This month we've been talking about road trips and travel guides, and now we've put together a list of ultimate guides to Canadian city breaks. Some of these are traditional travel guides and others definitively otherwise—a book about Montreal's underground city, a guide to Regina's "secret spaces," and Calgary-in-verse among them—but each of them promises to enrich your visit to Canadian cities from coast to coast to coast.

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Newfoundland

St. John's: A Brief History, by Joan Rusted

A concise, comprehensive overview of the oldest city in North America. St John’s: A Brief History describes how, through war and the fishery, Newfoundland became settled, a colony, a Dominion of the British Empire, and finally a province of Canada. The book highlights the landmarks and historic sites of old St John’s, architecture and historic buildings, the harbour, its seafaring heritage,the oil and gas industry, and the outlook for the future. The book is illustrated with maps and contains some quirky facts.

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Prince Edward Island

The Prince Edward Island Book of Everything, by Martha Walls

From the number of kilometers of coastline, to the stories behind those unusual place names (hello Mermaid) and the saga of the "Fixed Link," to profiles of Lucy Maud and Prince Edward himself, no book is more comprehensive than the Prince Edward Island Book of Everything. No book is more fun. Well-known Islanders weigh in on their favourite things about their home province—Senator Catherine Callbeck shares the top 5 most important events in Island politics, chef Andrew Morrison on his favourite Island dishes and Anne Compton's five favourite Island words. Stories of the First People, the worst weather, the almighty potato, the truth behind that red dirt, Island slang, the most infamous crimes . . . it's all here! Whether you're a native Islander, a "come from away," or visiting for the first time, there simply is no more comprehensive book about Canada's island province. If you love Prince Edward Island, you'll love the Prince Edward Island Book of Everything! Don't forget to read the Book of Musts!

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Historic Charlottetown, by Julie Watson

The history of Charlottetown comes to life in this collection of historical images and detailed captions. Beginning with those who settled the capital of Prince Edward Island in the late 1700s to the brave souls who fought in World War Two. Historic Charlottetown describes and showcases both special events and everyday activities. Photos and captions about families, arts and culture, trade and commerce, and the grand sporting community reveal the very human side of the city. Readers can learn how the militia defended the town, how the Hillsborough was bridged and how Victoria Park came to be. Most importantly, they can enjoy the story of people and how they created this, one of the nation's most beautiful capitals.

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Nova Scotia

Outdoor Adventures in Halifax, by Dale Dunlop and Ryan Berry

Dale Dunlop's long-established bestseller, Exploring Nova Scotia, is a bible for people who like to get out and explore. In this new book Dale and his co-adventurer, Ryan Barry, focus on adventures within easy day-tripping distance of the city centre —and sometimes right in the city itself. From hikes across the Barrens to Polly's Cove with views of Peggy's Cove few have seen, to mountain biking a beautiful series of trails at Spider Lake, Haligonians and visitors alike will be amazed at how much there is to discover near at hand. Included is a new spot to cross-country ski with a chance to ice fish at the end of the trail at Jerry Lawrence Park, and a kayak route through wilderness areas to see stunning vistas of the Atlantic coast at Shut-In Island.

Dale Dunlop and Ryan Barry offer the inside scoop along with detailed information about how to find each location, stunning full-colour photography and tips about what to bring with you. Also included are GPS co-ordinates, cell phone coverage details and easy to understand graphics indicating level of difficulty and type of adventure.

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Best Halifax Stories: Hangings, Explosions, Tunnels, Romance, Politics, Riots and More, by Dianne Marshall

Author Dianne Marshall draws on Halifax's rich history to recount stories about the city's people and places. Along with the high points of the city's past, she recalls murders, scandals and a wide range of colourful characters that give Halifax its reputation as a spirited town—in more ways than one! 

With full-colour photographs of the locations these stories are linked to, this is an entertaining read that residents and visitors will enjoy. It's a great followup to Dianne's last book, the bestseller True Stories of Nova Scotia's Past.

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New Brunswick

Trails of Fredericton, by Bill Thorpe

The beautiful little city of Fredericton has always welcomed walkers, but now that it's crisscrossed with abandoned railway lines turned into groomed trails, it's a paradise for the self-propelled. As well as being a guide to these paths, Trails of Fredericton conveys the essence of the city in historical vignettes, anecdotes, and photographs.

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Saint John: Facts and Folklore, by David Goss

Saint John Facts and Folklore is filled with anecdotes about the city’s history, unbelievable incidents, and local sayings that showcase the unique identity of Saint John. With a focus on the city’s long history and spirited citizens, David Goss leads readers through the rowdy port city and centre of the nineteenth century lumber trade. The book is scattered with facts and stats that surprise and teach. The latest addition to the Facts and Folklore series, this entertaining and informative book is perfect for those wanting an alternative guide to Saint John and its sights. Includes 20 black and white photos of Saint John past and present.

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Quebec

Montreal and Quebec City: A Colourguide, edited by Melanie Grondin

Montreal and Quebec City are vibrant cultural centres, and this updated Colourguide offers detailed information on museums, galleries, and heritage sites as well as shopping, dining nightlife and more. This edition features the most current and in-depth information on Quebec City's convergence of historical buildings and cultural attractions in the Upper and Lower Towns. The guide reflects the local knowledge and independent recommendations of the guide's contributors.

Listings are completely revised and updated, with complete contact information for accommodations, events, places to eat, shop and relax. Maps and full-colour photography illustrate an entertaining and informative text.

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Exploring Old Quebec, by Maude Bonenfant

Quebec is one of the most visited cities in North America, for good reason —it has a unique charm. A romantic city, it attracts lovers as well as families and tourists interested in history. In 1985 UNESCO named Quebec a World Heritage Site. It is the only city in either Canada or the United States to have preserved its original walls and fortifications. Although the city has been the scene of armed conflict, many historical buildings remain.

For the curious travellers, the seven walking tours in Exploring Old Quebec are a voyage of discovery through the rich history of an extraordinary city founded by Samuel de Champlain in 1608. This completely revised guide also includes four thematic itineraries, maps, and practical information.

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Montreal's Underground City, by Alan Hustak

Montreal's fabled underground city opened fifty years ago. What began as a subterranean pedestrian network beneath Place Ville Marie is now an integral part of the city. Over the past five decades La Ville Souterraine has developed into a parallel metropolis, an amazing labyrinth of passageways, alleys, atriums, and hallways that snake their way along 32 km, connecting 80 downtown skyscrapers, eight hotels, 2,000 stores apartment blocks and 68 Métro stations. Montreal author Alan Hustak looks at its history, takes you on a personal tour of the multi-level environment, and along the way reveals its many hidden surprises.

Like the city above ground the underground city has its own mix of sun and shade, public squares, fountains, green spaces, and even an indoor skating rink. It is not so much an underground city—that's a misnomer—as it is an enclosed, weather proof city: a climate-controlled environment, above and below ground that is air-conditioned in summer and warm against the blast of winter. 

For Montrealers and visitors alike, Montreal's Underground City is an indispensable guide with tours, maps, and indexes. Includes photographs.

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Montreal's Other Museums: Off the Beaten Track, by Rachelle Alkallay

The Montreal Police Association Museum, the Bank of Montreal Museum, the Printing Museum of Quebec, Just for Laughs Museum. Never heard of them? Neither have most Montrealers or visitors to Montreal. The city has dozens of little museums: undiscovered gems to discover.

Montreal's Other Museums is an illustrated user-friendly pocket guide to an intriguing group of institutions specializing in textiles, medicine, humour, religion, the military, rare books, banking, ecology, recording and broadcasting, local history, printing, and other diverse subjects. Boutiques and the availability of food, is also indicated.

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Ontario

Ottawa: The Unknown City, by rob mclennan

Ottawa may be our capital city but it's also a place of contradictions—the official version offers numerous, beneficent historic sites, institutions, museums, and galleries, but there are other stories to be told. In this latest edition of Arsenal's Unknown City series of alternative city guides for both locals and tourists, Ottawa comes alive as a diverse, quirky town that may look like a government city on the surface but boasts a small-town charm. The book charts a course through the city's hidden landmarks, shopping, dining, and nightlife hot spots, as well as secret histories that will come as a surprise even to life-long locals.

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Stroll: Psychogeographic Walking Tours of Toronto, by Shawn Micallef

What is the 'Toronto look'? Glass skyscrapers rise beside Victorian homes, and Brutalist apartment buildings often mark the edge of leafy ravines, creating a city of contrasts whose architectural look can only be defined by telling the story of how it came together and how it works, today, as an imperfect machine.

Shawn Micallef has been examining Toronto's streetscapes for a decade. His psychogeographic reportages, some of which have been featured in EYE WEEKLY and Spacing magazine, situate Toronto's buildings and streets in living, breathing detail, and tell us about the people who use them; the ways, intended or otherwise, that they are being used; and how they are evolving.

Stroll celebrates Toronto's details—some subtle, others grand—at the speed of walking and, in so doing, helps us to better get to know its many neighbourhoods, taking us from well-known spots like the CN Tower and Pearson Airport to the overlooked corners of Scarborough and all the way to the end of the Leslie Street Spit in Lake Ontario.

Stroll features thirty-two walks, a flâneur manifesto, a foreword by architecture critic John Bentley Mays and dozens of hand-drawn maps by Marlena Zuber.

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Imagining Toronto, by Amy Lavender Harris

In Imagining Toronto, Amy Lavender Harris ventures deep into the imagined city—the Toronto of fiction, poetry, and essays—where she dowses for meaning in the literature of the city on the lake as its inhabitants understand, remember, and dream it. By tracing Toronto's literary genealogies from their origins in First Nations stories to today's graphic novels, Harris delineates a great city's portrayal in its literature, where the place of dwelling is coloured by the joy and the suffering, the love and the sorrows, of the people who have played out their lives on the written page. Through tales of the city's neighbourhoods and towers, its ravines and wild places, its role as a multicultural city, as a place of work and leisure, Harris reminds us that the reality of Toronto has been captured by its writers with a depth and complexity that go far beyond the reductive clich's of Toronto as either a provincial 'Hogtown' or a pretentious 'world class' city. Michael Ondaatje once noted that 'before the real city could be seen it had to be imagined.' Imagining Toronto shows just how richly and completely it has been, if only we would look.

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Manitoba

Stuck in the Middle: Dissenting Views of Winnipeg, by Bryan Scott and Bartley Kives

Desired and reviled, adulated and condemned, Winnipeg inspires intense and contradictory emotions from residents, visitors and people who have never even ventured within wading distance of the Manitoba capital. The city at the centre of North America inspires a profound sense of ambivalence, stuck as it is between a colourful and triumphant early history, a long period of 20th-Century decline and an uncertain if optimistic future. Stuck in the Middle finds photographer Bryan Scott andjournalist Bartley Kives exploring the geography, design and reputation of the only city they have ever truly known, loved and hated. With vicious honesty and intense affection, Scott and Kives expose Winnipeg's beautiful and conflicted soul for the rest of the world to admire and detest and ultimately ignore.

[Editor's note: this is such a great book! Check out photo excerpts from it on our blog.]

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Saskatchewan

Regina's Secret Spaces: Love and Lore of Local Geography, edited by Lorne Beug, Anne Campbell, and Jeannie Mah

Regina's Secret Spaces: Love and Lore of Local Geography is an anthology of essays and poems by eighty writers, artists, architects, musicians, patrons of the arts, and cultural theorists who were inspired by and answered the call of editors Lorne Beug, Anne Campbell, and Jeannie Mah to share their favourite "Regina secret." Some submissions were quirky and whimsical, delighting in those things—small, yet significant—which bring joy and connect us to the palce we live; others were more serious and more theoretical, examining power structures —both past and present—and how these have shaped and are still shaping the city. Reflective, engaging and insightful, all express and abiding fondness for the city of Regina.

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Alberta

The Calgary Project: A City Map in Verse and Visual, by Kris Demeanor and Dymphny Dronyk

The Calgary Project documents a vibrant and diverse snapshot of the city’s visual and literary arts, while celebrating the 2-year term of our inaugural Poet Laureate, Kris Demeanor.

The selections include work by nationally (and internationally) prominent poets such as Sheri-D Wilson, Christian Bök, Micheline Maylor, Fred Wah, Anne Burke, and Tom Wayman, and artists such as Jeff de Boer, George Webber, Mandi Stobo and Tina Martel, as well as pieces by newer and younger writers and artists.

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Day Trips from Edmonton, by Joan Marie Galat

Alberta is host to some of Canada's most stunning scenery, from aspen forests and farmland to wetlands and foothills. Many of the province's natural wonders, cultural treasures, historical sites and recreational spots are within a two-hour drive of Edmonton. Day Trips from Edmonton is a comprehensive guide to Alberta's best destinations-visit secluded, untouched natural areas or hotspots bustling with activities. Day Trips from Edmonton includes maps and photographs, and features an easy-to-follow format catered to suit the traveler's needs. Helpful details include: Recreation information, historical tidbits, popular events, information on flora and fauna, and opportunities for further exploration. Perfect for planning an afternoon outing or a weekend away, Day Trips from Edmonton is the ultimate guide to this stunning part of Canada.

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British Columbia

Exploring Vancouver: The Architectural Guide, by Harold Kalman and Robin Ward

The only comprehensive handbook to Vancouver's architecture—from the modest to the monumental Vancouver is still a young city, and its streetscapes and neighbourhoods reflect the city's constant state of reinvention. New buildings adapt the latest global architectural trends to the regional context or express the distinct local West Coast style; heritage buildings stand for earlier eras and continuity. The result is a dynamic urban landscape. Highly readable and authoritative, this entirely updated edition of Exploring Vancouver is the definitive guide to the city's architecture—from the breathtaking to the bizarre. Harold Kalman and Robin Ward, both longtime chroniclers of Vancouver's architectural story, take the reader on a walking or driving tour of 14 areas in and around the city and detail more than 450 of the city's most notable buildings, structures and landscapes—from the historical to the high-tech—ituating each in its social, cultural and historical context.

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Active Vancouver: A Year-round Guide to Outdoor Recreation in the City's Natural Environments, by Roy Jantzen

Active Vancouver offers the reader a variety of pursuits—cycling, trail running, hiking, snowshoeing, paddling, walking, and nature treks—all within a day trip of Vancouver, British Columbia, one of the most vibrant urban regions in the world for access to recreational green space. 

The myriad activities featured in this unique guidebook are for locals and tourists alike who have beginner to intermediate skills in each sport. Here you’ll find all the year-round information needed to plan a fun, energetic and educational adventure day in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Readers are able to scan activities quickly for timing, distance, elevation and accessibility. Equally important, each activity also provides an “Eco-Insight” into the natural history of the locale to give the user a deeper connection with the environment.

Complete with colour photographs and maps, Active Vancouver is the ultimate resource for both exciting and family-friendly outdoor recreation in and around Vancouver throughout the year.

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Secret Vancouver, by Alison Appelbe and Linda Rutenberg

Expanded for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, this engaging travel guide includes even more hidden hotels, gourmet restaurants, trendy nightspots, exotic excursions, and little-known, off-the-beaten-path Vancouver finds. Places and activities that will appeal to all types of travelers are covered, from outdoor adventurers in search of kayaking, cycling, and bird-watching to culture devotees who will relish the Museum of Anthropology and aboriginal art. Local customs of blackberry picking and raccoon watching complement travel listings about the ultra-chic Yaletown restaurants, the Punjabi market, the vintage clothiers on Main Street, and the ferryboat to Granville Island, making this the perfect Vancouver companion for long-time locals, Olympics enthusiasts, and casual vacationers alike.

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Verse Map of Vancouver, by George McWhirter and Derek Von Essen

In Vancouver the avenues are numbered and the streets named. That's a feature of Vancouver. Vancouver's Poet Laureate, George McWhirter, has taken on the task of creating an anthology on those features that give the face of Vancouver its identity. East Hastings could fill an anthology, but most of the city goes unversed.

A Verse Map of Vancouver fills the gap in Vancouver's verse geography by mapping the city, its neighbourhoods, its corners and intersections, its parks and landmarks. A Verse Map is a word ordinance survey by poets of the locality, from those whose names have a legendary place (Pat Lowther, George Woodcock) through a roster of verse surveyors—too great a list to include them all here—who have established themselves over the last three to four decades (John Pass, Evelyn Lau, John Donlan, Daphne Marlatt, Roy Miki, George Stanley, Linda Rogers, Tom Wayman, Meredith Quartermain, Kate Braid, Brian Brett, Bud Osborn) on through to the current generation who are etching their marks on the city (Catherine Owen, Rita Wong, Chris Hutchinson, Mark Cochrane, Russell Thornton, Kuldip Gill, Fiona Lam). Upwards of 100 poets have been gathered here accompanied by the rich city photography of Vancouver artist and designer Derek von Essen.

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Vancouver Vanishes: Narratives of Demolition and Revival, by Caroline Anderson and Tracey Ayton

Since 2005, nearly 9,000 demo permits for residential buildings have been issued in Vancouver. An average of three houses a day are torn down, many of them original homes built for the middle and working class in the 1920s, '30s and '40s. Very few are deemed significant enough to earn the protection of a heritage designation, but they are part of our heritage nonetheless and their demolition is not only an architectural loss.

When these old homes come down, a whole history goes with them-the materials that were used to build them, the gardens, the successive owners and their secrets. These old houses and apartments are repositories of narrative. The story of our city is diminished every time one disappears.

Based on the popular Facebook Page, Vancouver Vanishes is a collection of essays and photographs that together form a lament for, and celebration of, the vanishing character homes and apartments in the city. 

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Victoria: The Unknown City, by Ross Rockford

Victoria has long been a city of contradictions; the home of the unfortunately phrased "newly wed and nearly dead" is also where you will find one of North America's oldest Chinatowns; where tales of secret satanic cults abound; and where the flowers bloom so early in the year, it's no surprise that Victoria is regularly named one of the world's (yes, the world's) top tourist destinations.

Ross Crockford takes readers on a tour of the city's best-kept culinary, shopping, and bar-hopping secrets, along with little-known facts that will beguile tourists and residents alike. There are directions to find remnants of the original Fort Victoria, 150 years after it was demolished; details on a nearby island purchased for Marilyn Monroe by her secret lover; a list of infamous criminals who got caught in Victoria, from Brother XII to Ahmed Ressam; and even advice on how to avoid long waits and bad seats on the BC Ferries.

So raise your teacup and make a toast to the outrageous, shocking, and glorious gems to be found in Victoria: The Unknown City.

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The North 

Whitehorse: An Illustrated History, by Helen Dobrowsolsky and Linda Johnson

The saga of a legendary city from pre-history to the present day, accompanied by stunning archival photos

Whitehorse: An Illustrated History traces the storied past of Yukon's capital city, from its origins in ancient aboriginal camps through the epic changes of the Klondike Gold Rush, the building of the Alaska Highway and the settlement of First Nations land claims. Set amidst rolling mountains on the edge of theYukon River's swift green waters, the city today blends aboriginal traditions with the tastes, music and cultures of people from around the world.

Yukon authors Helene Dobrowolsky and Linda Johnson headed up a talented team of writers and researchers to create this portrait of a legendary place. From its early days, the town was Yukon's transportation hub, linking the Pacific with trails, then rails, to the elegant sternwheelers that steamed downriver to Dawson City until highways and air travel took their place. The town hosted a dazzling parade of people over the centuries, many of whom appear in these pages: hunters, traders, gold-seekers, soldiers, miners, ships' captains, entrepreneurs, dog-mushers, storytellers, sports icons, politicians, community builders, adventurers and artists. Filled with lively writing, colourful anecdotes and an impressive array of contemporary and archival photos, this book celebrates the history of a very special place.

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Ramshackle: A Yellowknife Story, by Alison McCreesh

Over the past decade, the North, or at least the idea of it, has slowly made its way back to our consciousness, a notion that the North is synonymous with a lawless, rugged freedom. But at first glance Yellowknife, NWT is actually a somewhat disappointing modern capital city. There are tall buildings, yoga pants, a Walmart and a lot of government jobs. None the less, if you dig a little deeper, you do find that alternative off-grid reality. Barely five minutes from the downtown core, wedged between million dollar houses, you find little shacks where people exist without running water and use honey buckets for toilets.When Alison McCreesh moved from Quebec to Yellowknife she quickly fell in love with the quirky ways in which it seemed possible to live up North. Part travelogue, part comic book, part love story and part guide to the North and its quirky inhabitants, Ramshackle spans her first summer north of 60.

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The Great Canadian Bucket List: Nunavut, by Robin Esrock

On his personal quest to check off the best of his home country, travel writer and host Robin Esrock catalogues must-sees, including nature, food, culture, history, adrenaline rushes, and quirky Canadiana. After spending years crafting the definitive Canadian Bucket List, he’s packed in enough for a lifetime, at least. In this special excerpt, Esrock takes us to the remote heart of Canada’s Inuit culture, a land of long winters, polar bears, and vast distances, for some amazing experiences, including: swimming in an Arctic waterfall, hiking in the tundra, fishing for Arctic char, and watching belugas play in a river mouth.