Best National Parks in Canada

Canada is a beautiful place blessed with so many untouched wildernesses, breathtaking natural beauty and tranquility. As one would expect, the country contains a great number of beautifully preserved national parks where the locals could go to and visit whenever they want.

Among all of the national parks that are located in Canada, some of these got included in the top 16 parks that were visited in all of United States and Canada. Based on the results from the National Geographic Sustainable Destinations Resource Centre, 6 of the parks that were among the top 16 were from Canada. This would not come off as a surprise since the country really makes it a point to conserve the natural beauty, unique geographical features and historical significance in their parks. Here are some of their best national parks.

Gwaii Haanas National Park, British Columbia

Voted Best National Park by National Geographic even after looking at over 50 National Parks in Canada and the United States, Gwaii Haanas National Park just proves that just because it is visited by around 3,000 people a year, it doesn’t mean that it could not be the best. Located in the southern Queen Charlotte Islands off the central coast of BC, the park is isolated and is an ideal vacation spot for those who want to experience nature at its best.

The 640-kilometre stretch of rugged coastline of the park is true wilderness at its best. Getting to the park, one would need to get there by boat or float plane. Due to the abundance of flora and fauna, the park is referred to as the ‘Galapagos of the north’. If you would go kayaking in the riverbanks, you can paddle for hours without seeing another human being.

Banff National Park, Alberta

Banff National Park is the oldest national park in all of Canada. The development of this park started during the year 1885 when three explorers poked around the Rockies and found a park of jagged snow-capped mountains, broad U-shaped valleys, turquoise lakes, rich forests and meandering rivers, along with steaming, sulphurous hot springs.

Banff is by the most popular park in the Rockies. Every year, around four million visitors pay respect to this park for the beautiful scenery it provides, also for some of the world’s best hiking and skiing. With 25 mountains standing about 300 metres high or higher, people flock to Banff to climb these challenging mountains.

Bruce Peninsula National Park, Ontario

Campers, hikers and bird watchers love going to the park located at the tip of Bruce Peninsula on the Niagara Escarpment of Ontario. With a great view on its west side of bogs, beaches and Lake Huron, the opposite side of the park offers an even greater view with cliffs that plunge into the clear waters of Georgian Bay.

One could find 300 species of birds migrating through this peninsula, as well as the massasauga rattlesnake. Campers should also be careful not to leave found around the campsite to avoid the appearance of black bears. For those who want to go hiking, they could find southern Ontario’s best-loved footpath names Bruce Trail in this national park. Its most rugged and spectacular stretch runs through the National Park between Dyer’s Bay and Tobermory.

Mauricie National Park, Quebec

This most frequented park in Quebec is located midway between the province’s two largest cities, Quebec City and Montreal, and is 50 kilometres north of St Lawrence River. Mauricie National Park’s 544 square kilomtres contains a landscape of a vast rolling plateau broken by numerous lakes and rounded hills etched by waterfalls, streams and narrow valleys.

For people who want to visit a national park for its wildlife, then it would be a great idea to drop by Mauricie National Park. It has over 40 species of mammals such as moose, black bear, beaver, red fox, wolf, and coyote to name a few. The numerous lakes and streams are home to even much more animals.

The different wildlife that live in the wilderness of this park add more life to the kaleidoscopic beauty that the southern sugar maple, yellow birch, beech trees and red spruce give to the park.

Auyuittuq National Park, Nunavut

If you are among those people who are looking for a ‘Survivor’ type of national park instead of those manicured campsites with hot showers, Auyuittuq National Park is the best place to come to. Hikers, climbers and campers are definitely going to love staying here as the park offers challenge, solitude and the breathtaking grandeur of this remote arctic landscape. ‘Auyuittuq’ is inuit for ‘the land that never melts’ which is rightfully appropriate as Auyuittuq is home to the Penny Ice Cap, a 6,000-square kilometer expanse of ice that is one of the few remaining remnants of most of the ice age.

Protecting a pristine part of the eastern Arctic, Auyuittuq National Park Reserve, is located on Baffin Island’s Cumberland Peninsula, about 2,400 kilometres from Montreal. Its 19,707 square kilometres lies almost entirely within the Arctic Circle and the park’s landscape has been entirely glacier-formed. The harsh variable climate, only briefly moderated during the long days of summer, sustains a limited number of plant and animal species. The glaciers flow down into the surrounding treeless valleys, where they melt into swift rivers that rush over the rocks.

This powerful landscape reflects the Inuit belief that time is infinite and unending. Whether you climb Auyuittuq’s mountains, ski on its icefields or backpack through the Akshayuk Pass, it is a great spot to experience the magic of the Arctic, totally unlike anything in Japan, for instance.