Canada
The Thousand Islands
Castles and cottages perched on 1,864 islands where millionaires and muskrats share the St Lawrence.
There are exactly 1,864 islands in the Thousand Islands, scattered across the St Lawrence River between Ontario and New York. Some hold castles. Some hold a single tree. One holds an unfinished love letter in stone — Boldt Castle, built for a wife who died before she saw it.
The Thousand Islands National Park protects 21 islands in the Canadian portion of this remarkable archipelago. The minimum requirement for an island: one tree and six square feet above water at all times. Boldt Castle on Heart Island was George Boldt's gift to his wife Louise — construction halted when she died in 1904, and the 120-room castle sat abandoned for 73 years. Glass-bottom boat tours reveal War of 1812 shipwrecks in the clear river channel. The international border runs through the middle of the archipelago, making some islands Canadian and others American. Kayaking between the islands reveals hidden coves, swimming rocks, and the endless variety of scale — from bare granite outcrops to full-sized estates.
Couple
The unfinished love story of Boldt Castle, the castle-and-cottage-dotted islands, and the gentle kayaking through the archipelago make the Thousand Islands one of Ontario's most romantic escapes.
Family
The boat tours, the castles, the shipwreck viewing, and the island camping — the Thousand Islands offer families a week of water-based adventure with history woven through every stop.
- Exactly 1,864 islands dot the St Lawrence, ranging from bare rock to full castles — Boldt Castle was built as a love letter that was never finished.
- Glass-bottom boat tours reveal shipwrecks from the War of 1812 resting in the clear river channel.
- Some islands are barely larger than a picnic blanket with a single tree — the minimum requirement is one tree and six square feet above water.
- The international border runs through the middle of the archipelago — some islands are Canadian, some American.
Thousand Islands dressing on everything — the salad condiment was invented on these waters.
Perch and pickerel fish fries at riverside restaurants in Gananoque.
Icewine from nearby Prince Edward County vineyards, sipped on a sunset boat cruise.
North Berwick
Scotland
A volcanic plug towers from the Firth, white-coated with 150,000 screaming gannets.
Húsavík
Iceland
Wooden sailing ships chasing the exhales of blue whales in a sapphire northern bay.
Amanohashidate
Japan
A pine-covered sandbar that becomes a bridge to heaven viewed upside down.
Holkham Bay
England
A mile-wide crescent of sand where the tide retreats to the horizon.
Cathedral Grove
Canada
Douglas firs eight hundred years old and wide enough to hide inside on Vancouver Island's spine.
Val-Jalbert Ghost Town
Canada
A company town abandoned in 1927 where Québécois ghosts share a seventy-metre waterfall.
Lake Louise
Canada
A glacier-fed lake so turquoise it looks like a rendering error in the world's source code.
Clayoquot Sound
Canada
Old-growth temperate rainforest so dense the canopy swallows sound and drips green light.