The USA and Canada are both amazing destinations in their own right and bursting with incredible cities, mountainous national parks, and fascinating history. But between them, they cover a 19.819 million km squared area (larger than the world’s largest country: Russia) so there’s a lot of ground to cover.
To make it easier, keen travellers have the option of Canada/USA twin-breaks thanks to the two country’s train, road, cruise and air network. While theoretically, you can combine any mishmash of cities and towns into a USA/Canada twin-break, there are some destinations that are more popular and logistically simpler than others. Here are just five of the easiest USA cities to fit into a Canada adventure.
1. New York
The dazzling sights of NYC should be on everyone’s bucket list. Especially when you consider that it’s only five hours from the UK and is a popular starting port for New England and Atlantic Canada cruises (along with New England’s other coastal destinations like Rhode Island and Boston).
Also, the Niagara Falls lie along the border between the province of Ontario and New York State. While it is a six-hour drive between NYC and Niagara Falls, many travellers do make the journey and come back singing its praises.
2. Seattle
Sitting only 135 miles below the USA-Canada border is the city of Seattle. If you’re looking at a self-drive, then you can drive from Seattle to Vancouver via Interstate 5, crossing the border at Blaine, Whatcom County.
Seattle, however, is also a popular cruise port for Western Canada and Alaska cruises. In fact, most cruises that start or stop in Seattle will sail further north to Canada and Alaska.
3. San Francisco
It might be over 800 miles south of Seattle, but cruises that start in California and travel north to Alaska are not uncommon. Right now we’re offering an itinerary on-board the Grand Princess that starts in San Francisco and stops by Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan, and Victoria – and includes a journey along the Inside Passage.
4. Las Vegas
Not all Canada/USA twin centres involve a cruise line. Las Vegas is nowhere near a coastline and is over a thousand miles from the Canadian border, but there are regular flights between the two cities and many travellers do make the journey between these two fabulous cities.
5. Anchorage and Juneau
This one is a bit obvious, but Alaska as a whole is very easy to combine with a Vancouver holiday. To start with, there’s a generous selection of cruises that start in Vancouver and then make the journey along the Alaska coast. But you can also combine an Alaska adventure with a scenic tour through Canada’s northern province of Yukon.
Whitehorse – Yukon’s capital – is nine hours between both Anchorage and Juneau (Anchorage being to the west, and Juneau to the south). Both roads pass through other scenic towns and national parks (including Skagway and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve) to break up the journey.
