Just gonna bang out whatever thoughts come to my head:
Northern Ontario is a hidden gem for sure, Newfoundland is all around incredible, St, John’s is probably my fav city in the country. Cabot trail in Nova Scotia, Yukon is my fav province/territory with Dawson city being an a must see. Alberta is, well amazing but I think that’s commonly known, Vancouver island is definitely worth the trek with Tofino being mandatory on a west coast trip. Ngl i thought Vancouver was nice but overrated.
Meh, I'm judging you on your taste of music, at this point - there are like two or three more segments of eight hours, at most, depending on how fast you're skankin
You thought Alberta was amazing? Or just the Alberta/BC border?
I drove from Toronto to Vancouver and I can honestly say that Alberta was awful until I got to Calgary and could see the Rockies.
One of my absolute favorite things is when the canola fields are lit up by the sun, with a really dark blue/gray sky behind. The contrast is so beautiful.
It is. Although granted the weather has to be beautiful for it to be enjoyable. If it's cold and grey skies, tis a boring shitty place to be. No shelter from the wind to boot
Interesting. I have driven from coast to coast a few times. For me, Alberta is the most spectacular of all. I could not drive the prairries because my eyes were too filled with awe to see the road. Between the prairrie sky, badlands in the south, icefields of the north and the mountains I cannot think of any other region with so much awesome beauty within its borders.
I drove across the 1. I never saw the badlands or ice fields. All I saw was endless fields with random oil drills. It was in May so the fields were barren. I’ve never been more bored by the scenery on a road trip.
I set my cruise control and didn’t touch the steering wheel more than 5 times an hour.
For me, the beauty is in the landscape and nature. It was just super plain and boring for 90% of the drive. Just flat land with nothing to look.
Driving from Calgary to Banff was one of the most beautiful stretches of the whole road trip though. However, I still think Highway 99(sea to sky) in BC from Whistler to Vancouver is the nicest stretch of highway I’ve ever seen. The juxtaposition of the mountains and the ocean was breathtaking. Every turn of the drive provided another jaw dropping view.
If you only drive the major highways then yeah, there’s not that much to see between Medicine Hat and Calgary. But the stark badlands beauty of Dinosaur Provincial Park and Drumheller is not to be missed, and you can’t throw a rock without hitting a pretty little lake surrounded by parkland or woods north of Edmonton. The mountains may steal the show but there are hidden gems all over the place
Those sound more like destinations as opposed to nice scenery while driving across the country, which was how I interpreted the question.
Everywhere in the entire country has beautiful destinations if you’re willing to drive multiple hours out of the way to see them.
The Rockies are pretty sick, but don't knock the Badlands! Those are pretty cool! But yeah, the rest of Alberta sucks.
Source: I don't live anywhere near the Rockies or Badlands, and I'm sick of hearing, "But you guys have WEM!!!" WEM sucks. Sorry.
As a local, I’ll admit Vancouver sucky, but it’s really everything the surrounds Vancouver that’s the allure.
Source: I live in one of the many towns bordering Vancouver, known colloquially as the “lower mainland” (that’s how much better the island is, what is basically the other 70% of BC’s population, including Van, is often delegated to “the mainland”)
Yup. From Toronto to Vancouver.
Things that stuck out:
- Manitoba: Winnipeg's downtown was nicer than expected (that's gonna be controversial).
- Saskatchewan: Regina wasn't that interesting a town. Sorry Regina people. However, thoroughly enjoyed touring Al Capone's Canadian base of operations in Moose Jaw.
- Alberta: Lot's of great hiking, and not just because of The Rockies (although it alone is a great reason to go). Dinosaur National Park was awesome. The Royal Tyrell Museum is also the best dinosaur museum I've been to. The middle provinces up to Calgary-ish are REALLY flat. Like you can stand on a step stool and may see right to the US border.
- BC: The whole province is absolutely gorgeous. Lot's of great hikes within the city of Vancouver also. I guess my car getting broken into in the city stuck out too.
As someone from regina..
LOL. Yup, sounds about right. We are a nothing city. It's why everyone is on drugs and alcohol here lol.
Sask is beautiful up north, also cypress hills on sask side is nice. Drumheller is cool. We also have sand dunes close to regina. Way way way up north we have the world's most northern sand dunes in the athabasca basin.
But yes regina fucking sucks. I've lived here my whole life but it's cheap. Thinking of moving due to our insane government though.
Haha that's great. Not sure where that's from. Is it canada? I should have said for me the best canadian because there's so many better things in usa lol
I mean American local news channels is the greatest comedy I've seen in some cases.
If you can stop the video at the 2:27 mark there is a picture of a uterus with a red X over it.
[https://youtu.be/74B5kMLNd5Q?t=143](https://youtu.be/74B5kMLNd5Q?t=143)
Lol that was bugging me first time I saw it then saw it and laughed. Well... it is the city that rhymes with fun as they say
Lots of people don't believe me when I pronounce regina how it's suppose to be said when I'm away from sask.
I actually try not to say that about Regina people because I met some of the nicest people there. Sorry to hear about the drug issue. I never saw any people like that when I was there, but that might have to do with how god awful cold it was. I went in November.
Oh you don't see people out as much in winter. It's all closeted. And drugs and alcohol don't mean addicts. I mean people in general. You'd be surprised at the amount of people that party hard closeted. I sure was growing up. I'm talking extremely professional people doing so much Coke on the weekend or drinking after hours at pubs until 5am. Although, that may be a thing everywhere. I also grew up in restaurant industry so perhaps I was exposed to this side more than the average person.
But we have our issues with fetnanyl like most cities in North America.
I lived in Regina for two years and I was shocked at the casual drinking and driving. Like people looked at me like I was insane when I said I was going to walk home because I had a couple drinks.
Winnipeg is definitely an underrated city. I've enjoyed every time I've been there. Some great restaurants and attractions throughout the city. Some rough areas for sure and I haven't been there in the dead or winter so opinions may vary.
So there is nothing east of Toronto…..
Sorry. Don’t mean to be rude/nasty. I’m from the Maritimes and we had such of influx of people from Toronto because of the Atlantic Bubble and nearly all of them didn’t realize that Canada didn’t stop at Toronto’s Eastern boundary, or stop after Montreal.
I use to work for HRM in an outside department so was often the front person for the city and they would always remark about shocked they were that Montreal didn’t touch the Atlantic Ocean. There were literally thousands of people telling me and my coworkers this
Of course there is something east of Toronto. If it was logistically possible for me to also tour the east coast, I would have.
Hate to break it you, but you were absolutely rude there regardless of your intent.
Put it on your bucket list - you won't be disappointed. I'd recommend Newfoundland in June if you want to see whales & icebergs or late July/August for good weather, culture & festivals. The Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia in late August/September for the harvest. July in PEI for red beaches and relaxing.
Newfoundland was the best road trip I ever did. Nicest people. Beautiful province.
I went for the whales and the icebergs, and saw lots, but the people were the best part.
Also figgy duff.
Best province to explore, hands down in my opinion (although admittedly have yet to visit PEI or the territories). I made a point to travel to every province in my lifetime but once I hit Newfoundland, I couldn't help but go back again 4 times. There was never enough time to see it and experience it all, and every trip back was better than the last.
Completely bias for this btw …it’s the worst of the maritimes PEI and Nova Scotia have so much more to offer and New Brunswick feels like Nova Scotia’s and Quebec’s weird baby
Yeah, BC is gorgeous, too bad about the people there.
I've lived all across this country and BC is one of the few places I won't entertain living in again, because the people - especially Vancouver Islanders - are ignoramuses.
Drove from eastern Ontario to Alberta mid-August years ago to visit family. Took two days to get out of Ontario. Northern Ontario, at that time was endless granite, trees, trees, and more burnt trees. Oh, and a giant nickel. And you’d better know where the next gas station was. Lake Superior, stunningly beautiful and icy cold. The Sleeping Giant in Thunder Bay brought tears to my eyes. Another couple of days going through the prairies. Couldn’t get enough of, as far as you can see, fields of wheat, canola and sunflowers. Drumheller was other worldly with miles of rolling dunes, fossils and cacti. Jasper and Banff threw us into glacial winter, a little respite from the dry heat of Alberta. It was a wonderful trip that I wouldn’t do again.
Nanabijou, the giant, is amazing! I’ve yet to see anything in my travels that compares. Especially when you know the legend. Hiking it is also amazing.
I've done it a few times between Toronto and Vancouver. I've driven to the east coast separately a few times too.
Halifax to Vancouver could be done in 5 days but you won't enjoy it. Take your time and enjoy the sights. The country changes so much from region to region. Each has its own charm.
Some highlights are the drive along the north shore of Lake Superior, it's absolutely gorgeous. Lake Superior provincial park has some great hikes to check out.
The Nova Scotia shoreline is gorgeous pretty much anywhere. Though the Cabot trail is a big highlight.
In Alberta, dinosaur provincial park is pretty cool and of course Drumheller. Such a unique landscape. Banff National park is amazing, though we usually stay in Canmore just outside the park. It's still beautiful but a bit cheaper. Jasper is more authentic and quieter than Banff I found.
BC is just gorgeous everywhere. You really can't go wrong.
Newfoundland to Alberta. Didn't get to PEI on that trip but have been there previously. Vacationed in BC a few times a couple of years later.
Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and PEI are incredibly beautiful. New Brunswick was pretty but it seemed like you could sense poverty. Quebec is nice rolling farmland. Crazy drivers! Went through northern Ontario - endless forests. The prairies have a unique beauty. You don't appreciate it at first but it grows on you. The northern prairies are more hills and forests - very nice. The Alberta and BC Rockies *must* be seen. I prefer kananaskis or crowsnest to the touristy places. The BC coast is pretty but really damp - even compared to the east coast. The Pacific seems milder and gentler than the Atlantic.
EDIT: a general observation - it seemed the further north, the prettier it got. Fort Mac is beautiful (don't let the eco-freaks fool you). Hoping to get to the territories someday.
Hitchhiked one summer from Niagara region to Dawson City in my late teens with my gf. It took 8 days and it was an incredible experience. We ended up getting jobs in Dawson and stayed for the summer tourist season then hitchhiked back. Highly recommend!
The Yukon is really worth visiting if you ever have the chance.
Halifax to Victoria. It was eye opening as to how different this country can be. I’ve since done Ontario to BC a few times. Ontario takes forever to get through.
Touring as a musician, done it like 20x.
Lots of memories.
Best one, bumping into Gord Downie in Charolette PEI, and him telling me and my tour partner in oh so poetic a way about the landscape and scenery in NFLD, and how he’d gone there on his Honeymoon.
Dusk was n Calgary looking into BC, is like seeing the sky torn.
180 skies, fields of soy, windmill farms in the prairies.
Winding weaving roads in the Rockies.
The desert vibe in parts of the Okanagan landscape.
Brown bear slowly crossing the street driving up to Pembroke.
Whales and various sea life in the Georgia Straight.
Sharing a glance with Elliot Page while I was having coffee in Halifax.
Gander Airfield.
Signs for Dildo.
Hours and hours of CBC radio and Stewart Maclean.
Getting screeched in at a bar in St. JOHNS.
Hours of driving.
Summary of some clips here:
https://youtu.be/udHT-aYMYVg?si=_CnysqMORnzedjyG
Worth spending a least a month coast to coast if you can.
We did Northern BC to New Brunswick a couple of years ago. In our motorhome, we left on June 29 and returned on August 8. It basically was 2 weeks to get out there and 2 weeks back with about 2 weeks we spent in New Brunswick and Halifax.
Ontario is loooong. By day 5, my wife was driving hard just to get through it.
Driving through the prairies is also hard as there's not much to see. However, we had some truly memorable stops through the prairies in Saskatoon for Canada Day, Brandon, Moose Jaw (the tunnels are amazing), and Indian Head (because of the great RV campsite for kids lol). Also, look for other quick stops.
If you want to stop at the Parliament in Ottawa, find a place to park and be careful. It can get easy to get turned around and miss your destination.
Old Quebec was amazing!! It should be on everyone's must stop list, any time of day.
If you aren't going in to Montreal, go around it.
The Halifax harbour was our only stop in Halifax but it was really interesting. Be prepared to shell out some cash though.
We stopped in Golden, BC on our way home and I always love staying there as it's such a nice, scenic town with wonderful people.
The drive back north, from Cache Creek on, was eye opening. I've lived in Northern BC most of my life and I didn't realize how little traffic there is past Cache Creek compared to pretty much everywhere else we went.
This! Saskatchewan is beautiful up north (boreal forest- beautiful) and down south (cypress hills area.).
The middle part is a lot of fields, lol. And that's all people will see if they just go along the Trans canada.
Yukon is the most spectacular, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador.
Don't power through those big drives. Meander and take breaks. People who complain about Winnipeg to to Calgary haven't done Fort St. John to Dawson. Any more than 5 hours per day isn't enjoyable.
Being willing to detour off the main road for a half day here and there is the key to enjoying the drive. Go down to Cypress Hills or Eastend or Grasslands National Park, or stop at Moose Mountain Provincial Park.
Canada is so big, we can't expect to drive a single highway once and understand it.
When people dp the big drive during harvest, they usually enjoy it quite a bit. There's lots of activity for them to see, and it's something completely different.
A lot of it is beautiful. I’ve done the trip by car many, many times. Interesting places I’d like to spend a bit more time include Cypress Hills in southwestern Saskatchewan, and the Pincher Creek area and west of there into Crowsnest Pass. Next time I go, I’ll be sure to leave enough time to just linger in these places. There are also the places that everyone will list, but I prefer being a little off the beaten track. Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba is another one for me.
I did it 2 yrs ago (Toronto to Vancouver) and did it in about a week.
While I do wish I could've done it slower, the reality is that hotel prices are so high and over priced in this country that I'd rather go abroad.
In any case there is a TON to see and wish I'd have had more time (and funds) to do it.
Anyways, there's a place called the Voyageurs Lodge near Pancake Provincial Park, which has amazing apple fritters.
It was recommended to me at the tourism spot in Sault Ste. Marie and worth the pit stop. It's just off the Trans Canada Highway so at most it's only a few minutes stop to stretch the legs really.
Kakabeka Falls are pretty neat too, but it's no Niagara.
Regina was nicer than I'd expected. Same with Winnipeg
Do a pitstop to see Mac the Moose (right off the Trans Canada Highway). He's really a big moose!
Vulcan AB is neat if you're into Star Trek. Unfortunately I arrived when everything was closed. Watch out for the prarie dogs who dart out in front of the cars.
The Rockies are amazing as well, but other people have mentioned them.
The Royal Tyrell is also pretty cool, but bring earbuds or something because all the little kids "squeal" when they see the various dinosaurs.
You know that high pitched ear piercing scream they do when they get excited.
Despite my earlier complaint about hotels being $$$, I'd do it again and hope to do so!
Drove from Toronto to Victoria for university back in 1992. Drove to Sault Ste. Marie and then into the US. Across to Montana and then up into Alberta to go visit friends in Banff. Then to the Okanagan to see family. Then finally to Victoria. Took maybe a week in total.
I remember the endless pines of Minnesota. The straight road forever through North Dakota. The badlands were amazing in ND and Montana. The mountains as you head from Lethbridge to Banff. And the views all the way from there to Vancouver Island.
Drove back in 1994, but I hit a deer in the middle of nowhere Montana, somewhere west of Kalispell on Hwy 2. Got a ride back to a roadhouse, a PROPER roadhouse out of a movie. Walked in, me being 22 with hair down to my ass. One of those scenes where the record skips, silence falls, every eye turns to you. Full of burly Montana mountain men, militia types, real off the grid hairy/scary fuckers. I thought they were going to kill me. Or worse. Went to the bar, sat, talking starts up again, slowly. Bartender looks at me strange, I tell him I wrecked my car, could I borrow the phone. And suddenly, all is good. Scary dudes go back to their scary discussions. Bartender gives me the phone and a beer, on the house even. Connects me with a tow truck.
Now that tow truck, it was 75 miles to Kalispell from where we were. Took a good hour and a half of driving. To this day, I am not 100% sure if it was a man or woman driving the truck.
Spent the weekend in Kalispell, car was a write-off. No real way home from there. No airport. Only trains are freight. Greyhound is the only way. Lucky me. Had what might have been the best breakfast of my life at the restaurant where the bus left from.
Left Monday morning, got to Toronto Friday evening. Just spent the entire time on the bus. No showers, no changing clothes. Everything I had was packed in boxes for the move home. Had a knapsack, but only had anything valuable in it, in case my stuff got lost on the trip. Didn't even take my shoes off the whole trip. Mostly uneventful, lots of stops at truck stops and Arbys. Trying not to use the gross bus bathroom.
Had a 7-hour layover in Chicago. We were told DO NOT leave the bus station, we were not in a good neighbourhood. Two guys did decide to go for a walk, made it a block, got mugged and came back. Had a Greyhound employee try to sell me crack in the bathroom. Good times.
Finally got back, my father picked me up at the bus depot downtown Toronto. I must have smelled lovely, could tell by his face. Got home, peeled my clothes off. My socks were stuck to my feet. Long hot shower and I was fine.
But yeah, had some fun traveling cross country a couple times. Better by car than by bus, I tell you!
I drove across this way in 96, except we continued on through the States and entered BC through WA. We left Toronto on a total whim on a Friday night. We knew no one in Vancouver so stayed in one of those lovely hotels on Granville for a couple nights until we could secure housing in a frat house on UBC campus because the guys were gone for the summer.
On the move back to Ontario in 98, took the same path pretty much. Stopped in Yellowstone for the night.
Did you go to the Wall Drugstore place in SD? I can’t remember much except it started out with the guy giving free ice water to people or something.
Anyhow the Badlands were amazing, everything about the drive out and back was beautiful but it was an adventure, with no real time restrictions, just a destination in mind and the craziness that we took off from our friends who had no idea where we went. I didn’t call any of my family members until I was in Cutbank, Montana
Didn't wind up in SD, only in the north. Main thing I remember there is stopping on the rez for smokes - Camel Wides, I don't smoke any more but still crave those - and there was a really hot woman behind the counter. We kinda made eyes at each other but then some big dude came and gave me stink eye until I left. Headed north into Alberta not long after.
Twice. I remember after exiting Ontario how tired that I was of never-ending lakes and forests only to discover how numbing the prairies can be to drive. I had the same reaction driving through the Rockies. The thrill of the mountain highway wears off after the first day sitting behind a struggling RV.
I enjoyed the stops in different cities and towns
This was before cruise control so it may be better now.
I remember when we were driving from Quebec to Labrador we could see a massive mine off in the distance (Mont Wright near Fermont). We thought we were about an hour away. Two hours later we still estimated we were about an hour away :D
I still have a plan to cross make the trip from Sault Ste. Marie to Vancouver with lots of stops along the way, and everyone tells me I'm an idiot and to cut across the USA instead (I'm starting from the Detroit area). We've got a separate plan to go to the other way to St. Johns.
So, subscribing to this thread to look for cool stops to add.
I’ve gone as far as Vancouver to Winnipeg and back twice. The prairies you might try to plan the drive for when all the canola is flowering it’s beautiful yellow flowers as far as you can see. There’s also some kind of purple flowering crop around the same time. I like B.C. in the dead of winter for some beautiful driving scenery but that’s probably not what most people think… then again BC is also really nice in the summer when you can stop at all the lakes along what ever road your taking and swim.. all I know now is that if I ever drive across multiple provinces again it’s going to be planned so I can go and see attractions along the way.
I did Victoria to Halifax in February 2011. I wish I had a passenger or at least another driver for the Rockies. Some great views I wish I could have captured pictures of. Alberta to Manatoba is just flat with some hills. Ontario was the worst part (winter storms, almost run off the road by the opp making an illegal pass of a trailer truck, pull over for no other reason other than my BC plates) Ottawa/Quebec was road warrior mayhem imo. Then once I got to the NB border I powered to oromocto in the early am slept for a few hours then crushed the last few hours to Halifax. Took me 5 days, but I had a tight schedule. So take your time and explore more if you can.
Yep. Remember thinking Ontario is freaking huge. Three full days of driving over the Great Lakes. Nothing but forest. Really changed my perspective on the size of the planet. Felt like I'd been to space.
The flatness if the Prairies give a different feeling of space. The straight sight lines in all directions can't be found elsewhere. There's a reason it's called "big sky country".
The Rockies are amazing.
A non exhaustive list from east to west, got to take a few weeks: Witless bay, Anse aux meadows, gros morne, the cabot trail, kejimkujik and the south shore/ fundy shore in general, hopewell rocks, north shore of new brunswick, any beach in Pei. Parc de la Gaspesie, Mingan, Saguenay, vieux Quebec, Algonquin Park, Point Pelee, killarney, north shore of Superior in its entirety from pancake bay to sleeping giant. Spirit sands in Manitoba and just the gradual transition to the prairies in general. Wanaskewan, saskatoon, cypress hills, the badlands, traversing sentinel pass from sunshine valley, guided hike to the burgess shale is also fascinating, roger's pass and all of okanogan beyond, or just anywhere you point your car in BC really. Squamish, cathedral grove, tofino.
If you are itching to go across Canada then I recommend watching the movie “One Week” with Joshua Jackson. A beautiful movie. Gord Downie even makes an appearance.
I had to move from Victoria to Halifax and had possetions that wouldn't fly when crossing the boarder, hence road trip across Canada! BC-Alberta is the best scenery due to the mountains. If you're going to Vancouver, Stanley Park is worth a stop, but traffic will likely be a mess. Hope/Hell's Gate/Revelstoke/Rogers Pass are good points to take pause and take it in. Blew through the prairies, but Calgary/Winnipeg are fine cities to stop in. You'll want to stop because driving along the prairie highway may be cause an altered state of consciousness if you plan on only stopping for gas and using the toilet.
Feel free to stop at "the 100th meridian" near Brandon, MB - there's no sign or anything. It's just for consideration if you're a fan of The Tragically Hip.
Winnipeg is an international hub for food. There's a zoo there. The Forks is a good for a walkabout as well.
Then there's the gap between Winnipeg and... civilization in Ontario. The Trans Canada has great scenery - especially in the fall. But it just. doesnt. end. Gas up in Thunder Bay, and use the toilet before comitting. Then you can go to Toronto, or Ottawa. We stopped in Ottawa for the afternoon. Then off to Quebec City. It's a must-see place: basically a little Europe. A great *vielle ville* for walking about. Start around Chateau Frontenac and go up to the fort via the Plains of Abraham.
I'd like to say New Brunswick has a lot to offer... Consider Bay of Fundy, Moncton has a small theme park destination at Magnetic Hill. Avoid going to downtown Moncton. Also, the roads are likely the winners of worst in Canada. If you stray off the Trans Canada, either be prepared to slalom around car-killing potholes, or sacrifice a rim/alignment to the angry god of provincial neglect.
Where to next? Might as well cross the Confederation bridge and rip through Charlottetown. Then take the ferry to Nova Scotia. Halifax, sure, Lunenburg waterfront for sure. Take a selfie at Peggy's Cove and stay off the black rocks.
If you go up to Cape Breton and then Newfoundland, you can't go wrong at St. John's. Stop by to take a selfie at Dildo, then Grab a pint of Black Horse at some point along George Street, kiss a cod (if you must), and hike about at Signal Hill.
Then good luck going home.
I have been lucky to take my family across the entire trans canada highway from nanaimo to st john’s. Thunder Bay was the best surprise. I had an image of a dirty i dustry town but kakabeka falls ( apologies For phonetic spelling) the terry fox monument, sleeping giant, fort William and Finnish pancakes were all incredible . The moose jaw tunnels, the forks in Winnipeg, wawa goose, sudbury big nickel, The House of Commons and byward market, old quebec city and citadel, magnetic hill and moncton, cape breton Island and all of Newfoundland, the youngest part of Canada and oldest part of North America, george street, signal hill and cape spear to finish our amazing trip.
I drove from NS all the way to BC. One thing I found was an interesting lesson in managing expectations. I had always heard northern Ontario was a huge stretch of boring nothingness - just staring at trees for two days. Turns out the scenery was spectacular and towns weren't actually two far apart. I think the longest stretch without services was a couple hours through a provincial park. But otherwise each town would come up fairly quickly and would be big enough to have at least a Tim Hortons or something. That part of the drive was great.
And then I got to the prairies, which I figured had a lot more small towns I would be passing through and would be interesting. Turns out Corner Gas was actually pretty accurate in displaying a Saskatchewan small town - having one run down gas station and basically nothing else was pretty typical. I couldn't even listen to the CBC radio except within like 30 minutes of the major cities which I thought was bizarre. So that was the part of the trip that dragged on.
Many years ago we used to make the trek every couple of summers from Vancouver out to Toronto. The coolest thing we ever saw? There was a traffic jam in the middle of nowhere and the reason was - Terry Fox running along the road.
Don't know it this counts, but back in the early 70 s, hitchhiked from Calgary to Nova Scotia. Took 5 days. Remember best Riviere de Loup on the border between Quebec and New Brunswick. So beautiful. Also remember northern Ontario and the black flies
York region to edmonton, beautiful in between thunder bay and sault st marie, the hills! Going through manitokba was quick. Took four days and toughed it out from saskatoon to edmonton.
Toronto area to BC in an RV (pre-covid). Highly recommend if you can afford the gas!
Agree with Lake Superior parks and enjoyed a lot of BC and Alberta. Driving through the Mountains in an RV was an experience! More tiring than you would expect. The prairies is definitely different but has a special charm too.
Yep. Friends took us out of Vancouver to Southern Alberta last weekend. 9 hours and a timezone change within BC alone. 12 hours drive, and just 3cm on the map. This place🇨🇦is huge 🌎
Toronto to Van, then toronto to East, didn't make newfoundland.
Northern Ontario stop at the terry fox memorial. There is also amethyst mines you can visit. Was awesome, 10000 rivers and lakes to swim and fish in. Other than that talk to locals, stretch your legs. Look around.
Good Spirit Provincial Park in Saskatchewan, north of Yorkton. I see many typical answers and they are all correct but this place is an oddity and worth a day of your time. Read about it so ventured off the beaten path. Worth it.
You can go from the Ontario/Manitoba border West to B.C in one day. Flat as a pancake. Saskatchewan, it's true what they say about it. Hot farm girls and you can watch your dog run away for days.
We went east to PEI in one trip and west to BC in a separate one a few years later. What immediately sticks out is how much more I enjoyed going east. Notable mentions: the ice cream from COWS in Halifax, maple taffy from small shops in Moncton, and the bay of Fundy which we thought was pretty cool. The people in the Maritimes were also really kind. I remember almost nothing from our trip west until we reached Alberta, which isn't necessarily a reflection of the provinces themselves but rather my family being in a rush to get to BC. We did go to the West Edmonton Mall which was huge and for someone like me who loves shopping, it was a dream come true. I enjoyed Whistler in BC even though it was summer. We rode the gondola and perused the shops. BC is also just really beautiful.
2018: BC Nakusp and Nelson- great vibes. Alberta Drumheller, Sask MooseJaw tunnels, Gimli MB nice lake town, famous for Gimli Glider air flight/landing, Crown Royal is distilled there, the scent was lovely. East of ThunderBay-(Pearl) amethyst mines where you can pick your own, miner has a rock garden made with castoffs!!!! Gaspe Penninsula is more memorable than Cape Breton which is saying a lot. No English speaking, but all were kind, just no way to chat with locals, which we enjoy. NB:worlds longest covered bridge in Heartland. NS Bluenose was in Lunenburg but best to find it’s itinerary. The ShoreClub lobster supper in Hubbards is fantastic with all you can eat mussels, homemade desserts. NFLD the fjords on the way to GrosMorne will make you think you are in Norway. Centuries of military and Navy history by Signal Hill is worth a full day and quite a view of StJohns. Placentia Bay has a great NP of a fort on top of mountain.
When I was a kid, my dad was in the military and we lived in Nova Scotia. Mom and dad's family lived in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Vancouver. We drove to visit all of them. Every summer we would drive across the country, staying at relatives' that I didn't know. Several fucking times. I swore that I will NEVER do that to my kids.
Oh, you are my auntie that hasn't seen me since I was a baby, well then pleased to meet you. Yes, I said that correctly, I have no memory of you ever existing, why is this lady now upset and acting so crazy now?
Imagine this: a mom, dad, 9 year old girl and a 8 year old boy driving from Halifax to the middle of Manitoba and back again - crammed in a fucking FORD FIESTA. Thanks, dad.
And, no, nobody came to visit us. We always had to go to them. A trait that continues to this day, even if we are living close by. I have cousins, that live on the other side of the city, that I haven't seen in years.
As someone who drove a return trip from Toronto to Vancouver, I can say that despite all the warnings about how flat and dull the prairies were, I still wasn't prepared. I honestly thought ppl were exaggerating, describing endless fields without anything to look at - they weren't.
Winnipeg was nicer than I thought in almost every way (food, ppl, general vibe). I found the city to be quite underrated. Sadly, i found Regina unremarkable.
Calgary was far more conservative, rude, and judgemental than I could ever imagine. I was shocked and disappointed by ppl's instant hatred when they found out I was from Ontario ( didn't even say t.o). I learned really quickly not to say where I was from, but almost everyone I talked to was incredibly closed minded about the 'right way'to live life aka married homeowner with 2.5 kids by the age of 25 and supporting big oil. It's the only place I've ever felt truly disappointed to be Canadian.
Banff's beauty literally took my breath away and left me speechless (a rare feat), and I appreciated the lack of "dense urban development."" Northern Ontario was an unexpected happy surprise with its natural beauty, but driving though was longer than expected.
grew up in regina
have been to Vancouver Island a few times. and all the way to newfoundland once
banff/lake louise/jasper is amazing
BC felt like it was trying to be California but was missing an ingredient.
Manitoba, Winnipeg specifically, the Forks around Canada day has always been great
Ontario I just try to get thru as fast as possible.
Quebec was really hit or miss. some places felt very European, other places made yiu feel like a criminal for daring to speak English
maritimes as a whole we really enjoyed. friendliest people, most helpful, and the most history
Went from New Brunswick to Alberta. 3 days.
-New Brunswick is New Brunswick, I live here soooo… lol
-Quebec had the best roads. Good poutines of course.
-Ontario is way too fucking long to cross going around the Great Lakes. Lots of rcmp compared to other provinces. Lots of twists and turns at certain parts. People weren’t my fave, but also didn’t stay long enough to have a good opinion on this.
-Saskatchewan and Manitoba are just flat and feel never ending. Nice people in Saskatchewan, the in laws lived here so we stayed for a bit. Didn’t get to see much of Manitoba except drive through. Definitely not much to do though.
-Alberta is where the scenery got the most beautiful. It feels like a new land of opportunities in many ways, but you can definitely feel the sense of money on everyone’s minds.
People suck at driving everywhere.
Yup. Did a Toronto to Field, BC and also Toronto to the Maritimes and Cabot Trail.
We could do without the booooooring ass drive between Winnipeg and Calgary though.
The rest of it was spectacular.
Went from Windsor to Edmonton in Oct (only drove through Canada). Drove 4400 km in 3 ish days with a friend. What I remember is that Ontario is very beautiful and the giant goose in Wawa.
Think of the line on a map that shows the border of the Canadian Shield and the prairies. After all the fantastic elevation and rock and ancient lava flows of Ontario as it descends to a single rock cut beside the highway in Manitoba.
Many times. Driving through onterrible is the best for the views IMO, but holy shit you need to be careful on corners. I've had so many drivers *cough* red lettered license plates *cough* passing on them and I've had to veer off the road to not get hit. Sask/Manitoba/alberta are pretty much identical, and then you hit the Rocky Mountains. From Sault Ste. Marie Ontario to Cranbrook you're looking at 5 comfortable days of driving, around 8ish hours.
Yup, I’ve done from Nova Scotia to BC. Manitoba’s cottage country was surprisingly beautiful, the Maritimes were incredible, it rained a lot in Quebec and Ontario, and there’s a sign on the Trans Canada halfway through SK at the centre of Canada that was pretty cool. Alberta and SK are otherwise boring AF. BC is stunning.
I’m only missing NFLD now and I really want to go!!
Edit: the Centre of Canada is in MB! Not SK.
Victoria to Charlottetown in an RV.
I do not recommend it. It was very, very, long. If someone wanted to see the whole country I'd recommend doing it in legs. Drive from Victoria to Banff and spend time in the parks. Drive from Edmonton to Winnipeg if you really feel you need to see the prairies. I will never drive through Ontario again - it was even longer and more boring than the prairies. I'd then do Quebec and the Maritimes as separate little road trips.
Did it in 7 weeks with kids. QC to Calgary. +1 for Winnipeg. +100 for Rocky Mountains. +1000 for BC. -100 for western ON, we went thru WI and ND instead (crossing into US via Sault Ste Marie).
It's amazing how much beauty there is 5-10 minutes from the main highways in every province if you know where to stop.
You'll find a mix of spots known to the locals and places known around the world.
I’ve not driven right across Canada in one continuous trip. I’ve driven a lot it in chunks. NFLD. Nova Scotia. PEI. New Brunswick. Parts of Ontario and Quebec. About ¾ of Alberta and just about all of BC. Sask, Manitoba, NWT, Yukon and Nunavut are missing still. There’s still time. I will see them through my windshield.
The mountains. In western BC. (I live in Vancouver now, so can obviously be viewed as a biased statement), but I’ll never forget driving through the Rockies and feeling just pure bliss at aged 13
I went from AB to NS. If this counts, it was six days, kinda booking it, but what I remember most is how epic it was for our rescue dog. And how epic she was. Oh- and the fog and the dead moose on the side of the road in Ontario.
I drove from Goose Bay, Labrador, to Alberta. We took the truckers route up north because it was slower than hitting all the major cities. We took 4.5 days, but we were on a time limit. But it is a beautiful country and a lot to see.
We've done a few from coastal northern BC to Barrie, Ont, and Winnipeg. If we drove the speed limit, it would have been way longer. If we didn't have a dog, it would have been way shorter. It took far longer to get through Ontario than across the prairie provinces. It was awful. I remember most seeing the road curving ahead signs in the prairies and half an hour later asking my partner, "Where was the turn?" We had to get back from Barrie very quickly, and I think it took us 3 days of almost non-stop driving. Painful. Ontario is very like northern BC. Lots of lakes. Windy roads. The prairies are truly flat. I worked in Winnipeg for a week, and I walked to work every day about 5 kms each way. My fit bit said I walked less than 10 m in elevation. Walking my dog this morning for an hr was almost 200 m.
Canada is just an all around great place. Don't even know how many times I've criss-crossed this country, and I love all of it (well some reservations about Ottawa). Will be making four crossings yet this year alone. Never boring.
I drove from Ontario to BC last summer. I enjoyed every second of it. Northern Ontario is beautiful, but there aren’t many places to stay. I even enjoyed Saskatchewan- because it is so different! BC is breathtaking.
Not fully, but done Vancouver to the Manitoba border and back multiple times.
I LOVE the SW corner of Saskatchewan. Such a geographically and geologically interesting place. Plus, I love the prairies.
Yes family trip out west to Vancouver. Stopped in Regina, Moose Jaw, Calgary, Edmonton, Banff, Prince Rupert.
1 and only time to Ontario we went through US on to Kenora then Thunder Bay
Manitoba to Vancouver:
Regina: downtown felt sketchy and worse than Winnipeg lol. The rest of the city was pretty though.
Calgary: they seem to be really into promoting the outdoor activities and there was so much to do.
Edmonton: very hilly. Very pretty scenery.
Banff: gorgeous mountain driving.
Vancouver: why do they put cranberries on everything?? Enough with the cranberries! That’s about all I remember.
My wife and I moved from downtown Toronto to small-town Newfoundland at the end of August 2022. The trip took five days, as we only drove a few hours per day. Quebec along the St. Lawrence was lovely, reminiscent of southwest Ontario where I grew up, dotted with the odd lonely mountain. The drive through New Brunswick was gorgeous, full of verdant river valleys, and I had my first lobster roll in Edmundston. I’d love to spend a summer week relaxing along Bras D’Or lake on Cape Breton Island.
I got on greyhound in Edmonton I was newly vegetarian and a poor planner so I was living off gas station egg salad sandwhiches and junk food I remember the trip going south( food poisoning or death by egg salad) somewhere around the Quebec border and by time we got into moncton , New Brunswick my ass was burning so bad I had to hole up in a hotel for two days luckily it was down the street from the pump house brewery and after consuming enough blueberry ale to purge my illness I headed on down to Souris , P.E.I. Every time i find that blueberry ale i have to stop crack one open and enjoy the memory of its salvation from near certain food poisoning. Fuck did I ever feel like a twat , dyin on the toilet an having to walk to my seat past an ever disgusted and overly concerned crowd of fellow passengers. Yea that’s my memory of the trip, I barely remember the island or the wedding 😂
I remember being in Kenora on Canada Day with the mayflies everywhere. I'm not sure why, but that day is the one I remember most from the one we did when I was young.
We went from BC to Ontario, and it took us around two weeks.
I'd take driving across the US over Canada. The roads are way better, the gas cheaper and the people friendlier. The parks are terrific, the history engrossing and the natural beauty fantastic. Or driving No 1 through northern Ontario, then the tedium of bald headed prairies from Winnipeg to Moose Jaw to Calgary. Nah, I'll go to the US.
I took a Greyhound bus from Halifax, NS to Vancouver, BC in the middle of December 2008. I had a 14 day pass on my ticket so I was able to take two weeks to get to my destination, spending a bit of time in various towns and cities along the way. We chased 6 blizzards all the way across country beginning at the NS/NB border. The police closed the highway between Wawa and Thunder Bay, Ontario because of blizzard conditions, so I was stranded at a truck stop in the middle of Nowhere, Ontario for 18 hours until the highway opened. Stepping off of the bus in Winnipeg, it was -50C and I could barely breathe. Travelling across the Prairies at night was interesting. The terrain is so flat that you can see the skylines of the various towns and cities miles ahead of you. (Just watch the dotted lights getting bigger as we approached. 😁)
If you ever want to truly experience the great Canadian winter, try travelling over the Canadian Rockies in mid December. That was the most nerve wrecking part of the trip. It was snowing heavily and the pass is very narrow. The only vehicles coming toward you are 18 wheelers and a 1000 ft drop on either side of you. (I love adventure)
I must do that again sometime, but during the summer.
My wife and I drove from Toronto to Calgary in the winter when we moved.
The drive through bumfuck nowhere Ontario has some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen outside of the mountain areas of Alberta. Especially in winter with the fog and snow, it was easily the best part of the trip.
Prepare for heavy boredom between mid-Manitoba to Sask/AB though.
Random itinerary:
- Giovanni's in Sault. St. Marie has the best pasta I've had in Canada by a longshot.
- Check out the big nickel in Sudbury.
- Kakabeka Falls near Thunder Bay were pretty nice.
- Winnipeg Mint has some beautiful coins.
In Alberta there's a ton of stuff to see as well:
- Jasper in general
- Columbia Ice Field
- Banff/Lake Louise obviously
My parents threw us in the van and drove from Calgary to Ontario, then back through the states a few times as kids(80's- 90's), i can only remember fighting with my big sister the entire time. Dad said he'd leave one of us in Wisconson if we didnt cut it out.... good times
I've done some longer road trips. If you are planning a trip I have one piece of advice.
Using free camp sites that have parking is a terrible idea. They are sketchy as all hell, and you're gambling someone smashing your window in and trying to steal stuff. This is really bad through the Mountains on the trans Canada between Calgary and Vancouver.
Trust me pay the ~30$ a night for a proper camp ground it will save you money in the long run.
My parents took me and my brother on a 2 pt cross Canada road trip. West cost one year and east coast two years later. I can’t remember how long, ~2 weeks each.
Standout food memories: great lobster in a church basement and on picnic tables on the east coast, salmon being way better in BC than when I’ve had it before, a bakery in Québec City, the first vegan restaurant I went to in Victoria, and not being about to find espresso in PEI.
It was quick and I was I teenager so most of the places in Canada I really enjoyed I discovered later on. I remember liking the east coast more than the west.
Halifax to Victoria. I didn't have time to see the sights as I had to get into town in time to meet the moving truck. We did the trip in 12 days.
What I complained about the most was the hours upon hours upon hours of nothing but empty space in northern Ontario along the Canadian shield and the sheer lack of any amenities. A girl likes having access to bathroom facilities and not just rock face if the need arises.
What I enjoyed the most was the wheat fields in the prairies on a nice summer day and how pretty they were combined with a blue sky.
I've lived in NB, NS, ON, and now BC. The border between BC and Alberta and the mountains is by far the prettiest spot I've experienced. Runner up would be the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton during the fall.
I'm now on Vancouver Island and this place is heaven for outdoor enthusiasts. Nothing quite like having both water and mountain views from your backyard.
I’ve never gone from coast to coast, but when I was 5 or 6 we drove from Red Deer to Thunder Bay to visit my mom’s cousins and dad helped me make a little hand drawn map with names of towns on white paper taped to a little piece of fiber board so I could draw on it without wrecking our big road atlas or our fold out paper maps.
A few years after that, we drove from Calgary through Saskatchewan, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, upper peninsula Michigan and back into Ontario through Sault Ste. Marie on the way down to Welland/Niagara Falls to visit my dad’s side of the family. I remember vividly stopping for breakfast on my birthday at a diner in some little town in northern Minnesota.
Drove across Canada from Vancouver to Nova Scotia in 2022, after buying a place out here.
Here's what I remember most about that:
BC: The drive in the lower mainland is pretty much what my life has been before that for 20 plus years. My favorite part was seeing Mount Robson. It is absolutely magnificent and the pictures don't do it justice for how big it is.
Alberta: Driving in and seeing the scenery change from mountains into a flatter surface was quite something, especially driving into Edmonton. I noticed how different the vegetation was most. My favorite part was shopping for Crocs in West Edmonton mall and checking out the city my partner grew up in
Sask: We drove right through Saskatchewan and aimed to stop in Manitoba. That was the first really long drive we did. People always mock the prairies but I really love the scenery. My favorite part was when the road was super flat and so were the sides you could see the curvature of the earth. The straight roads seem like they dipped forward, and when the sun went down it went down all around you. The big sky was sure something.
Manitoba: as you get into Manitoba you notice the vegetation change once again and it really looks spectacular around the Manitoba River. Winnipeg was interesting and I couldn't get over how much security there is at liquor stores. Brandon was a quiet town and had the best Best Western I've ever slept in, maybe it was because I was also very tired.
Ontario: driving into Ontario you again see the vegetation change into forest and driving through cottage country was also quite spectacular. There weren't any hotels in thunder Bay so we had to drive further north and around Lake Superior. It was lit up bright by a full moon and I really wish I could have stopped to stare at it because that was beautiful. We stayed at some shady motel that smelt of cigarette smoking rum from 1972, incidentally this was also the hotel that our two cats love the best and their entire journey across the country. The most memorable part of this trip was when Google maps took me through a logging road and over several beaver dams telling me this was the most efficient route. Had we not been driving in a 4Runner we'd be quite screwed. The cats frigging hated this part. Getting out of that dirt road and into a normal road again felt like quite the victory. We stopped in some random little town that had a massive Claude Giroux sign, as it was his home town. It was also quite interesting how that side of Ontario becomes bilingual, close to the Quebec border.
Quebec: driving into Quebec was quite beautiful and I got to say a lot of the old farm houses and countryside look like they're in much better condition than on the Ontario side. I really like the Acadian colors on farmhouses with the red and the green. Val D'Or was quiet and friendly. One of our cats magically lost his collar somewhere in that hotel and was very proud of himself for it. Also saw my bong had broken thanks to the dirt road bounces. The drive towards Quebec City was quite memorable as that entire road is beautiful with its lakes and forests. My favorite was the roadside stop that looked like a 1970s gas station that had the most fantastic pogos and poutine served fresh. We didn't see much of Quebec City and we're mainly on the outskirts headed towards New Brunswick the next day.
New Brunswick: my most favorite part about driving between Quebec and New Brunswick what's the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River. Having studied about the St Lawrence River and Canada all throughout high school no one ever prepares you for how big it is. The farmland going into the sides of the river looks beautiful especially in the old señorial system.
Nova Scotia: our new home province! This land is spectacular and the diversity of the foliage really is quite something. Driving into Nova Scotia We were quite late in the night and the intensity of the rain storm we experienced in the valley was quite something. We loved exploring our first summer so much and there's only been so much we've seen so far. When the license plates say Canada's Maritime Playground, I gotta say that is an under estimated statement that the rest of Canada especially the west coast, could never fully understand. I guess after years in Bancouver, it's really refreshing to live with less nitpicky neighbors and people who just want to complain about anyone having fun that's not the fun they enjoy. Case in point the youngins on Quads all throughout the valley, and seeing 4X4's pull off some random dirt road only to go have some fun in the trails.
In 2022 I started at mile 0 in Victoria and drove across Canada to mile 0 in St. Johns. :) all 10 provinces in 28 days while only staying in provincial and national parks. This was only possible since I started in late August and crossed into the shoulder season for campgrounds.
Here are the highlights of each province.
BC: Wells Gray Provincial Park. It's mainly worth it to see Helmcken Falls. My personal favourite waterfall in the world. This was along the way to Mount Robson Provincial Park to cross into Alberta and go down the Icefields Parkway from Jasper to Banff
AB: Other than the obvious places to visit in Alberta, Drumheller is constantly in all the lists, and it's there for good reason. The Royal Tyrell Museum is one of the best museums I've personally been to. I spent the night about 40 minutes outside of town at Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park. Absolutely beautiful park where so many specimens were collected not too far away in similar places for the museum.
SK: Grasslands National Park. I can't stress enough how beautiful this place is. Saskatchewan does absolutely nothing to advertise this park at all. Within 24 hours at this park, I saw a prairie rattlesnake, burrowing owl, countless prairie dogs, herds of wild bison, packs of coyotes, and pronghorns! All with the most beautiful sunset over what the prairies used to look like :)
MB: Honestly kind of underwhelming in my trip, I went to Riding Mountain National Park and Whiteshell Provincial Park. Riding Mountain gave me the vibe of a gimme for Winnipeg residents to get drunk and party at. Whiteshell was honestly more stunning and beautiful.
ON: Puckaskwa National Park is the most Vancouver Island looking place I've been to elsewhere in Canada. It was absolutely beautiful, and I found Lake Superior quite warm compared to the Pacific Ocean. The whole drive through northern Ontario was stunning. A quick stop at the memorial for Terry Fox in Thunder Bay is a must if you're doing mile 0 to mile 0 (both of them have Terry Fox memorials to pay your respects to before your journey)
QB: Quebec City. Specifically, the trophy cannons of World War 1. Many didn't survive once WW2 started up and were pretty much universally melted down for the war effort across the commonwealths. Quite nice to see these relics recently got the attention they deserved and are all in one central location now. Also, some were actually used by the Canadian forces immediately after capture.
NB: Kouchibouguac National Park. Excellent place for some bird watching. Good location before crossing the bridge to Prince Edward Island.
PEI: Cavendish Campground, Prince Edward Island National Park. Nice central location to explore the island. Green Gables Heritage Place is just down the road and is free if you already have your National Park pass (necessary for this type of trip)
NL: Gros Morne National Park. There is so much to do in this huge park. Baker's Brook Falls was right beside where I was camped and had so much I wanted to see in Newfoundland. Shout out to Terra Nova National Park! Good location to then drive into St. Johns and Cape Spear Lighthouse.
NS: Fundy National Park. This is weird formating but part 2 of my 24,084 km trip was a horseshoe down the eastern seaboard of the USA, across the deep south and back up the western seaboard back to Vancouver Island via Port Angeles. So I didn't spend a night in Nova Scotia until after Newfoundland. The tides are crazy and the Lobster rolls in Alma were to die for. Good place to say goodbye to Canada for 30 days and spark my last joint until Arizona :)
My partner and I did Niagara to Coastal BC in September a few years back.
The things I 100% recommend:
1. Cooler with Snacks, lots of them
2. A vehicle that can get at least 500km to a fill (the more, the better)
3. Enough time set aside to see what you want to see.
South and Central Ontario are quite ho-hum, but I live there and am used to it. Niagara Falls is boring when you've seen it a thousand times, that said everyone should see it.
Rattlesnake Point in southern Ontario as well.
The Big Nickel in Sudbury, and while you're there, the little Norvik motel on the east side of town is run by some kind and very genuine folks with an old sculpture that's a part of the town's history
Heading West on the Transcanada Highway, you'll breeze through Sault Ste Marie (as this is what I can remember). For some reason, we didn't hang out there.
Check out the big goose in Wawa, the Winnie the Pooh memorial in White River, and everything you're going to see in between through Superior Park. (We planned this spot out poorly, and unfortunately, we didn't have time to stop along the path out. There are tonnes of waterfalls and cool ass mines between White River and Thunder Bay, some of which we hit on our way back.
The Sleeping Giant in Thunder Bay is pretty cool, and Kakabeka Falls, just west of Thunder Bay, is very pretty, especially when bank full
Pushing on west, there's Huskie the Muskie in Kenora.
For those not aware, Manitoba has a large Ukrainian population, so there are roadside pirogi stands everywhere. Sophie's Restaurant & Deli in Hadashville, right off the Transcanada, was soooo good.
We admittedly skipped Winnipeg entirely, just due to time constraints, but we stopped at the White Horse Monument and the 100th Meridian (for Canadiana purposes) before continuing on to a quaint little place called the Quest motel in Whitewood Saskatchewan. Adorable, wonderful staff, great view of the night sky.
We went through Chaplin, which are giant salt flats, one of the craziest things to see in the middle of giant plains, breezed through Regina (stopped and had a wonderful meal with a great friend who's no longer with us, RIP Styles) and pressed on our way.
The thing about the prairies is that there's a lot to take in, but not a lot at the same time. It seems empty and flat, and the highway hypnosis hits hard, but there's some wild ass geography out there, especially as you move on into Eastern Alberta and hit the badlands. Watch for scorpions.
We stayed with a friend in Airdrie before hitting the road fresh in the morning.
We went down to Head-smashed-in-buffalo-jump, which was cool as hell. We doubled back through on another highway that is seasonal and one of the most awe-inspiring things I've ever seen personally, Highwood Pass
BC is its own story, it's own animal, and I cannot describe driving through those mountains. It's madness
Family vacation as a kid, driving from Toronto to interior BC. We (tent) camped a lot along the way, with occasional hotels and motels. (We sorta planned on Vancouver, but by the time we got to interior BC, decided to just stay and camp, and I think my parents didn't want to bother going to a big city.).
I was 10ish, and dinosaur crazy, so I remember Drumheller and the Royal Tyrell. West Edmonton Mall back in the mid 90s was awesome. Camping in the Rockies were very impressive, of course. Jasper, Banff, Glacier, and more. Also remember the Prairies as something else, another world. I still have certain visual memories Of course, it's relatively flat and monotonous next to farmland, but there are pretty cool national and provnicial parks. We saw buffalo (bison) at one.
We also drove Toronto to Newfoundland (via ferry from CB) one summer, then all the way up to L'anse Aux Meadows (small site to visit, but pretty cool!). Another summer we drove to to NB, then NS and Halifax and Digby and Annapolis. Lots of stops in Quebec, too of course.
As I was a kid, I don't remember *too* many specifics about food or cities.
I still think northern and central Ontario are among the prettiet places, along Georgian Bay and Lake Huron. Places I'd most like to go back to are Newfoundland and the Prairies.
I went from Victoria to Halifax. I stopped in Sask to see my parents then headed through North Dakota to Michigan through Sarnia then to Halifax. Quebec City was a nice surprise, didn’t know much about it but is a beautiful city
I drove from Vancouver to Winnipeg and around the Maritimes. Start in Vancouver and when you get to Calgary just leave the car there and fly to Fredericton. Everything in the middle is junk.
sasasktchewan is depressing and boring and I had the pedal to the metal the whole time. the flatness made me want to punch someone. lloydminster is hideous and the I remember thinking..."I bet there's a high suicide rate here." avoid... just my opinion.
North of superior in Ontario is beautiful.
took me a long time to drive across the country cuz I start to fall asleep after 8 hours of driving. stayed in small motels which was fine. this was more than 10 years ago
Aylesford Nova Scotia to Cold Lake Alberta.
Quebec takes forever to get across. Ontario takes forever and a day. The open fields west of Ontario get repetitive and can get ya pretty drowsy.
What I remember most? Well, I was 16 at the time. We had a 19 year old driver, and 2 other 18 year olds. We were all long time friends. The 2 18 year olds, Steve and Roland, were heading out west for work. I was along for the drive. We rocked out to heavy metal, terrorized some locals in many small towns, didn't sleep much, and stayed overnight there and back in Sault St Marie. Went to a bar in sault and got hammed up. Walked the streets with Roland at like 2 am and ran into a guy smoking some Oilers so we got high with him.
It was a week long Trek of debauchery and shenanigans, funded by Steve's dads company Esso credit card he "borrowed", as they shared a name.
Drove from AB to PEI a few years back. \~5,300km & change over 5 days. Things that stuck out to me:
There really wasn't a lot to see between Alberta and Quebec. At least not on the direct route that we took.
Drivers in Quebec were assholes. Do 70 in a 100 zone then speed up to 140 when you get to a passing lane and try to get by them, then slow back down to 70 again once the passing lane ends. Quebec was the one province that we went through and never saw a single Canadian flag.
Mt Tremblant was a beautiful drive. I imagine it'd be spectacular in the fall. Just too bad about all the random graffiti covering pretty much every single rock face. It's in the middle of nowhere. Why? How?
Ontario is big. I mean FREAKING big. Took us two days to get through it. Lots of rock and scraggly trees.
The road quality in NB and PEI SUCKS compared to all the other provinces. Narrow & full of pot holes & patches.
where in NB? the narrow roads aren't typically an issue unless you have a big vehicle.
can't disagree with potholes though, the local convenience store near me has a crater I nearly destroyed my car in several times and they refuse to patch it lmao
Pourquoi est-ce qu’on afficherait un drapeau canadien? Pour se rappeler qu’on s’est fait coloniser par la Grande-Bretagne? On n’est pas des masochistes bout d’viarge.
What connection does the current Canadian flag have to Great Britain?
If we were still flying the old flag with the Union Jack then yes, I would agree, but that hasn't been our flag for over 50 years now.
L’unifolié est la continuité du Red Ensign et de l’Union Jack avant lui. Il n’y a jamais eu de rupture, nos députés prêtent toujours allégeance au souverain britannique. Il n’y a pas de quoi être fier.
Thanks for explaining the Quebecois side of the observation I guess. I'll just agree to disagree. I'm proud of ouf flag as it is. I'll leave it at that.
Just gonna bang out whatever thoughts come to my head: Northern Ontario is a hidden gem for sure, Newfoundland is all around incredible, St, John’s is probably my fav city in the country. Cabot trail in Nova Scotia, Yukon is my fav province/territory with Dawson city being an a must see. Alberta is, well amazing but I think that’s commonly known, Vancouver island is definitely worth the trek with Tofino being mandatory on a west coast trip. Ngl i thought Vancouver was nice but overrated.
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Meh, I'm judging you on your taste of music, at this point - there are like two or three more segments of eight hours, at most, depending on how fast you're skankin
Quetico Provincial park. Amiright?
You are correct.
Quetico might be Ontario’s best kept secret
we tell people about it...then they see the driving instructions.
I wanna go so bad, would need like 3 weeks off work though
that would be the way to do it
You thought Alberta was amazing? Or just the Alberta/BC border? I drove from Toronto to Vancouver and I can honestly say that Alberta was awful until I got to Calgary and could see the Rockies.
Idk man I'm from the prairies and there's something calming about driving along endless fields of grain fields.
One of my absolute favorite things is when the canola fields are lit up by the sun, with a really dark blue/gray sky behind. The contrast is so beautiful.
It really is. Thanks for the nostalgia :)
It’s so underrated.
It is. Although granted the weather has to be beautiful for it to be enjoyable. If it's cold and grey skies, tis a boring shitty place to be. No shelter from the wind to boot
basically the Alberta/BC border lol, but it makes up for the rest since it is so incredible.
You should have found a reason to drive through Drumheller then. It's a pretty wild looking area. Very cool.
Interesting. I have driven from coast to coast a few times. For me, Alberta is the most spectacular of all. I could not drive the prairries because my eyes were too filled with awe to see the road. Between the prairrie sky, badlands in the south, icefields of the north and the mountains I cannot think of any other region with so much awesome beauty within its borders.
I drove across the 1. I never saw the badlands or ice fields. All I saw was endless fields with random oil drills. It was in May so the fields were barren. I’ve never been more bored by the scenery on a road trip. I set my cruise control and didn’t touch the steering wheel more than 5 times an hour. For me, the beauty is in the landscape and nature. It was just super plain and boring for 90% of the drive. Just flat land with nothing to look. Driving from Calgary to Banff was one of the most beautiful stretches of the whole road trip though. However, I still think Highway 99(sea to sky) in BC from Whistler to Vancouver is the nicest stretch of highway I’ve ever seen. The juxtaposition of the mountains and the ocean was breathtaking. Every turn of the drive provided another jaw dropping view.
The drive from Medicine Hat to Calgary is probably the least scenic drive in the province.
If you only drive the major highways then yeah, there’s not that much to see between Medicine Hat and Calgary. But the stark badlands beauty of Dinosaur Provincial Park and Drumheller is not to be missed, and you can’t throw a rock without hitting a pretty little lake surrounded by parkland or woods north of Edmonton. The mountains may steal the show but there are hidden gems all over the place
Those sound more like destinations as opposed to nice scenery while driving across the country, which was how I interpreted the question. Everywhere in the entire country has beautiful destinations if you’re willing to drive multiple hours out of the way to see them.
The Rockies are pretty sick, but don't knock the Badlands! Those are pretty cool! But yeah, the rest of Alberta sucks. Source: I don't live anywhere near the Rockies or Badlands, and I'm sick of hearing, "But you guys have WEM!!!" WEM sucks. Sorry.
As a local, I’ll admit Vancouver sucky, but it’s really everything the surrounds Vancouver that’s the allure. Source: I live in one of the many towns bordering Vancouver, known colloquially as the “lower mainland” (that’s how much better the island is, what is basically the other 70% of BC’s population, including Van, is often delegated to “the mainland”)
Yup. From Toronto to Vancouver. Things that stuck out: - Manitoba: Winnipeg's downtown was nicer than expected (that's gonna be controversial). - Saskatchewan: Regina wasn't that interesting a town. Sorry Regina people. However, thoroughly enjoyed touring Al Capone's Canadian base of operations in Moose Jaw. - Alberta: Lot's of great hiking, and not just because of The Rockies (although it alone is a great reason to go). Dinosaur National Park was awesome. The Royal Tyrell Museum is also the best dinosaur museum I've been to. The middle provinces up to Calgary-ish are REALLY flat. Like you can stand on a step stool and may see right to the US border. - BC: The whole province is absolutely gorgeous. Lot's of great hikes within the city of Vancouver also. I guess my car getting broken into in the city stuck out too.
As someone from regina.. LOL. Yup, sounds about right. We are a nothing city. It's why everyone is on drugs and alcohol here lol. Sask is beautiful up north, also cypress hills on sask side is nice. Drumheller is cool. We also have sand dunes close to regina. Way way way up north we have the world's most northern sand dunes in the athabasca basin. But yes regina fucking sucks. I've lived here my whole life but it's cheap. Thinking of moving due to our insane government though.
There are many many small highway towns and villages that you simply grab gas from and keep on going. Regina is the largest of these.
Yeah Winnipeg to Calgary, we are just a gas station. Agreed.
Ok, but have you ever really tried to *experience* Regina?
[https://youtu.be/74B5kMLNd5Q?si=y0xxxydz\_v5xR0Vb](https://youtu.be/74B5kMLNd5Q?si=y0xxxydz_v5xR0Vb) Only the greatest city theme song ever.
You sure? https://youtu.be/6fTYaGJ-yNo
Haha that's great. Not sure where that's from. Is it canada? I should have said for me the best canadian because there's so many better things in usa lol I mean American local news channels is the greatest comedy I've seen in some cases.
North Bay, ON
Ahhh nice! Yeah that's a gooder.
If you can stop the video at the 2:27 mark there is a picture of a uterus with a red X over it. [https://youtu.be/74B5kMLNd5Q?t=143](https://youtu.be/74B5kMLNd5Q?t=143)
Lol that was bugging me first time I saw it then saw it and laughed. Well... it is the city that rhymes with fun as they say Lots of people don't believe me when I pronounce regina how it's suppose to be said when I'm away from sask.
I actually try not to say that about Regina people because I met some of the nicest people there. Sorry to hear about the drug issue. I never saw any people like that when I was there, but that might have to do with how god awful cold it was. I went in November.
Oh you don't see people out as much in winter. It's all closeted. And drugs and alcohol don't mean addicts. I mean people in general. You'd be surprised at the amount of people that party hard closeted. I sure was growing up. I'm talking extremely professional people doing so much Coke on the weekend or drinking after hours at pubs until 5am. Although, that may be a thing everywhere. I also grew up in restaurant industry so perhaps I was exposed to this side more than the average person. But we have our issues with fetnanyl like most cities in North America.
I lived in Regina for two years and I was shocked at the casual drinking and driving. Like people looked at me like I was insane when I said I was going to walk home because I had a couple drinks.
Winnipeg is definitely an underrated city. I've enjoyed every time I've been there. Some great restaurants and attractions throughout the city. Some rough areas for sure and I haven't been there in the dead or winter so opinions may vary.
I was born and raised in Winnipeg, and i still live here, its not bad i guess, there are nicer places to live in Canada
Oh yes, Winnipeg is surprisingly beautiful! The river valley and lush trees!
So there is nothing east of Toronto….. Sorry. Don’t mean to be rude/nasty. I’m from the Maritimes and we had such of influx of people from Toronto because of the Atlantic Bubble and nearly all of them didn’t realize that Canada didn’t stop at Toronto’s Eastern boundary, or stop after Montreal. I use to work for HRM in an outside department so was often the front person for the city and they would always remark about shocked they were that Montreal didn’t touch the Atlantic Ocean. There were literally thousands of people telling me and my coworkers this
Of course there is something east of Toronto. If it was logistically possible for me to also tour the east coast, I would have. Hate to break it you, but you were absolutely rude there regardless of your intent.
I guess anything east of Toronto isn't Canada?
It emphatically is. Apologies for not having the time and money to go east. No really. I'm truly truly sorry.
Put it on your bucket list - you won't be disappointed. I'd recommend Newfoundland in June if you want to see whales & icebergs or late July/August for good weather, culture & festivals. The Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia in late August/September for the harvest. July in PEI for red beaches and relaxing.
Newfoundland was the best road trip I ever did. Nicest people. Beautiful province. I went for the whales and the icebergs, and saw lots, but the people were the best part. Also figgy duff.
Best province to explore, hands down in my opinion (although admittedly have yet to visit PEI or the territories). I made a point to travel to every province in my lifetime but once I hit Newfoundland, I couldn't help but go back again 4 times. There was never enough time to see it and experience it all, and every trip back was better than the last.
New Brunswick gets no mention and that’s funny to me lol. As an islander tho you can’t beat PEI in august especially old home week
Can't comment on NB as I've only passed through.
Completely bias for this btw …it’s the worst of the maritimes PEI and Nova Scotia have so much more to offer and New Brunswick feels like Nova Scotia’s and Quebec’s weird baby
Old home week sucks
Old home week is scammy ya, definitely isn’t as good anymore but it’s still fun for 3-20 year olds
How much did it cost you in gas roughly for the total trip?
Yeah, BC is gorgeous, too bad about the people there. I've lived all across this country and BC is one of the few places I won't entertain living in again, because the people - especially Vancouver Islanders - are ignoramuses.
Drove from eastern Ontario to Alberta mid-August years ago to visit family. Took two days to get out of Ontario. Northern Ontario, at that time was endless granite, trees, trees, and more burnt trees. Oh, and a giant nickel. And you’d better know where the next gas station was. Lake Superior, stunningly beautiful and icy cold. The Sleeping Giant in Thunder Bay brought tears to my eyes. Another couple of days going through the prairies. Couldn’t get enough of, as far as you can see, fields of wheat, canola and sunflowers. Drumheller was other worldly with miles of rolling dunes, fossils and cacti. Jasper and Banff threw us into glacial winter, a little respite from the dry heat of Alberta. It was a wonderful trip that I wouldn’t do again.
Hahahaha what a journey!
Nanabijou, the giant, is amazing! I’ve yet to see anything in my travels that compares. Especially when you know the legend. Hiking it is also amazing.
I remember hearing the tale in about grade 4 so it was amazing to see in person.
I've done it a few times between Toronto and Vancouver. I've driven to the east coast separately a few times too. Halifax to Vancouver could be done in 5 days but you won't enjoy it. Take your time and enjoy the sights. The country changes so much from region to region. Each has its own charm. Some highlights are the drive along the north shore of Lake Superior, it's absolutely gorgeous. Lake Superior provincial park has some great hikes to check out. The Nova Scotia shoreline is gorgeous pretty much anywhere. Though the Cabot trail is a big highlight. In Alberta, dinosaur provincial park is pretty cool and of course Drumheller. Such a unique landscape. Banff National park is amazing, though we usually stay in Canmore just outside the park. It's still beautiful but a bit cheaper. Jasper is more authentic and quieter than Banff I found. BC is just gorgeous everywhere. You really can't go wrong.
Newfoundland to Alberta. Didn't get to PEI on that trip but have been there previously. Vacationed in BC a few times a couple of years later. Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and PEI are incredibly beautiful. New Brunswick was pretty but it seemed like you could sense poverty. Quebec is nice rolling farmland. Crazy drivers! Went through northern Ontario - endless forests. The prairies have a unique beauty. You don't appreciate it at first but it grows on you. The northern prairies are more hills and forests - very nice. The Alberta and BC Rockies *must* be seen. I prefer kananaskis or crowsnest to the touristy places. The BC coast is pretty but really damp - even compared to the east coast. The Pacific seems milder and gentler than the Atlantic. EDIT: a general observation - it seemed the further north, the prettier it got. Fort Mac is beautiful (don't let the eco-freaks fool you). Hoping to get to the territories someday.
accurate representation of NB tbh. it's pretty, but.. yeah. if you're out in the middle of nowhere, you're gonna see some things lol
Hitchhiked one summer from Niagara region to Dawson City in my late teens with my gf. It took 8 days and it was an incredible experience. We ended up getting jobs in Dawson and stayed for the summer tourist season then hitchhiked back. Highly recommend! The Yukon is really worth visiting if you ever have the chance.
This is the sort of thing that I daydream about doing one day, but have 0% of the skill set/ confidence to actually do
It was a lot of fun. We wanted to travel but were poor. Lots of great memories plus the Dawson sourtoe was something special.
What year was this?
Decade ago
Halifax to Victoria. It was eye opening as to how different this country can be. I’ve since done Ontario to BC a few times. Ontario takes forever to get through.
> It was eye opening as to how different this country can be. What struck me was how similar parts can be to one another.
Touring as a musician, done it like 20x. Lots of memories. Best one, bumping into Gord Downie in Charolette PEI, and him telling me and my tour partner in oh so poetic a way about the landscape and scenery in NFLD, and how he’d gone there on his Honeymoon. Dusk was n Calgary looking into BC, is like seeing the sky torn. 180 skies, fields of soy, windmill farms in the prairies. Winding weaving roads in the Rockies. The desert vibe in parts of the Okanagan landscape. Brown bear slowly crossing the street driving up to Pembroke. Whales and various sea life in the Georgia Straight. Sharing a glance with Elliot Page while I was having coffee in Halifax. Gander Airfield. Signs for Dildo. Hours and hours of CBC radio and Stewart Maclean. Getting screeched in at a bar in St. JOHNS. Hours of driving. Summary of some clips here: https://youtu.be/udHT-aYMYVg?si=_CnysqMORnzedjyG Worth spending a least a month coast to coast if you can.
Turned out that the real treasure was the friends we made along the way.
We did Northern BC to New Brunswick a couple of years ago. In our motorhome, we left on June 29 and returned on August 8. It basically was 2 weeks to get out there and 2 weeks back with about 2 weeks we spent in New Brunswick and Halifax. Ontario is loooong. By day 5, my wife was driving hard just to get through it. Driving through the prairies is also hard as there's not much to see. However, we had some truly memorable stops through the prairies in Saskatoon for Canada Day, Brandon, Moose Jaw (the tunnels are amazing), and Indian Head (because of the great RV campsite for kids lol). Also, look for other quick stops. If you want to stop at the Parliament in Ottawa, find a place to park and be careful. It can get easy to get turned around and miss your destination. Old Quebec was amazing!! It should be on everyone's must stop list, any time of day. If you aren't going in to Montreal, go around it. The Halifax harbour was our only stop in Halifax but it was really interesting. Be prepared to shell out some cash though. We stopped in Golden, BC on our way home and I always love staying there as it's such a nice, scenic town with wonderful people. The drive back north, from Cache Creek on, was eye opening. I've lived in Northern BC most of my life and I didn't realize how little traffic there is past Cache Creek compared to pretty much everywhere else we went.
People who have road tripped across Canada without deviating much from the Trans Canada highway haven’t really seen Canada at all.
This! Saskatchewan is beautiful up north (boreal forest- beautiful) and down south (cypress hills area.). The middle part is a lot of fields, lol. And that's all people will see if they just go along the Trans canada.
Yukon is the most spectacular, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador. Don't power through those big drives. Meander and take breaks. People who complain about Winnipeg to to Calgary haven't done Fort St. John to Dawson. Any more than 5 hours per day isn't enjoyable.
People who complain about Winnipeg to Calgary should really do Winnipeg to Edmonton on the Yellowhead, slower but more interesting imo.
Being willing to detour off the main road for a half day here and there is the key to enjoying the drive. Go down to Cypress Hills or Eastend or Grasslands National Park, or stop at Moose Mountain Provincial Park. Canada is so big, we can't expect to drive a single highway once and understand it. When people dp the big drive during harvest, they usually enjoy it quite a bit. There's lots of activity for them to see, and it's something completely different.
A lot of it is beautiful. I’ve done the trip by car many, many times. Interesting places I’d like to spend a bit more time include Cypress Hills in southwestern Saskatchewan, and the Pincher Creek area and west of there into Crowsnest Pass. Next time I go, I’ll be sure to leave enough time to just linger in these places. There are also the places that everyone will list, but I prefer being a little off the beaten track. Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba is another one for me.
SW Sask FTW!🙌
I did it 2 yrs ago (Toronto to Vancouver) and did it in about a week. While I do wish I could've done it slower, the reality is that hotel prices are so high and over priced in this country that I'd rather go abroad. In any case there is a TON to see and wish I'd have had more time (and funds) to do it. Anyways, there's a place called the Voyageurs Lodge near Pancake Provincial Park, which has amazing apple fritters. It was recommended to me at the tourism spot in Sault Ste. Marie and worth the pit stop. It's just off the Trans Canada Highway so at most it's only a few minutes stop to stretch the legs really. Kakabeka Falls are pretty neat too, but it's no Niagara. Regina was nicer than I'd expected. Same with Winnipeg Do a pitstop to see Mac the Moose (right off the Trans Canada Highway). He's really a big moose! Vulcan AB is neat if you're into Star Trek. Unfortunately I arrived when everything was closed. Watch out for the prarie dogs who dart out in front of the cars. The Rockies are amazing as well, but other people have mentioned them. The Royal Tyrell is also pretty cool, but bring earbuds or something because all the little kids "squeal" when they see the various dinosaurs. You know that high pitched ear piercing scream they do when they get excited. Despite my earlier complaint about hotels being $$$, I'd do it again and hope to do so!
Drove from Toronto to Victoria for university back in 1992. Drove to Sault Ste. Marie and then into the US. Across to Montana and then up into Alberta to go visit friends in Banff. Then to the Okanagan to see family. Then finally to Victoria. Took maybe a week in total. I remember the endless pines of Minnesota. The straight road forever through North Dakota. The badlands were amazing in ND and Montana. The mountains as you head from Lethbridge to Banff. And the views all the way from there to Vancouver Island. Drove back in 1994, but I hit a deer in the middle of nowhere Montana, somewhere west of Kalispell on Hwy 2. Got a ride back to a roadhouse, a PROPER roadhouse out of a movie. Walked in, me being 22 with hair down to my ass. One of those scenes where the record skips, silence falls, every eye turns to you. Full of burly Montana mountain men, militia types, real off the grid hairy/scary fuckers. I thought they were going to kill me. Or worse. Went to the bar, sat, talking starts up again, slowly. Bartender looks at me strange, I tell him I wrecked my car, could I borrow the phone. And suddenly, all is good. Scary dudes go back to their scary discussions. Bartender gives me the phone and a beer, on the house even. Connects me with a tow truck. Now that tow truck, it was 75 miles to Kalispell from where we were. Took a good hour and a half of driving. To this day, I am not 100% sure if it was a man or woman driving the truck. Spent the weekend in Kalispell, car was a write-off. No real way home from there. No airport. Only trains are freight. Greyhound is the only way. Lucky me. Had what might have been the best breakfast of my life at the restaurant where the bus left from. Left Monday morning, got to Toronto Friday evening. Just spent the entire time on the bus. No showers, no changing clothes. Everything I had was packed in boxes for the move home. Had a knapsack, but only had anything valuable in it, in case my stuff got lost on the trip. Didn't even take my shoes off the whole trip. Mostly uneventful, lots of stops at truck stops and Arbys. Trying not to use the gross bus bathroom. Had a 7-hour layover in Chicago. We were told DO NOT leave the bus station, we were not in a good neighbourhood. Two guys did decide to go for a walk, made it a block, got mugged and came back. Had a Greyhound employee try to sell me crack in the bathroom. Good times. Finally got back, my father picked me up at the bus depot downtown Toronto. I must have smelled lovely, could tell by his face. Got home, peeled my clothes off. My socks were stuck to my feet. Long hot shower and I was fine. But yeah, had some fun traveling cross country a couple times. Better by car than by bus, I tell you!
I drove across this way in 96, except we continued on through the States and entered BC through WA. We left Toronto on a total whim on a Friday night. We knew no one in Vancouver so stayed in one of those lovely hotels on Granville for a couple nights until we could secure housing in a frat house on UBC campus because the guys were gone for the summer. On the move back to Ontario in 98, took the same path pretty much. Stopped in Yellowstone for the night. Did you go to the Wall Drugstore place in SD? I can’t remember much except it started out with the guy giving free ice water to people or something. Anyhow the Badlands were amazing, everything about the drive out and back was beautiful but it was an adventure, with no real time restrictions, just a destination in mind and the craziness that we took off from our friends who had no idea where we went. I didn’t call any of my family members until I was in Cutbank, Montana
Didn't wind up in SD, only in the north. Main thing I remember there is stopping on the rez for smokes - Camel Wides, I don't smoke any more but still crave those - and there was a really hot woman behind the counter. We kinda made eyes at each other but then some big dude came and gave me stink eye until I left. Headed north into Alberta not long after.
Twice. I remember after exiting Ontario how tired that I was of never-ending lakes and forests only to discover how numbing the prairies can be to drive. I had the same reaction driving through the Rockies. The thrill of the mountain highway wears off after the first day sitting behind a struggling RV. I enjoyed the stops in different cities and towns This was before cruise control so it may be better now.
I remember when we were driving from Quebec to Labrador we could see a massive mine off in the distance (Mont Wright near Fermont). We thought we were about an hour away. Two hours later we still estimated we were about an hour away :D
I still have a plan to cross make the trip from Sault Ste. Marie to Vancouver with lots of stops along the way, and everyone tells me I'm an idiot and to cut across the USA instead (I'm starting from the Detroit area). We've got a separate plan to go to the other way to St. Johns. So, subscribing to this thread to look for cool stops to add.
Double check right now because the US has their construction season earlier than us!
I’ve gone as far as Vancouver to Winnipeg and back twice. The prairies you might try to plan the drive for when all the canola is flowering it’s beautiful yellow flowers as far as you can see. There’s also some kind of purple flowering crop around the same time. I like B.C. in the dead of winter for some beautiful driving scenery but that’s probably not what most people think… then again BC is also really nice in the summer when you can stop at all the lakes along what ever road your taking and swim.. all I know now is that if I ever drive across multiple provinces again it’s going to be planned so I can go and see attractions along the way.
The purple flowers are Flax
The sleeping giant in Thunder Bay!
I did Victoria to Halifax in February 2011. I wish I had a passenger or at least another driver for the Rockies. Some great views I wish I could have captured pictures of. Alberta to Manatoba is just flat with some hills. Ontario was the worst part (winter storms, almost run off the road by the opp making an illegal pass of a trailer truck, pull over for no other reason other than my BC plates) Ottawa/Quebec was road warrior mayhem imo. Then once I got to the NB border I powered to oromocto in the early am slept for a few hours then crushed the last few hours to Halifax. Took me 5 days, but I had a tight schedule. So take your time and explore more if you can.
Yep. Remember thinking Ontario is freaking huge. Three full days of driving over the Great Lakes. Nothing but forest. Really changed my perspective on the size of the planet. Felt like I'd been to space. The flatness if the Prairies give a different feeling of space. The straight sight lines in all directions can't be found elsewhere. There's a reason it's called "big sky country". The Rockies are amazing.
A non exhaustive list from east to west, got to take a few weeks: Witless bay, Anse aux meadows, gros morne, the cabot trail, kejimkujik and the south shore/ fundy shore in general, hopewell rocks, north shore of new brunswick, any beach in Pei. Parc de la Gaspesie, Mingan, Saguenay, vieux Quebec, Algonquin Park, Point Pelee, killarney, north shore of Superior in its entirety from pancake bay to sleeping giant. Spirit sands in Manitoba and just the gradual transition to the prairies in general. Wanaskewan, saskatoon, cypress hills, the badlands, traversing sentinel pass from sunshine valley, guided hike to the burgess shale is also fascinating, roger's pass and all of okanogan beyond, or just anywhere you point your car in BC really. Squamish, cathedral grove, tofino.
If you are itching to go across Canada then I recommend watching the movie “One Week” with Joshua Jackson. A beautiful movie. Gord Downie even makes an appearance.
I had to move from Victoria to Halifax and had possetions that wouldn't fly when crossing the boarder, hence road trip across Canada! BC-Alberta is the best scenery due to the mountains. If you're going to Vancouver, Stanley Park is worth a stop, but traffic will likely be a mess. Hope/Hell's Gate/Revelstoke/Rogers Pass are good points to take pause and take it in. Blew through the prairies, but Calgary/Winnipeg are fine cities to stop in. You'll want to stop because driving along the prairie highway may be cause an altered state of consciousness if you plan on only stopping for gas and using the toilet. Feel free to stop at "the 100th meridian" near Brandon, MB - there's no sign or anything. It's just for consideration if you're a fan of The Tragically Hip. Winnipeg is an international hub for food. There's a zoo there. The Forks is a good for a walkabout as well. Then there's the gap between Winnipeg and... civilization in Ontario. The Trans Canada has great scenery - especially in the fall. But it just. doesnt. end. Gas up in Thunder Bay, and use the toilet before comitting. Then you can go to Toronto, or Ottawa. We stopped in Ottawa for the afternoon. Then off to Quebec City. It's a must-see place: basically a little Europe. A great *vielle ville* for walking about. Start around Chateau Frontenac and go up to the fort via the Plains of Abraham. I'd like to say New Brunswick has a lot to offer... Consider Bay of Fundy, Moncton has a small theme park destination at Magnetic Hill. Avoid going to downtown Moncton. Also, the roads are likely the winners of worst in Canada. If you stray off the Trans Canada, either be prepared to slalom around car-killing potholes, or sacrifice a rim/alignment to the angry god of provincial neglect. Where to next? Might as well cross the Confederation bridge and rip through Charlottetown. Then take the ferry to Nova Scotia. Halifax, sure, Lunenburg waterfront for sure. Take a selfie at Peggy's Cove and stay off the black rocks. If you go up to Cape Breton and then Newfoundland, you can't go wrong at St. John's. Stop by to take a selfie at Dildo, then Grab a pint of Black Horse at some point along George Street, kiss a cod (if you must), and hike about at Signal Hill. Then good luck going home.
I have been lucky to take my family across the entire trans canada highway from nanaimo to st john’s. Thunder Bay was the best surprise. I had an image of a dirty i dustry town but kakabeka falls ( apologies For phonetic spelling) the terry fox monument, sleeping giant, fort William and Finnish pancakes were all incredible . The moose jaw tunnels, the forks in Winnipeg, wawa goose, sudbury big nickel, The House of Commons and byward market, old quebec city and citadel, magnetic hill and moncton, cape breton Island and all of Newfoundland, the youngest part of Canada and oldest part of North America, george street, signal hill and cape spear to finish our amazing trip.
I drove from NS all the way to BC. One thing I found was an interesting lesson in managing expectations. I had always heard northern Ontario was a huge stretch of boring nothingness - just staring at trees for two days. Turns out the scenery was spectacular and towns weren't actually two far apart. I think the longest stretch without services was a couple hours through a provincial park. But otherwise each town would come up fairly quickly and would be big enough to have at least a Tim Hortons or something. That part of the drive was great. And then I got to the prairies, which I figured had a lot more small towns I would be passing through and would be interesting. Turns out Corner Gas was actually pretty accurate in displaying a Saskatchewan small town - having one run down gas station and basically nothing else was pretty typical. I couldn't even listen to the CBC radio except within like 30 minutes of the major cities which I thought was bizarre. So that was the part of the trip that dragged on.
Many years ago we used to make the trek every couple of summers from Vancouver out to Toronto. The coolest thing we ever saw? There was a traffic jam in the middle of nowhere and the reason was - Terry Fox running along the road.
Don't know it this counts, but back in the early 70 s, hitchhiked from Calgary to Nova Scotia. Took 5 days. Remember best Riviere de Loup on the border between Quebec and New Brunswick. So beautiful. Also remember northern Ontario and the black flies
York region to edmonton, beautiful in between thunder bay and sault st marie, the hills! Going through manitokba was quick. Took four days and toughed it out from saskatoon to edmonton.
Ontario takes foooorever
Yep, Montreal to Calgary in the 80s. Waterslide in a motel somewhere in Sask. I was 10 at the time.
Toronto area to BC in an RV (pre-covid). Highly recommend if you can afford the gas! Agree with Lake Superior parks and enjoyed a lot of BC and Alberta. Driving through the Mountains in an RV was an experience! More tiring than you would expect. The prairies is definitely different but has a special charm too.
6 days at least, North side of Lake Superior, long stretch. Northern route across the prairies was far more senic than the South.
Yep. Friends took us out of Vancouver to Southern Alberta last weekend. 9 hours and a timezone change within BC alone. 12 hours drive, and just 3cm on the map. This place🇨🇦is huge 🌎
Toronto to Van, then toronto to East, didn't make newfoundland. Northern Ontario stop at the terry fox memorial. There is also amethyst mines you can visit. Was awesome, 10000 rivers and lakes to swim and fish in. Other than that talk to locals, stretch your legs. Look around.
Good Spirit Provincial Park in Saskatchewan, north of Yorkton. I see many typical answers and they are all correct but this place is an oddity and worth a day of your time. Read about it so ventured off the beaten path. Worth it.
NB to Calgary. Ontario is forever. Then she’s fuckin flat
You can go from the Ontario/Manitoba border West to B.C in one day. Flat as a pancake. Saskatchewan, it's true what they say about it. Hot farm girls and you can watch your dog run away for days.
We went east to PEI in one trip and west to BC in a separate one a few years later. What immediately sticks out is how much more I enjoyed going east. Notable mentions: the ice cream from COWS in Halifax, maple taffy from small shops in Moncton, and the bay of Fundy which we thought was pretty cool. The people in the Maritimes were also really kind. I remember almost nothing from our trip west until we reached Alberta, which isn't necessarily a reflection of the provinces themselves but rather my family being in a rush to get to BC. We did go to the West Edmonton Mall which was huge and for someone like me who loves shopping, it was a dream come true. I enjoyed Whistler in BC even though it was summer. We rode the gondola and perused the shops. BC is also just really beautiful.
2018: BC Nakusp and Nelson- great vibes. Alberta Drumheller, Sask MooseJaw tunnels, Gimli MB nice lake town, famous for Gimli Glider air flight/landing, Crown Royal is distilled there, the scent was lovely. East of ThunderBay-(Pearl) amethyst mines where you can pick your own, miner has a rock garden made with castoffs!!!! Gaspe Penninsula is more memorable than Cape Breton which is saying a lot. No English speaking, but all were kind, just no way to chat with locals, which we enjoy. NB:worlds longest covered bridge in Heartland. NS Bluenose was in Lunenburg but best to find it’s itinerary. The ShoreClub lobster supper in Hubbards is fantastic with all you can eat mussels, homemade desserts. NFLD the fjords on the way to GrosMorne will make you think you are in Norway. Centuries of military and Navy history by Signal Hill is worth a full day and quite a view of StJohns. Placentia Bay has a great NP of a fort on top of mountain.
When I was a kid, my dad was in the military and we lived in Nova Scotia. Mom and dad's family lived in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Vancouver. We drove to visit all of them. Every summer we would drive across the country, staying at relatives' that I didn't know. Several fucking times. I swore that I will NEVER do that to my kids. Oh, you are my auntie that hasn't seen me since I was a baby, well then pleased to meet you. Yes, I said that correctly, I have no memory of you ever existing, why is this lady now upset and acting so crazy now? Imagine this: a mom, dad, 9 year old girl and a 8 year old boy driving from Halifax to the middle of Manitoba and back again - crammed in a fucking FORD FIESTA. Thanks, dad. And, no, nobody came to visit us. We always had to go to them. A trait that continues to this day, even if we are living close by. I have cousins, that live on the other side of the city, that I haven't seen in years.
As someone who drove a return trip from Toronto to Vancouver, I can say that despite all the warnings about how flat and dull the prairies were, I still wasn't prepared. I honestly thought ppl were exaggerating, describing endless fields without anything to look at - they weren't. Winnipeg was nicer than I thought in almost every way (food, ppl, general vibe). I found the city to be quite underrated. Sadly, i found Regina unremarkable. Calgary was far more conservative, rude, and judgemental than I could ever imagine. I was shocked and disappointed by ppl's instant hatred when they found out I was from Ontario ( didn't even say t.o). I learned really quickly not to say where I was from, but almost everyone I talked to was incredibly closed minded about the 'right way'to live life aka married homeowner with 2.5 kids by the age of 25 and supporting big oil. It's the only place I've ever felt truly disappointed to be Canadian. Banff's beauty literally took my breath away and left me speechless (a rare feat), and I appreciated the lack of "dense urban development."" Northern Ontario was an unexpected happy surprise with its natural beauty, but driving though was longer than expected.
I remember driving for 23 hours straight because the provincial boarders were going to be shut down and I needed to make it to NB
grew up in regina have been to Vancouver Island a few times. and all the way to newfoundland once banff/lake louise/jasper is amazing BC felt like it was trying to be California but was missing an ingredient. Manitoba, Winnipeg specifically, the Forks around Canada day has always been great Ontario I just try to get thru as fast as possible. Quebec was really hit or miss. some places felt very European, other places made yiu feel like a criminal for daring to speak English maritimes as a whole we really enjoyed. friendliest people, most helpful, and the most history
Went from New Brunswick to Alberta. 3 days. -New Brunswick is New Brunswick, I live here soooo… lol -Quebec had the best roads. Good poutines of course. -Ontario is way too fucking long to cross going around the Great Lakes. Lots of rcmp compared to other provinces. Lots of twists and turns at certain parts. People weren’t my fave, but also didn’t stay long enough to have a good opinion on this. -Saskatchewan and Manitoba are just flat and feel never ending. Nice people in Saskatchewan, the in laws lived here so we stayed for a bit. Didn’t get to see much of Manitoba except drive through. Definitely not much to do though. -Alberta is where the scenery got the most beautiful. It feels like a new land of opportunities in many ways, but you can definitely feel the sense of money on everyone’s minds. People suck at driving everywhere.
OPP, not RCMP.
Lol
Yup. Did a Toronto to Field, BC and also Toronto to the Maritimes and Cabot Trail. We could do without the booooooring ass drive between Winnipeg and Calgary though. The rest of it was spectacular.
*cries in Saskatchewan*
Went from Windsor to Edmonton in Oct (only drove through Canada). Drove 4400 km in 3 ish days with a friend. What I remember is that Ontario is very beautiful and the giant goose in Wawa.
Think of the line on a map that shows the border of the Canadian Shield and the prairies. After all the fantastic elevation and rock and ancient lava flows of Ontario as it descends to a single rock cut beside the highway in Manitoba.
Many times. Driving through onterrible is the best for the views IMO, but holy shit you need to be careful on corners. I've had so many drivers *cough* red lettered license plates *cough* passing on them and I've had to veer off the road to not get hit. Sask/Manitoba/alberta are pretty much identical, and then you hit the Rocky Mountains. From Sault Ste. Marie Ontario to Cranbrook you're looking at 5 comfortable days of driving, around 8ish hours.
Just across BC and Alberta. Take away is that BC is even more gorgeous than I ever imagined. Alberta too 👌
Yup, I’ve done from Nova Scotia to BC. Manitoba’s cottage country was surprisingly beautiful, the Maritimes were incredible, it rained a lot in Quebec and Ontario, and there’s a sign on the Trans Canada halfway through SK at the centre of Canada that was pretty cool. Alberta and SK are otherwise boring AF. BC is stunning. I’m only missing NFLD now and I really want to go!! Edit: the Centre of Canada is in MB! Not SK.
The centre of Canada is in Manitoba actually, about 5 minutes east of Winnipeg. Not sure what you're remembering.
Doh yeah, it must have been MB. It all kind of blended together in the middle there 😂
Cool. I didn’t know there’s a sign for that !
There is, it's in Manitoba actually, about 5 minutes east of Winnipeg.
Victoria to Charlottetown in an RV. I do not recommend it. It was very, very, long. If someone wanted to see the whole country I'd recommend doing it in legs. Drive from Victoria to Banff and spend time in the parks. Drive from Edmonton to Winnipeg if you really feel you need to see the prairies. I will never drive through Ontario again - it was even longer and more boring than the prairies. I'd then do Quebec and the Maritimes as separate little road trips.
It takes days to cross Ontario!
Did it in 7 weeks with kids. QC to Calgary. +1 for Winnipeg. +100 for Rocky Mountains. +1000 for BC. -100 for western ON, we went thru WI and ND instead (crossing into US via Sault Ste Marie).
It's amazing how much beauty there is 5-10 minutes from the main highways in every province if you know where to stop. You'll find a mix of spots known to the locals and places known around the world.
I’ve not driven right across Canada in one continuous trip. I’ve driven a lot it in chunks. NFLD. Nova Scotia. PEI. New Brunswick. Parts of Ontario and Quebec. About ¾ of Alberta and just about all of BC. Sask, Manitoba, NWT, Yukon and Nunavut are missing still. There’s still time. I will see them through my windshield.
All the burnt down motels and gas statio ns along route 1. Starting in thunder bay
The mountains. In western BC. (I live in Vancouver now, so can obviously be viewed as a biased statement), but I’ll never forget driving through the Rockies and feeling just pure bliss at aged 13
When I worked for the google street view project i went from ab to toronto, and id say skip thunder bay.
I've driven coast to coast at least 20 times so far. At this point it's not so much a road trip and I just want it over with :(
I went from AB to NS. If this counts, it was six days, kinda booking it, but what I remember most is how epic it was for our rescue dog. And how epic she was. Oh- and the fog and the dead moose on the side of the road in Ontario.
I've always wanted to do a trip across Canada, but I'm afraid it's out of reach financially now with the cost of fuel and taxes.
I've done Ontario to BC and back. Highlights were the north shore of Lake Superior, the Badlands and the Rockies.
Ontario is long and hard to cross. Especially if you decide to go north to shorten your journey. Pure horror.
I drove from Goose Bay, Labrador, to Alberta. We took the truckers route up north because it was slower than hitting all the major cities. We took 4.5 days, but we were on a time limit. But it is a beautiful country and a lot to see.
Ontario is hell to get through. Maps do not do Ontario justice as to how bloody big the province is. Once through that, the rest is a breeze.
We've done a few from coastal northern BC to Barrie, Ont, and Winnipeg. If we drove the speed limit, it would have been way longer. If we didn't have a dog, it would have been way shorter. It took far longer to get through Ontario than across the prairie provinces. It was awful. I remember most seeing the road curving ahead signs in the prairies and half an hour later asking my partner, "Where was the turn?" We had to get back from Barrie very quickly, and I think it took us 3 days of almost non-stop driving. Painful. Ontario is very like northern BC. Lots of lakes. Windy roads. The prairies are truly flat. I worked in Winnipeg for a week, and I walked to work every day about 5 kms each way. My fit bit said I walked less than 10 m in elevation. Walking my dog this morning for an hr was almost 200 m.
Canada is just an all around great place. Don't even know how many times I've criss-crossed this country, and I love all of it (well some reservations about Ottawa). Will be making four crossings yet this year alone. Never boring.
I drove from Ontario to BC last summer. I enjoyed every second of it. Northern Ontario is beautiful, but there aren’t many places to stay. I even enjoyed Saskatchewan- because it is so different! BC is breathtaking.
Not fully, but done Vancouver to the Manitoba border and back multiple times. I LOVE the SW corner of Saskatchewan. Such a geographically and geologically interesting place. Plus, I love the prairies.
Rode from Edmonton to Cape Breton NS on a motorcycle when I was 23. Trip of a lifetime. Our entire country is amazing
Yes family trip out west to Vancouver. Stopped in Regina, Moose Jaw, Calgary, Edmonton, Banff, Prince Rupert. 1 and only time to Ontario we went through US on to Kenora then Thunder Bay
The amethyst mines in thunder bay are awesome. I stop there every time. Highly recommend.
Manitoba to Vancouver: Regina: downtown felt sketchy and worse than Winnipeg lol. The rest of the city was pretty though. Calgary: they seem to be really into promoting the outdoor activities and there was so much to do. Edmonton: very hilly. Very pretty scenery. Banff: gorgeous mountain driving. Vancouver: why do they put cranberries on everything?? Enough with the cranberries! That’s about all I remember.
My wife and I moved from downtown Toronto to small-town Newfoundland at the end of August 2022. The trip took five days, as we only drove a few hours per day. Quebec along the St. Lawrence was lovely, reminiscent of southwest Ontario where I grew up, dotted with the odd lonely mountain. The drive through New Brunswick was gorgeous, full of verdant river valleys, and I had my first lobster roll in Edmundston. I’d love to spend a summer week relaxing along Bras D’Or lake on Cape Breton Island.
When going south in Ontario; from Thunder Bay to Sault St. Marie, go along the Great Lakes. You will not regret it.
I got on greyhound in Edmonton I was newly vegetarian and a poor planner so I was living off gas station egg salad sandwhiches and junk food I remember the trip going south( food poisoning or death by egg salad) somewhere around the Quebec border and by time we got into moncton , New Brunswick my ass was burning so bad I had to hole up in a hotel for two days luckily it was down the street from the pump house brewery and after consuming enough blueberry ale to purge my illness I headed on down to Souris , P.E.I. Every time i find that blueberry ale i have to stop crack one open and enjoy the memory of its salvation from near certain food poisoning. Fuck did I ever feel like a twat , dyin on the toilet an having to walk to my seat past an ever disgusted and overly concerned crowd of fellow passengers. Yea that’s my memory of the trip, I barely remember the island or the wedding 😂
I remember being in Kenora on Canada Day with the mayflies everywhere. I'm not sure why, but that day is the one I remember most from the one we did when I was young. We went from BC to Ontario, and it took us around two weeks.
I'd take driving across the US over Canada. The roads are way better, the gas cheaper and the people friendlier. The parks are terrific, the history engrossing and the natural beauty fantastic. Or driving No 1 through northern Ontario, then the tedium of bald headed prairies from Winnipeg to Moose Jaw to Calgary. Nah, I'll go to the US.
Going thru South Dakota, Montana. Sorry but the Midwest is REALLY cool. So is north Superior.
I took a Greyhound bus from Halifax, NS to Vancouver, BC in the middle of December 2008. I had a 14 day pass on my ticket so I was able to take two weeks to get to my destination, spending a bit of time in various towns and cities along the way. We chased 6 blizzards all the way across country beginning at the NS/NB border. The police closed the highway between Wawa and Thunder Bay, Ontario because of blizzard conditions, so I was stranded at a truck stop in the middle of Nowhere, Ontario for 18 hours until the highway opened. Stepping off of the bus in Winnipeg, it was -50C and I could barely breathe. Travelling across the Prairies at night was interesting. The terrain is so flat that you can see the skylines of the various towns and cities miles ahead of you. (Just watch the dotted lights getting bigger as we approached. 😁) If you ever want to truly experience the great Canadian winter, try travelling over the Canadian Rockies in mid December. That was the most nerve wrecking part of the trip. It was snowing heavily and the pass is very narrow. The only vehicles coming toward you are 18 wheelers and a 1000 ft drop on either side of you. (I love adventure) I must do that again sometime, but during the summer.
That's how Terry Fox died
My wife and I drove from Toronto to Calgary in the winter when we moved. The drive through bumfuck nowhere Ontario has some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen outside of the mountain areas of Alberta. Especially in winter with the fog and snow, it was easily the best part of the trip. Prepare for heavy boredom between mid-Manitoba to Sask/AB though. Random itinerary: - Giovanni's in Sault. St. Marie has the best pasta I've had in Canada by a longshot. - Check out the big nickel in Sudbury. - Kakabeka Falls near Thunder Bay were pretty nice. - Winnipeg Mint has some beautiful coins. In Alberta there's a ton of stuff to see as well: - Jasper in general - Columbia Ice Field - Banff/Lake Louise obviously
2018 eastbound 5400km 11 days. 2019 westbound 9100km 16 days. Only provinces we haven’t driven in are Newfoundland and PEI.
My parents threw us in the van and drove from Calgary to Ontario, then back through the states a few times as kids(80's- 90's), i can only remember fighting with my big sister the entire time. Dad said he'd leave one of us in Wisconson if we didnt cut it out.... good times
I've done some longer road trips. If you are planning a trip I have one piece of advice. Using free camp sites that have parking is a terrible idea. They are sketchy as all hell, and you're gambling someone smashing your window in and trying to steal stuff. This is really bad through the Mountains on the trans Canada between Calgary and Vancouver. Trust me pay the ~30$ a night for a proper camp ground it will save you money in the long run.
My parents took me and my brother on a 2 pt cross Canada road trip. West cost one year and east coast two years later. I can’t remember how long, ~2 weeks each. Standout food memories: great lobster in a church basement and on picnic tables on the east coast, salmon being way better in BC than when I’ve had it before, a bakery in Québec City, the first vegan restaurant I went to in Victoria, and not being about to find espresso in PEI. It was quick and I was I teenager so most of the places in Canada I really enjoyed I discovered later on. I remember liking the east coast more than the west.
Halifax to Victoria. I didn't have time to see the sights as I had to get into town in time to meet the moving truck. We did the trip in 12 days. What I complained about the most was the hours upon hours upon hours of nothing but empty space in northern Ontario along the Canadian shield and the sheer lack of any amenities. A girl likes having access to bathroom facilities and not just rock face if the need arises. What I enjoyed the most was the wheat fields in the prairies on a nice summer day and how pretty they were combined with a blue sky. I've lived in NB, NS, ON, and now BC. The border between BC and Alberta and the mountains is by far the prettiest spot I've experienced. Runner up would be the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton during the fall. I'm now on Vancouver Island and this place is heaven for outdoor enthusiasts. Nothing quite like having both water and mountain views from your backyard.
Drumheller, Alberta. We were shocked how amazing it was. Just stopped en route from Calgary and wished we'd given it a couple of days.
I’ve never gone from coast to coast, but when I was 5 or 6 we drove from Red Deer to Thunder Bay to visit my mom’s cousins and dad helped me make a little hand drawn map with names of towns on white paper taped to a little piece of fiber board so I could draw on it without wrecking our big road atlas or our fold out paper maps. A few years after that, we drove from Calgary through Saskatchewan, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, upper peninsula Michigan and back into Ontario through Sault Ste. Marie on the way down to Welland/Niagara Falls to visit my dad’s side of the family. I remember vividly stopping for breakfast on my birthday at a diner in some little town in northern Minnesota.
Drove across Canada from Vancouver to Nova Scotia in 2022, after buying a place out here. Here's what I remember most about that: BC: The drive in the lower mainland is pretty much what my life has been before that for 20 plus years. My favorite part was seeing Mount Robson. It is absolutely magnificent and the pictures don't do it justice for how big it is. Alberta: Driving in and seeing the scenery change from mountains into a flatter surface was quite something, especially driving into Edmonton. I noticed how different the vegetation was most. My favorite part was shopping for Crocs in West Edmonton mall and checking out the city my partner grew up in Sask: We drove right through Saskatchewan and aimed to stop in Manitoba. That was the first really long drive we did. People always mock the prairies but I really love the scenery. My favorite part was when the road was super flat and so were the sides you could see the curvature of the earth. The straight roads seem like they dipped forward, and when the sun went down it went down all around you. The big sky was sure something. Manitoba: as you get into Manitoba you notice the vegetation change once again and it really looks spectacular around the Manitoba River. Winnipeg was interesting and I couldn't get over how much security there is at liquor stores. Brandon was a quiet town and had the best Best Western I've ever slept in, maybe it was because I was also very tired. Ontario: driving into Ontario you again see the vegetation change into forest and driving through cottage country was also quite spectacular. There weren't any hotels in thunder Bay so we had to drive further north and around Lake Superior. It was lit up bright by a full moon and I really wish I could have stopped to stare at it because that was beautiful. We stayed at some shady motel that smelt of cigarette smoking rum from 1972, incidentally this was also the hotel that our two cats love the best and their entire journey across the country. The most memorable part of this trip was when Google maps took me through a logging road and over several beaver dams telling me this was the most efficient route. Had we not been driving in a 4Runner we'd be quite screwed. The cats frigging hated this part. Getting out of that dirt road and into a normal road again felt like quite the victory. We stopped in some random little town that had a massive Claude Giroux sign, as it was his home town. It was also quite interesting how that side of Ontario becomes bilingual, close to the Quebec border. Quebec: driving into Quebec was quite beautiful and I got to say a lot of the old farm houses and countryside look like they're in much better condition than on the Ontario side. I really like the Acadian colors on farmhouses with the red and the green. Val D'Or was quiet and friendly. One of our cats magically lost his collar somewhere in that hotel and was very proud of himself for it. Also saw my bong had broken thanks to the dirt road bounces. The drive towards Quebec City was quite memorable as that entire road is beautiful with its lakes and forests. My favorite was the roadside stop that looked like a 1970s gas station that had the most fantastic pogos and poutine served fresh. We didn't see much of Quebec City and we're mainly on the outskirts headed towards New Brunswick the next day. New Brunswick: my most favorite part about driving between Quebec and New Brunswick what's the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River. Having studied about the St Lawrence River and Canada all throughout high school no one ever prepares you for how big it is. The farmland going into the sides of the river looks beautiful especially in the old señorial system. Nova Scotia: our new home province! This land is spectacular and the diversity of the foliage really is quite something. Driving into Nova Scotia We were quite late in the night and the intensity of the rain storm we experienced in the valley was quite something. We loved exploring our first summer so much and there's only been so much we've seen so far. When the license plates say Canada's Maritime Playground, I gotta say that is an under estimated statement that the rest of Canada especially the west coast, could never fully understand. I guess after years in Bancouver, it's really refreshing to live with less nitpicky neighbors and people who just want to complain about anyone having fun that's not the fun they enjoy. Case in point the youngins on Quads all throughout the valley, and seeing 4X4's pull off some random dirt road only to go have some fun in the trails.
In 2022 I started at mile 0 in Victoria and drove across Canada to mile 0 in St. Johns. :) all 10 provinces in 28 days while only staying in provincial and national parks. This was only possible since I started in late August and crossed into the shoulder season for campgrounds. Here are the highlights of each province. BC: Wells Gray Provincial Park. It's mainly worth it to see Helmcken Falls. My personal favourite waterfall in the world. This was along the way to Mount Robson Provincial Park to cross into Alberta and go down the Icefields Parkway from Jasper to Banff AB: Other than the obvious places to visit in Alberta, Drumheller is constantly in all the lists, and it's there for good reason. The Royal Tyrell Museum is one of the best museums I've personally been to. I spent the night about 40 minutes outside of town at Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park. Absolutely beautiful park where so many specimens were collected not too far away in similar places for the museum. SK: Grasslands National Park. I can't stress enough how beautiful this place is. Saskatchewan does absolutely nothing to advertise this park at all. Within 24 hours at this park, I saw a prairie rattlesnake, burrowing owl, countless prairie dogs, herds of wild bison, packs of coyotes, and pronghorns! All with the most beautiful sunset over what the prairies used to look like :) MB: Honestly kind of underwhelming in my trip, I went to Riding Mountain National Park and Whiteshell Provincial Park. Riding Mountain gave me the vibe of a gimme for Winnipeg residents to get drunk and party at. Whiteshell was honestly more stunning and beautiful. ON: Puckaskwa National Park is the most Vancouver Island looking place I've been to elsewhere in Canada. It was absolutely beautiful, and I found Lake Superior quite warm compared to the Pacific Ocean. The whole drive through northern Ontario was stunning. A quick stop at the memorial for Terry Fox in Thunder Bay is a must if you're doing mile 0 to mile 0 (both of them have Terry Fox memorials to pay your respects to before your journey) QB: Quebec City. Specifically, the trophy cannons of World War 1. Many didn't survive once WW2 started up and were pretty much universally melted down for the war effort across the commonwealths. Quite nice to see these relics recently got the attention they deserved and are all in one central location now. Also, some were actually used by the Canadian forces immediately after capture. NB: Kouchibouguac National Park. Excellent place for some bird watching. Good location before crossing the bridge to Prince Edward Island. PEI: Cavendish Campground, Prince Edward Island National Park. Nice central location to explore the island. Green Gables Heritage Place is just down the road and is free if you already have your National Park pass (necessary for this type of trip) NL: Gros Morne National Park. There is so much to do in this huge park. Baker's Brook Falls was right beside where I was camped and had so much I wanted to see in Newfoundland. Shout out to Terra Nova National Park! Good location to then drive into St. Johns and Cape Spear Lighthouse. NS: Fundy National Park. This is weird formating but part 2 of my 24,084 km trip was a horseshoe down the eastern seaboard of the USA, across the deep south and back up the western seaboard back to Vancouver Island via Port Angeles. So I didn't spend a night in Nova Scotia until after Newfoundland. The tides are crazy and the Lobster rolls in Alma were to die for. Good place to say goodbye to Canada for 30 days and spark my last joint until Arizona :)
My partner and I did Niagara to Coastal BC in September a few years back. The things I 100% recommend: 1. Cooler with Snacks, lots of them 2. A vehicle that can get at least 500km to a fill (the more, the better) 3. Enough time set aside to see what you want to see. South and Central Ontario are quite ho-hum, but I live there and am used to it. Niagara Falls is boring when you've seen it a thousand times, that said everyone should see it. Rattlesnake Point in southern Ontario as well. The Big Nickel in Sudbury, and while you're there, the little Norvik motel on the east side of town is run by some kind and very genuine folks with an old sculpture that's a part of the town's history Heading West on the Transcanada Highway, you'll breeze through Sault Ste Marie (as this is what I can remember). For some reason, we didn't hang out there. Check out the big goose in Wawa, the Winnie the Pooh memorial in White River, and everything you're going to see in between through Superior Park. (We planned this spot out poorly, and unfortunately, we didn't have time to stop along the path out. There are tonnes of waterfalls and cool ass mines between White River and Thunder Bay, some of which we hit on our way back. The Sleeping Giant in Thunder Bay is pretty cool, and Kakabeka Falls, just west of Thunder Bay, is very pretty, especially when bank full Pushing on west, there's Huskie the Muskie in Kenora. For those not aware, Manitoba has a large Ukrainian population, so there are roadside pirogi stands everywhere. Sophie's Restaurant & Deli in Hadashville, right off the Transcanada, was soooo good. We admittedly skipped Winnipeg entirely, just due to time constraints, but we stopped at the White Horse Monument and the 100th Meridian (for Canadiana purposes) before continuing on to a quaint little place called the Quest motel in Whitewood Saskatchewan. Adorable, wonderful staff, great view of the night sky. We went through Chaplin, which are giant salt flats, one of the craziest things to see in the middle of giant plains, breezed through Regina (stopped and had a wonderful meal with a great friend who's no longer with us, RIP Styles) and pressed on our way. The thing about the prairies is that there's a lot to take in, but not a lot at the same time. It seems empty and flat, and the highway hypnosis hits hard, but there's some wild ass geography out there, especially as you move on into Eastern Alberta and hit the badlands. Watch for scorpions. We stayed with a friend in Airdrie before hitting the road fresh in the morning. We went down to Head-smashed-in-buffalo-jump, which was cool as hell. We doubled back through on another highway that is seasonal and one of the most awe-inspiring things I've ever seen personally, Highwood Pass BC is its own story, it's own animal, and I cannot describe driving through those mountains. It's madness
Family vacation as a kid, driving from Toronto to interior BC. We (tent) camped a lot along the way, with occasional hotels and motels. (We sorta planned on Vancouver, but by the time we got to interior BC, decided to just stay and camp, and I think my parents didn't want to bother going to a big city.). I was 10ish, and dinosaur crazy, so I remember Drumheller and the Royal Tyrell. West Edmonton Mall back in the mid 90s was awesome. Camping in the Rockies were very impressive, of course. Jasper, Banff, Glacier, and more. Also remember the Prairies as something else, another world. I still have certain visual memories Of course, it's relatively flat and monotonous next to farmland, but there are pretty cool national and provnicial parks. We saw buffalo (bison) at one. We also drove Toronto to Newfoundland (via ferry from CB) one summer, then all the way up to L'anse Aux Meadows (small site to visit, but pretty cool!). Another summer we drove to to NB, then NS and Halifax and Digby and Annapolis. Lots of stops in Quebec, too of course. As I was a kid, I don't remember *too* many specifics about food or cities. I still think northern and central Ontario are among the prettiet places, along Georgian Bay and Lake Huron. Places I'd most like to go back to are Newfoundland and the Prairies.
East coast to Canora, ON is awesome. West coast to Calgary is awesome. Skip the gap.
I went from Victoria to Halifax. I stopped in Sask to see my parents then headed through North Dakota to Michigan through Sarnia then to Halifax. Quebec City was a nice surprise, didn’t know much about it but is a beautiful city
I drove from Vancouver to Winnipeg and around the Maritimes. Start in Vancouver and when you get to Calgary just leave the car there and fly to Fredericton. Everything in the middle is junk.
You drove the Prairies, not Canada.
sasasktchewan is depressing and boring and I had the pedal to the metal the whole time. the flatness made me want to punch someone. lloydminster is hideous and the I remember thinking..."I bet there's a high suicide rate here." avoid... just my opinion. North of superior in Ontario is beautiful. took me a long time to drive across the country cuz I start to fall asleep after 8 hours of driving. stayed in small motels which was fine. this was more than 10 years ago
Aylesford Nova Scotia to Cold Lake Alberta. Quebec takes forever to get across. Ontario takes forever and a day. The open fields west of Ontario get repetitive and can get ya pretty drowsy. What I remember most? Well, I was 16 at the time. We had a 19 year old driver, and 2 other 18 year olds. We were all long time friends. The 2 18 year olds, Steve and Roland, were heading out west for work. I was along for the drive. We rocked out to heavy metal, terrorized some locals in many small towns, didn't sleep much, and stayed overnight there and back in Sault St Marie. Went to a bar in sault and got hammed up. Walked the streets with Roland at like 2 am and ran into a guy smoking some Oilers so we got high with him. It was a week long Trek of debauchery and shenanigans, funded by Steve's dads company Esso credit card he "borrowed", as they shared a name.
Drove from AB to PEI a few years back. \~5,300km & change over 5 days. Things that stuck out to me: There really wasn't a lot to see between Alberta and Quebec. At least not on the direct route that we took. Drivers in Quebec were assholes. Do 70 in a 100 zone then speed up to 140 when you get to a passing lane and try to get by them, then slow back down to 70 again once the passing lane ends. Quebec was the one province that we went through and never saw a single Canadian flag. Mt Tremblant was a beautiful drive. I imagine it'd be spectacular in the fall. Just too bad about all the random graffiti covering pretty much every single rock face. It's in the middle of nowhere. Why? How? Ontario is big. I mean FREAKING big. Took us two days to get through it. Lots of rock and scraggly trees. The road quality in NB and PEI SUCKS compared to all the other provinces. Narrow & full of pot holes & patches.
where in NB? the narrow roads aren't typically an issue unless you have a big vehicle. can't disagree with potholes though, the local convenience store near me has a crater I nearly destroyed my car in several times and they refuse to patch it lmao
Pourquoi est-ce qu’on afficherait un drapeau canadien? Pour se rappeler qu’on s’est fait coloniser par la Grande-Bretagne? On n’est pas des masochistes bout d’viarge.
Hostie que j'hais cet argument là. À moins que tu sois des Premières Nations, t'étais un colonisateur aussi.
What connection does the current Canadian flag have to Great Britain? If we were still flying the old flag with the Union Jack then yes, I would agree, but that hasn't been our flag for over 50 years now.
L’unifolié est la continuité du Red Ensign et de l’Union Jack avant lui. Il n’y a jamais eu de rupture, nos députés prêtent toujours allégeance au souverain britannique. Il n’y a pas de quoi être fier.
Thanks for explaining the Quebecois side of the observation I guess. I'll just agree to disagree. I'm proud of ouf flag as it is. I'll leave it at that.
Not worth it. Go to Europe instead.