By Christina Newberry

The British Columbia town of Harrison Hot Springs (so named because of its natural hot spring pools) has an unexpected draw each autumn and winter. The bald eagle, that iconic symbol of America, is a major presence in this Canadian village—just an hour and a half drive from the major metropolis of Vancouver. In this lakeside town, eagles far outnumber the 800 or so permanent human residents when they come to feast on spawning salmon in the Harrison and Fraser Rivers.

In November of each year, the Fraser Valley Bald Eagle Festival celebrates the arrival of the eagles—and the salmon—with loads of free events and an eagle count. This year’s count topped 2,600 eagles along just three kilometers of the Harrison River.

That number may sound staggering—that’s close to a thousand eagles per kilometer of river, after all—but once you’re on the river, you believe it, and you’re blown away. At certain points along the river, each tree is spotted with close to 100 birds, and the gravel shorelines where salmon are most abundant are literal feasting grounds, with a seemingly impossible number of eagles congregating to gorge on the abundant fish.

The eagles can be spotted from land, if you head to the right spot. Sandpiper Golf Course is one such option for land-locked eagle viewing. Lunch at the course-side River Edge Restaurant offers the chance to spot a few eagles right from your dining table, with a warming fire in the fireplace to boot.

But for the real spectacle, you’ve got to head out on the water. Several local companies offer eagle-watching boat tours leaving from the dock directly in front of the iconic Harrison Hot Springs Resort and Spa. Harrison Eco Tours has an office right in the hotel and offers packages for hotel guests. Just a couple of hours on the river in a covered, heated boat allow you to spot hundreds of eagles, with guides knowing just when to cut the boat’s motor so you can get close to the eagles without disturbing them.

Even with the heaters, after all that time on a chilly river, there’s nothing better than a soak in the town’s famed mineral hot springs, which some claim have healing powers. Resort guests have access to five indoor and outdoor natural mineral hot springs pools. For those on a tighter budget, the town has a public hot spring pool that’s less romantic but just as warm.

If you go
Harrison Hot Springs is located less than two hours’ drive east of Vancouver (three hours from Seattle) in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley. For those wishing a more direct route, several major carriers fly to Abbotsford, about 45 minutes’ drive from Harrison Hot Springs. Eagles flock to the area starting in November, with peak viewing time in January and February.

Harrison Hot Springs Resort offers packages including two nights’ accommodation, access to the resort’s hot springs pools, full buffet breakfast, and a two-hour eagle watching tour with Harrison Eco Tours starting at $249.50 per person based on double occupancy. For each package sold a donation is made to an organization that supports wildlife programs.

Rowena’s Inn at Sandpiper Golf Course offer packages including one night’s accommodation, $50 credit for River’s Edge Restaurant, and access to the resort’s riverside designated eagle viewing area from $175 per room. They can also arrange boat tours.

For non-resort guests, the Harrison Hot Springs public pool offers access to an indoor hot spring pool for $9 per adult/$7 for children and seniors, and Harrison Eco Tours offers two-hour eagle-watching tours for $99 per person.

In Saturday's How to Spend It magazine award winning writer, Margaret Atwood, shares the ingredients for her perfect weekend in Toronto, Canada.

According to Atwood, winter visitors to Toronto should check out snow-tubing in Horseshoe Valley, winter birding, and forest walks in places such as Sir Winston Churchill Park and Leslie Hill Split.

For lunch in Toronto you should check out Live (264 Dupont St), which does great vegetarian food; Cantine (13 Avenue Rd), for a superlative bowl of soup; or Le Sélect (432 Wellington St West), a good weekend lunch spot serving up French bistro food (pictured below).

If you want some good dinner options you should look into Take Sushi (22 Front St West), for good Japanese and 93 Harbord (93 Harbord St) for Middle Eastern cuisine - both come highly recommended by Atwood.

L'Espresso Bar Mercurio (321 Bloor St West) is a favourite coffee place, right across the street from Toronto's Shoe Museum.

If you're up for a swanky night out in Toronto, Atwood suggests the new opera house (735 Queen St East), "the auditorium rests like an egg inside the building on huge, rubber elephant legs. The sound is excellent."

• Live: 264 Dupont St (North East corner of Dupont and Spadina), Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5R 1V7; Tel: +1 416 515 2002; Web: www.livefoodbar.com.
  
• Cantine: 13 Avenue Rd, Toronto, Ontario M5R 2H6; Tel: +1 416 923 4822; Web: www.cantine.ca.
  
• Le Sélect: 432 Wellington Street West, Toronto M5V 1E3; Tel: +1 416 596 6405; Web: www.leselect.com.
  
• Take Sushi: 22 Front Street West, Toronto, ON M5J 1C4, Canada; Tel: +1 416 862 1891; Web: www.takesushi.ca.
  
• 93 Harbord: 93 Harbord Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1G4; Tel: +1 416 922 5914; Web: www.93harbord.com.
  
• L'Espresso Bar Mercurio: 321 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON, M5S 1S5 (southeast corner of Bloor & St. George); Tel: +1 416 585 2233; Web: www.lespressobarmercurio.com.
  
• The Opera House, Toronto: 735 Queen Street East, Toronto, ON M4M 1H1, Canada; Tel: +1 416 466 0313; Web: www.theoperahousetoronto.com.

To read the full article visit www.howtospendit.com.

Photo Credits: Snow tubing by DrewOtt; Le Sélect via www.leselect.com.

Bridget Randolph, founder of luxury swimwear company Kiribati London, shares her travel highs and lows, tips and experiences - from luxury in the Maldives to getting lost in Rome. Read on for a special iloho offer on her stunning collection of Kiribati swimwear.

The best holiday I've ever had was...
The Maldives, without a doubt. Diving with turtles, lounging in hammocks, sundowners on the beach... heaven! We stayed at the Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru (www.banyantree.com) on a secluded atoll in the Maldives archipelago.

If I could only recommend one place to see before you die it would be...
False Bay, South Africa. You can take a boat out and watch Great White Sharks feed. It's terrifying!

My one piece of travel advice is...
Pack light and do everything.

The best hotel I've ever stayed in is...
Hotel Costes (www.hotelcostes.com) in Paris. I was lucky enough to discover it before it became so renowned, but it is still a dark, mysterious haven that oozes naughtiness!

And the worst hotel I've ever stayed in is...
I have stayed in many truly horrible places, but I suppose if a hotel isn't pretending to be what it's not you can't really be disappointed. I think the most cringy place I ever stayed was a hotel called Deerhurst Resort in Ontario which was more conference centre than hotel. It had me giggling for days because it was so similar to the resort used in Dirty Dancing.

For a perfect holiday I need these ingredients...
A backgammon board, a great book and enough time to get properly lost.

I always pack...
Sun cream and the phone number of a friend of a friend who lives where I'm going. It's the only true way to see a place.

This year I have travelled to...
My husband-to-be is Canadian so we always disappear to the freshwater lakes near Lake Muskoka in Ontario, Canada during the summer, which I really love. This year has also been the "Year of Weddings" for us so we have also been to Italy and France a spoiling amount!

Next year I'm dying to go to...
I'm a bit of a nature nerd at heart so next year I would love to go and do some scuba diving off Australia.

The worst travel experience I've ever had is... Ryanair stranded me overnight in Rome; I was travelling alone and couldn't speak Italian. Since then I have vowed both to learn Italian and never to fly with Ryanair again.

My ideal travel companion is... Tina Fey. Can you imagine how much fun you would have?

Visit Kiribati online now and get 10% off the collection with special code iloho753 (enter the code at checkout).

Launched in June 2009, the Kiribati London collection of bikinis and swimsuits has had immediate success and is currently available at Heidi Klein boutiques in London and will be at Holt Renfrew in Canada from December. Kiribati also ships worldwide via the website www.kiribati-london.com.

Photo credits: The Maldives by daniel pozo; Great White Shark by hermanusbackpackers; Muskoka Lakes by Mary.