Before you travel to Canada, a little planning and research are well worth the effort. Avoid the most common travel mishaps, like planning to do too much and misjudging distances between Canadian cities by knowing travel requirements, climate, transportation. In addition, Canada, though adjacent to and friendly with the United States, is a different country with its own guarded border, currency, and laws.

Determine Your Eligibility
To visit Canada, you need to meet some requirements according to the Government of Canada, Immigration, and Citizenship. These include such things as having a valid travel document, be in good health, appear to be ready and willing to leave Canada when your trip is over, have a sufficient amount of money and no criminal record.

What Travel Documents You'll Need
Don't slow a vacation down by not having the right travel documents. Once a confusing issue, crossing the Canada border is now pretty straightforward: bring your passport. Some exceptions apply to U.S. citizens, but a passport or passport equivalent is the best bet.

Aside from travel documents, know what you can and can't bring across the Canada border.
Items That Are Permitted From Entering Canada
Food, alcohol, tobacco, and pets are the four major types of items that may cause travelers some confusion when deciding whether or not they're allowed when crossing the border into our northern neighbor.
Canned potatoes, a few eggs, and dried and packaged food of all varieties are allowed when crossing the border but keep in mind fresh, unpackaged fruit is not permitted.           However, you can cross the border with up to 11 pounds of fresh beef per person in the vehicle, so if you have friends in Canada who wants some Grade-A American Beef, you can load up the car and head on up.
In terms of traveling with alcoholic beverages, you can only bring one of the following: one and a half liters of wine, 24 12-ounce cans or bottles of beer, or 40 ounces of liquor. For tobacco, you can either bring 200 cigarettes (10 packs) or 50 cigars—including Cuban cigars, which are not banned in Canada like they are in the States.
You're in luck if you're traveling with a four-legged friend, too. Bringing your dogs and cats to Canada is perfectly fine as long as they are accompanied by a veterinarian-signed document that indicates the animal's breed and physical description as well as proof they are up-to-date with their rabies shots.

Items That Are Prohibited From Entering Canada
Punishment for trying to bring illegal substances across the border is mainly limited to throwing out the contraband or turning visitors away, but this can be a major inconvenience for travelers, so make sure you are aware of the following food, firearms, and other miscellaneous items that are not currently permitted into Canada.
Fresh fruits and vegetables, including bananas and banana peels, as well as dog or cat food containing beef or lamb byproducts, are prohibited at the Canadian border. Agents will likely simply throw these items out if they are discovered. The main reason these items are prohibited is that Canadian farmers fear cross-contamination and bug infestations from species potentially brought in from the United States.
Almost all major forms of self-defense and firearms are prohibited at the Canadian border including but not limited to handguns, automatic weapons, stun guns, mace, and pepper spray; firewood, live bait, and radar detectors are also banned.

Consider the Size of Canada
Made up of 10 provinces and 3 territories, Canada is the second largest country in the world; only Russia is larger.
The land plus freshwater area of Canada is 9,984,670 square kms (or 3,855 174 sq miles). In fact, coast to coast, Canada covers five time zones.
The capital of Canada’s most westerly province, Victoria is 4,491 kilometers (2,791 miles) from Toronto and a whopping 7,403 kilometers (4601 miles) from the most easterly capital, St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Choose Your Destination(s)
Possibly you have one destination in mind or maybe you want to build several into your Canada travel itinerary. Canada is famous for its adventure and scenic travel, but there is a wide range of destinations to suit any interest.
Because the country is so big, not too many people visit all of Canada in one trip. Usually, it is divided up into more manageable chunks, such as a visit to the Maritime (Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island) or Quebec and Ontario (Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, Niagara Falls) or the West Coast, Prairie Provinces, or Canada's North.

Decide When To Go to Canada
Maybe you head to Canada on a whim due to a strong U.S. dollar or a great travel deal or you plan your vacation way in advance.
Prices, climate, and available activities change depending on when you are in Canada.
Seasons in Canada：
Part of Canada's appeal is its four seasons - winter, spring, summer and fall - that offer changing landscapes, temperatures, climate and travel costs. The climate and intensity of these seasons vary across the country.
The west coast of British Columbia, including Vancouver, has a moderate climate year round and thus the seasons are less distinct from one another. Overall, the west coast has summers that aren't as warm nor winters that are as bitterly cold as say, Toronto or Montreal.
The farther north you go - and Canada goes far north - the colder and heavier the precipitation is. In addition, the proximity to water that many of Canada's most popular destinations have can make temperatures feel cooler or drop more sharply.

Money Matters
Canada uses the Canadian dollar, unlike its neighbor to the south that uses the U.S. dollar. Some Canada/U.S. border towns and major cities will accept both currencies, but you should familiarize yourself with Canadian money, where to get it, sales taxes, tipping, and more.

Differences in Laws
Before you come to Canada, be sure to read up on local laws regarding drinking age, speed limits, regulations about bringing in firearms, liquor, and more.