Poke around the ruins of an ancient Viking camp. Feel the heat from the forge as a blacksmith works in a historic, 18th-century seaside shipbuilding town. Skate along a frozen canal. Smell wildflowers as you hike through pristine alpine wilderness to a log mountain lodge. Strap on cross-country skis and follow the clifftop of a fjord. Roam with buffalo.
Canada’s 15 UNESCO World Heritage Sites are a diverse collection of preserves, both cultural and natural. Stroll through parks where elk amble amid chateau-styled railway hotels or rest by the largest non-polar icefield in the world. See thick moss blanket abandoned longhouses and downed totem poles on rainforest islands or hike the parched desert-like Badlands in search of dinosaur bones. Canada’s first Natural World Heritage Site, Nahanni, has a wild river that rages under the midnight sun while its newest, the Joggins Fossil Cliffs, is a paleontologist’s dream, a “coal age Galápagos” of bizarre, 300-million-year-old fossils.
Finish off a day of exploring with a soak in hot springs beneath Northern Lights. Or relax at a très chic sidewalk café or in a cozy, British-style pub. Dine on gourmet fare at a historic hotel. Cook over a campfire outside your tent. Then drift off to sleep knowing you’ve experienced the epitome of unique.
