Ottawa is Canada's stately capital

Canada's most populous province is home to its largest city (Toronto), its most visited tourist site (Niagara Falls) and the nation's capital (Ottawa).

But Ontario - all 1.1 million square kilometres of it - has much more to offer beyond these well-known haunts. There's the wine trails of the Niagara peninsula, the First Nations and Mennonite cultures of the southwest, the wilderness wonderland of Algonquin Provincial Park and the sleepy rural towns of the Great Lakes.

Almost half the province is ancient boreal forest harbouring nearly 300 species of birds and an astounding array of wildlife including woodland caribou, wolverine, moose, black bear, mink, otter, lynx and pine marten.

Ontario stretches from the Great Lakes near the United States border to frozen Hudson Bay in the north, the province of Manitoba to the west to French-speaking Quebec in the east.

Survival guide

English is the main language throughout Ontario, although French is spoken in many pockets and becomes more prevalent the closer you get to the border with Quebec.

Toronto's Lester B Pearson International Airport is the main gateway to Ontario.