7 Best Green Vacations in Canada

4. Volunteer on a Canadian Farm

Goat cheese farm photo by Jessica Careeder via Flickr

Join the Wwoofers--Willing Workers on Organic Farms, and you can live and work on one of 600 host farms for a week (or more). Donating your time and energy will win you meals and lodging at heritage homes, tents, or B&B; guestrooms. How about off-grid Pioneer Farm on Prince Edward Island? A goat farm on Queen Charlottes (Haida Gwaii) Island, a biodynamic herb farm in the Fraser Valley, or an Ontario vineyard? Sound intimidating? Options vary: One listing offers three days on/four off.

5. Paddle Around Georgian Bay, Ontario

Photo by Andreas Duess via Flickr

Canada is home to the largest freshwater archipelago--known as the "30,000 Islands"--in UNESCO's World Biosphere Reserve, which protects more than 100 species of at-risk animals and plants. From canoeing Great Lake shorelines to exploring 250,000 waterways, Ontario is a paddlers' paradise. Eco-Adventures, a grassroots cooperative with low-impact, non-motorized adventures offers a canoeing and kayaking photo safari in Algonquin Park, where you can see serious old growth maple forest. Or, pick and cook edible plants in the Temagami wilderness at Kukagami Lodge. Did I mention the moose, beaver, otters, and loons?

6. Bike Around Quebec

Biking Quebec's Mont Sainte-Anne. Photo by Jean Sylvain

In Quebec, your best green lodging option could be the carbon-neutral Hotel du Vieux Quebec, with its green roof garden, LED lighting, and no disposables policy. Nearby you'll find 70km of bike paths through 400-year-old Quebec City, as well as a huge network of cycling paths through rolling countryside, the Laurentian mountains, and along the grand St. Lawrence River. Choose the famed Portneuf bike path or Beaupré Coast to watch migrating snow geese. Connect with Corridor du Littoral for waterfalls, through historic villages on île d'Orléans, or journey onto 4,000km of La Route Verte along converted railway lines. Not enough? Hop on the Bike Train to Toronto.

7. Hike the Maritime Islands

Hopewell Rocks carved by tides. Photo by xmh via Flickr

Curious about the highest tides in the world? Ramble the Bay of Fundy, between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to scramble sea cliffs and stroll beaches in low-tide for a peak at the flowerpot rocks. The very ambitious can backpack the entire country via the Trans Canada Hiking Trail--or just tackle a section as a day trip. Rugged Fundy Footpath (41km/24 miles) heads over a suspension bridge at Big Salmon River, hugs the coastline along the Eye of the Needle gorge with sea caves carved into rocks before heading into Fundy National Park.

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