Activity & Adventure Holidays Canada
Discover Canada's wild heart
It's feeling the wind on your face as you zip-line through the cedars or listening for the aurora’s song as it shimmers in the Northern skies. It's seeing a whale's fluke disappear into the ocean or a bear’s breath mist the morning air. That's Canada's wild side!
How to Book
Speak with our experts
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Call our experts
If you're looking for an active adventure with new experiences in stunning surroundings, then this is for you. Call our friendly Canada Travel Experts and talk us through your dream Canada activity holiday. We'll help you plan the ideal family holiday packed full of excursions and activities. From bear watching tours to helicopter rides, we can find the thrills for you. Book a carefully packaged experience or tailor-make your own holiday from scratch.
Active Adventures
Hiking to zip-lining
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Watersport activities
Canada has the longest coastline of any country on Earth and more lakes than the rest of the world combined. And with more rivers than you can shake a paddle at, it's perfect for watersports. Tofino on Vancouver Island's Pacific Coast is a hotspot for surfing. Lakes in the Rockies like Lake Louise are perfect for hiring a canoe. Ontario is great for a paddle, with white water rafting just outside Ottawa. Stand-up paddleboarding is the latest sport you should try out! -
Mountain activities
Canada is famous for its mountains and they hold the key to plenty of adventure activities. Holidays in Alberta and British Columbia provide plenty of hiking, trekking and climbing opportunities in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Head to Banff or Jasper National Parks for the best routes. Whistler in the Coast Mountains boasts world-class skiing in winter and mountain biking in summer. Plus, Canada offers plenty of opportunities to zip-line through the impressive forests. -
Outdoor sports
Canada is all about the scenery, so the more ways you can get out there to see it, the better! Even if you're not feeling daring enough to try mountain biking, a leisurely cycle or walking holiday is a great way to get around. The Maritime provinces like Prince Edward Island have miles of incredible cycling routes. Canada is also blessed with world-class golf resorts scattered across the country and is a great place to try horse riding. There are lots of outdoor sports on offer!
Calgary Stampede
The Wild West
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The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth!
Yahoo! That’s the Canadian Wild West’s call to arms. Hearing it means it’s time to pull on your boots, strap on your chaps, hold onto your Stetson and get ready for the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth! The yearly Calgary Stampede is a legendary combination of rodeo shows, music acts, firework displays and food stalls that we can’t get enough of. So saddle up for an unforgettable ride! -
The Stampede highlights
The main highlights of the Calgary Stampede are the exhilarating Rodeo and the breathtaking Evening Show. The Rodeo sees cowboys and girls compete in events like steer roping, barrel racing and chuckwagon driving. The Evening Show is a bonanza of live music, dance and fireworks which draws international headliners. Plus there is a funfair, countless food stalls and smaller music concerts to enjoy. -
How to do it
Start or finish your fly-drive, escorted tour or rail journey with a few days in Calgary to soak up the festival atmosphere. We can advise you on the best tickets to get for the rodeo and evening show so you can easily slip the Stampede into any holiday itinerary. If you'd like the Stampede to be the main event, our Extravaganza holiday package is the perfect choice to spend a week in Stampede City.
Wilderness Experiences
Icebergs to the aurora
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Northern Lights
Forget Scandinavia - Canada is one of the best places in the world to view the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis. Much of the country lies directly under the auroral oval and wilderness regions have little-to-no light pollution, providing the perfect conditions to see the lights. Northern regions like Churchill in Manitoba and Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories are the best places for an aurora holiday, but you can also see the lights in the Rocky Mountains in winter. -
Horse ranches
Is there a more quintessentially Canadian scene than horse and rider, cowboy hat silhouetted against a backdrop of prairie or mountains? We think not. Canada's vast wilderness boasts some incredible horse ranches in beautiful locations. Authentic outdoor activities are combined with the organic pasture-to-plate cuisine, lavish safari tents or luxury log cabins. Exploration of pristine grasslands, old-growth forests, secluded lakes and river canyons is the highlight of every stay. -
Icebergs and glaciers
The Rocky Mountains are full of incredible glaciers to explore, but you can't beat Alaska when it comes to frozen fun. The state boasts dozens of spectacular glaciers and icebergs that are best explored as part of a cruise from Vancouver along the Inside Passage - with plenty of excursions, of course! In the East, the small, colourful towns of Newfoundland's Iceberg Alley provide context to the size of some of the biggest icebergs in the country as they drift from the Arctic.
Wildlife Watching
Meet the locals
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Bear watching holidays
Canada is home to a beautiful and wild temperate rainforest along British Columbia's Pacific Coast. The Great Bear Rainforest is one of the best places in the world to view grizzly bears and is the only place where you can see the endemic white Spirit Bear. An adventure holiday here takes you to some stunning luxury wilderness resorts like Clayoquot and Nimmo Bay. Nature meets relaxation in beautiful surroundings, with plenty of wildlife watching and outdoor activities on offer. -
Whale watching holidays
A luxury Canada wildlife adventure holiday could be just the ticket to seeing humpbacks and orcas in their natural habitat. In the Pacific waters of British Columbia and Vancouver Island, whales thrive. A guided excursion gives you the best chance of spotting these giants of the ocean. Meanwhile, a stay in a luxury wilderness retreat gets you closer to nature and offers plenty of other outdoor activities along the way.
Discover your adventure
Book your 2024/2025 holiday now
Discover where our most popular adventure routes will take you
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Luxury Wildlife Adventure Holiday
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Cow Town to Gold Town
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Pacific Rim Whales & Bears
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Show Map
Rocky Mountain Wild Holiday
Plan your Canadian adventure
Get an inside view of Canada's top activity and wilderness destinations.
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Adventure in Whistler
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The Canadian Canoe Route
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Spirit Bear Lodge
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Siwash Lake Ranch
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Clayoquot Wilderness Resort
Activity & Adventure Holidays in Canada
Canada is bursting with activity holidays waiting to take your breath away. An adventure holiday in Canada is a fantastic choice if you fancy combining a wildlife holiday with an activity break, and they're especially great for families. From zip-lining in Whistler to bear watching on Vancouver Island, canoeing in Ontario to a helicopter ride over Niagara Falls, we've got it all. Thought about horse-riding in Canada? One of our ranch holidays could be just the thing. Fancied kayaking in Canada? Try our canoe adventure in Ontario’s lakes and waterways.
Our holidays visit the most luscious and colourful areas of Canada, and the range of activities on offer is endless. You can canoe, hike, mountain bike or just sit lakeside and enjoy the gorgeous surroundings. We've got lovely log cabins and luxurious wilderness hotels where a stay will really make you feel at one with nature. The prairies outside Calgary are perfect to explore on horseback, while our adventure tours in Canada offer ideal bear watching opportunities in the wild.
Inspiration on our blog
The best places for adventure
Find out how you could enjoy the best adventure holidays in Canada
Bear watching
A Canada holiday wouldn’t be complete without spotting Canada’s favourite residents. Black bears are commonly sighted in the mountains, while remote wilderness resorts offer excellent grizzly viewing, especially around BC’s salmon run in September. You can spot bears between April and November (except polar bears, which are best in October and November).
Aurora hunting
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and Whitehorse, Yukon are the best places for the Northern Lights on an aurora tour between November and April.
Horse riding
The Rockies look incredible by horseback in Banff National Park. The Alberta prairies and BC Interior are other great spots.
Zip-lining
Resorts like Whistler and Tremblant are ideal for treetop zip-lining. For a different experience in a harness, try the CN Tower Edgewalk.
Canoeing & kayaking
Ontario is epic for canoeing and kayaking. Algonquin Provincial Park has endless lakes and waterways with white water outside Ottawa.
Whale watching
Canada is home to more than 30 species of whale. May to October is the main season to spot whales, with the peak around July and August. Towns like Tadoussac, Québec and Digby, Nova Scotia are best for humpbacks, minke, blue and beluga whales. Manitoba’s Hudson Bay is the best place for belugas, while BC’s Victoria reigns supreme for orcas.