Childhood impressions—they really stay with you. My family immigrated to Canada before I was 10, and all these years later, there are still some images that say Canada to me: the bright colours of the east-coast wooden houses, so different from Britain’s bricks. The sun-dappled wake of a canoe gliding over a Muskoka lake (ON). The seemingly endless open road, underlining just what a big country this is. But iconic though these images are, they’re not static. This summer there are all kinds of ways to enjoy a new take on this pure Canadiana.

• You can find those bright-coloured houses as part of a walking tour. “Bights, Sounds & Tickles” is the name Scott Walking Adventures has given to its six-day-long jaunt in Canada’s easternmost province, Newfoundland and Labrador. It’s a tour that will take you from Signal Hill—where Marconi made communications history and where you can look over the picturesque harbour of St. John’s—to lighthouses, cliff tops, cobblestone beaches and fishing villages that hug the shore. www.newfoundlandlabrador.com

• Consider a hike in one of Canada’s northern territories, Nunavut. Black Feather, a wilderness adventure company, will guide you to where few others venture: Baffin, Ellesmere and Devon islands. Read about more Nunavut adventure guides. www.nunavuttourism.com

• In Alberta, try a 10-day hike through Banff National Park with White Mountain Adventures, which includes fabled Lake Louise and the Icefields Parkway, and (following a helicopter hop) alpine wandering through the beauty of Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park. Read about other Alberta guided walking tours. www.travelalberta.com

• In New Brunswick, you can actually walk on the ocean floor—well, at least at low tide among the flowerpot rocks, strange wave-carved sandstone shapes. The rocks are at the head of the Bay of Fundy, where high tide twice daily lifts the water level to the height of a four-storey building. www.tourismnewbrunswick.ca

• True, every Canadian province has amazing paddling opps—and that’s no exaggeration. But this August in Nova Scotia, you can watch the greatest paddlers in the world battle when Halifax hosts the 2009 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. Athletes, coaches and spectators from 90 countries will all be part of the action at the Lake Banook race site. http://novascotia.com

• If you want to paddle yourself, consider trying to shoot the rapids on the Slave River in the Northwest Territories, where the whitewater includes the Class VI Cassette Rapids and three other great challenges, followed by a scenic 290 km (180 mi) of river up to Great Slave Lake. www.spectacularnwt.com/

• Try canoeing in Saskatchewan, a province that has 100,000 lakes—yep, 100,000 —along with gentle meandering streams and fast-flowing rivers. www.sasktourism.com/

• And then there’s Ontario, where the number 100,000 comes up again, but this time for 100,000 km (62,000 mi) of canoe routes—the longest network in the world with absolutely every kind of water you could want: gentle lakes, rolling rapids, lazy rivers and challenging chutes. http://www.ontariotravel.net/

• As for the open road, how about the June 20 Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay, a 238-km (148-mi) race from Haines Junction, YT to Haines, Alaska, USA? http://travelyukon.com/

• Or forget racing and just cycle through the British Columbia mountain lakes region with Rocky Mountain Cycle Tours; your trip will include alpine meadows, quaint mountain towns, crystal-clear lakes and secluded valleys with the majestic Rockies towering above. www.hellobc.com

• Tour Quebec along La Route verte, ranked No. 1 out of the top 10 bike routes in the world, according to National Geographic. La Route offers over 4,000 km (2,485 mi) through landscapes as varied as the St. Lawrence River flatlands or the mountain passes of the Laurentians. www.bonjourquebec.com/qc-en/accueil0.html

• Travel along the Confederation Trail in Prince Edward Island, a land of farms, villages and gorgeous sandy beaches. Cover Canada’s smallest province on the 350-km (217-mi) route that runs from Tignish in the west to Elmira in the east. www.tourismpei.com/index.php3

• For an off-road experience, take a mountain bike into the heart of elk and moose territory in Manitoba’s Riding Mountain National Park. Earth Rhythms will guide you over the backcountry trails, where you’ll also see the remains of a World War II German prisoner of war camp. Read about more Manitoba biking adventures. www.travelmanitoba.com