Canada
Ucluelet
Each season the town's aquarium empties itself back into the harbour.
Fishing boats land the day's catch beneath hills that hide the highway. Out on the black rock, the Wild Pacific Trail hangs above the swell.
Ucluelet keeps the fishing-town grain its neighbour traded up, with the Wild Pacific Trail's loops delivering the coast's drama from safe cliff paths. The Ucluelet Aquarium, which calls itself Canada's first collect-and-release aquarium, returns its animals to the harbour each season. The food scene runs from dockside fish to an award-winning distillery.
Couple
The Wild Pacific Trail at dusk and a harbour dinner make the quieter twin's case.
Solo
Cliff loops and dockside meals suit an unhurried solo coast day.
Friends
Fishing charters and the distillery give a group its own peninsula rhythm.
- The Wild Pacific Trail hangs the coast's drama on safe cliff loops.
- The Ucluelet Aquarium, describing itself as Canada's first collect-and-release aquarium, returns its animals each season.
- The harbour keeps the fishing-town grain its neighbour traded.
Jiggers batters big flakes of fresh cod, homemade tartar sauce on the side.
Ukee Dogs turns out its hot dogs and tacos for the trail crowd.
Dibba
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One bay, two countries, three jurisdictions: fishing dhows work the borders beneath Hajar cliffs.
Kadavu
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Manta rays circle the world's fourth-largest barrier reef, off villages the road barely reaches.
Biarritz
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Atlantic rollers breaking below Art Deco balustrades where surfers and an empress shared the same bay.
Raglan
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One of the world's longest left-hand breaks rolling toward a black-sand harbour town.
Jasper
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The whole town sits inside the world's second-largest dark-sky preserve.
Banff
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Canada's first national park began as a bathhouse, and you can still take the waters.
Cape Breton Highlands
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From the Skyline Trail's cliff decks you watch for whales; moose live on the plateau behind.
Icefields Parkway
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Two hundred and thirty glacier-hung kilometres link Banff to Jasper along the spine of the Rockies.