In Canada, there are an estimated two million lakes, 31752 of which are greater than three square kilometres and 561 of which have a surface area of more than 100 square kilometres. In actuality, fresh water bodies cover 8% of the country’s area. This statistic places Canada in first place on the list of nations with the largest amount of surface area covered by lakes. With so many lakes, deciding which ones are the greatest is virtually difficult. However, some of these lakes are far more beautiful than others.
We’ve refined our selection to include some of the most popular, attractive, and magnificent lakes in the country, from spectacularly blue glacier-fed lakes to lakes screaming to be paddled in the summer or skated on in the winter. If you truly want to view lakes in all of their natural splendour, Canada should be your first stop. Whether you want to kayak, canoe, water ski, or simply sit and stare while pondering life, the world, and everything, there is no better location to do it than by the side of a lake in Canada. The ten most beautiful lakes in Canada are listed below.
Now Coming to Top Lakes, Here are the Most Beautiful Lakes in Canada
1. Emerald Lake
Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park is one of the most beautiful lakes in the Canadian Rockies and a beautiful spot to visit in British Columbia. President Range surrounds the lake, which is the biggest in Yoho National Park. Visiting the lake on a summer day is one of the most beautiful natural sceneries in the Canadian Rockies, which are not lacking of breathtaking views. The lake is unexpectedly accessible, given it is only a few kilometres off the TransCanada highway, which sees hundreds of vehicles pass by every day.
Yoho National Park in British Columbia has 61 lakes and ponds. When the lake is in its liquid state, it is a beautiful emerald green hue, living true to its name. Emerald Lake is a year-round destination with plenty of activities. Because the glacial waters refract light in a dazzling display of colour, it’s easy to see how Emerald Lake got its name. You’d be moved by the hue alone, but the surrounding scenery leaves you speechless. With towering peaks and wooded banks, the President Range mountains encircle the lake, forming a natural amphitheatre of epic proportions.
2. Moraine Lake
Moraine Lake is nestled in a setting that seems like it belongs on a postcard. Pine woods, symmetrical mountain peaks, and the ice blue waters of the lake shimmering in the distance. Moraine Lake is one of the most magnificent and awe-inspiring places on the planet. Go for a trek, climb, ski, or canoe at Banff National Park after soaking in the breathtaking landscape. Moraine Lake is a photograph that will stay with you for the rest of your life. Like many other blue lakes in Banff, the lake’s stunning blue hue is due to glacial waters rich with rock dust that refracts light.
Moraine Lake is a little more difficult to reach in the winter since the water’s access road closes and the lake remains frozen until June. The parking area next to the lake is tiny and tends to fill up fast. The parking lot is managed by Parks Canada, and if you arrive late, you may be turned away. You may always take a bus to the lake to avoid having to deal with the parking. Moraine Lake is a fantastic place to spend a day: you may go canoeing, hike along the lake’s beaches or trek one of the area’s more strenuous routes, or simply relax by the lake and admire its beauty.
3. Spotted Lake
When full of water, Spotted Lake in British Columbia’s Similkameen Valley isn’t much to look at. It’s also the tiniest body of water to be designated as a lake. It is slightly under half a mile in length and a quarter of a mile in width. Doesn’t it make you wonder what all the hoopla is about? When Spotted Lake dries out in the summer, it becomes one of Mother Nature’s strange and magnificent creations that is just incredible. The water in the lake is extremely mineral-rich, and when it evaporates, it leaves behind a bizarre lunar-like landscape with crystalline paths and pools.
Though the lake appears to be mystical, the spots have a scientific explanation: it’s all about the minerals. Mineral deposits abound across the lake, including magnesium sulphate, calcium, and sodium sulphates, to name a few. In the summer, when part of the water evaporates, the dots become visible. Depending on the mineral composition, the hue of the dots varies. The lake is lovely to look at, and that’s about all you can do here. Because Spotted Lake is a holy place of the Okanagan Nation and an environmentally sensitive region, public access is limited. Visit during the summer, when the spots are more visible.
4. Lake Louise
The magnificent Lake Louise, located in Banff National Park, is one of Canada’s most remarkable lakes. The turquoise water appears to be tropical, but this glacier-fed lake is bitterly cold year-round, as you’ll discover if you take a plunge. Even though it isn’t the finest lake for swimming, it is a very popular tourist attraction. The lake, hidden under the towering Rocky Mountains, is easily accessible and very picturesque. In the summer, it’s a beautiful location to paddle, and in the winter, it’s a great site to ice skate.
It’s a little but beautiful lake with a length of just over a mile, a width of a third of a mile, and a surface area of only a third of a square mile. It is almost as deep as it is broad, reaching a maximum depth of about 230 feet. It is a famous tourist destination due to its closeness to the tiny town of Lake Louise. If you don’t want to be too far from civilization, this is the perfect Canadian lake to explore. Spend the day roaming around Lake Louise’s wildness, horseback riding through the woods, or even rock climbing if you have a fear of heights.
5. Garibaldi Lake
Garibaldi Lake, located near Whistler in British Columbia’s Garibaldi Provincial Park, is an extraordinarily gorgeous alpine lake that you’ll have to work up a sweat to view in person. Garibaldi Lake is reached through a nine-kilometer hiking path that gains an impressive 820 metres in each direction. The trail begins with a hard ascent through wooded switchbacks before arriving at alpine meadows coated with brilliant wildflowers in the summer. You may trek to the lake for a day excursion or reserve a tent right along the water’s edge – though going up with a backpack full of camping gear will take a bit longer.
Its surface area is an astounding two thousand five hundred acres, which is a lot of lake, spread out throughout the Garibaldi Provincial Park. It has an average depth of just under 400 feet, but may drop as low as almost 900 feet in some areas. The Garibaldi Lake Trail, which is about five and a half miles long, is the only way to get to Garibaldi Lake. The surface of Lake Garibaldi’s turquoise waters is so crystalline that it serves as a mirror, reflecting extremely clear pictures of the surrounding surroundings. Excellent for photographing. If you enjoy winter activities such as snowshoeing and backcountry skiing, this is a destination you should make a point of visiting.
6. Peyto Lake
The Waputik valley is home to Peyto Lake. The light reflecting qualities of the glacial flour that falls into the lake from the Peyto glacier give the lake its stunning blue-green colour. Peyto Lake is another one of those bodies of water that will take your breath away with its stunning azure blue hue. It is integrated into the borders of Banff National Park and is located high in the Canadian Rockies at a height of nearly 6,000 feet. It’s a tiny, but easily accessible glacial lake that’s little under two miles long, half a mile broad at its widest point, and has a two-square-mile surface area.
You’d be excused for assuming that after seeing one gorgeous glacier lake, you’ve seen them all, but you’d be wrong. Even if you’ve already seen Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, a drive up the Columbia Icefields Parkway to view the bluer-than-blue Peyto Lake is definitely worth it. Peyto Lake, like the other widely accessible lakes surrounding Banff, is crowded during tourist season. Many visitors arrive early in the morning to avoid the crowds, but we’ll let you in on a secret: late afternoon and early evening are also calmer times to come.
7. Kathleen Lake
Kathleen Lake is a picture-perfect silver-blue stretch of water tucked amid the snowcapped mountains of the Yukon’s Kluane National Park. There’s plenty to see and do around and around the lake. It’s a fantastic place to cool off after finishing the adjacent King’s Throne trek, or you may take a shorter, more leisurely hike around the lake’s circumference. You may also pitch a tent near the lake and use it as your home base while exploring the area. The campground is open from mid-May to mid-September, with bookings required during the summer months.
From admiring the golden foliage in the fall to seeing the ice melt on the lake in the spring, this is a lovely location to visit during all four seasons. It’s a fantastic spot to get in your kayak and go for a paddle when the lake is calm and clear. Keep an eye on the weather, since the region is notorious for being quite windy, and you don’t want to be caught out on the lake when the wind is howling.
8. Berg Lake
Berg Lake is located close under Mount Robson, the tallest mountain in the Rockies, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It’s hidden in plain sight at a height of little about 5,000 feet. The only way to get there is to hike through Mount Robson Provincial Park’s wilderness. Is it worthwhile to put out the effort? Definitely. Berg Lake’s blue waters are framed by towering mountains and surrounded by pine woods. The light and the scenery are a photographer’s dream. The Berg Glacier feeds Berg Lake, which is a glacial lake. Because the glacier is continually flowing, pieces of it regularly fall off and float like small icebergs in the lake waters.
To get to Berg Lake, you first go through the breathtaking Valley of a Thousand Waterfalls, which is reason enough to visit. The trek to Berg Lake is lovely, passing through Kinney Lake and the flowing Emperor Falls on the way. Berg Lake is a few kilometres away from here. It’s hard to miss, reaching below Mount Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies at 3,954 metres. You may camp at the lake, but you’ll need to make a reservation, which should be made well in advance, especially if you’re going up during the busy summer months.
9. Lake Athabasca
Lake Athabasca is in the northeastern part of the province, on the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary; roughly 70% of it is in Saskatchewan, while the rest is in Alberta. The Athabasca and Peace rivers feed the lake, which flows north into Great Slave Lake through the Slave River. The lake is accessible from Fort McMurray and is a popular fly-in fishing location. Many of the species native to northern Canada’s lakes have routinely produced record-breaking trophy fish in Lake Athabasca.
Planning a vacation to Athabasca Sand Dunes Provincial Park is one of the finest ways to enjoy Lake Athabasca. The dunes that encircle a section of Saskatchewan’s shoreline are unlike anything else you’ll see in Canada, but you’ll have to fly in or take a boat to get there. Expect a real wilderness experience; prepare ahead and carry little because there aren’t many facilities once you’re in the sand dunes. Spending time on Lake Athabasca will allow you to appreciate the breathtaking grandeur of the area’s untouched wildness, which encompasses a pristine lake so wide that the opposing coastline is invisible.
10. Lake Superior
With a surface expanse of almost 32,000 square miles, Lake Superior is larger than several countries. Its aquatic reach extends from Ontario in northern Canada, over the border, and into numerous American states. If you’re planning a trip to Lake Superior, don’t expect to be able to walk all the way around the lake’s perimeter. They got it right when they called it, because it is superior in many respects. It is not only the biggest of the Great Lakes, but also the world’s largest freshwater lake. Surprisingly, it only comes in third place in terms of the amount of water it can store.
You may swim in the lake at one of its beaches, go fishing on the water, kayak along the coastline, or take a wilderness trek in one of the parks along the way, such as Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ruby Lake Provincial Park, Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, and Pukaskwa National Park. If you plan on rowing across it, you’ll need some strong muscles. At its broadest point, it stretches for almost a hundred and sixty kilometres. That’s a beautiful lake.
We’re confident you’ll find one to add to your list among the ten most beautiful lake on our list. What is your go-to Incredible lake in Canada? Let us know in the comments section.
