With its fair share of Canada’s trademark open-spaces, extraordinary scenery and black bears, along with some of the country’s most progressive and thriving cities, a holiday in Ontario promises sheer diversity.
Although Ontario stretches a whopping one million square kilometres, the bulk of its population congregates at its southern tip, where winters aren’t so exceptionally chilly and summers are warm and balmy. The country’s federal capital, Ottawa, perches along the St. Lawrence River in the southeast, where you’ll find a cluster of fascinating cultural offerings.
Further south, the Golden Horseshoe is the collective name for Ontario’s wealthiest and most built up area. This urban strip is home to the Royal Botanical Gardens and a parade of booming towns, but it’s Toronto that draws the biggest appeal here. As Ontario’s provincial capital, Toronto holds almost a third of the state’s population, and oozes big-city glitz. This prosperous metropolis is a hotchpotch of cultures, packed with trendy eateries and arts venues and perfect for some urban glamour on your Ontario holiday.
Conversely, Ontario doesn’t fall short at satisfying the outdoorsy traveller. Known as a province of water, it borders four of the five ‘Great Lakes’ in North America, while the spectacular Niagara Falls thunder away at the New York border. Nature envelops the city perimeters, where acres of farmland slot between tree-fringed lakes, old-growth forests swathe the terrain, and the magnificent Algonquin National Park impresses all with its gorgeous scenery. For a completely escapist holiday in Ontario, the northern Canadian Shield is awash with remote wilderness and isolated communities, rivalling the great scenery of British Columbia or Alberta.
