Canada is clearly Christmas holiday headquarters. (Courtesy Tourism Saskatchewan/Douglas E. Walker)

Canada is clearly Christmas holiday headquarters. First of all, this is where Santa Claus lives. As the million children who write to him each year know, his address is Santa Claus, North Pole, Canada, HOH OHO.

Second, so much of Canada in winter looks like a picture on a Christmas card. And happily, you don’t only look at these festive scenes; you can jump right into them. Christmas in the Rockies is a great way to start. This annual event kicks off the season in the town of Banff, AB, the beautiful mountain-encircled resort town within the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Banff National Park. This year’s event, on Saturday, Dec. 4, includes wagon rides, carollers, a Christmas tree decorating competition and a parade of lights.

Banff area hotels offer all kinds of seasonal packages. The iconic Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, nicknamed “The Castle in the Rockies,” has been a favourite holiday destination for more than a century. Indoors, there’s the hotel’s baronial splendor to enjoy—as well as the exquisitely served regional cuisine and full spa services—while outdoors, there’s world-renowned skiing.

If Christmas in a castle sounds appealing, there’s another Canadian icon to consider: The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, towering on cliffs above the St. Lawrence River and dominating the skyline of Québec City, QC. For holiday visitors, hotel packages range from a “Royal Christmas” to a “Hip New Year’s Eve.” The hotel sits in the heart of Old Québec, the walled city that dates back over 400 years and is another of Canada’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The winding streets of the upper and lower towns are filled with fine restaurants, boutiques and art galleries.

For more historic Christmas flavour, Canada’s capital city of Ottawa, ON, is a great option, with Parliament Hill, the Canadian Museum of Civilization and many more sites ablaze with more than 300,000 Christmas lights throughout December and New Year’s. During the season, the National Arts Centre offers a diverse menu of holiday fare, from Handel’s Messiah and A Canadian Tenors’ Christmas with the NAC Orchestra to the Kenny Rogers Christmas & Hits Tour.

Outdoor Ottawa is really fun in winter. In early January conditions are generally ideal for the opening of the Rideau Canal Skateway, at 7.8 km (4.8 mi) the world’s largest naturally frozen ice-skating rink. Just a 15-minute drive from the Parliament buildings is Gatineau Park, where 200 km (124 mi) of cross-country ski trails are just one of the seasonal options (others: winter camping and snowshoeing under the stars).

All across Canada, cross-country skiing venues offer holiday packages. In Quebec’s Saguenay region, site of many groomed cross-country ski circuits, options include such ideal après-ski relaxers as massages and Nordic baths. Spa services are a big part of the cross-country ski packages in Ontario’s Muskoka resort region, too.

In both the Saguenay and Muskoka, other outdoor winter activities range from dogsledding to snowmobiling. Indeed, Canada has literally thousands of kilometres of snowmobile trails, including routes that tie into US trails in Maine, Minnesota and other border states.

The Prairie province of Saskatchewan alone has 10,000 km (6,000 mi) of groomed trails, wending from the US border states of Montana and North Dakota to the Northwest Territories. At places like Elk Ridge Resort—nestled in the boreal forest of northern Saskatchewan (and recognized by the Audubon Society for its woodlands stewardship), a snowmobiling holiday can include snowshoeing, pond hockey, tubing and cross-country skiing, rounded out with rejuvenating water treatments at the Salacia Spa.

In neighbouring Manitoba, which also boasts kilometre after kilometre of snowmobile trails, Bakers Narrows Lodge on Lake Athapapuskow has an “Experience the North” package. Along with snowmobiling, the full-meal deal includes ice fishing, lessons in a native cultural art form, caribou hair tufting and dogsledding.

Indeed, resorts and lodges from Quebec to Alberta and across the Far North offer dogsledding packages. For a memorable adventure, there are the three- and four-day expeditions from Yukon’s Takhini River Lodge, a short drive from Whitehorse. These dog-mushing trips follow the path of famed Klondike raconteur Jack London and include a dip in the Takhini Hot Springs. In addition to dogsledding, a six-day outing from Takhini River Lodge takes in a day’s snowshoeing in Kluane National Park and Reserve, home to Canada’s highest peak, Mount Logan (5,959 m or 19,551 ft).

On the west coast, the Canadian Christmas experience can involve a heady combination of reindeer info and mountaintop skating. That’s just part of what’s on offer throughout December at Grouse Mountain’s “The Peak of Christmas.” As well as daily ranger-led sessions about reindeer and day and evening skating on the pond beside the Peak Chalet, activities include sleigh rides, a parade of trees, Christmas movies and concerts, and breakfasts with Santa. The mountain, visible from Vancouver, BC’s city centre, was open 24/7 during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games; its terrain parks appeal to freestylers of all levels of experience.

On Canada’s east coast, a seasonal activity dates back at least a couple of centuries, with origins in the Middle Ages. Mummering is an annual Christmas tradition in Newfoundland outports. In the villages on Bonavista and Conception Bay, the mummers—bands of costumed, masked frolickers—go from house to house during the holiday season joking, singing, dancing and cajoling refreshments from their hosts, who are challenged to guess their surprise visitors’ identities.

With mummers and millions of Christmas trees, snowscaped scenery and Santa, the holidays in Canada certainly come with all the traditional trimmings. There can be some surprises, too—like winter surfing at Nova Scotia beaches White Point, Lawrencetown and Martinique. Now there’s a great way to get ready for a hot toddy and a turkey dinner.