Taking to the road is a quintessential Canadian summer experience that generations have enjoyed. (Unsplash photo)
You can’t beat a good road trip across Canada. However, due to the colossal size of the world’s second-biggest country, most of us have to be selective when it comes to planning our trips around Canada. Unless you have 12 months and a bucket load of cash, you don’t have the time to see it all as part of a road trip – sorry to state the glaringly obvious.
But it’s not all bad news! You can take dozens of fantastic road trips in Canada. Here are some of the best routes for those looking for a short trip or a more expansive adventure across the nation.
Short Ontario road trip
Ontario is home to nearly 40% of Canada’s population and some of its sprawling and most impressive cities, such as Toronto and Ottawa. It is also home to a range of casinos and a host of other architectural delights that tourists seek out during their stay.
While some impressive casinos exist in Ontario, the province’s recent switch to online casino gaming has added significant potential to the burgeoning Canadian iGaming sector. Online casino review platforms like www.playcasinos.ca have brought a number of these providers under one umbrella, ranking them on a number of variables, which has generated a lot of action online in Ontario and Canada overall.
If you’re looking for a more country vibe, you can also embark on an Ontario road trip without passing through any major cities. One notable route is a three-day trip that’s ideal for the wine connoisseur.
Start your road trip in Niagara-on-the-Lake, renowned for its wineries and quaint, historic town. A couple of hours on the road the following day will get you to the Niagara Benchlands – again, a world-famous location for wineries. Check out a guided tour to get a real feel for the area from a local who knows the region’s heritage. Finish your three-day outing with a trip to Cambridge and St. Jacobs, which should take you less than 90 minutes on the road, as long as you don’t run into any traffic!
Trans-Canada Highway – long trip
If you have set aside a good few months to explore everything Canada offers, then we the Trans-Canada Highway is the recommended option. It’s been over 60 years since the road was built, spanning across every single province, and at more than 7,500 km, it is one of the longest roads anywhere in the world.
Time permitting, you can travel the vastness of Canada, stretching from views of the Pacific Ocean to those of the Atlantic Ocean, but you’d have to set aside at least three months to do this properly. In fact, you’d probably be looking at a time span of more than six months to take in the entirety and scope of what Canada truly has to offer.
If you’re looking for something more condensed, experts recommend a three-week trip starting in Victoria and ending on Prince Edward Island. You don’t need to cover every destination on the way. Still, it is a thrill to start in Salmon Arm and travel to Banff National Park, Calgary, Manitoba, Thunder Bay, Ottawa, and Montreal.
While you could complete this in a few weeks, you can also extend it or bypass some of those suggested stops. But the Trans-Canada Highway will not leave you short of options.
The best of the west
A road trip through the west coast of Canada presents the best of British Columbia. If you’re looking to focus on this stretch of coast, then you can also cover Vancouver as part of your trip. If you extend the trip to Alberta, located east of B.C., then you can enjoy Banff and Calgary, and consider venturing to Jasper and the Wells Gray Provincial Park.
You can start your trip in Vancouver and end up in Calgary, or you can do it the other way around, but it is estimated that you’d need at least two weeks to really soak up some of the sights and wonders on this road trip. Along this path, you’ll find some of the most spectacular mountain regions in the world, too — and while it might be more picturesque in the winter months, it’s a lot easier to drive in the summer months.
Final thoughts
Social media is awash with Canadian road-trip ideas. Part of the beauty, and maybe perhaps part of the problem, is that Canada is so vast. It’s hard to see a quarter of it properly in a few months, never mind the whole country.
What is provided in this article are some of the most time-efficient and economical routes to travel around Canada. Hopefully, the destinations and routes will give you some idea of what you can expect to encounter if you rent yourself a car or an RV and take to the winding, seemingly never-ending roads in the nation. Once you’re on your way you’ll likely agree that you’re only touching the surface on any given trip; there is so much more that Canada has to offer than one journey can provide.
