CBC News49%
The top 10 vacation spots in Canada — voted by you! 35%
4/30/2025, 5:00:00 PM
Keywords: The Current, Radio, Interactive, Longform, Canada, Canadian, Travel, Bucket List, Vacations, Voting, Votes, Destinations, Activities, Outdoors, Urban Area
BS Summary: This article contains 11 faulty reasoning types, including Optimism Bias, Hasty Generalization, and Anchoring Bias, with Halo Effect as the most egregious example at 30.4% saturation with 544 hits. Analysis detected 1,526 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,790 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 42.4% and a BS Rank of 35% (14,343 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 65.50% of the article peer group.
Looking for the best vacation spots in Canada?
Your fellow Canadians have some ideas!
This year, many people have decided to spend their travel dollars here in Canada, given simmering tensions with the U.S.
To help, The Current set out to build a Canadian travel guide.
Listeners sent in more than 2,000 suggestions of places to visit, which we whittled down to a shortlist of 20 destinations all over this big, beautiful country.
For weeks, the Canadians who suggested those 20 places have been talking to Matt Galloway on air about why they love those spots — and urging listeners to vote for the final list online.
After close to 50,000 votes were cast, here are the top 10 locations, in alphabetical order.
Did your favourite place make the list?
Watch | Where's the best place to travel in Canada?
Basin Head Provincial Park | P.E.I.
Lana Gauthier says her family completely fell in love with Basin Head last summer — so much so that on a week-long vacation to P.E.I., they visited the park twice.
“Both days were magical.
We jumped off the pier.
We played catch out on the sand bars.
When the tide was low, we walked for long stretches of beach, collecting the most beautiful smooth rocks and shells, and saw parts of a shipwreck covered in crabs,” she wrote.
You might know the beach as Singing Sands — a nickname it gets due to the high silica content in the sand, which makes the ground squeak when you walk on it.
Red rock cliffs, sand dunes and water that’s just the right temperature for swimming make the place extra perfect, according to Gauthier.
“Basin Head gave our family the best of memories, and for that it will always have a special place in our heart.”
> Hear Gauthier make her case on The Current.
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Bonavista | N.L.
There’s no better summer vacation spot than Bonavista, N.L, according to Kristine Day of Conception Bay, N.L.
“At the height of summer, absolutely nothing beats a sweet ice cream treat with an ocean view, some easy breezy kayaking or paddleboarding, or a dip in the purest freshwater and — for the brave — saltwater swimming spots,” writes Day.
On top of that, wildlife abounds — humpback, minke and orca whales, puffins, foxes and bald eagles, to name a few.
Not far away are the historic old houses, fishing boats and working harbours in town.
Iceberg spotting in spring and early summer is just as majestic as seeing all the animals, according to Day.
“From carefully restored historic homes, artisanal shops, tea rooms, cafes and breweries, to the most breathtaking wild scenery imaginable (even if by car), a visit to Bonavista has an incredible amount to offer, and I never, ever get tired of it, even as a resident of this province myself.”
> Hear Day make her case on The Current.
Cape Breton Island, N.S.
On Cape Breton Island, Sandra Trask of Nova Scotia says you can go from “mountain to water views in seconds.”
Both are in sight along the Cabot Trail — a highway that follows the coastline around the island’s northernmost point, with hills reaching into the sky on one side and waves crashing the shore on the other.
“In every area of the island there is something unique and special, with diverse cultural experiences throughout.
Talented musicians are in abundance,” Trask writes.
Golf courses, beaches, downhill skiing, winter “glamping” and more are all there to explore on Cape Breton, Trask says, making it a place for everyone and every season.
“As they say, once you visit, your heart will never leave!”
> Hear Trask make her case on The Current.
Drive from Amherst to Masstown | N.S.
For Greer Kelley, the journey is the destination.
Her submission isn’t for a specific place — but for the drive across a particular stretch of highway that takes you along parts of the water connected to the Bay of Fundy.
She says the journey only takes about four hours without stops, though travellers could make it take as long as they want depending on where they’d like to pause along the drive.
The Amherst Point Bird Sanctuary and Maccan Tidal Wetlands Park are a good bet close to the beginning of the trip, Kelley says.
And if you enjoy following your stomach, as well as the road less travelled, Kelley adds there’s lots of great canteens, food trucks and diners along the way.
Pulling over on the shores of Minas Basin also brings all the colours and tidal pools the Bay of Fundy has to offer, but with fewer crowds, according to Kelley.
“If you decide to stop in the small communities to visit local crafters, restaurants and antique shops, be prepared to take the entire day exploring,” Kelley writes.
“It’s a full day, but well worth it.”
> Hear Kelley make her case on The Current.
Gros Morne National Park | N.L.
Gros Morne brings mountains, forests, beaches and bogs together all in one spot.
The Tablelands are the park’s unique geological feature, where part of an interior layer of the earth, called the mantle, sticks up through the ground in massive flat fjords.
It's one of the sites that Lisa Proulx from the Annapolis Valley, N.S., remembers loving from her trip to the park.
Proulx says visitors should take in the natural beauty, but urges them not to forget the people that make Newfoundland extra special.
“One of the best things about Newfoundland and Labrador [is] the people… very friendly, welcoming and always helpful!
My mother and I have been there twice and can’t wait to go back.”
> Hear Proulx make her case on The Current.
Manitoulin Island | Ont.
Manitoulin Island sits in the middle of Lake Huron as the world’s biggest freshwater island.
It’s over 2,700 square kilometres — bigger than the city of Toronto by more than four times — and has more than 100 lakes within the island.
“All island communities boast a quiet way of life, with neighbourly attitudes and not a single traffic light in sight after you cross our beloved swingbridge,” writes Ellie Poirier, who lives in Manitoulin's Little Current, Ont.
She adds visitors shouldn’t miss out on experiencing Anishinaabe culture while on the island — powwows are a summer highlight for her.
“Manitoulin Island is truly Ontario's hidden gem.
Come and see our sunsets for yourself and there will be no room to disagree.”
> Hear Poirier make her case on The Current.
Quebec City | Que.
Alexandra Esposito from Aurora, Ont., takes any excuse she can to visit Quebec City — like when she’s driving through the province on the way out East, or as a way to boost her kids’ knowledge of French.
She and her husband even chose to honeymoon there.
“It is wonderful seeing a different culture and hearing French being spoken so easily and fluently,” Esposito writes.
A handful of Canadian cities used to be fortified, but Quebec’s old city is the only place in the country where the walls still stand.
In fact, much of the colonial history and look, from cobblestone streets to European-esque signs outside shops, have been well preserved in Quebec City.
Esposito says if you’re in town in the summer, catching a reenactment of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham circa 1759 is well worth it.
Don’t forget to fill your stomach while you’re at it, she adds, in one of Quebec’s fantastic restaurants or cafes.
> Hear Esposito make her case on The Current.
Saint Andrews | N.B.
Located on the Bay of Fundy, Saint Andrews is “the cutest, most welcoming seaside town I had ever stepped foot in,” according to Amber Dennis of P.E.I.
There’s lots of historic buildings to explore in the downtown, and if you’re looking for some adventure, you can spot humpback, finback and minke whales on a whale-watching tour.
“Our favourite day was Minister's Island,” Dennis writes.
“Cars line up at the shoreline waiting to cross the flats to this beautiful picturesque isolated island, home to a mansion, a horse stable and trails that we were welcome to explore.
“You won't be disappointed in a trip to St.
Andrews by-the-Sea — a fairytale comes to life here.”
> Hear Dennis make her case on The Current.
Stratford | Ont.
When Sharon McKenzie visited Stratford, Ont., decades ago, she loved it so much she built a whole life there.
“I came here 61 years ago from Vancouver to see the Stratford Shakespearean Festival for myself,” writes McKenzie.
“And I am still here, with all of our grown-up family living in towns and cities nearby.”
The town is best known for the arts festival, which was one of the country’s first.
The theatre company is known around the world for its Shakespeare productions, though it has lots of other kinds of plays on offer each season.
Annie is one of the festival’s most-anticipated productions of 2025, running alongside a modern retelling of Macbeth.
Besides its dedication to the arts, Stratford has a quaint downtown filled with historic storefronts, parks and gardens, and McKenzie adds it’s surrounded by beautiful farmland and agriculture — all making it a must on any travel bucket list.
“Warning: you might not want to leave,” she says.
> Hear McKenzie make her case on The Current.
Tofino | B.C.
Katherine McDonnell of West Vancouver visited Tofino for the first time during COVID.
On one of her visits, she was walking along Chesterman Beach, looking up at the sky and the birds above, when she realized it was strangely familiar.
Lo and behold, a painting hanging in her childhood home was of this exact beach, she realized.
McDonnell says it’s one of those rare places she can visit again and again and never get bored.
“I go at least once or twice a year, and it honestly doesn't feel like that's enough,” McDonnell wrote.
“You are surrounded by nature, with some of the biggest trees you'll ever see in Pacific Rim National Park, to amazing windswept beaches all along the coast.”
Tofino is well known as one of the best spots to surf in Canada, but it’s a haven for outdoorsy folks of all stripes with its many hiking and cycling trails that wind through the rainforests of Vancouver Island’s west coast.
> Hear McDonnell make her case on The Current.
Listen | Why every Canadian should visit these 10 places:
Top graphic: Tenzin Tsering/CBC
Digital producers: Abby Hughes, Padraig Moran, Ruby Buiza | Senior digital producers: Brandie Weikle, Jason Vermes
The Current senior producer: Willow Smith | The Current producer: Amanda Grant
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