• POPULATION 11,000
• SIZE 195,928 square miles

An island more than twice the size of Great Britain with a population a little smaller than Boracay, Baffin Island represents Canada s Arctic frontier at its wildest -vertiginous peaks, creeping glaciers, frozen plains where winter temperatures routinely sink below -30°C and a coastline where tiny Inuit villages huddle against cliffs facing out over the ice floes.

The most spectacular corner is Auyuittuq National Park, a place as difficult to reach as it is to spell, involving a two-day trek from the hamlet accessible by many and convoluted flight connections. The reward, however, comes when you find yourself in a granite mountainscape in the company of caribou, wolves and bears. Be sure to travel with a seasoned guide, lest you experience the park from within the cosy confines of a polar bear’s stomach.

• GETTING THERE – Baffin Island’s small capital Iqaluit has flight connections with Montreal. KLM flies to Montreal from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur with one stop in Amsterdam.