Canada

Canada’s been the butt of more than a few jokes on the world stage, but anyone who’s been to this enormous country knows that cracks about a bland or boring national character fall flat in the face of reality. (And the Canadians seem to take their reputation with good and self-deprecating humor.) Here’s a land of kingly scenery, vast unpeopled backcountry, nonstop urban energy, and a culture informed equally by indigenous richness and a time-honored immigrant experience.

For lovers of the natural world, Canada presents wilderness on a truly grand scale, from the storm-battered headlands of Newfoundland to the roadless fjords of British Columbia’s Coast Mountains. Amid the sheer walls and sawtooth ridges of the Canadian Rockies, you encounter one of the world’s most epically scenic mountain ranges—vertically stretched countryside drawn to a point by grizzly bears, woodland caribou, bighorn sheep, and wapiti. The near-endless boreal forest is exceeded in scale only by Russia’s taiga; while the Arctic barrens are the dominion of the polar bear, which finds its southernmost global stronghold along Manitoba’s Hudson Bay coast. The shortgrass prairies of the Great Plains feel oceanic, and the temperate rainforest of the Pacific coast hems you in with giant, moss-draped conifers.

Appreciating the Canadian wilderness comes in many forms, from the plush to the primal. Savor the Banff peaks from the luxury of the Chateau Lake Louise, experience one of the world’s great train journeys on the Trans Canada Railway, or embark on a hardcore backcountry expedition into the Yukon wilds. Whitewater rafting, mountain climbing, dog-sledding, canoeing, sea kayaking—if it’s outdoor thrills you’re after, Canada obliges in virtually every corner.

The mountains, prairies, forests, and tundra are monumental, to the say the least. But Canada’s as much an urban getaway as a wilderness one. Check the latest “world’s most livable cities” list: You’re liable to see at least a smattering of Canadian metropolises rubbing shoulders with those perennial Australian and Scandinavian hubs. Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver—from film and music festivals to the everyday high culture of museums, art galleries, and some truly cutting-edge restaurants (plus poutine joints!), Canadian cities are as cosmopolitan as they come.

And the cultural and ethnic diversity makes any generalizations about Canadian society just that: generalizations. From the Inuit of Nunavut to the Haida of the B.C. rain-coast, vibrant First Nations cultures embody the country’s incredibly rich aboriginal heritage. A French-Canadian Quebecois, a Scottish-Canadian Newfoundlander, a Chinese-Canadian Vancouverite: Canada embraces its multiculturalism with a refreshing ease and justifiable pride.

If any of the Canadian stereotypes are true, it may be that they don’t toot their own horn. With such a wealth of natural beauty and culture, perhaps they simply don’t have to.