Best New or Improved Attractions for Summer 2014: A shot of Whistler’s winner
Get some inspiration for your summer vacation this year with the annual list of Canada’s Best New or Improved Attractions, as selected by the regional editors of Where. This annual awards program celebrates the most anticipated attractions for the summer as editors name their picks from brand new or significantly improved attractions, or existing attractions celebrating major must-visit milestones.
This year’s winners offer up a handful of exciting diversions for travellers exploring the great North—including an exploration of the country’s largest indoor aquarium, Olympian-worthy sporting, majestic walks over a glacier studded valley and more.
Discover the winners of the Best New or Improved Attractions Awards for 2014 >>
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- <h2>Discover the Past</h2>For many years, John Adams’ Discover the Past has been synonymous with historical tours in Victoria, but while much has been written about his engaging, entertaining and informative Chinatown tours and nightly Ghostly Walks – Victoria is reportedly the most haunted city in BC, after all – this summer Discover the Past has expanded its repertoire to include a full line-up of Discovery Walks. Led by knowledgeable and engaging local historians, these 90-minute walking tours feature a different topic each day, including Rumrunners, Royal Victoria, In Emily Carr’s Footsteps, Jewish Victoria and Cathedrals and Convents. <br /> <br /><br /><br /> <em>Discover the Past, 250-384-6698; <a href="http://www.discoverthepast.com/" target=”_blank”>discoverthepast.com</a></em>
- Best New Attraction in Victoria
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- <h2>Sea to Sky Gondola</h2>Want to come out on top? It’s easy: the 10-minute ride up Habrich Mountain on the Sea to Sky Gondola will have you flying high above the Stawamus Chief—one of the world’s largest granite monoliths—and the breathtaking Howe Sound fjord. The spectacular summit lodge, 855 m (2,805 ft) up, is a jumping-off point for further adventures. Whether those involve a glass of local beer in the lodge or a trek into forested backcountry terrain, we won’t judge. And that feeling of being on top of the world? It’s all part of the package.<br /> <br /><br /><br /> <em>Sea to Sky Gondola, 2 km south of Squamish along the Sea to Sky Highway, Whistler, 855-732-8675; <a href="http://www.seatoskygondola.com/" target=”_blank”>seatoskygondola.com</a></em>
- Best New Attraction in Whistler
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- <h2>FlyOver Canada</h2>Have you ever flown across Canada, from coast to coast, in eight minutes flat? You can with FlyOver Canada. This breathtaking, family-friendly flight simulation features some of the most spectacular scenery the country has to offer, from the rich fall colours of Quebec’s Riviere Rouge to the golden prairie fields of Alberta to the otherworldly luminescence of the Northern Lights. Enriching the whole experience are an array of realistic scents and sensations, including wind in your hair and a gentle mist over Niagara Falls.<br /> <br /><br /><br /> <em>FlyOver Canada, 201 – 999 Canada Place, Vancouver, 604-620-8455; <a href="http://www.flyovercanada.com/" target=”_blank”>flyovercanada.com</a></em><br />
- Best New Attraction in Vancouver
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- <h2>Glacier Skywalk</h2>The new Glacier Skywalk at The Columbia Icefield combines interpretive story telling with breathtaking views from a glass-floored observatory platform 918 ft (280 m) above a glacier-studded valley. Step off the motorcoach from the Glacier Discover Centre (where the tour begins) onto the cliff-edge walkway. A hand-held audio guide (with language options) invites you to “follow the water” to Discovery Trail stations that interpret the valley’s geology, biology and ecology. At the anchored steel Discovery Vista, learn about the construction of this award-winning attraction. Then, test the engineering by stepping onto the adrenaline-inducing horseshoe shaped glass-floor walkway. <br /> <br /><br /><br /> <em>The Columbia Icefield Glacier Discovery Centre, Icefields Parkway, Alberta, 866-816-2758; <a href="http://www.brewster.ca/rocky-mountains/destinations/columbia-icefield/activities/glacier-skywalk/" target=”_blank”>glacierskywalk.ca</a></em><br />
- Best New Attraction in Banff
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- <h2>Skyline Luge at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park</h2>Visitors to Skyline Luge can get a thrilling taste of what it’s like to be an Olympian by hurtling down a luge track in a cart that’s part toboggan and part go-kart. Located in WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park, Skyline Luge is an exciting summer family attraction suitable for all ages. The track features more than 50 twists and turns and is the longest of its kind in the world, stretching nearly 2 km (1.25 miles). Equipped with simple steering and brakes, the carts are easy to steer and provide riders with full control over their descent. Children under six years of age must ride with an adult. <br /> <br /><br /><br /> <em>Skyline Luge at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park, 88 Canada Olympic Rd. SW, Calgary, 403-776-0617; <a href="http://www.skylineluge.com/" target=”_blank”>skylineluge.com</a></em><br />
- Best New Attraction in Calgary
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- <h2>The Wander Trail System at Edmonton Valley Zoo</h2>The Wander is a beautiful themed walkway that connects the new entry plaza to the rest of the zoo, and re-enacts the story of the North Saskatchewan River with features that mimic its origin as glacial water in the Rocky Mountains, to its presence in Edmonton. The “river” takes guests by a beaver dam play structure that children can climb on, a beach area with sand and a wading pool, a trout pond and wetland marsh, rock steps and benches, shallow streams of water that are meant to be walked and splashed in, and smaller rocks that children can move and stack within the water.<br /> <br /><br /><br /> <em>The Wander Trail System at Edmonton Valley Zoo, 13315 Buena Vista Rd. (87 Ave.), Edmonton, 780-442-5311; <a href="http://www.edmonton.ca/attractions_events/edmonton-valley-zoo.aspx" target=”_blank”>valleyzoo.ca</a></em><br />
- Best New Attraction in Edmonton
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- <h2>Journey to Churchill Exhibit at the Assiniboine Park Zoo</h2>Peer into the wild world of the arctic tundra with the Assiniboine Park Zoo’s new exhibit, Journey to Churchill. Cutting-edge technology, top of the line research facilities, and unparalleled attention to environmental stewardship are all part of <em>Where Winnipeg</em> magazine’s Best New Attraction of the Year. The enormous exhibit, which aims to educate about climate change and conservation issues for northern species, boasts a tundra exhibit home to caribou, musk ox, snowy owls and arctic foxes, which covers 3,714 square metres, and polar bear roaming grounds spanning an immense 9,507 metres squared. The site also houses indoor Polar Playground, restaurant Tundra Grill, and the 360 degree domed Aurora Borealis Theatre.<br /> <br /><br /><br /> <em>Journey to Churchill Exhibit at the Assiniboine Park Zoo, 2595 Roblin Blvd., Winnipeg, 204-927-6000; <a href="http://assiniboineparkzoo.ca/" target=”_blank”>assiniboineparkzoo.ca</a></em><br />
- Best New Attraction in Winnipeg
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- <h2>Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada</h2>This marine museum is the largest indoor aquarium in the country, and boasts more than 13,500 inhabitants including stingrays, jellyfish, guineafowl puffers, seahorses, octopuses, clownfish and green sea turtles. Visitors can learn all about the assortment of freshwater and seafaring swimmers in nine varied galleries, and even feel the slippery surfaces of whitespotted bamboo sharks and cownose rays in touch tanks. But perhaps the biggest highlight is travelling along a moving sidewalk—the longest of its kind in North America—through the Dangerous Lagoon while sharks, sea turtles and schools of tropical fishes swim overhead.<br /> <br /><br /><br /> <em>Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada, 288 Bremner Blvd., Toronto, 647-351-3474; <a href="https://www.ripleyaquariums.com/" target=”_blank”>ripleyaquariums.com/canada</a></em><br />
- Best New Attraction in Toronto
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- <h2>Canadian Museum of Nature</h2>With its elegant, castle-like ambience, the Canadian Museum of Nature never failed to make an impression (in fact, it once served as a temporary home for the House of Commons after a fire at Parliament Hill). But when it opened it’s stately doors in 2010, following a six-year, $216-million renovation, the results were nothing less than spectacular. From the eye-catching steel-and-glass lantern that beckons visitors from afar to the roster of engaging, boundary-pushing exhibitions that fill its many halls to the alternative after-hours events, this is one museum that truly represents the exciting, awe-inspiring magnificence that is the natural world.<br /> <br /><br /><br /> <em>Canadian Museum of Nature, 240 McLeod St., Ottawa, 613-566-4700; <a href="http://nature.ca/" target=”_blank”>nature.ca</a></em><br />
- Best New Attraction in Ottawa
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Stay, Dine, Do