The Cheapest Places to Travel to in Canada in 2019

Accommodation: $30/night
Food and Drink: $60/day
Activities: $110/day

If you’re looking to do some budget shredding, forget Banff and Whistler and head to this snow-filled town in southern BC. You can crash in a dorm room for $30 a night and chow down at any number of greasy spoons. Your one big expense will be your lift ticket, but by the standards of ski vacations, Fernie’s a steal.

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Accommodation: $50/night
Food and drink: $30/day
Activities: $30/day

Set on the spectacular Bay of Fundy, St John’s historic city centre is brimming with great architecture and lively pubs. Maritime hospitality abounds as do affordable restaurants and cheap hotels.

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Accommodation: $25/night
Food and drink: 20/day
Activities: $50/day

Rent a car, pack a tent and head out into this starkly beautiful stretch of prairie, home to the imposing Castle Butte, a 70-metre-high hunk of rock. Camping will save you a small fortune and give allow you to explore a landscape that was once home to famous outlaws, like the Sundance Kid.

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Accommodation: $50/night
Food and drink: $50/day
Activities: $80/day

Montreal and Quebec City are rightly tourist meccas, but if you want a little inexpensive French flavour, check their smaller sibling. At the confluence of, you guessed it, three rivers, it has bargain hotels, a thriving adventure sports scene (with great kayaking) and an abundance of nearby wildlife.

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Accommodation: $70/night
Food and drink: $60/day
Activities: $60/day

Okay, the Big Smoke isn’t the cheapest place around, but if you’re careful, you won’t have to liquidate your RRSP. (You’ve started an RRSP, right?). Stay in Airbnb outside the downtown core — look in Etobicoke or Scarborough — chow down at foodtrucks, and booze it up at the city’s lively collection of dive bars.

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Accommodation: $50/night
Food and drink: $60/day
Activities: $30/day

If Toronto still feels too pricey, check out its up-and-coming neighbour. Steeltown’s long-downtrodden city centre is in the middle of a rebirth (in spots) and boasts fantastic restaurants, art galleries, and pubs. Plus, the Hammer is home to more than 100 waterfalls.

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Accommodation: $50/night
Food and drink: $40/day
Activities: $50/day

This prairie town is full of budget eats and accommodations, but its biggest lure are the mysterious tunnels that course under its downtown. (They’re thought to have been built by bootleggers.) If it’s nature you’re after, the nearby Buffalo Pound provincial park is the prairie at its best.

Accommodation: $30/night
Food and drink: $40/day
Activities: $50/day

Feel like a West Coast holiday but can’t stomach the sky-high prices of Vancouver? Check out lovely Victoria, the provincial capital. You can nab a hostel bed downtown for as little as $30 a night and touring the city’s beautiful Inner Harbour and bountiful greenspaces - like Beacon Hill Park and the Butchart Gardens - is relatively easy on the wallet.

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Accommodation: $30/night
Food and drink: $40/day
Activities: $90/day

If you want to see the Rockies on a budget, hit the road. Hire a cheap car in Edmonton and make your way to the stunning Icefields Parkway, which slices through the mountains between Jasper and Banff. Bed down at one the many campgrounds that line the road before dropping your ride off in Calgary.

Accommodation: $40/night
Food and drink: $35/day
Activities: Free

Two hours from Winnipeg, this historic island is home to nearly 200 species of birds and scores of other animals. Originally settled by Icelanders, it also has over 25 km of hiking and cycling trails in the rehabilitated Grassy Narrows Marsh. Camping will set you back $40 a night and history buffs will love taking a free, self-guided tour of Hecla Village.

Accommodation: $75 (split two ways)
Food and drink: $50/day
Activities: $20

Home to some of the warmest waters north of Virginia - the ocean can reach a bathtub-like 24 degrees Celsius - this small town near Moncton has a sprawling beach and great budget cottages. (You can rent some from $150 a night through Air Bnb.) And seafood lovers, hold onto your butts: Shediac calls itself the “Lobster Capital of the World.”

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Accommodation: Free
Food and drink: $40/day
Activities: Free

You don’t need to travel to the (pricey) northern reaches of Canada to see the aurora borealis. You can spot them at this protected area just outside of Edmonton. The best part: camping in the surrounding Elk Island National Park is free during much of aurora season. This isn’t for the faint of heart, though: you’ll need outdoors experience and some serious cold weather gear.

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Accommodation: $60/night
Food and drink: $60/day
Activities: $30/day

You can easily drop a small fortune in the picturesque capital of Quebec, but there are cheap(ish) ways to see the city. Its biggest attraction is its historic city centre, dominated by the Chateau Frontenac, which will cost you nothing to tour on foot. If you’re light on cash, bed down in a hostel or shared Air Bnb and dine at the city’s myriad of quaint, budget-friendly cafes.

Accommodation: $50/night
Food and drink: $30/day
Activities: $20

Head to PEI’s northern shore and spend your day idling away in the white and red sand beaches of this stunning national park. You can picnic by a historic lighthouse or hike in the woodlands where you might catch a glimpse of a red fox and seasonal waterfowl. Seasonal passes to the national park start at just $17. Nothing is very far away in PEI, so you can find a nice Airbnb for around $50 in Charlottetown or nearby communities like Brackley Beach.

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Accommodation: $40/night
Food and drink: $25/day
Activities: $10

Newfoundland has a rich Viking history and the best spot to learn about Norse explorers is this UNESCO World Heritage site. Discover what the first Norsemen (and women) lived like over a thousand years ago by trying your hand at blacksmithing or weaving in the site’s Viking Encampment. You can also visit the nearby recreated Viking port where visitors are welcome to throw axes, spin yarn or make pottery. The historic hotspot is on the Great Northern Peninsula and has several ocean-side fishing villages where you can stay on the cheap as a group.

Accommodation: $50/night
Food and drink: $70/day
Activities: $30

Crash in an Airbnb to save some money… then go hog wild on seafood and beer in the culinary capital of Atlantic Canada. Once you’re done chowing down, check out the city’s bewildering array of museums and historic sites, like the Halifax citadel, and make the pilgrimage out to the historic lighthouse at Peggy’s Cove.

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Accommodation: $60/night
Food and drink: $70/day
Activities: $40/day

Want to booze your away through wine country but can’t afford Niagara-on-the-Lake? Then try this pretty town in Ontario’s Prince Edward County. It’s under three hours from Toronto and nestled amid some of the Canada’s finest vineyards. Bonus: it’s also a short drive the dune-filled Sandbanks Provincial Park.

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Accommodation: $20/night
Food and drink: $25/day
Activities: Free

This hidden getaway in Manitoba is home to a marl lake, which features a white-mud bottom and water chock-full of calcite crystals. Together they paint the water deep turquoises and greens during the hottest months of the year, not unlike a much more expensive Caribbean beach getaway. To do this trip on the cheap, rent a car in Winnipeg and then stay in one of the campgrounds in nearby Grand Rapids.

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Accommodation: $30/night
Food and drink: 30/day
Activities: $60/day

If it’s scenery you’re after, this stretch of northern Nova Scotia is hard to beat. Rent a car in nearby Sydney and head for the Cabot Trail, which runs along one of Canada’s most spectacular coastlines. If you’re on a tight budget, you can camp in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. If you’re a little more flush, crash in an Airbnb in one of the many small towns around the park.

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Accommodation: $70/night
Food and drink: $60/day
Activities: $40/day

Sample East Coast hospitality at its finest — along with some of the best fish and chips in Canada — in the Cradle of Confederation. You’ll probably spend a little more on accommodations, but Charlottetown’s pretty, compact city centre is a great place for a (free) stroll.

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