North America Tours 2024 & 2025

The USA means 50 different places and states of mind, spread out over some 3.6 million square miles. It’s 2,500 miles from New York to Los Angeles, and that again to Hawaii, so if you wake up in Louisiana, you’ll see a different horizon, be in a different time zone, have a different major urban area, and have a different favourite team than if you wake up in Albuquerque.
While we think of ourselves as “American,” despite the influence of TV, suburban sprawl, strip malls, and chain restaurants, the United States hasn’t yet become a monolithic place. Each region still speaks with its own accent, enjoys its own favourite foods, and has its own political and social attitudes. Whatever you want to see, do, or eat, you’re likely to find it within the vast and diverse confines of the United States of America.

The images of the country are embedded in the mind of every traveller: endless highways cutting through shimmering deserts; forests of skyscrapers towering over urban jungles; acres of beaches dotted with surfboards; high mountain peaks and green river valleys; magnificent feats of engineering, from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Hoover Dam. The country’s emblems are so familiar that they constitute as much a part of the world’s culture as its own – Lady Liberty, the Grand Canyon, the Empire State Building, the US Capitol, the “Hollywood” sign, the list goes on.

The combination of a shoot-from-the-hip mentality with laissez-faire capitalism and religious fervour can make the USA maddening at times, even to its own residents. But what’s most surprising, perhaps, is how such an initially daunting land can prove so enticing – its vibrant mix of peoples, striking landscapes and city skylines, and rich musical, cinematic, and culinary heritage seduce almost every visitor in the end.

And for all of its pride and bluster, the USA can be a land of quiet nuances: snow falling on a country lane in Vermont, cherry trees blooming under Washington memorials, alligators swimming through the bayou. You could easily plan a trip that focuses on the out-of-the-way hamlets, remote wilderness, eerie ghost towns, and forgotten byways that are every bit as “American” as its showpiece icons and monuments. Putting aside the sheer size of the place, deciding exactly what version of America you want to see may be the hardest decision of all.

The vast nation of Canada, second largest country in the world, offers a range of experiences for visitors that are as wide as the land itself. From its large cosmopolitan cities to its frozen northern tundra; its snowy mountain peaks to its rugged coastlines; and its rich farmlands to its pioneering outposts, Canada offers something to suit the taste of every traveller. Canada is bound in the west by the Pacific Ocean and Alaska, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the north by the polar ice cap, and in the south by the United States of America.

It is a country renowned for its stunningly beautiful scenery and love of the outdoors. Even the cities have been carefully designed to preserve metropolitan green belts and parklands, ensuring that Canadians are never far from their natural heritage. The country has a French and British heritage, which is reflected in its cuisine, culture and customs, mixed in with the legacy of the country’s own enigmatic aboriginal First Nations history.

In the south the Rocky Mountains intrude into Canada across the border with the United States, separating Canada’s two main tourist provinces, British Columbia and Alberta. The mountains abound with winter sports resorts. Throughout the nation the most popular venues for outdoor pursuits, year round, are the country’s huge national parks. There are more than 41 of these, one of them, Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta, being larger than the country of Switzerland. Canadian national parks are unique in that they have cities and towns inside the protected areas, which provide comfortable bases for exploring the natural and man-made attractions of the reserves.

Great tracts of Canada are completely unspoiled: ninety per cent of Canadians live within 160km of the US border.

Discover this staggeringly beautiful country and explore every corner from the glistening skyscrapers of Toronto, the restaurants of Montreal, the walled Old Town in Québec City and the laid-back ambience of Vancouver, to the spectacular Niagara Falls and the rolling plains of the Prairies.