You are currently viewing 3 Beautiful Photos Of Each Province That Will Make You Want To Explore Canada

Since yesterday was Canada Day, it’s worth reminding ourselves that our own country has pretty beautiful places to visit. Here are photos that will definitely make you want to explore Canada.

As you probably know, domestic flights in Canada are often very expensive. We sometimes have deals to Canadian destinations on our cheap flight deals page, but not as often as we’d like…

And when flying to some Canadian regions is as expensive as flying to Hawaii, we hope you choose Hawaii like we would! Thankfully, ultra low-cost carriers are finally in Canada, which will definitely drive down airfares in general… and hopefully allow us to explore our own country a bit more. I’ve been lucky enough to visit 9 out of the 10 provinces, but I rarely paid for flights to do so, it’s way too expensive.

By the way, another great way to save money if you must buy expensive flights within Canada is to start travel hacking. For example, instead of doing what many people do and pay $700 to fly across the country, you could get the same flight for 25,000 Aeroplan Miles and about $200. Simply signing up for the American Express Gold card will give you 30,000 Miles, for a $150 fee. That means it would cost you $350 for a ticket worth $700 (or any flight in Canada in fact). Half price. For short-haul flights, it’s even better because you only need 15,000 Miles for a roundtrip, so the card gives you 2 roundtrip flights… but since those short-haul destinations are closer and often cheaper, it’s not always worth using the Miles (it depends on how expensive your dates are. More to come in our soon-to-be relaunched travel hacking section, but read more here in the meantime.

Back to the pics. Check out these beautiful shots of each and every one of the 10 Canadian provinces… and we hope you enjoyed your Canada Day weekend!

01- Newfoundland and Labrador

Let’s start all the way East. Some have called Newfoundland the Iceland (or even the Ireland) of Canada. The natural attractions do look pretty beautiful, and I really can’t wait to go back.

I actually lived there… when I was 4 years-old. And I’ve never been back! The coastal landscapes, the mountains, and the beautiful capital all seem worth the visit.

The cheapest airport to fly in is usually St. John’s (YYT) but you also have a few other options, like Gander (YQX), Deer Lake (YDF), Stephenville (YJT) and in Labrador there is Goose Bay (YYR) and Wabush (YWK), my very first airport many many years ago.

Remember you can always find any flight that isn’t in our deals by using our flight search tools (thanks for supporting us through our links, it doesn’t cost you a thing and helps us to keep finding amazing flight deals and sharing travel tips).

02- Prince Edward Island

The least populated province, with fewer inhabitants than many cities in Canada… PEI is tiny. I remember spending one summer vacation there when I was a kid, with nice rural landscapes and decent beaches.

I always love everything that’s near the ocean (you might notice than when scrolling through the pictures in this article, even if I tried to show variety as much as I could). It also has the Confederation Bridge, I loved that marvel of engineering even as a kid (and I’m not even the one who ended up becoming an engineer… that’s Kevin, Flytrippers’ other co-founder ironically).

The only option to fly there is Charlottetown (YYG).

 

03- Nova Scotia

Another province that I haven’t visited in a while but that is so beautiful. Hard not to be when you have so many shorelines, I know. Can’t wait to go back, especially to drive on the Cabot Trail, since I’m a roadtrip enthusiast.

By the way, many of the great deals we spot to Europe from many Canadian cities have layovers in Halifax, sometimes (but not always) long enough to go out and explore the city! One of the reasons why if you like traveling, you should like layovers.

The best option is to fly to Halifax (YHZ) but there is also Sydney (YQY) on Cape Breton Island.

04- New Brunswick

Canada’s only officially bilingual province, New Brunswick has many attractions. The Bay of Fundy is probably the best-known one, but there are other beautiful landscapes and charming towns.

Again, these photos focus a lot on nature and beautiful Insta-worthy spots… but the cities (and the people more specifically) are also pretty memorable in NB.

There are 3 main cities in New Brunswick: Moncton (YQM), Fredericton (YFC) and Saint John (YSJ), but Bathurst (ZBF) also has very limited commercial air service.

05- Quebec

Canada’s largest province, and of course the only predominantly French-speaking province, Quebec has so much to offer.

Whether you like mountains, lakes, rivers, the sea… or even a metropolis or a charming old city with a European feel, Quebec is worth the visit!

You have two options to fly to QC, either Montreal (YUL) or Quebec City (YQB). In other regions, there are airports in Saguenay (YBG), Gaspé (YGP), Mont-Joli (YYY), Baie-Comeau (YBC), Sept-Iles (YZV), Val-d’Or (YVO), Rouyn-Noranda (YUY) and the Magdalen Islands (YGR).

 

06- Ontario

Canada’s most populous province, Ontario is almost as big as Quebec… so it also has a lot of things to discover!

And there’s more to Ontario than just the GTA and the Ottawa area… even if I very much enjoyed my many visits to both those cities.

You can fly to the GTA via Toronto-Pearson (YYZ), Toronto-Bishop (YTZ) or Hamilton (YHM) and to Ottawa via (YOW). Other airports include London (YXU), Waterloo (YKF), Windsor (YQG), Sudbury (YSB), Thunder Bay (YQT), Timmins (YTS) and North Bay (YYB). There is also Buffalo (BUF) close to Niagara Falls, Detroit (DTW) close to Southwestern Ontario and Montreal (YUL) close to Ottawa and Eastern Ontario.

07- Manitoba

The most recent addition to my own list of visited provinces, my visit to Manitoba two weeks ago was very brief. Just a layover in Winnipeg, and one night at the hotel with no time to visit. Let’s just say I have to go back soon!

Winnipeg is obviously the center of this province, but there seems to be a lot to see elsewhere as well!

The main gateway to Manitoba is Winnipeg (YWG), although Brandon (YBR) has very limited service.

08- Saskatchewan

This is the only province I never set foot in. Like me, you probably picture Saskatchewan as being very flat.

I have to say, researching photos for this article did give me a glimpse of many nice spots in SK, now I can’t wait to go back and complete my list of provinces visited!

The two main cities (and airports) in Saskatchewan are Saskatoon (YXE) and Regina (YQR).

09- Alberta

No need to remind you of Banff National Park, Lake Louise, Lake Moraine… etc. Alberta has incredible sights, even if a large part of the province is pretty flat. I drove around the province a bit a few summers back during the Calgary Stampede and loved it!

Unusual fact about Alberta: it’s Canada’s only rat-free province. They even have a government unit that is in charge of rat control! But in any case, Alberta is a must-see place if you like nature.

There are two main gateways in Alberta: Calgary (YYC) and Edmonton (YEG). Lethbridge (YQL), Lloydminster (YLL) and Medicine Hat (YXH) also have very limited service. There are also a few commercial airports in the northern part of the state, namely Fort McMurray (YMM) and Grande Prairie (YQU).

 

10- British Columbia

The last, but not the least. There is a reason their license plates read “Beautiful British Columbia”. We just spent a few days there two weeks ago, including a fun day with the Fraser Valley tourism board, and we loved it. We’ll share more about that on this blog soon.

Flytrippers’ other co-founder Kevin actually lived for a couple of months in BC and tells me there are so many incredibly beautiful spots all over the province.

You can fly to two airports in the Greater Vancouver Area, in Vancouver proper (YVR) or Abbotsford (YXX). There is also Victoria (YYJ), Comox (YQQ), Nanaimo (YCD), Kamloops (YKA), Kelowna (YLW), Cranbrook (YXC) Penticton (YYF)… and Fort St. John (YXJ), Prince Rupert (YPR) and Prince George (YXS) up north.

 

Bonus 1 – Yukon

Let’s not forget our 3 territories. Nobody lives there, so we don’t always think of visiting up there.

Yukon, the one that borders Alaska, has just a bit more inhabitants than the number of fans that fill one of our NHL arenas on a game night.

You can fly to Whitehorse (YXY).

Bonus 2 – Northwest Territories

The next territory is just as thrilling for those who love wide open spaces and raw natural landscapes.

I’d really love to visit there myself, since I’m a bit of a contrarian and love to go places that are less popular and less tourist-y.

You can fly to Yellowknife (YZF).

Bonus 3 – Nunavut

Finally, the last territory (also the last one to be created, in 1999) is Nunavut.

With about 36,000 people spread over 2 millions square kilometers, it’s hard to find a place further away from civilization. Also very hard to find nice pics that don’t include snow, which is something I aimed to do since it’s July and our Canadian summers are so short I was hoping to forget about the whole snow thing for at least a few weeks…

Iqaluit has a brand-new $300M airport, but neither Air Canada or WestJet fly there, however like many smaller airport, there are regional carriers that serve the area.

We’re so lucky that Canada is such a beautiful country. Even though it’s not an exotic or international destination, there are so many incredible spots to discover. Which one do you want to visit?

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Andrew D'Amours

Andrew is the co-founder of Flytrippers. He is passionate about traveling the world but also, as a former management consultant, about the travel industry itself. He shares his experiences to help you save money on travel. As a very cost-conscious traveler, he loves finding deals and getting free travel thanks to travel rewards points... to help him visit every country in the world (current count: 71/193 Countries, 47/50 US States & 9/10 Canadian Provinces).

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