Our guide to Canada’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Canada is home to 22 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, with a further ten on the tentative list.

A mix of cultural and natural landmarks, the sites offer the chance to dive into both the country’s natural beauty and its history, from significant geological finds to the living culture of the Haida people.

Here’s our guide to the best of Canada’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Québec City’s historic district made its way onto the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985. Having been established by French explorer Champlain in the early 17th century and serving as the capital of New France, UNESCO recognised the district as it ‘illustrates one of the major stages in the European settlement of the colonization of the Americas by Europeans’. One of the best examples of a fortified colonial town, four gates, three Martello towers, the Citadelle and 4.6 km of ramparts still encircle the upper town.

There, you’ll find Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, one of the world’s most famous hotels, and one selected as part of our 2025 WanderSleeps round-up. Dating back to 1893, notable guests have included Queen Elizabeth II, Grace Kelly, Charlie Chaplin, Leonardo DiCaprio and Céline Dion. You can also explore the Ursulines Monastery of Québec, established in 1639, and the Citadelle.

As for the lower town, Petit-Champlain is known for its boutiques and restaurants, and you can also book a boat tour from the Old Port.

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Comprised of seven parks – Banff, Jasper, Kootenay and Yoho National Parks, and Mount Robson, Mount Assiniboine and Hamber Provincial Parks – this UNESCO World Heritage Site is among Canada’s most beautiful. But this area isn’t just easy on the eye – it’s also significant for paleontologists, as fossil finds in the Burgess Shale have provided key evidence for early evolution.

Aside from hiking routes like the Plain of Six Glaciers in Banff and the Sulphur Skyline Trail in Jasper, a popular way to see the Canadian Rockies is by train, with the Rocky Mountaineer carriages designed to make the most of the scenery with glass ceilings. You can also book a cycling tour or travel on horseback.

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Constructed to help British colonies defend Canada against possible attacks from the US, the Rideau Canal first opened in 1832. Comprised of 22 lockstations along a 202km route between Ottawa and Kingston, it is North America’s best-preserved “slackwater” canal.

In winter, the section in central Ottawa is transformed into the world’s largest skating rink, covering the equivalent of 90 Olympic ice hockey rinks. Come summer, the canal is a popular spot for canoeing and kayaking.

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The second of Canada’s only UNESCO-listed city centres, Lunenburg was established in 1753, and is considered to be the best surviving example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America. It has retained its original rectangular grid structure, as well as its wooden architecture, with some its buildings dating back almost to its founding, like the Romkey House, built in 1783.

Located in Nova Scotia, the nearest airport is Halifax, around an hour and 20 minutes away. The two cities are connected by the Rum Runners Trail, a 119km route along a rail bed which passes through Hubbards, Chester and Mahone Bay, which you can walk or cycle.

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Just 12 sites were inscribed in the first list created by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 1978 – and L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site was among them. The only known site established by Vikings in North America, and the earliest evidence of European settlement in the New World, L’Anse aux Meadows dates back to the 11th century.

Visitors can book onto a walking tour and learn about what the site teaches us about Norse travels and encampments, and see recovered artifacts in the visitors centre. There is also a Viking encampment reconstruction, where you can try blacksmithing and weaving, or hear Norse folklore around the fire.

Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1987, Gros Morne National Park is significant due to the geological finds here. The discovery of trilobite fossils that matched those found in Spain and North Africa helped prove the concept of plate tectonics, as did the Tablelands, where the Earth’s mantle has been pushed to the surface by tectonic forces.

There are around 100 km of trails in the park, so you can see the different geological formations, and you can also book a boat trip on the Western Brook Pond to take in the dramatic fjords.

Read next: The ultimate guide to Canada’s National Parks

SG̱ang Gwaay, an island within the Haida Gwaii archipelago and Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, was inscribed in 1981. Here, you’ll find what remains of a 19th-century Haida village, complete with the ruins of houses and memorial poles.

The site was chosen by UNESCO as it ‘commemorates the living culture of the Haida people and their relationship to the land and sea, and offers a visual key to their oral traditions’. Visitors today can walk around the site, but you will need to stay on the paths, as the remains of many Haida ancestors and their spirits reside here.

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As you may have guessed from the name, Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta has been the site of some significant fossil discoveries, including more than 150 complete skeletons that are on display at 30 major museums around the world. Palaeontologists have used the specimens to examine groups of Cretaceous dinosaurs both comparatively and chronologically.

For visitors, the park offers guided tours on which you’ll visit sites where fossils have been discovered and learn more about the finds, and you can even help with a palaeontological dig yourself. If you prefer to explore alone, there are also a number of public hiking trails.

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