there's tons of better and more exotic destinations.

I'm really glad there are people such as you guys though fueling their tourist industry. They deserve it.

[TLC1957]

Originally Posted by lio45

I've been wanting to go to St. John's for a really long time, but it's hard to justify... if we're going to drive, it's further away than Florida; if we're going to fly, it's pricier than Western Europe. So it's competing at an expenditure level where there's tons of better and more exotic destinations.

I'm really glad there are people such as you guys though fueling their tourist industry. They deserve it.

We usually go to Prince Edward Island, a 2 day drive for us from Philadelphia. We decided to go to NF since we have been to most of the Canadian provinces. So off to NF via NS ... toured NF and then relaxed in PEI for 2 weeks to get our fill of seafood.....retirement a wonderful thing.......lol

We have been to all 50 states so yes we contributed to many local economies!!

Here are the places we like and do in PEI if you ever get north

https://www.fodors.com/community/can...d-pei-1664364/

I am tlc on the above web link.

[lio45]

PEI would be us going east not north my gf's one-quarter PEIer, her family goes there regularly (I've been too busy so far to go), and she's been insisting on it as a destination for a long time so I can't see myself not going eventually. She loves PEI and so does everyone in her family.

Thanks for the link!

[jambo101]

Quebec = Gaspe