Canada Road trips
14 curated road trips in Canada — Icefields Parkway, Sea to Sky Highway, Cabot Trail. Mapped stops, distance, duration, best season, and practical route notes.
Icefields ParkwayOne of the most spectacular mountain drives on Earth. Highway 93 runs through the Canadian Rockies from Banff to Jasper, glaciers, turquoise lakes, and peaks over 3,000 m at every turn.
Sea to Sky HighwayBC-99 from Vancouver to Whistler is one of the world's great short drives, Howe Sound's fjord on one side, the Coast Mountains on the other, threading through old-growth forest past tumbling waterfalls and into a world-class mountain town.
Cabot TrailCape Breton's Cabot Trail is one of the most scenic drives in North America, the road climbs over the Cape Breton Highlands, drops to sea-level fishing villages, and traces cliff edges with 300m drops into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Alaska HighwayThe ALCAN, built in eight months in 1942 to connect Alaska to the Lower 48, is the last great North American frontier road. 2400km of boreal wilderness, glacial rivers, the Yukon's vast silence, and more wildlife per kilometre than almost anywhere on Earth.
Dempster HighwayCanada's loneliest highway branches off the Klondike near Dawson City and swings north through pristine wilderness to Inuvik, past the Arctic Circle, over two river ferries, through permafrost tundra, and finally to the shores of the Mackenzie Delta. Bring two spare tyres and emergency supplies; there is no phone reception.
Gaspésie LoopQuebec's Gaspésie Peninsula juts into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Route 132 loops around it past fishing villages, the moose-filled Parc de la Gaspésie, Percé Rock rising from the sea, and Forillon's sea-cliff views.
Haida Gwaii AdventureFar-flung and isolated, the lush Haida Gwaii archipelago is steeped in superlatives, most stunning scenery, tastiest seafood, most accessible First Nations culture. Highway 16 runs the length of Graham Island from the Haida Heritage Centre to the white-sand wilderness at Rose Spit.
Okanagan Valley Wine TourA compact but spectacular wine country drive along Lake Okanagan in British Columbia, ponderosa pine slopes dropping to a desert-climate lake, over 200 wineries producing Riesling, Pinot Noir, and ice wine, and some of the most dramatic winery architecture in the world.
Stewart-Cassiar HighwayCut from dense forest in the 1970s through the wildest and most isolated territory in British Columbia, following trails used by gold prospectors, loggers, and miners. Grizzly bears, ghost towns, ancient totem poles, lava fields, and the staggering Salmon Glacier await.
Top of the World HighwayClimb out of Dawson City onto a high alpine ridge where gravel pavement traces the Yukon–Alaska divide for miles above treeline. The drive delivers vast 360-degree views, gold-rush history, and a dramatic descent to the remote border crossing at Poker Creek and then into Chicken, Alaska.
Trans-Canada HighwayCanada’s classic coast-to-coast drive follows the Trans-Canada Highway from St. John’s, Newfoundland, across rugged Atlantic coastlines, Quebec’s river valleys, the vast Canadian Shield, the prairie heartland, and the dramatic mountains of British Columbia before ending at Victoria. It’s a true national road trip with huge scenery shifts and long, open stretches.
Vancouver IslandThe island that out-British-Columbias BC, Victoria's Empress Hotel and Butchart Gardens, the Pacific Rim National Park's Long Beach surfing, Tofino's temperate rainforest and whale-watching, Campbell River's wild salmon, and Telegraph Cove's orca colony in Johnstone Strait. The most accessible wild coastline in Canada.
Viking TrailTracing one of the most remote corners of Canada, the Viking Trail links 5000-year-old burial grounds, UNESCO fjords, and icebergs drifting past monumental sea stacks, ending at L'Anse aux Meadows, a Norse settlement established five centuries before Columbus.
Yukon Golden CircleA compact Yukon circuit crossing into Alaska via the White Pass, Whitehorse through Carcross (and the world's smallest desert), over the White Pass summit to gold-rush Skagway, back via Haines with a ferry crossing of the Lynn Canal. A loop of glacier-fed rivers, Klondike history, and the most dramatic mountain scenery in the northern Rockies.