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Check out this gallery for a carefully curated list of stunningly beautiful sites right in Canada that have been certified as a deeply enriching experience by some very intelligent and well-researched people.

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UNESCO categorizes their World Heritage Sites into two categories, the first of which is natural sites that are chosen for their ability to represent major stages of Earth's history and significant evolutionary ecological and biological processes—as well as their exceptional beauty.

▲A combination of larger National Parks in both Alberta and British Columbia, as well as three British Columbia provincial parks, make up the UNESCO protected site of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks. This area is simply stunning.

▲Yoho National Park in British Columbia is included in this World Heritage Site. Its name comes from the Cree word for awe and wonder, which you'll find is very appropriate when you see it.

▲Kootenay Park is also part of the World Heritage Site, and it takes its name from the Kootenay River, one of the two major rivers which flow through the park. Kootenay draws tourists with its hot springs, hiking, camping, and phenomenal views.

▲Jasper is in Alberta and is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, adding 11,000 sq km to the World Heritage Site. The park includes lakes, waterfalls, hot springs, and the jaw-dropping Columbia Icefield glaciers.

▲Banff is Canada's oldest park and the last national park included in this World Heritage Site.

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Banff is in Alberta and combines dense forests, beautiful lakes and alpine landscapes that are popular for skiing. It connects to Jasper through the Columbia Icefields.

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Located east of Calgary, this park is unsurprisingly famous for being one of the richest dinosaur fossil reserves in the world.

▲Nearly 60 dinosaur species have been discovered here, some of which you might have seen at museums around the world. After exploring the unique badlands in the park, you can see some of the fossils in the visitor centre.

▲This Newfoundland national park is known for its incredibly unusual rock formations.

▲The park is a strong and rare example of continental drift, where the deep ocean crust and pieces of the Earth's mantle are visible from land.

▲This World Heritage Site is a 15 km stretch of the Nova Scotia coast where you can take a peek at fossils from a rainforest ecosystem that existed approximately 310 million years ago.

▲The name just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? Located across the Yukon territory, British Columbia, and Alaska, this bi-national park system was declared a World Heritage Site for its magnificent icefield landscapes, as well as its significance as a home for grizzly bears, caribou, and Dall sheep.

▲Situated on the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec, this World Heritage Site contains fossils that tell the story of a critical point in the evolution of life on Earth.

▲Only added to the list in 2016, this site on the south-eastern tip of Newfoundland has a 17 km stretch of cliff that dates back to approximately 570 million years ago.

▲This diverse park in the Northwest Territories boasts the South Nahanni River, which runs through the park's various land forms made of sediment, ancient molten lava, and remnants of sea beds.

▲The Peace Park combines the United States’ Glacier Park and Alberta’s Waterton Lakes Park in an outstanding union that is both symbolically and physically beautiful.

▲This World Heritage Site in both Alberta and the Northwest Territories is larger than the country of Switzerland and was chosen by UNESCO for its biological diversity of the Peace-Athabasca Delta, as well as its remarkable population of bison (also known as buffalo, hence the name).

▲The second category of World Heritage Sites are those that represent a masterpiece of human creativeness, a significant stage in human history, and/or are associated with significant ideas, traditions, beliefs, or artistic works of universal value.

▲Perhaps not the first on many people’s list of places to visit, buffalo jumps are cliff formations where Indigenous people would historically hunt and kill bison in large quantities. This particular buffalo jump dates back to 5,500 years ago and is protected for its testimony of prehistoric life.

▲Quebec City is the only North American city to have preserved its 17th century founding history so well. It's also just too charming to not want to protect its narrow streets and vibrant old buildings.

▲This marshland and archeological site, located in the Minas Basin of Nova Scotia, provides a visual example of how the first European settlers adapted to the conditions of the North American Atlantic coast.

▲You can find remnants of an 11th-century Viking settlement at the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. It is the earliest evidence of Europeans in North America!

▲The port town in Nova Scotia, established in 1753, is the best surviving example of a premeditated colonial settlement in North America.

▲It is protected for its unique architecture and civic design, some of which dates back to the 18th century. Old Lunenburg is precious to this country, and consequently the historic core of the town is also a designated National Historic Site of Canada.

▲This whaling station was established in the 16th century and stands as evidence of early whale hunting traditions. Remnants of ovens used to render the whale fat, wharves, temporary living quarters, and underwater remains of ships and whales are all here.

▲Ontario's only UNESCO World Heritage Site is designated as the largest naturally frozen skating rink in the world by Guinness World Records. Every winter thousands of people flock to the city to glide along its 7.8 km surface.

▲The Rideau is the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America, connecting Ottawa to Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River at Kingston, Ontario.

▲Commonly known by its English name, Ninstints, this old village site of the Haida people is located on a tiny island off the west coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands and exhibits the Haida's unique connection to the land and the sea.

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Protecting the site also means protecting the culture of the Haida people, including remains of houses, carved mortuary and memorial poles, and other representations of art and ways of life.