A Québec sugar shack, an Indigenous light show and a couple on their final province: those are the kinds of moments that stuck with the latest intake of Destination Canada's Radical Ambassadors, a program that sends Australian travel advisors to experience the country firsthand.
The 2026/27 cohort — eight advisors — spent nine days travelling the way a paying customer would. They flew Air Canada from Sydney and Brisbane via Vancouver, then joined Globus' Historic Cities of Eastern Canada tour: Toronto, Niagara Falls, Thousand Islands, Ottawa, Québec City and Montréal, with local tourism board experiences layered into each stop. It's the third year of the program, after trips through British Columbia and Alberta in 2024 and BC plus the Northwest Territories in 2025. This time the focus shifted east, to Ontario and Québec.
The trip landed right in autumn, and foliage came up again and again — vivid reds and yellows in Niagara-on-the-Lake, along the Thousand Islands, and on trail walks up Mount Royal. Timing mattered in another way too: the group was in Canada over Canadian Thanksgiving.
The standouts were often small. One advisor finally ticked off the traditional Québec sugar shack she'd recommended to clients for years but never visited herself. Others highlighted Wendake, home of the Huron-Wendat Nation near Québec City, where a forest walk led by a First Nations guide brought Indigenous history to life through storytelling. In Québec City itself, the group did a museum visit, three-course meal and light show centred on Indigenous culture — described by one attendee as genuinely emotional. Even Ottawa, a capital many overlook, earned praise for its museums, architecture and food scene.
Beyond the sights, the agents kept returning to two things: the warmth of the welcome, and the value of pace. Smaller stops — Cap-de-la-Madeleine and its stained-glass basilica, Toronto's historic Distillery District, hikes over Mount Royal — turned out to be as memorable as the headline cities. Several noted that guided touring earns its keep not by replacing independent travel but by handling the details between destinations and adding context you'd miss alone.
For holidaymakers, the takeaway is straightforward. Eastern Canada in autumn suits a wider range of travellers than the usual ski-and-seniors stereotype suggests: hikers and wildlife-seekers on one end, boutique stays, local food and wine and culture on the other. And it rewards slowing down — leaving room in an itinerary for the unplanned is where the best moments happen, whether that's a hockey game in Ottawa or a cosy restaurant on a rainy afternoon in Old Québec. If you're considering the region, late September to mid-October is the window when the colours peak.
