The Independent travel podcast: Canada

Welcome to The Independent’s Travel Podcast Service, which is designed to give you an insider's guide to destinations all over the world. You join our travel editor, Simon Calder, who always knows where to stay, where to eat and what to do in destinations at home and abroad.

The Independent's Travel Podcast Service is recorded to the highest broadcast standards, and the guides are free to download. This time, Simon travels across Canada. For his podcast, click here. Here are some of the highlights.

Simon starts his journey in Newfoundland on Canada’s Atlantic coast and, as the country is so vast – it has 40 times the landmass of Britain but only half the population – soon learns that getting anywhere is half the fun.

Along the way, he boards the Ocean train from Halifax, which takes a day and a night to reach its destination, Montreal, enjoying a magical journey across the heart of Nova Scotia.

He then, among other things, goes on a road trip from Kingston to Ottawa; explores Manitoulin Island, the largest freshwater island in the world; Manitoba and Saskatchewan, which he likens to the Lake District; Alberta, a gorgeous province with spectacular mountain scenery, including the Rockies; and finally British Columbia, which epitomises the picture-postcard beauty of Canada.

Simon ends his journey in Vancouver, on the Pacific coast, admiring the amazing natural phenomenon that is the northern lights.

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