This is why you should visit Canada in 2024

Whether you want to escape into the wilderness, discover cultural treasures or gaze at the cosmos, you’ll find a reason to visit Canada this year. From new UNESCO World Heritage Sites to major milestones marked with special events, we reveal why you should make a trip to Canada in 2024. 

History and boots-on adventure combine on Île d’Anticosti, Québec’s largest island and Canada’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site. The island was afforded the new status on account of its incredibly intact fossil record, which offers a snapshot of marine life spanning some 10 millions years. Beyond the rich layers of history, the island is a patchwork of caverns, canyons and waterfalls known for abundant wildlife such as white-tailed deer.

In Canada’s northwestern reaches, the Yukon’s Tr'ondëk-Klondike region, including Dawson City, has been inscribed on the UNESCO list too. The wild and remote area – part of the homeland of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation – has been recognised for its rich Indigenous history. On your travels, you’ll also learn the impact of the Klondike Gold Rush on the region’s original peoples.

Canada’s newest national park remains Thaidene Nëné National Park Reserve, part of an Indigenous Protected Area in the remote Northwest Territories that’s managed by several Indigenous governments: Yellowknives Dene First Nation, Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation, Northwest Territory Métis Nation and Deninu Kųę First Nation. Adventurous travellers will be rewarded with wildlife-filled canoe rides and nights pitched up under the stars, while Frontier Lodge, at the edge of the park, is fresh from renovations.

Come fall, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Manitoba capital Winnipeg will celebrate its 10th birthday with some special exhibits. Among them is “Beyond the Beat: Music of Resistance and Change”, which debuts in February and spotlights artists who’ve used their craft for activism. 

The Canadian Canoe Museum should be on your radar too. Located in Peterborough, Ontario, the museum chronicles the history of the vessel and highlights its importance to Canada’s Indigenous peoples and its place in contemporary culture. In spring, the museum will move to a vast new waterfront location with fresh exhibits, a boardwalk and canoe and kayak launches. 

Canada’s oldest continuously operated museum, the New Brunswick Museum, is also getting a facelift. Visitors will be able to see its celebrated exhibits on marine life and maritime history in a glittering new space upgraded to the tune of $150 million. 

Newfoundland and Labrador will celebrate 75 years since it joined the Canadian Confederation in 2024 and – though details are still being ironed out – there’s set to be a whole roster of cultural and community events, including those that recognise the province’s Indigenous heritage. 

Meanwhile, Manitoba’s Winnipeg will mark its 150th year as a city with a packed calendar of events, focused on the theme 'Our shared stories. Our shared future': visitors can expect concerts, special museum exhibits and neighbourhood festivals. 

In Québec, some beloved urban festivals are marking special birthdays too: enjoy the 70th anniversary of Québec City’s Winter Carnival, with its snow sculptures and music-filled parades, or make for Montréal, where the 25th anniversary of lights festival Montréal en Lumière is set to dazzle visitors.

Book lovers, meanwhile, should set their sights on Prince Edward Island. November 2024 marks 150 years since the birth of Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of literary favourite Anne of Green Gables, which is set in a fictional town on PEI. It’s the perfect time to get lost in a themed itinerary, which will take you to the late writer’s idyllic Cavendish home.

Read next: The 24 best destinations to visit in 2024

Across North America, few 2024 events are more hotly anticipated than the solar eclipse, whose path of totality will extend right from Mexico to Canada via the USA on 8th April. 

In Canada, top destinations to experience the phenomenon include the little Newfoundland town of Gander, otherwise known for the North Atlantic Aviation Museum – the community is planning a science-focused festival to mark the astrological wonder. An hour outside of town, Terra Nova National Park, a designated Dark Sky Preserve, is another great spot to witness the event. 

Southern swathes of the provinces of Québec and Ontario will experience totality too. Ontario’s Niagara Falls – known, of course, for its spectacular cascades – will fade to black, while the forest-filled Mont-Megantic Dark-Sky Reserve in Southern Québec is gearing up for a host of activities. 

The British Columbia archipelago of Haida Gwaii – the ancestral homelands of the Indigenous Haida Nation – is home to the Ocean House boutique resort, close to the village of Old Massett. In May this year, the Haida-owned property will open in a new location watching over the water. Guests at the lodge can strike into the surrounding nature with excursions led by Haida guides and indulge in spa treatments derived from Indigenous traditions. 

New Inuit-led tours beat into Québec’s remote Nunavik region, too. Indigenous-run Ungava Polar Eco-Tours will explore the wild and uninhabited Gyrfalcon Islands from summer, travelling on the tail of polar bears and revealing the area’s rich Indigenous heritage. 

In Alberta, new attractions are shining a spotlight on Indigenous Métis culture too. Métis Crossing includes a cultural centre and lodge, and has now introduced a series of ‘Sky Watching Domes’ – glamping bubbles with clear roofs designed so that visitors can gaze at the cosmos.

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