Canada

For most visitors, entry is a quick, cheap online step: the eTA, C$7, required of visa-exempt foreign nationals (UK, EU, Australia and others) arriving by air — applied for only at the official canada.ca site (lookalike sites charge many times the real fee), valid up to five years. US citizens are exempt and need only a passport, and the eTA isn’t required by land or sea.

The bigger thing to internalise is scale: Canada is the world’s second-largest country, spanning six time zones — which dictates how you plan (next section).

Apply for the eTA at canada.ca and nowhere else — third-party sites charge a large markup for the identical C$7 authorisation. US citizens skip it entirely but still need a passport to fly; the common mistake is a US traveller paying a copycat site for an eTA they don’t need.

The defining planning fact is that Canada is too big to cross: the regions are flight-distances apart with little in between. Pick one — the West and the Rockies (Calgary–Banff–Jasper plus Vancouver); the Eastern corridor (Toronto–Niagara–Ottawa–Montréal–Québec City); or a coast (the Pacific or the Atlantic Maritimes).

Calgary to Vancouver is a 90-minute flight versus a 10-hour drive; Toronto to Vancouver, five hours in the air. Plan accordingly and resist the urge to add a second region on the far side of the country.

• Mountains, lakes and the RockiesSkipadding the east on the same tripGothe West — Calgary, Banff, Jasper, Vancouver
• Cities and French CanadaSkipflying west tooGothe East — Toronto, Niagara, Montréal, Québec City
• Northern lights or polar bearsSkipexpecting them near the citiesGoYellowknife (aurora) or Churchill (bears)

A fortnight does one region richly, not the whole country — the classic mistake is a Rockies-plus-Toronto-plus-Quebec itinerary that becomes a tour of airports. If you want the train journey itself (VIA Rail’s Canadian, four days Toronto–Vancouver), treat that as the trip, not as transport between stops.

The Rockies — Banff and Jasper, linked by the Icefields Parkway — are Canada’s postcard, reached by car from Calgary. But the famous lakes are now access-managed: Moraine Lake has banned private cars year-round (shuttle, tour or bike only), and Lake Louise’s lot fills before dawn, so most visitors take the Park & Ride shuttle too. Book the shuttle the day it opens.

Jasper is open and rebuilding after the July 2024 wildfire, with nearly all trails back. Throughout, it’s bear country — carry bear spray, make noise, and never leave food in a vehicle at a trailhead.

Book the Moraine Lake shuttle the moment reservations open (2026 opened 15 April, selling out in minutes) — there is genuinely no drive-up option. Check whether the Canada Strong Pass free-admission window covers your dates, and reserve Banff/Jasper lodging months ahead; the mountain towns price like Swiss resorts in summer.

The eastern corridor is a string of cities a short hop apart. Toronto opens with the CN Tower and a day-trip to Niagara Falls; Ottawa is the capital; and the French-Canadian pair of Montréal and Québec City — the latter with its walled UNESCO Old Town — give the trip a distinctly European flavour. English is widely understood in Montréal, less so in rural Québec.

Time an autumn visit to late September into October for the sugar-maple colours, which are a genuine regional spectacle.

In Québec a little French goes a long way — Montréal is bilingual and easy, but Québec City and the countryside are French-first, and a “bonjour” opens doors. For the autumn colours, the window is short and weather-dependent; aim for the first week or two of October and keep plans flexible.

Vancouver pairs a walkable coastal city with the Sea-to-Sky drive to Whistler and ferries to Vancouver Island. Further afield lie Canada’s two great natural spectacles: the northern lights over Yellowknife (a winter pilgrimage, with some 240 aurora nights a year) and the polar bears of Churchill, which gather on Hudson Bay each autumn waiting for the ice.

Both are committed, seasonal trips in their own right — flight-distances from the cities and the Rockies, not add-ons.

For the aurora, come to Yellowknife in late February or March (dry, clear, and still deep winter) rather than the cloudier shoulder; for the polar bears, Churchill’s window is tight (mid-October to mid-November) and tours book out a year ahead. Neither is a casual side-trip — plan the whole trip around them.

The season you want depends on the trip. Summer (June–September) is peak for the Rockies and the lakes, though the true high-alpine window is only July to early September. The east’s autumn colours arrive late September into October; the ski resorts (Whistler, Lake Louise) run December–March.

The wildlife spectacles are firmly seasonal: aurora through the dark winter half (best late February–March), polar bears only mid-October to mid-November. Outside summer and the ski season, most of the country is deep-winter cold.

Domestic flights are how you move between regions — the distances leave no alternative. Within a region, a hire car is essential for the Rockies and handy for the Maritimes; you drive on the right. The trains are joys rather than transport: VIA Rail’s Canadian (four days, Toronto–Vancouver) and the luxury, daylight-only Rocky Mountaineer are trips in themselves.

In the Rockies, remember the park shuttles must be reserved (Moraine Lake above all) — the car gets you to the Park & Ride, not the lakeshore.

Book domestic flights and a Rockies rental car early for summer — both the fares and the Banff/Jasper cars go fast. If the famous train is a goal, know that the Rocky Mountaineer only runs Vancouver–Banff/Jasper in daylight with hotel overnights (not the full transcontinental), while VIA Rail’s Canadian is the four-day cross-country epic.

Two North-American habits catch Europeans out. First, sales tax is added at the till, not shown on the price tag — 5% federal GST everywhere, plus a provincial tax (none in Alberta, where the Rockies are; 7% in BC; ~10% in Québec). Second, tipping of 15–20% is expected, and card terminals now prompt 18–22% by default, so check the preset.

Canada is moderate-to-upper overall, with the Rocky-mountain-town hotels and car hire the real expense. Culturally it’s officially bilingual (French dominant in Québec), reputationally polite, and happily fuelled by maple syrup and poutine.

Mentally add ~5–15% to listed prices for sales tax, then a 15–20% tip on service — the sticker is never the total here, unlike tax-inclusive Europe or Australia. In Alberta you get off lightest (GST only, 5%); BC and especially Québec add more on top.