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Canada Standard
2 days ago
- Canada Standard
Travel with intention: Here's a guide to 'soft adventure' experiences across Canada this summer
A growing number of Canadian travellers are embracing "soft adventure" travel. This trend blends a desire for active engagements in nature and educational and culturally relevant experiences with the chance to reset and relax. Low-risk outdoor activities such as wine tasting, canoeing, fishing, whale-watching and cycling are all examples of this growing trend. This shift reflects a "growing desire for peace of mind and rejuvenation" among Canadians in their travel experiences. A recent survey found 61 per cent of Canadians plan to focus on "soft travel" or "calm-cations" in 2025. While this trend spans all age groups, it's particularly strong among Gen Z, with 81 per cent showing a preference for it. At the same time, many Canadians are searching for travel opportunities closer to home amid tensions between the two countries. In these times of global uncertainty, soft adventure tourism offers affordable options for Canadians and international visitors to explore and experience all that Canada has to offer. As tourism experts, we have some suggestions for destinations that provide travellers with a chance to pause, breathe and recharge. Along the coast of Vancouver Island, orcas, humpback whales, sea lions, seals and porpoises draw visitors each summer. Tourism operators offer whale-watching tours all over the island, giving travellers a chance to experience its marine life firsthand. Just a day trip from Victoria, the Kinsol Trestle is a chance to walk or cycle through nature. For a closer look at the region's wildlife, travellers can join sea kayaking tours in Port McNeill on Vancouver Island with Kingfisher Wilderness Adventures. Here, visitors might spot grizzly bears and they can hear stories from Kwakwaka'wakw First Nations guides and interpreters. British Columbia is home to more than 200 distinct Indigenous communities that offer tourism experiences ranging from pristine beaches to savouring cuisine in award-winning restaurants and more. On the mainland, Harrison Hot Springs, B.C. offers visitors the chance to relax in mineral hot springs for a nominal fee. Other soft adventure experiences include beach-front maintained trails for walking and hiking, as well as picnicking locations. Visitors can take the short drive to Rosedale, B.C., where a brief hike brings them to the base of Bridal Veil Falls Park. Alberta's landscapes have served as the backdrop for many films and television series, including Brokeback Mountain , Game of Thrones , The Last of Us and The Revenant . For film tourism enthusiasts, the province offers no shortage of iconic film locations to explore. Some scenes of Game of Thrones' final season were shot in Banff National Park. In Saskatchewan, Lake Diefenbaker is known for golfing, boating and walleye fishing. It's the largest body of water in the southwest of the province, and it offers an opportunity to traverse a picturesque parkland while witnessing wildlife like elk, caribou, cougar and lynx. In Manitoba, Churchill offers sightings of both beluga whales and polar bears. Each summer, hundreds of belugas enter the Churchill River, and the town offers kayaking, boat tours and paddleboarding to see them. While you're in Churchill, you can also see the northern lights up to 300 nights a year, along with numerous historic sites like the Prince of Wales Fort. With 250,000 freshwater lakes, remote canyons, more than 1,200 canoe routes and 22 diveable historic shipwrecks, Ontario is filled with soft adventure travel opportunities. Travellers have countless ways to connect with nature and history in the province. In Tobermory, a harbour village on the province's Bruce Peninsula, travellers can take guided tours to explore underwater shipwrecks, as well as visit the region's distinctive "flowerpot" rock formations and natural grottos. Quebec offers an experience that at times feels distinctly European. In Old Montreal and the Old Port, cobblestone streets and artisan vendors make it feel like you're stepping into the past. Both locations are steeped in history and culinary excellence. In New Brunswick, Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park, nestled along the Bay of Fundy, offers guided tours for travellers. Visitors are encouraged to check the tidal wave schedule to see the rock formations known as sea stacks, which are caused by tidal erosion. Nova Scotia's capital, Halifax, is a vibrant coastal city known for its lively nightlife and flourishing culinary scene. Across the harbour in Dartmouth-Cole Harbour, visitors can go bird watching or take part in a cycling adventure on the easy-to-moderate Salt Marsh Trail. A visit to Peggy's Cove is a must. The province is also home to tourism initiatives that reflect the region's diverse cultural heritage. Among these is Elevate and Explore Black Nova Scotia, which is designed to enrich the travel experience for Black people visiting or living in the province. Over on Prince Edward Island, visitors can explore Lucy Maud Montgomery's birthplace, the author of beloved childhood classic Anne of Green Gables , in Cavendish. Nearby at the museum, visitors can reimagine Anne Shirley's iconic adventures in a return to the magic of storytelling and place, before making their way to Greenwich Beach via the boardwalk through P.E.I.'s largest sand dunes. In Newfoundland and Labrador, Gros Morne National Park offers visitors views of "soaring fjords and moody mountains" alongside the chance to spot puffins in their natural habitat. Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the park also provides opportunities for fishing. If closer to historical Gander, take a ferry excursion to Fogo Island, which offers bird watching and boat trips. In the Yukon, travellers can engage with Indigenous tourism, arts and culture through experiences offered by the Yukon First Nation and Tourism Industry Association. Visitors to the Yukon can cool their feet in the cold mountain streams while trying their hand at gold panning in historic Dawson City. Once a hub of the 19th-century Klondike Gold Rush, it still features several preserved frontier-style buildings. In the Northwest Territories, travellers can witness the aurora borealis and take guided photography tours to see wildlife up close. Further east, Nunavut offers a range of adventure tourism opportunities, including sea kayaking, whitewater kayaking and canoeing. Together, these northern destinations offer travellers a chance to immerse themselves in the natural beauty, history and living cultures of Canada's North while embracing the slower pace and meaningful experiences at the heart of soft adventure travel.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Yahoo
Go eye-to-eye with humpbacks on this Vancouver Island kayak tour
This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK). Suddenly, I hear it: a rush of air and water so powerful that it sounds like a waterfall. It's the unmistakable exhalation of a whale — explosive, resonant and coming from somewhere behind my kayak. Tentatively, I turn my head. I spot it immediately: it's a humpback, rising from the water like a shadowy wave about to crest. Its massive, slate-coloured body glitters briefly in the morning light, before it sinks back into the depths, just as quickly as it had emerged. Soon, the ripples left behind by its mighty flukes fade, and it's like it was never there. For a moment, I'm too stunned to paddle. Compared to the whale, which stretches roughly 40 feet from tip to tail, I am tiny — a speck bobbing in an orange kayak in the chilly waters of the Johnstone Strait, off the northeastern coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. I'd arrived by water taxi from Port McNeill on Vancouver Island a couple of days earlier, having signed up for a four-day kayaking expedition with Kingfisher Wilderness Adventures. The trip promised a front-row seat to one of the world's most incredible wildlife shows: orcas (sometimes called killer whales, but actually members of the dolphin family) and humpbacks, viewed from eye level. The nutrient-rich waters of the Johnstone Strait, fed by strong tidal currents, are a grazing corridor for dolphins, sea lions, whales and orcas. 'Sometimes, there's so much activity out here, it's hard to know where to look,' says my guide Jen Ray, a woollen beanie pulled down over her tumble of brown curls, her eyes scanning the water with practised ease. As we paddle onwards, right on cue a pod of sleek black-and-white orcas glides past on the watery horizon, their dorsal fins slicing through the waves. It's a sight that would have been unimaginable just two decades ago, Jen explains as we drift further into the strait. 'The population is bouncing back from the whaling era; the last whaling station on Vancouver Island closed in the 1960s. The humpbacks are returning in serious numbers now because, well, there's just so much food here. It's a buffet for them,' she says. The peak season for sightings is between May and October. That evening, we arrive at base camp on Hanson Island, which sits in the middle of the waterway that separates Vancouver Island from the mainland of British Columbia. It's a simple affair: raised canvas tents, an al fresco shower and a kitchen hut strung with glowing light bulbs. Our small group — including three outdoorsy twentysomething Australians and a couple of middle-aged women — gathers for an evening meal of freshly caught salmon, roast potatoes and garlicky green beans. The island is covered with rocky outcrops, sandy coves and a dense forest canopy of old-growth fir, cedar and pine trees. As night falls, we gather around a crackling campfire under a starlit sky, passing around laminated maps of the archipelago, plotting our paddling routes for the days ahead. Wolves and grizzly bears are known to roam the island, Jen says, quickly reassuring us that the animals are just swimming through and generally keep to the far end of the outpost. At daybreak the following morning, it's not a hungry bear, or an alarm clock, that wakes me but a series of sharp, reverberating thuds — like a gun being fired. I unzip my tent and take a few paces to the shoreline, my steps crunching on pebbles, the world still shrouded in morning haze. Across the water I spot the cause of the noise: a humpback is breaching, propelling itself vertically from the water and crashing back down with a resounding slap. The sound stays with me as we push off from the shore shortly after, kayaks cutting through the fog-drenched waters. Today's adventure will take us on a 12-mile route along the coastline of the Discovery Islands. Within hours, we're passing a posse of around 30 young male sea lions, a boisterous bunch who are belly-flopping into the water from a craggy outcrop and filling the air with loud dog-like barks. They're like the teenage boys of the animal kingdom, showing off to each other as they slip in and out of the water with joyful abandon. Jen chuckles. 'Don't worry,' she says as we bounce on the current. 'It's like passing a group of kids outside a 7-Eleven store. They're harmless'. In the distance, the engine of a whale-watching boat hums across the waters. While that vessel can certainly cover more ground, I'm fast discovering that our kayaking adventure allows for a more intimate experience, bringing us face-to-face with the creatures of the deep. 'You have to work harder for it in a kayak, but when you do spot wildlife it's more rewarding,' Jen says as we paddle down a narrow waterway, the branches of the surrounding trees draped in a thread-like lichen known as witch's hair. On our final day, we opt for the scenic route back to Vancouver Island, hopping aboard a boat with Sea Wolf Adventures — a First Nations Kwakwaka'wakw-owned company. As we glide along the edges of northern Vancouver Island, skimming the Great Bear Rainforest, all binoculars are glued to the shoreline to spot bears lumbering through the dense woodland. 'Over to your left are some of my favourite locals,' our guide, Danielle Dawson, a member of the Kwakwaka'wakw community, says with a laugh as we cruise past a raft of sea otters drifting lazily on their backs, looking like a group of retirees lounging on pool floats. Above them, the calls of bald eagles pierce the air, their cries echoing across the water as they circle overhead. 'It's moments like these that draw visitors here,' Danielle says, zipping her grey windbreaker to her chin as the wind whistles across the deck. As the mist lifts and the boat chugs into port, I realise that visiting this part of British Columbia isn't just about adventure. It's about connection — to the untamed beauty that's been here for millennia. Published in the May 2025 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK).To subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click here. (Available in select countries only).
National Geographic
05-05-2025
- National Geographic
This Canadian kayak tour lets travelers go whale-watching at eye level
This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK). Suddenly, I hear it: a rush of air and water so powerful that it sounds like a waterfall. It's the unmistakable exhalation of a whale — explosive, resonant and coming from somewhere behind my kayak. Tentatively, I turn my head. I spot it immediately: it's a humpback, rising from the water like a shadowy wave about to crest. Its massive, slate-coloured body glitters briefly in the morning light, before it sinks back into the depths, just as quickly as it had emerged. Soon, the ripples left behind by its mighty flukes fade, and it's like it was never there. For a moment, I'm too stunned to paddle. Compared to the whale, which stretches roughly 40 feet from tip to tail, I am tiny — a speck bobbing in an orange kayak in the chilly waters of the Johnstone Strait, off the northeastern coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. I'd arrived by water taxi from Port McNeill on Vancouver Island a couple of days earlier, having signed up for a four-day kayaking expedition with Kingfisher Wilderness Adventures. The trip promised a front-row seat to one of the world's most incredible wildlife shows: orcas (sometimes called killer whales, but actually members of the dolphin family) and humpbacks, viewed from eye level. 'Sometimes, there's so much activity out here, it's hard to know where to look,' says Kingfisher Wilderness Adventures guide Jen Ray. While larger vessels cover more ground, kayaking adventures allow for a more intimate experience, bringing kayakers face-to-face with the creatures of the deep. The nutrient-rich waters of the Johnstone Strait, fed by strong tidal currents, are a grazing corridor for dolphins, sea lions, whales and orcas. 'Sometimes, there's so much activity out here, it's hard to know where to look,' says my guide Jen Ray, a woollen beanie pulled down over her tumble of brown curls, her eyes scanning the water with practised ease. As we paddle onwards, right on cue a pod of sleek black-and-white orcas glides past on the watery horizon, their dorsal fins slicing through the waves. It's a sight that would have been unimaginable just two decades ago, Jen explains as we drift further into the strait. 'The population is bouncing back from the whaling era; the last whaling station on Vancouver Island closed in the 1960s. The humpbacks are returning in serious numbers now because, well, there's just so much food here. It's a buffet for them,' she says. The peak season for sightings is between May and October. That evening, we arrive at base camp on Hanson Island, which sits in the middle of the waterway that separates Vancouver Island from the mainland of British Columbia. It's a simple affair: raised canvas tents, an al fresco shower and a kitchen hut strung with glowing light bulbs. Our small group — including three outdoorsy twentysomething Australians and a couple of middle-aged women — gathers for an evening meal of freshly caught salmon, roast potatoes and garlicky green beans. The island is covered with rocky outcrops, sandy coves and a dense forest canopy of old-growth fir, cedar and pine trees. As night falls, we gather around a crackling campfire under a starlit sky, passing around laminated maps of the archipelago, plotting our paddling routes for the days ahead. Wolves and grizzly bears are known to roam the island, Jen says, quickly reassuring us that the animals are just swimming through and generally keep to the far end of the outpost. As night falls, campers gather around a crackling campfire under a starlit sky, passing around laminated maps of the archipelago and plotting paddling routes for the days ahead. A small group gathers for an evening meal of freshly caught salmon, roast potatoes and garlicky green beans. At daybreak the following morning, it's not a hungry bear, or an alarm clock, that wakes me but a series of sharp, reverberating thuds — like a gun being fired. I unzip my tent and take a few paces to the shoreline, my steps crunching on pebbles, the world still shrouded in morning haze. Across the water I spot the cause of the noise: a humpback is breaching, propelling itself vertically from the water and crashing back down with a resounding slap. The sound stays with me as we push off from the shore shortly after, kayaks cutting through the fog-drenched waters. Today's adventure will take us on a 12-mile route along the coastline of the Discovery Islands. Within hours, we're passing a posse of around 30 young male sea lions, a boisterous bunch who are belly-flopping into the water from a craggy outcrop and filling the air with loud dog-like barks. They're like the teenage boys of the animal kingdom, showing off to each other as they slip in and out of the water with joyful abandon. Jen chuckles. 'Don't worry,' she says as we bounce on the current. 'It's like passing a group of kids outside a 7-Eleven store. They're harmless'. In the distance, the engine of a whale-watching boat hums across the waters. While that vessel can certainly cover more ground, I'm fast discovering that our kayaking adventure allows for a more intimate experience, bringing us face-to-face with the creatures of the deep. 'You have to work harder for it in a kayak, but when you do spot wildlife it's more rewarding,' Jen says as we paddle down a narrow waterway, the branches of the surrounding trees draped in a thread-like lichen known as witch's hair. Take the scenic route back to Vancouver Island with Sea Wolf Adventures, a First Nations Kwakwaka'wakw-owned company. On our final day, we opt for the scenic route back to Vancouver Island, hopping aboard a boat with Sea Wolf Adventures — a First Nations Kwakwaka'wakw-owned company. As we glide along the edges of northern Vancouver Island, skimming the Great Bear Rainforest, all binoculars are glued to the shoreline to spot bears lumbering through the dense woodland. 'Over to your left are some of my favourite locals,' our guide, Danielle Dawson, a member of the Kwakwaka'wakw community, says with a laugh as we cruise past a raft of sea otters drifting lazily on their backs, looking like a group of retirees lounging on pool floats. Above them, the calls of bald eagles pierce the air, their cries echoing across the water as they circle overhead. 'It's moments like these that draw visitors here,' Danielle says, zipping her grey windbreaker to her chin as the wind whistles across the deck. As the mist lifts and the boat chugs into port, I realise that visiting this part of British Columbia isn't just about adventure. It's about connection — to the untamed beauty that's been here for millennia. Kingfisher Wilderness Adventures offers a four-day Whales and Grizzly Bears tour from C$2,410 (£1,295) per person, including guided sea kayaking, camp accommodation, meals and a scenic boat tour with Sea Wolf Adventures. This story was created with the support of Destination British Columbia. Published in the May 2025 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK). To subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click here. (Available in select countries only).
