Best time/places to visit Canada

EnnK

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Hi, Canadians. I have a wish to visit your beatiful country with my wife. How about Canada in October? Is it too rainy and cold? What is the best time for visit. What are the must-sees and where are the most scenic roads? How about renting a bike over there? We have about 2 weeks. We usually avoid big cities and prefer to rent a car or a bike and travel around the country. What about accomodations? Any other suggestions and advices?
All answers are mostly appreciated.
 

gv550

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Canada is huge, and most all of it is very beautiful. Give us an idea what area of our country you expect to visit, as two weeks is nowhere near enough time to see all of it. October can be cold and wet and snow, depending on the area. July and August are much better weather. Bike rentals, mostly Harley, are available in most cities.
 

EnnK

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Well, I wish I had any idea which part of your country to visit, but frankly, I don't. That's why I am asking here. Cold, wet and snow we have enough here also, so that perhaps means October won't be the month we are coming. Harley is no go!
 

Ape

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Kamloops BC
There is everything here from sage brush to mountains. It will be up to you what you like. Mountains and beautiful scenery visit BC or Alberta. Farm fields and prairies Alberta to Manitoba. Architecture and history Ontario and Quebec. Coastlines and history the Atlantic provinces. The choices are yours. October is starting to get late in the year for a nice visit on a bike. Cold mornings and very unpredictable weather but some beautiful colours in the Atlantic provinces. There is a lot to see in this big beautiful country. Enjoy your trip.
 

WJBertrand

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I just returned from a week-long trip to wester Alberta. I love the Rocky mountains area of Canada. Lake Louise, Ice Fields Parkway, etc.
 

jeckyll

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October would be late for central or eastern Canada, around Vancouver or Vancouver Island would be ok, though probably wet.

North would not be advisable in any way.
 

U.P.rider

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From personal experience Newfoundland is a great place to visit with a lot of nice ocean views, great roads and the people are super friendly! My visit there was very nice for me as I was treated like family and given the deluxe introduction to all things Newfoundland. The great province of Alberta has many natural and beautiful landscapes from mountains to prairies, canyonlands and HooDoo's!.
You really cannot go wrong visiting Canada, just pick a location that looks good to you and enjoy all it has to offer.
 

jeckyll

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From personal experience Newfoundland is a great place to visit with a lot of nice ocean views, great roads and the people are super friendly! My visit there was very nice for me as I was treated like family and given the deluxe introduction to all things Newfoundland. The great province of Alberta has many natural and beautiful landscapes from mountains to prairies, canyonlands and HooDoo's!.
You really cannot go wrong visiting Canada, just pick a location that looks good to you and enjoy all it has to offer.
Dis you see the part about October?
 

SuckSqueezeBangBlow

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If you are coming over in October you could do southern Ontario and be relatively safe so long as it was early in October. The problem might be renting a bike at that time, they may have stopped by then. Harley's are easy to rent, the other brands may be difficult to get your hands on. Plus renting can get pricey here, I know you said you didn't want an HD but check out www.mackieharleydavidson.com to get an idea for pricing. We have our Thanksgiving in early October and that is typically the shutting down of most camping as the weather typically turns cold after that. Late September is better as the leaves are changing.
 

jeckyll

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I don't think that area has a dry time. It's either a cold wet, or a not as cold wet.
Well, I live there, and I promise you it get's plenty dry, just not in October ;)

Plenty dusty and dry last July on North Vancouver Island :D
 

EnnK

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Many thanks to all for good responses. October is out then!
What about May, June, September? We usually try to schedule our trips out of the biggest holiday months, which I guess are July, August in Canada?
 

SuckSqueezeBangBlow

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Many thanks to all for good responses. October is out then!
What about May, June, September? We usually try to schedule our trips out of the biggest holiday months, which I guess are July, August in Canada?
Both June and September would be good but really depends on where exactly you want to go. Early in both if those months would be best. The beginning of Sept is back to school (usually around Sept 4th) and school is typically out for the little kids around the end of June. Ontario is good for either of those.
 

jeckyll

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June or early Sept would both be great IMO. Late Sept is getting dicey for anything a bit north. I have family in central BC and the first frost is often mid-Sept. So also depends on your gear and how much of it is heated :)
 

Cycledude

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I have no idea what riding is like in Estonia but since you are asking about riding in Canada and possibly renting a motorcycle I would like to make a recommendation .
Fly to somewhere in the USA near Glacier National Park area and rent a motorcycle and ride it to Alaska, the scenery will be beautiful ! I have never rented a motorcycle but there are a few places near Glacier National Park that do rent them.
I recommend that you do the trip in June,July or August for the best chance of decent motorcycle weather. I have made the Alaska trip three times on a motorcycle, twice with what I would call great weather and one trip where it rained everyday for the entire trip, mostly the rain wasn’t to bad but there were a couple days it rained all day.
 
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regder

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Toronno
Many thanks to all for good responses. October is out then!
What about May, June, September? We usually try to schedule our trips out of the biggest holiday months, which I guess are July, August in Canada?
July and August are the busiest, hottest weather and kids are out of school, but we definitely don't have a huge swing in tourism. I would suggest to aim for June, good weather, but not terribly hot. May and September are unpredictable and can be chilly and/or wet.

Try to figure out what you want to see, Canada is far too large to travel properly in a couple weeks, and intracountry flights are expensive. East coast Canada (Nova Scotia, Newfoundland) offer a laid back lifestyle, pretty nature, and unbelievably friendly people.

Central Canada (Ontario, Quebec) has the two largest cities, Toronto and Montreal, Quebec City is charming as well. Not much for scenery though, just a crap ton of trees and small lakes. Pretty at first, but not a lot of variety. It does open up the option of an East Coast US road trip. Boston, New York, Washington are reasonable close to each other and any of them are a 9 hour drive from Toronto.

Western Canada (British Colombia, Alberta) to me has the biggest appeal, though I'm ashamed to say I haven't been yet. Ocean, mountains, and Vancouver. Rent a car and drive south to Northern California.

Personally, I would rent a car instead of a bike. Distances are large, having the ability to cover a lot of ground can be very beneficial on such a short timeframe. Bike rentals are very expensive compared to car.
 

EnnK

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Lots of valuable info. Looks like next June it will be and car rental makes more sense. Thanks to everybody for kind input
 
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