You know those Canada photos. Bright blue-green lake. Snow-covered mountains. A road disappearing into a forest. There's a good chance you're looking at the Canadian Rockies.

And Banff is the obvious place to start. Banff National Park was established in 1885 as Canada's first national park. Today, it is still one of the country's biggest travel draws.

Lake Louise. Moraine Lake. Lake Minnewanka. The mountain roads around Banff. You've probably seen at least one of them online.

But here's the part that is easy to miss in the photos: The lakes really are that color. A lot of the famous lakes in the Rockies are fed by glaciers. Glaciers grind rock into extremely fine material called glacial rock flour. When that material gets into the water, it affects the way light is scattered. That's what helps produce those strange turquoise and blue-green colors. So no, the photographer didn't necessarily spend three hours fixing the saturation.

The Northern Lights have a slightly unfair advantage. They already look edited in photographs. Then you see them in person and realize they weren't.

Canada's northern location makes it a popular destination for aurora trips. Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories and destinations across Yukon are particularly well known for viewing the lights. But don't plan an aurora trip like a normal sightseeing stop. You don't just arrive at 9 p.m., take a photo, and go back to the hotel. You wait. Sometimes for hours. You need darkness, reasonably clear skies, and some patience.

And then there's the cold. If you're spending a long night outside, keep your phone protected when you're not using it. Batteries don't love very low temperatures. A power bank is also a good idea.

The eSIM part is much simpler. It won't make your phone warmer. It won't improve your battery. It just means you can sort out your connection before you go instead of trying to deal with a physical SIM card while wearing gloves. Small problem. Easy to avoid.

Canada does big landscapes very well. The wildlife isn't exactly small either. Depending on where you're traveling, you might see:

• Moose & Elk
• Black bears & Grizzly bears
• Whales & Orcas
• Polar bears

In the Rockies, wildlife can become part of the road trip. In British Columbia, whale-watching trips can take you out into waters where orcas and other marine life live. And farther north, Churchill is famous for polar bear encounters.

The important word here is wildlife. Not pets. Don't approach an animal because it looks calm. Don't feed it because you want a better photo. And don't assume that staying inside your car makes every situation automatically safe.

A moose beside the road can look surprisingly harmless. It isn't. The same goes for bears. Follow the rules posted by the park you're visiting. Keep your distance. Know what to do before you head onto a trail. Getting a slightly worse wildlife photo is a much better outcome than getting dangerously close to an animal.

Poutine

Three things: Fries. Cheese curds. Gravy. That's basically it. And somehow, it works. The cheese curds should have that familiar squeaky texture when you bite into them. The fries need to hold up under the gravy instead of immediately becoming a pile of potato mush. There are plenty of fancy versions now. Try the classic first. It's especially convincing after you've spent half the day outside in the cold. If someone asks you what food Canada is famous for, poutine is one of the safest answers you can give.

Tim Hortons

You don't need to be obsessed with coffee to notice Tim Hortons. It's everywhere. You'll especially notice it on road trips when you need breakfast, coffee, or something quick before getting back on the highway. Try a Double-Double if you want the classic Canadian order. That's coffee with two creams and two sugars. Timbits are the little donut holes. And is Tim Hortons the best coffee in Canada? Probably don't ask that question too aggressively.

Canada has two official national sports. Hockey is the national winter sport. Lacrosse is the national summer sport. The National Sports of Canada Act established those designations in 1994. But if you're visiting Canada, hockey is probably the one you'll notice. Especially during the season.

Kids play it. Adults argue about it. NHL teams have fans who can become extremely invested in the result of a game that, objectively speaking, does not affect their personal lives very much. That's part of the fun. If you're in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, or Ottawa during hockey season, check whether there's a game you can attend. You don't need to know every player. You don't need to understand every rule. Watch the crowd when the home team scores. You'll get it.

Let's deal with this one. Yes. The stereotype exists for a reason. No, everyone in Canada isn't going to apologize to you every five minutes. But “sorry” does come up a lot. Someone bumps into you? Sorry. You both reach for the same door? Sorry. You didn't hear what someone said? Sorry. It isn't always a serious apology, either. Sometimes it's just a polite way of getting someone's attention or softening a request.

Then there's “eh?” It can be used to ask for agreement, confirmation, or simply turn a statement into a question. You can probably imagine how this gets exaggerated outside Canada. Don't force it. Nothing sounds less Canadian than someone saying “eh?” every twelve seconds because they watched one Canadian comedy sketch before their flight.

Niagara Falls is difficult to understand through a phone screen. You can see the Falls in a photo. You can't hear them. You can't feel the mist. And you definitely can't appreciate how much water is moving. The Falls sit on the border between Canada and the United States, with the Canadian side offering a particularly broad view of the Horseshoe Falls.

If you're already there, don't just take three photos from the railing and leave. Get closer. Niagara City Cruises operates the official Voyage to the Falls boat tour for Niagara Parks. The boat heads toward the base of the Falls, passing the American and Bridal Veil Falls before reaching the mist around the Canadian Horseshoe Falls.

Yes, you'll get wet. That's the point. A recyclable poncho is provided. Your phone still needs some common sense. Keep it somewhere secure. A pocket isn't automatically waterproof just because it happened to survive yesterday's rain. And if you've had enough of the mist, the surrounding Niagara Parks area gives you plenty to do without standing beside the Falls all afternoon.

Toronto has plenty of landmarks. The CN Tower is still the one you'll recognize immediately. It has been part of the Toronto skyline since 1976 and was once the world's tallest freestanding structure.

For most visitors, the observation levels are enough. Then there are people who look at a 116-storey building and think: “Can I walk around the outside?” Apparently, yes. That's EdgeWalk. You're secured by a harness while walking around the outside edge of the Tower's main pod. The CN Tower describes it as the world's highest hands-free external walk on a building. For everyone else: The glass is fine. The view is still very good.