Without question, Canada is home to spectacular landscapes and wonderful people. It consistently ranks high globally in education, civil liberties, and standard of living. It’s the world’s second-largest country (behind Russia) and offers a vast range of attractions from coast to coast. To whet your appetite more, here are 25 fun facts about Canada that will have you planning your trip there faster than a hockey barnburner.

1. Canada has the longest coastline in the world at more than 151,000 miles. If you walked 15 miles of it a day it would take you nearly 35 years to cover the coastline on foot.
2. Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined! Ontario alone has some 250,000 lakes that contain one-fifth of the world’s fresh water. Did someone say fishing?
3. Montreal has the nickname “The City of Saints” and “City of a Hundred Bell Towers” because there are more churches than houses.
4. Engineers build the Hotel de Glace, or Ice Hotel, out of hundreds of tons of ice and snow each winter. Each summer it melts away.
5. You can see the world’s largest coin, aptly named the Big Nickel, in Sudbury, Ontario. It’s a reproduction of a 1951 Canadian nickel measuring 9 meters (29.5 feet) wide.
6. License plates in the Canadian Northwest Territory are shaped like polar bears.
7. Residents of Churchill, Manitoba leave their cars unlocked so others can escape from wandering polar bears.
8. There’s a polar bear prison for marauding bears who break into homes for food.
9. The U.S. / Canada Border is the longest international border in the world and it lacks military defense.
10. Canada’s official phone number is 1-800-O-CANADA. How easy is that to remember?
11. Parts of Canada have less gravity than the rest of Earth. True. Scientists proved it in the 1960s.
12. Police Departments in Canada give out “positive tickets” when they catch kids doing something right like wearing a bike helmet or using a crosswalk.
13. Canadian banknotes have Braille-like markings for the blind.
14. Canada consumes the most macaroni and cheese of any country in the world.
15. Canada and Denmark have been fighting over an uninhabited island since the 1930s by leaving each other bottles of alcohol and changing their flags.
16. The Canadian Province of Alberta has been rat-free for over 50 years.
17. Canada has a strategic maple syrup reserve to ensure global supply in case of emergency. Whew, thank you!
18. Canada is home to 42 national parks, 167 national historic sites, and four marine conservation areas. Canada’s national parks are free for kids.
19. Millions of letters to Santa Claus in every language are addressed to his own postal code: “H0H 0H0, North Pole, Canada.” And volunteers write back as Mrs. Claus.
20. In Alberta’s Banff National Park, highway overpasses are built with trees and shrubs growing on them so wildlife has a safe way to cross the road.
21. The Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick has the earth’s most epic tidal flow. At the head of the bay, the tide rises 53 feet!
22. “Eh” is a valid word in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary. Other Canadianisms abound and delight.
23. Montreal is the world’s second-largest French-speaking city after Paris.
24. George Street in Newfoundland has more bars and pubs per square feet than on any street in North America.
25. Over 500 specimens of dinosaur fossils from over 40 species have been found in Dinosaur Provincial Park.

When you’re ready to check out some of these fun facts for yourself, be sure to talk to one of the Covington vacation specialists.