Book chronicles the 115 best places to travel in Canada

Jessica Vitullo, The Canadian Press 

Book chronicles the 115 best places to travel in Canada

Unforgettable Canada: 115 Destinations is a book that attempts to detail the best that Canada has to offer to travellers.

Gavin Young / Calgary Herald

When you start planning your next trip why not stay in Canada? You can take in the Montreal Jazz Festival, the nightlife in St. John's or the Calgary Stampede.

Canada has many scenic vistas, natural wonders and urban attractions to offer travellers, but many don't even know these special places exist.

"When was the last time someone did a good 'best of Canada' book?" was the question Noel Hudson asked himself when thinking about the next book he was going to write.

"There wasn't really anything of this kind of quality and package."

Together with longtime friend and photographer George Fischer, they wrote Unforgettable Canada: 115 Destinations. The book, published by Boston Mills Press, showcases the best attractions the country has to offer. From British Columbia to Newfoundland and Labrador and everywhere in between, the book tells you where you can go icebergwatching or see a sandcastle competition.

It took two years to compile photographs, research and write the book. But in reality, it actually took Hudson and Fischer much longer than that.

"The information for the trips were collected by both of us over a 15-to 20-year period," says Hudson, 56, in an interview. "It took us that long to amass all the information and knowledge about all these places."

The book, now in its third edition, began with 100 destinations that Hudson and Fischer chose from previous travels.

"We talked extensively about where we've travelled over the years and what we'd like to put in the book," says Hudson. "We talked about what we really liked, places we'd been to, places we'd still like to go that we always thought about going."

They attempted to strike a balance between big trips and smaller activities. The book includes the once-in-a lifetime, two-day Rocky Mountaineer train trip from Calgary to Vancouver and more accessible excursions like going to the CN Tower in Toronto.

Hudson says both he and Fischer have been to roughly 75 out of the 115 destinations documented in the book.

"There's some overlap between us," he says of their travels. "There are very few places [in the book] that we haven't been."

Overall, Hudson's favourite place is the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. That's where travellers can go ice bergwatching, visit Gros Morne National Park or see Jelly Bean Row, a candy-coloured lane of houses.

Although Hudson and Fischer did not travel together to the new destinations added in the expanded edition, Hudson says it allowed them to hit more places they haven't been to. While Hudson explored the Prairies, Fischer drove across Canada's most northerly highway, the Dempster, in the Yukon and Northwest Territories.

