By CARISSA BLUESTONE
Dempster Highway (Photo: S. Stuart/NWTT)
What defines the ultimate Canadian adventure is a matter of individual taste, but some trips, whether due to extravagance, effort, rare glimpses of life in far-flung corners, or unremitting “The hills are alive…” catharsis, fall firmly into the once-in-a-lifetime category.
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- MANITOBA<br /> <br /> Considering the uncertain future of these climate-change-endangered creatures, “once in a lifetime” has some grim connotations in polar bear country. But the opportunity to see these imposing wonders lumber across the tundra is worth scrimping and saving. <a href="http://everythingchurchill.com/polar-bears/">Book a tour.</a><br /> <br /> <em><a href="http://www.where.ca/blog/great-trips/journey-to-the-polar-bear-capital-of-the-world/">Read "Journey to the Polar Bear Capital of the World"</a></em>
- Photo: Steve Smith
- Polar Bear Excursion
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- Photo: Steve Smith
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- CANADIAN ROCKIES<br /> <br /> Both spectacular and spectacularly expensive, this week-long <a href="http://www.royalcanadianpacific.com/">luxury train journey</a> through the Canadian Rockies only happens once or twice a summer, making a loop from Calgary through Kananaskis Country, Banff and Yoho national parks, and Southern Alberta prairies.
- Photo: Geoff S.
- Royal Canadian Pacific Canadian Rockies Experience
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- Photo: Geoff S.
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- NORTHWEST TERRITORIES & YUKON<br /> <br /> Not quite up to playing Ice Road Truckers? Drive the lower stretch of this <a href="http://travelyukon.com/press-releases/scenic-drives/dempster-highway ">remote highway</a> from Dawson City to Inuvik instead. The Dempster is the only all-season public road to cross the Arctic Circle, and it’s 736 km of tundra, prehistoric sites and limited services. <br /> <br /> <em>For more Yukon trip suggestions, read our <a href="http://www.where.ca/blog/travel-tuesday-qa/interview-yukoner-murray-lundberg-explorenorth-blog/">interview</a> with Yukon travel expert Murray Lundberg.</em>
- Photo: S. Stuart/NWTT
- Driving the Dempster Highway
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- Photo: S. Stuart/NWTT
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- LABRADOR<br /> <br /> Cruise to this <a href="http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nl/torngats/index.aspx">remote corner of the country</a> to see some of Canada's most spectacular natural landscapes: rock outcroppings nearly 4 billion years old, glaciers, mountains, fjords and brilliant blue-green waters, plus the caribou and polar bears who take up residence here.
- Photo: Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism
- Cruising the Fjords of Torngat Mountains National Park
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- Photo: Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism
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- NOVA SCOTIA<br /> <br /> One of Canada’s greatest road trips is on Cape Breton Island. The <a href="http://www.novascotia.com/en/home/discovernovascotia/uniquely_novascotia/cape_breton_island/default.aspx">Cabot Trail</a> is a 298-km-long loop scenic enough to make it into National Geographic’s <em>Drives of a Lifetime</em> book. The twisty roadway is a particular favorite of motorcyclists.<br /> <br /> Photo: Nova Scotia Tourism<br /> <br />
- Driving the Cabot Trail
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- BANCROFT, ONTARIO<br /> <br /> Grail Springs, After 21 days of being cleansed, massaged, detoxed, saunaed, stretched and workshopped, you will, theoretically, leave the holistic <a href="http://www.grailsprings.com/twenty-one-night-retreat">Grail Springs Spa</a> a new person—with the before and after chakra aura photo to prove it.<br />
- Photo: Grail Springs Spa
- Life Mastery Retreat
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- Photo: Grail Springs Spa
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- NORTHWEST TERRITORIES<br /> <br /> The Nahanni is one serious waterway, funneled through the country’s deepest canyons and rushing over a falls twice as tall as Niagara. Rafting and whitewater canoeing <a href="http://www.nahanni.com/tripsearch/?river=Nahanni+River">expeditions</a> offer two weeks of rapids, hikes and spotting grizzlies, moose and bald eagles.
- Photo: VA2IEI
- Rafting or Canoeing the Nahanni River
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- TORONTO, ONTARIO<br /> <br /> It might take half a lifetime to save up for a long weekend in Toronto’s <a href="http://www.thehazeltonhotel.com/index_main.php">most sumptuous suite</a>, but for more than $7,000 per night you get a three-bedroom, four-bathroom suite complete with a study and wine cellar. The recommended add-on? Use of the private 25-person screening room and followed by a catered reception.<br /> <br /> <em>See more of <a href="http://www.where.ca/blog/sleepover/canadas-most-expensive-hotel-room/">Canada's swankiest hotel suites.</a></em>
- Photo: Hazelton Hotel
- Living Large in the Hazelton Hotel’s Gluckstein Presidential Suite
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- Photo: Hazelton Hotel
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- ONTARIO<br /> <br /> Going at a good clip, hiking all 885 km will take you at least a month. Stretching to the tip of the Bruce Peninsula, this <a href="http://brucetrail.org ">often-remote trail</a> passes everything from the Niagara River gorge to the white cliffs of Georgian Bay.<br />
- Photo: Gregory Pleau
- Hiking the Bruce Trail
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- Photo: Gregory Pleau
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- NUNAVUT<br /> <br /> Ellesmere is elementally outsized: It’s the tenth largest island in the world, and <a href="http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nu/quttinirpaaq/index.aspx">Quttinirpaaq National Park</a> is the second-largest national park in Canada. The remote region has a great variety of wildlife: wolves, caribou, muskoxen and Arctic hares. Travel here requires either charter flights and backcountry camping or a cruise aboard an icebreaker that takes a side trip to Greenland.<br />
- Photo: Jenny Varley
- Exploring Ellesmere Island
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- Photo: Jenny Varley
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- NORTHWEST TERRITORIES<br /> <br /> RV’ing through Banff is for amateurs—a true test of Canadian mettle is this famous ice road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk. This might literally be a once in a lifetime opportunity, as either <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/05/31/science-climate-change-iceroads.html">climate change</a> or a <a href="http://nnsl.com/northern-news-services/stories/papers/mar1_12tuk.html">proposed new highway</a> could make this treacherous route obsolete.
- Photo: Ian Mackenzie
- Driving the Mackenzie River Ice Road
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- Photo: Ian Mackenzie
Stay, Dine, Do