Canada

Canada is built for the outdoors. The Rockies around Banff and Jasper are the headline, but the range runs from Vancouver's coastal mountains to the Atlantic and the empty north. The cities are livable and worth time — Vancouver, Montréal, Toronto — but the country is at its best out in the parks and on the water. Summer for hiking and wildlife, winter for skiing and the northern lights.

The classic trip is a western loop: fly into Calgary, drive the Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper with stops at Lake Louise and Peyto Lake, then cross to Vancouver for sushi and seawall cycling. Summer days mean long hikes and cold lake swims; winter swaps in Whistler or Lake Louise skiing. The east is a separate trip entirely — Montréal's food scene and Québec City's walled old town. Costs concentrate in park-town hotels and car hire, both of which book out months ahead.

Banff in July and August is a victim of its own postcard — Lake Louise parking fills before sunrise and Moraine Lake is shuttle-only now. Park-town prices rival Switzerland, the prime hiking season is short, and outside the parks you'll drive for hours through very little. The cities are pleasant but won't carry a trip on their own. Go for the wilderness or don't go; once you're out in it, the scale of the Rockies makes the cost feel cheap.