2 Best Sights in Victoria, British Columbia

One of Canada's most celebrated artists and a respected writer, Emily Carr (1871–1945) lived in this extremely proper, wooden Victorian house before she abandoned her middle-class life to live in the wilds of British Columbia. Carr's own descriptions, from her autobiography Book of Small, were used to restore the house. Art on display includes reproductions of Carr's work—visit the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria or the Vancouver Art Gallery to see the originals.

At this charmingly retro attraction, more than 85 miniature dioramas—including space, castle, and fairy-tale scenes, and one of the world's largest model railways—are housed in kid-height glass cases with recorded narration. The level of detail is impressive in the models, some of which date to the site's 1969 opening. Some of the models are animated, and you can start and stop trains and turn dollhouse lights on and off with push buttons. Most people walk through in 30 minutes, but dollhouse collectors, model-train builders, and preschoolers can be absorbed for hours.