Imagine a place where the mountains seem to breathe, where turquoise lakes shimmer like spilled paint, and where wildlife roams like it's still 10,000 BC. Welcome to Banff National Park — Canada's first, and arguably most jaw-dropping, national park. Set in the heart of the Canadian Rockies in Alberta, this is not your average postcard destination. It’s wild, weirdly peaceful, and packed with natural wonder.

At first glance, the name sounds exaggerated. A thousand islands? Come on. But then you see it — a horizon dotted with green-topped rocks, tree-crowned blips, mansion-laden isles — and you realize: “A thousand” barely covers it. The **Thousand Islands** region along the St. Lawrence River actually comprises over **1,864 islands**, each rising from the water like a secret waiting to be discovered.