The holiday where nature resets your clock

I tighten a strap on one of my snowshoes, fill my lungs with crisp air and click off my head torch just for a moment. A sky of bright stars outshines the glitter of Vancouver below. This is Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver, about a 15-minute drive from downtown yet already quiet enough to hear my breath and dark enough to see the constellations.

I’m on a Full Moon Snowshoe Tour that begins with the Light Walk – a lantern-lit winter installation – before the guide leads us onto a more secluded trail. We leave the last pool of light and follow a narrow path beneath douglas fir and western hemlock. With each step, the sound of my foot crunching into the snow is magnified, the trees get thicker and my mind clearer. 

Vancouver is a cosmopolitan city of glass skyscrapers, galleries and great restaurants – but it’s also the perfect place for true relaxation. You can see the mountains from the street and be among them in minutes. It’s ringed by water and scattered with urban forest, with seemingly endless shorelines that mingle with snow-dusted peaks.

In winter, this topography really pays off: snowshoeing after lunch or dinner; skiing right on the doorstep at Grouse or Cypress Mountain; and, throughout the province, a full scene of 13 destination ski resorts. Keep going north in British Columbia and, in that vast wilderness under black skies, you’ve got a real chance at spotting the aurora borealis.

From Vancouver, Highway 99 – aka the Sea-to-Sky Highway Route – links the city to Whistler through the Coast Mountains, skirting tight bays and sheer granite, with the snowline drawing closer at every bend. Squamish is roughly the midway point and the head of Howe Sound, a massive 42-kilometre-long glacial fjord that stretches out to the Salish Sea – waters that, since time immemorial, have sustained and connected the Coast Salish First Nations peoples.

The Sea to Sky Gondola transports me from tideline to cloud canopy in minutes. At the top, peaceful walking paths and the 100-metre Sky Pilot Suspension Bridge allow me to combine the views with some movement. A steaming hot chocolate in hand, I pause on the deck of the Summit Lodge, letting the breeze in the branches and the rugged Tantalus Range work their magic on my soul.

Just 45 minutes further north, I arrive in Whistler, Canada’s best-known alpine village where the menu of activities is as big as the mountains – long groomers and big bowls for the skiers, ziplining through old growth and even a thrilling bobsleigh run, plus a rich après scene known for firelit rooms, seasonal Pacific Northwest food and local wines.

Before I chase any of it, I go quiet at Scandinave Spa, tucked in the forest just a few minutes from the village. Phone-free and silent, I change into a robe and follow the thermal circuit – sauna, eucalyptus steam, a soak in a hot pool, then the quick shock of a cold plunge – before taking a break by the fire, and then repeating. When I step back outside, my clock has been officially reset to nature’s time.

Many more returns

Return on connection: Indigenous culture at Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, Whistler

A living introduction from the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and Lil̓wat7úl Nations: hourly guided tours begin with a hand-drum welcome song and move through galleries of carving, weaving and regalia. The architecture tells a story, too, with the striking cedar-and-glass building designed to echo a Squamish longhouse and Lil’wat istken (pit house).

Return on vitality: Skiing in Western Canada

Western Canada is a skier’s dream, home to some of the world’s most iconic slopes and alpine towns. British Columbia alone counts 13 destination ski resorts. Whistler Blackcomb is North America’s largest ski area, with terrain for every level; Sun Peaks is Canada’s second-largest, offering a charming ski-in village and a famously family-friendly set-up; and Revelstoke is beloved by locals for its staggering vertical drop and adrenaline-inducing steeps that reward experts with the ultimate thrill. 

Return on awe: Aurora borealis in Canada’s north

Give yourself a few long winter nights in the Yukon or the Northwest Territories and the odds are good you’ll be treated to nature’s greatest light show. Winter here is all quiet expanses and crisp horizons: snow crunching underfoot, steam rising from a wood-fired hot tub, and above it all, the shimmering dance of the aurora borealis.

Base yourself in Whitehorse, where welcoming lodges and guided night tours set the stage for the spectacle, or venture north to Dawson City for even darker skies and a touch of frontier charm. Or head to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories where you can see the aurora dance up to 240 nights per year. Wherever you are, Canada’s north  delivers the kind of night sky that stops you in your tracks.