From wild rainforests to iconic journeys, explore Canadian adventures that invite you to slow down, reconnect and experience transformative travel.
Karla Courtney
Travel writer Karla Courtney has travelled widely, but the most transformative journeys she’s taken have been at home in Canada. Her adventures span coast to coast to coast, from wildlife encounters in the Great Bear Rainforest to standing in awe of the raw power of Niagara Falls. Indigenous-led tourism, nature-based experiences and iconic landscapes combine to create meaningful travel moments that go beyond sightseeing and leave a lasting impact.
Every journey has asked something different of me, whether that is to slow down, to move by foot or to connect with others. Journeys help us to realise how valuable it is to take the time to do these things.
Here are some transformative Canadian travel experiences you won’t find elsewhere, offering moments that have the power to truly shift your perspective.
Our journey starts on the west coast. We fly north from Vancouver then take a boat ride across calm waters as mountains rise from the sea. The Klahoose Wilderness Resort, owned by Klahoose First Nation band members, sits between a towering forested slope and the shoreline. Randy, the resort’s cultural interpreter, greets us with the beating of a drum and a spirited welcome song.
The wildlife is plentiful and filled me with a sense of awe – humpback whales, orcas, seals, sea lions and porpoises – but it was the chance sighting of grizzlies hunting salmon along the estuaries that will stay with me longest.
We head back to Vancouver and The Rocky Mountaineer then takes us west, running only by daylight, turning the journey itself into the destination. Leaving Vancouver, the train slips inland, its glass-domed carriage framing the dramatic shift from coastal rainforest to the Rockies.
By the time we’ve reached the Thompson River, lunch arrives – seared local steelhead with seasonal vegetables. The clouds begin to lift and the scale of the landscape we’re travelling through becomes clear. Peaks rise on either side of the tracks, the river tightening below us as the train presses on.
I step onto the open-air deck just as a moment of magic occurs – a rainbow arcs across the canyon. We all smile, take photos and exchange stories under the glow like it’s the last day of school holidays.
A four-hour flight east has us at Niagara Falls, where Journey Behind the Falls takes me into tunnels carved deep into the rock more than a century ago. After a descent past slick walls and through cold air, I step onto the open platform at the base and the world turns white.
Mist drives sideways, beading on my lashes. The falls are a force, just an arm’s length away. A solid wall of water breaking into clouds. I grip the rail and embrace the roar.
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