Ontario

Ontario offers the best of all worlds, from lush forests and sparkling lakes to the hustle and bustle of Canada’s largest city – Toronto.  Starting and ending your romantic excursion in Toronto is a great idea.  Explore city sites and savor Canadian fare at its best.  Plan a day trip up north to the Muskoka region for  hiking and swimming, or visit Ontario’s last remaining covered bridge – “The Kissing Bridge” in Waterloo County.

Victoria, BC

This clean, quaint and picturesque city is located on the very tip of Vancouver Island.  Stroll the Inner Harbor arm in arm and enjoy street performances, art exhibits, window-shopping and romantic dining.  At night, head over to Butchart Gardens and witness the magic of flowers and plant life illuminated by floodlights.  Top off your romantic getaway with a horse-drawn carriage ride through James Bay.  Enjoy lovely vistas of the harbor, stately homes and the Juan de Fuca Straight.

Calgary

This famous city is located in the southern region of Alberta province.  Its close proximity to the Canadian Rocky Mountains puts it at driving distance.  Whether you’ve popped the question or not, a visit to one of Calgary’s most popular “proposal” locations is a must.  The Calgary Tower offers panoramic views of the city as well as a revolving restaurant.  Check out Devonian Gardens for an indoor extravaganza of plant life, waterfalls and marine animals.  Calgary offers several romantic lodging options, from 4-star luxury hotels to cozy bed and breakfast inns.

Montreal

Montreal’s artistic mix of old and new makes for a magical experience for couples in love.  Explore the cobblestoned roads of Viex Montreal by L’Amphibus tour.  You’ll ride the amphibious bus through the old neighborhood, and before you know it, the entire vehicle will plunge into the clear waters of the Bateau Mouche.  For a more conventional experience, stroll through Rue Jaques-Cartier, a wide pedestrian access road filled with live entertainment, arts and crafts, and sidewalk cafes.

Prince Edward Island

Canada’s smallest province also serves as a serene place where couples can rediscover each other and reconnect.  Long drives through inspiring scenes of red cliffs, sandy beaches and countryside landscapes provide a relaxing change of pace.  Visit Charlottetown and feel time moving backwards as you stroll through the 19th century-era historic district.  Long walks through dunes and red-sand beaches make Prince Edward Island Park a top romantic destination.

Romantic Canada

No matter what the occasion or which region of Canada you choose, there are romantic getaway options to suit all tastes.  After selecting which province and city you will visit, make sure to seek out special couples packages or honeymoon specials.  Hotels, inns, bed & breakfasts, spas and even restaurants offer discounts or deals to make your stay even more special.

Image courtesy Flickr

MONTREAL occupies a 50-kilometer (30-mile) long island at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa River. The city core, where many sights are found, is fairly compact and lies to the south and east of Montreal’s main landmark, Mont-Royal. Vieux Montréal, the old city, is nestled on the shore of the St. Lawrence, while the modern downtown lies between it and Mont-Royal. Streets follow a fairly consistent grid pattern making the city easy to navigate.

Museums and Galleries

Musée Marc-Aurèle Fortin

THIS MUSEUM, housed in an old stone warehouse belonging to an ancient order of nuns, has an extensive collection of Fortin’s work, and it also mounts exhibitions of new painting by local artists.

Marc-Aurèle Fortin transformed landscape painting in Canada. He was born in 1888, when European styles dominated North American art.

Fortin loved the light of his native province, and used many unusual techniques. To capture the ‘‘warm light of Quebec,’’ for example, he painted some of his pictures over gray backgrounds. By the time he died in 1970, he left behind not only a staggering amount of work but a whole new way of looking at nature, especially the various rural areas of his native Quebec.

Centre d’Histoire de Montréal

THIS MUSEUM is housed in a handsome, red-brick fire station, which has a gracefully gabled roof built in 1903. The exhibits trace the history of Montreal from the first Indian settlements to the modern age, with the focus on everyday life. There are two floors of permanent exhibits. On the first floor, “Montreal, 5 Times” traces five passages in Montreal’s history, beginning in 1535 with the meeting of First Nations peoples and European explorers and ending with the cultural boom of the 1960s. The second floor houses “Montreal of 1000 Faces,” focusing on trade and immigration through the city’s history. News reel footage from the 30s, 40s and 50s is fun and informative, while a third floor observation deck offers a scenic view of the Old Port and Old Montreal.

Musée d’Art Contemporain

OPENED IN 1964, THE MUSEUM of Contemporary Art is the only institution in Canada dedicated exclusively to modern art. Located in downtown Montreal, more than 60 percent of the approximately 6,000 paintings, drawings, photographs, videos, and installations in the permanent collection are by Quebec artists. Works date from 1939, but the emphasis is on the contemporary. There are also works by innovative international talents, such as the controversial Bill Viola, Louise Bourgeois, and Andrès Serrano. The exhibits are in wide, well-lit galleries whose elegance helped to earn the Musée a Grand Prix from Montreal Council. The exhibition space is built around a rotunda, which runs up through the core of the building.

McCord Museum of Canadian History

LAWYER DAVID Ross McCord (1844–1930) was an avid collector of virtually everything that had to do with life in Canada, including books, photographs, jewelry, furniture, clothing, documents, papers, paintings, toys, and porcelain.

In 1919, he gave his considerable acquisitions to McGill University with a view to establishing a museum of Canadian social history. That collection, now more than 90,000 artifacts, is housed in a stately limestone building that was once a social center for McGill students. The museum has a good section of early history, as well as exceptional folk art. A particularly fine collection of Indian and Inuit items features clothing, weapons, jewelry, furs, and pottery.

A separate room is devoted to the social history of Montreal.

The museum’s most celebrated possession is the collection of 700,000 photographs that painstakingly chronicle every detail of daily life in 19th-century Montreal.

Musée des Beaux Arts

THE OLDEST AND LARGEST art collection in Quebec is housed in two dramatically different buildings that face each other across Rue Sherbrooke. The Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion, fronted with four white marble pillars, faces the huge concrete arch and tilting glass front of the Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion. The former focuses on Canadiana, with Inuit art, furniture, and church silver from early settlers, and paintings from the 18th century to the 1960s. The galleries in the Desmarais Pavilion (illustrated here) focus on European art from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, especially the Renaissance. Linking the two pavilions is the gallery of ancient cultures, with rich collections of artifacts, including Roman vases and Chinese incense boxes.

Centre Canadien d’Architecture

VISITORS ENTER through an unobtrusive glass door in an almost windowless façade of gray limestone that fronts this large U-shaped building. Well-lit exhibition rooms house a series of regular exhibits in rotation.

The three primary exhibits focus on architecture, design and landscape architecture.

The two arms of the modern building embrace the ornate, grand Shaughnessy Mansion, which faces Boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest. Now part of the Centre, the house was built in 1874 for the president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, and has an artnouveau conservatory with an intricately decorated ceiling.

The Centre is also a major scholarly institution. Its collection of architectural plans, drawings, models, and photographs is the most important of its kind anywhere. The library alone has over 165,000 volumes on the world’s most significant buildings.

Maison Saint-Gabriel

THIS ISOLATED little fragment of New France at first appears lost among the apartment buildings of working class Pointe-Saint-Charles. It was a farm when the formidable Marguerite Bourgeoys, Montreal’s first schoolteacher and now a canonized saint, bought it in 1668 as a residence for the religious order she had founded in 1655.

The house, rebuilt in 1698 after a fire, is a fine example of 17th-century architecture, with thick stone walls and a steeply pitched roof built on an intricate frame of original heavy wooden timbers.

Marguerite Bourgeoys and her tireless sisters worked the farm and ran a school on the property for native and colonial children. They also housed and trained the filles du roy (the “king’s daughters”), orphaned young girls sent abroad to be the women of his new colony. The house’s chapel, kitchen, dormitory, and drawing rooms are full of artifacts dating from the 17th century. These include a writing desk the saint used herself and a magnificent vestment and cope, embroidered in silk, silver, and gold by a wealthy hermit who lived in a hut on the property.

Image courtesy Flickr.com

If you are looking for a unique and incredible family vacation in Canada, you might consider a train trip with Via Rail. The Canadian, an original flagship passenger train owned by Canadian Pacific Rail, began service on April 24, 1955. The original train route was a bit more southernly than what is used today, but the scenery and wildlife is just as spectacular.

The tour begins with an overnight stay in Toronto, Ontario. Spend your day taking in the sights and sounds of the biggest city in Canada. The next morning, your passenger train tour begins on its journey through Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia in 6 days. On your journey from Toronto to Vancouver, you’ll pass through Winnipeg, Saskatoon and then to Edmonton and Jasper, Alberta.

By the time you arrive in Jasper, 4 glorious leisurely days of Canadian sight seeing will have passed. In Jasper, you’ll enjoy a half day trip to the Athabasca Glacier in the Columbia Ice Fields for an Ice Explorer ride on 1000 feet of glacier ice. You can also opt for a trip up the Jasper Tramway for incredible vistas of the joining 3 valleys over the t0wn of Jasper.

After an overnight stay in Jasper, it’s another 2 days on the train trip to an over night stay in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. If you are looking for unique and breathtaking – without the hassle of days of driving – consider a Via Rail tour on The Canadian passenger train.

Jasper is a small town of about 5,000 people that doubles in size during tourism season – July to October. Hundreds of the town residents are employees at the various hotels and tourist attractions with the largest staff of about 500 people at the famous Jasper Park Lodge on the gorgeous shores of Lac Beauvert. JPL, as it is known locally, has been around since 1921 – though a lodge was on the same location much earlier than that. Originally owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway, Jasper Park Lodge is now under the famous Fairmont Hotels and Resorts umbrella.

In addition to the spectacular sites of Jasper National Park, you will see untouched wilderness and wildlife. Visitors should beware of elk, mountain goat and smaller wildlife roaming the town site of Jasper at will. It’s not uncommon to have to cross the street and walk on the other side to avoid the small herds of the hooved kind. But don’t get too close, these wild animals really are wild – keep a good distance with your camera.

Seasonal climates vary with mild summers and the occasional severe cold winter weather. Summer or Winter, there are many things to see and do no matter how avid an adventurer you are. Activities range from river rafting, lake boat tours, hiking and biking, snow shoeing, sleigh rides and of course fantastic deep powder skiing and snowboarding. No matter what time of year you visit, Jasper is more than worth while.

Although Victoria BC has so many wonderful features to share with the world, many people are simply unaware of where it is because of its location on the south tip of Vancouver Island, and just over an hour from Vancouver by ferry.  And, the people who do come to see Vancouver sometimes won’t go to Victoria BC because of how far they have to travel; however, they are really missing out on a lovely city that is safe enough to explore by walking.  And getting there is not as bad as it seems.  The three typical ways: if you are coming in by plane then fly to the International Airport, if you coming from Vancouver or Tsawwassen then take the BC Ferry, or if you are coming up from Washington State then take the Coho Ferry at Port Angeles.  Both the BC Ferry and the Coho Ferry take approximately and hour to cross over the Strait of Georgia.

170 years ago, Canada and America were fighting over their common border.  James Douglas from Hudson’s Bay Company knew that they would call the dividing line at the 49th parallel, so he leased an area of land belonging to the British government.  His main purpose was to keep this land from falling into America’s hands.  He called this place: Fort Victoria, and since Fort Victoria was underneath the 49th parallel, it remained the property of British Columbia.

Then, Victoria’s 1850’s Goldrush brought 25,000 hopefuls to the area, but like most goldrushes, the gold soon ran out and so did the people.  After that happened, the area, now called Free Port of Victoria, saw a rise in population to 20,000 around the year 1900.  The town’s industries began to boom:  mining, lumber, and fishing, and also brewing and shipbuilding.  And when you do visit Victoria BC and see The Empress Hotel and British Columbia’s Parliament Buildings, remember that this was the time period in which they were built.

Now that you have arrived in Victoria BC and know a little background information, where should you go?  A couple major attractions are the Inner Harbour, Emily Carr House, and the Village of Oak Bay.  There are gardens and parks such as the Butchart Gardens and Thunderbird Park.  And do not forget the museums full of native art, artifacts, and history: the Royal British Columbia Museum and the  Maritime Museum of British Columbia.  If you are interested in adding some of Victoria BC’s native art to your collection, there are many shops and galleries ready to cater to you.  And, when you have finished up with all that shopping, stop in at a microbrewery, restaurant, or bistro to people watch and drink up the atmosphere.

Would you like some more details?  Let’s start with the Inner Harbour and the Fisherman’s Wharf, both popular tourist destinations.  You will obviously have an endless supply of fresh fish from the commercial dock close by, but you might be too busy to notice because you are looking at all the restored historic boats.  Or, maybe you are more interested in the buskers and skilled craftsmen who are entertaining and building.  As you can see, there are numerous things to do on the harbour.

Victoria BC’s Chinatown, the first in Canada, is a great place to go too.  Because it is only two blocks, it is not difficult to travel through by foot.  But, do not let its small size fool you.  There are so many shops, studios, and restaurants.  And when you come to Chinatown, take notice of the red and gold archway with two stone lions.  This is called the Gate of Harmonious Interest, and you will find the tile and stonework absolutely breathtaking.

Now, you definitely do not want to leave without seeing Victoria BC’s Butchart Gardens.  This is one of the main things people come for, and it is only about 13 miles away by highway.  For senior citizens, Via Rail and other tour companies offer discounts.  The location of this place will shock you.  It is actually a sunken garden in an abandoned quarry.  It took Jeanette Butchart 9 whole years to create from start to finish, and every year, 60 gardeners have to plant around 250,000 flower just to maintain its beauty.  And, the lights and fountains really add something special to the atmosphere.

After all that running around town, you will need somewhere relaxing to rest your head.  Well, Victoria BC has no shortage of options.  There are low priced budget hotels, tons of bed and breakfasts, and several luxury resorts: Fairmont Empress Hotel, Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort & Spa, The Westin Bear Mountain Resort, and the Inn at Laurel Point.  But, if you want to research further then go to Travel BC’s website.  No matter what time of year you plan to visit Victoria BC, you will enjoy your stay.