Canada
Muskoka
Lakes, granite and cottage-country towns north of Toronto, a weekend of water, waterfalls and boat decks.
Bracebridge, Huntsville, Gravenhurst, Port Carling and Bala, Dorset and Lake of Bays
Georgian Bay
The east and south shores of a huge bay: a long freshwater beach, ski hills, a working harbour, martyrs' history and a paddle into Killarney.
Collingwood and Blue Mountain, Wasaga Beach, Parry Sound, Midland and Penetanguishene, Killarney, Owen Sound
Bruce Peninsula
Escarpment cliffs, clear water and three towns that make a natural loop at the tip of the peninsula, including the lookout village of Lion's Head.
Tobermory, Lion's Head, Sauble Beach and the Bruce Peninsula
Niagara
The Canadian side of the falls, the wine-and-theatre town just down the parkway, a Twenty Valley village, and Hamilton's waterfall country along the escarpment, close enough for one trip.
Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Jordan and Ball's Falls, Hamilton waterfalls and Dundas
Thousand Islands
The St. Lawrence opens into a maze of islands, boat tours and river towns on both the Canadian and American shores, from Kingston down to Brockville.
Kingston, Gananoque, Brockville, Alexandria Bay and Clayton
The Kawarthas
A chain of lakes, a lift lock, a boardwalk town and a river village, central Ontario at an easy pace.
Bobcaygeon and Fenelon Falls, Peterborough and the Kawarthas, Port Perry, Lakefield
Lake Huron shore
Long freshwater beaches, sunsets and small harbour towns along Ontario's west coast.
Goderich, Grand Bend and Bayfield, Port Elgin, Southampton and Kincardine
Grand River
A river valley of mills, a theatre town's neighbours, and the farmers' markets of Waterloo Region.
Brantford and Six Nations, Paris, Ontario, Elora and Fergus, St. Jacobs and Elmira
Lake Simcoe
Two cities on the same lake, an easy jump from the GTA for a waterfront day or a weekend.
Barrie, Orillia
Algoma and Lake Superior
The Canadian side of Superior: a canal city, park shoreline, and the long drive north to Wawa.
Sault Ste. Marie, Elliot Lake, Lake Superior Provincial Park, Thunder Bay, Wawa
Canadian Rockies
The classic mountain parks of Alberta (Banff, Jasper, the Bow Valley and Waterton) each with its own character.
Banff, Jasper, Canmore, Waterton Lakes National Park
The Kootenays
Deep valleys, two towns on Kootenay Lake, a lake town in the Columbia Valley, mountain-highway stops in the Columbia ranges, and an Elk Valley town at the south end.
Nelson, Kaslo, Golden, Invermere and Radium, Revelstoke, Fernie
Vancouver Island
A capital of gardens and harbour walks at one end, and a wild west-coast pair of towns at the other.
Victoria, Tofino and Ucluelet
Sea to Sky
The highway from Howe Sound up to the alpine, a climbing town, a ski town, and a valley town of turquoise lakes, along one road.
Whistler, Squamish, Pemberton
Okanagan
A long lake valley of orchards and vineyards, from a city at the north end to a desert-edge lake town at the south.
Kelowna, Penticton, Osoyoos
Bay of Fundy
The highest tides in the world, a loyalist seaside town, a harbour city where the river turns back on itself, the park and village on the New Brunswick shore, and a river city of tidal bores less than an hour from the rocks.
St. Andrews by-the-Sea, Saint John, Fundy National Park and Alma, Moncton
Nova Scotia coast
Halifax harbour, a famous lighthouse cove, and the painted waterfront of the South Shore.
Halifax, Peggy's Cove and the South Shore, Lunenburg and Mahone Bay
Annapolis Valley
A tidal-basin town of earthworks, a university town on the Minas Basin, and a scallop-fleet harbour at the west end, where the Fundy ferry lands.
Annapolis Royal, Wolfville and Grand Pré, Digby
St. Lawrence estuary
The lower St. Lawrence: a river-and-hills art town, the fjord where the whales arrive, and a quiet village on the south shore.
Charlevoix (Baie-Saint-Paul), Tadoussac, Kamouraska and the Lower St. Lawrence
Eastern Townships
Lake villages around Memphremagog and a mountain town of trails and a walkable main street, an easy loop east of Montréal.
Eastern Townships (Magog and North Hatley), Sutton
Montréal and the Laurentians
The island city of Mount Royal, and, about an hour and a half north, a mountain village beside a national park and a long bike path.
Montréal, Mont-Tremblant
Québec City and Île d'Orléans
The walled old city on the St. Lawrence, and, about twenty minutes downstream, a 67-kilometre loop of river views, heritage villages and farms.
Québec City, Île d'Orléans
Ottawa and the Rideau
The capital, two park villages just across the river in the Gatineau Hills, a canal-side blockhouse village, and a nearby county town, close enough for one trip.
Ottawa, Chelsea and Wakefield, Merrickville and the Rideau Canal, Perth
Ontario Highlands
The Haliburton Highlands, a Gull River village, the park at Whitney, and Bancroft's rock-and-lake country, close enough for one trip.
Haliburton Highlands, Minden, Algonquin Park and Whitney, Bancroft
Lake Erie, Ontario
A county town inland from the lake, a fishing port, and a beach-and-railway stop, close enough for one trip along the north shore of Lake Erie.
Port Dover and Norfolk County, Simcoe, St. Thomas and Port Stanley
Essex and Pelee Island
A river city and the southernmost point of mainland Canada, and, a 90-minute ferry into Lake Erie, an island of nature reserves, alvar and vineyards.
Windsor and Point Pelee, Pelee Island
The Thames and the Avon
A river city, a theatre town, and a limestone quarry town, close enough to wander between the Thames, the Avon and a swimming hole in an old stone quarry.
London, Stratford, St. Marys
The Upper St. Lawrence
A seaway city and the drowned-village shore, with a living-history village, a parkway of islands and a waterfront trail along the river.
Cornwall, Morrisburg and Long Sault
Lake Ontario north shore
Wine country in Prince Edward County, the Bay of Quinte city of Belleville, and the harbour towns of Port Hope and Cobourg.
Prince Edward County, Belleville, Port Hope and Cobourg
The Near North
A lake city on Nipissing, and an hour north, old-growth pine and canoe country at Temagami.
North Bay, Temagami
Sudbury and Manitoulin
A city of lakes on the Canadian Shield and an island of waterfalls and escarpment cliffs, linked by a two-hour drive over the swing bridge.
Sudbury, Manitoulin Island
Cape Breton
The Cabot Trail's coastal loop, and, on the island's east shore, the harbour town beside a reconstructed French fortress.
Cabot Trail (Baddeck and Chéticamp), Louisbourg
Eastern Newfoundland
The colourful capital and, a few hours along the coast, two harbour towns on the Bonavista Peninsula, with puffins, a lighthouse and a clifftop trail.
St. John's, Bonavista and Trinity
Winnipeg and Lake of the Woods
Manitoba's capital at the forks of two rivers, and, two hours east on the Trans-Canada, a harbour town on Lake of the Woods.
Winnipeg, Kenora
Calgary and the Badlands
A river city at the edge of the Rockies, and, 90 minutes east, hoodoos and a world-class fossil museum in the Red Deer River valley.
Calgary, Drumheller
United States
Adirondacks
A park the size of a state, with an Olympic village, a lake steamer town, and a quiet Fulton Chain base.
Lake Placid, Lake George, Old Forge and the Fulton Chain
Saratoga and Cooperstown
A spa and racetrack city, and, about an hour and a half west, the village on Otsego Lake with the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Saratoga Springs, Cooperstown
Finger Lakes
Long glacial lakes, gorges, a glass town and wine country, six guides that sit naturally on the same map.
Watkins Glen, Ithaca, Skaneateles, Geneva, Corning, Hammondsport and Keuka Lake
Western New York and Erie
The American falls, a canyon park, a historic lake community at the western edge of New York, and, just over the Pennsylvania line, Presque Isle's beaches on Lake Erie.
Niagara Falls, New York, Letchworth State Park, Chautauqua Lake, Erie
Maine and New Hampshire seacoast
From a New Hampshire harbour city and the southern Maine beaches up to Mount Desert Island, including Bar Harbor and the quieter west side at Southwest Harbor.
Portsmouth, Kennebunkport, Ogunquit, Portland, Maine, Bar Harbor and Acadia, Southwest Harbor
Northern Michigan
Dunes, cherry country, harbour towns at the top of the Lower Peninsula, and the island at the Straits.
Traverse City, Petoskey and Harbor Springs, Sleeping Bear Dunes (Glen Arbor and Empire), Mackinac Island
Upper Peninsula
Pictured Rocks, a harbor city on Superior, and the Keweenaw copper towns at the far west end.
Munising and Pictured Rocks, Marquette, Houghton and Copper Country
West Michigan
Two Lake Michigan towns a few minutes apart: a Dutch-settled city and an art-colony harbour.
Holland, Michigan, Saugatuck and Douglas
Cape Cod and the Islands
The hook of the Cape and the ferry island just across the sound, beaches, lighthouses and a slower clock.
Cape Cod: Provincetown and Chatham, Martha's Vineyard
Vermont
A lake city, a Green Mountain ski town, and a classic village with a covered-bridge pace.
Burlington, Vermont, Stowe, Woodstock, Vermont
The Berkshires and Litchfield Hills
Tanglewood and the Massachusetts hills, and, about an hour south, the stone-walled towns of the Litchfield Hills in Connecticut.
The Berkshires (Lenox and Stockbridge), Litchfield Hills
South-central Pennsylvania
A battlefield, a chocolate town and Pennsylvania Dutch countryside, close enough to stitch into one trip.
Gettysburg, Hershey, Lancaster County
The Laurel Highlands and Deep Creek
Waterfalls and a mountain river town in Pennsylvania, and, about an hour south, a lake in the Maryland mountains.
Ohiopyle and Fallingwater, Deep Creek Lake
Lake Erie, Ohio
A mainland amusement-shore town and the island at the west end of the lake, linked by ferry.
Sandusky, Put-in-Bay
Western Lake Superior
The west end of Superior: Duluth, the North Shore, and the Apostle Islands just across the state line.
Duluth and the North Shore, Grand Marais, Apostle Islands and Bayfield
West Virginia rivers
A historic river town at the gap, and a gorge town built around the New River, two different chapters of the same hills.
Harpers Ferry, Fayetteville and New River Gorge
The Lowcountry
Two of the South's best-walked historic cities, a few hours apart along the coast: Charleston and Savannah.
Charleston, Savannah
The Blue Ridge and the Smokies
A mountain city on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and, about two hours west, a gateway town at the edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Asheville, Gatlinburg and the Smokies
Hudson Valley and Catskills
River towns and a Catskills village, close enough to wander between sculpture parks, main streets and back-road hills.
Hudson Valley: Beacon and Hudson, Woodstock, New York
Mystic and Newport
A seaport town and a harbour of mansions and a cliff walk, a short hop apart on the southern New England coast.
Mystic, Newport
Southeast Ohio
Hemlock gorges at Hocking Hills and a river town at the bend of the Ohio, two chapters of the state's quieter southeast.
Hocking Hills, Marietta
Utah canyon country
Two red-rock park towns a day's drive apart: Moab at Arches and the Colorado River, and Springdale at the mouth of Zion Canyon.
Moab, Springdale and Zion
Red rock and the high country
Red-rock buttes and Oak Creek Canyon at Sedona, and the ponderosa high country of Flagstaff, a short drive up the canyon, with the San Francisco Peaks and the road to the Grand Canyon.
Sedona, Flagstaff
Southern Wisconsin
The state capital between two lakes, the sandstone river gorges of the Dells, and a spring-fed lake ringed by a public shore path.
Madison, Wisconsin Dells and Baraboo, Lake Geneva
Cape May and the Wildwoods
America's oldest seaside resort of Victorian houses and a lighthouse, and, fifteen minutes north, a five-mile island of free beaches, a boardwalk and amusement piers.
Cape May, Wildwood
Galena and Dubuque
A hilly 1800s lead-mining town on the Galena River, and, 25 minutes across the Mississippi, Iowa's oldest city on the bluffs.
Galena, Dubuque
Shenandoah and Front Royal
Skyline Drive, waterfalls and caverns in the valley, and, at the north entrance, a river town at the foot of the Blue Ridge.
Shenandoah and Luray, Front Royal
Door County and Green Bay
A Fox River city of a free wildlife sanctuary and a famous stadium, and, an hour up the peninsula, harbours, lighthouses and bluff-top parks.
Green Bay, Door County
The White Mountains
A valley town of granite ledges and the Kancamagus, and, 15 minutes north, a covered-bridge village of falls and a historic ski mountain.
North Conway, Jackson
Salem and Cape Ann
The witch-city harbour, and, half an hour up the shore, the working ports and rocky headlands of Gloucester and Rockport.
Salem, Gloucester and Rockport
Frankenmuth and Bay City
A Bavarian-themed town inland from the bay, and, 35 minutes east, a river city of a long riverwalk and a coastal wetland state park.
Frankenmuth, Bay City
Brown County and Bloomington
Hills, a state park and Nashville's village, and, 20 minutes west, a university city of a wooded lake and a limestone first park.
Brown County (Nashville, Indiana), Bloomington
Santa Fe and Albuquerque
The oldest U.S. capital, a historic plaza and foothill trails, and, an hour south, a Rio Grande city of a bosque trail, a petroglyph monument and the Sandia Mountains.
Santa Fe, Albuquerque
Portland and Hood River
A river city of a 5,200-acre forest park and a wildlife refuge, and, an hour east, the Columbia River Gorge, Crown Point and a waterfront town.
Portland, Hood River
Estes Park and Boulder
The east gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, and, 45 minutes south, a Front Range city of the Flatirons, Chautauqua and a creek path.
Estes Park, Boulder