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The Complete Nova Scotia Experience

Beautiful coastal drives, picturesque national parks, fascinating museums, villages in which history seems to come alive and, perhaps most importantly, inns of character to which you are welcomed warmly, are some of the many highlights of this unforgettable tour which gives you a fantastic overview of Nova Scotia as you travel from south to north. There are plenty of rewarding excursions to be made from each inn, and some great walking too. We highly recommend adding in extra nights so as to see even more of each area. The atmospheric capital, Halifax, is a particularly worthwhile spot at which to extend your stay, with plenty to see and do.

Past lighthouses to historic Lunenburg

You start with a night in Halifax, at the Halliburton Inn. Take time to visit the unmissable Pier 21 Centre devoted to 20th-century immigration before collecting your hire car and heading west along the coast to Lunenburg past the smoothed granite rocks and colourful clapboard houses of Peggy’s Cove. With two nights at the Mariner King Inn, you can explore Lunenburg’s Old Town - the region’s only Unesco World Heritage Site - visit the replica of the famous Bluenose Schooner if it is in the port, and even join a whale-watching trip (pay locally).

Your next journey again hugs the coast, passing the Seaside Adjunct Kejimkujik National Park, where footpaths wind through forests, past glassy lakes and along white-sand beaches. At Shelburne, you stay one night at Cooper’s Inn before heading north. It comes as a great contrast to drive inland through the hills, and you can appreciate the alluring scenery by enjoying a short walk in the maple, spruce and birch forests of the main Kejimkujik National Park, which shelters deer and porcupines. Your destination is Annapolis Royal - a charming village with attractive public gardens, an old French fort and Canada’s oldest wooden house - where you stay two nights at the Queen Anne Inn. Again, whale-watching trips can be arranged (pay locally), or explore westwards, perhaps driving along the narrow strip of land known as Digby Neck.

North to Cape Breton Island

From Annapolis Royal, you follow the Annapolis River eastwards through fertile farmland and apple orchards, passing a vantage point from which you can watch the world’s highest tides rise or fall in the Bay of Fundy. Another worthwhile stop is the museum in Grand Pré detailing the expulsion of the Acadians. At Tatamagouche, you stay two nights at the Train Station Inn. You could set out on foot along part of the Trans Canada Trail which passes right by the inn, or explore the beaches and marshes of Tatamagouche Bay. The next day, you take the coastal road east, passing through Pictou, where the first Scottish Highlanders arrived in 1773.

You then cross the astonishing Canso Causeway to Cape Breton Island. Your last three nights before the drive back to Halifax are spent in St Ann’s at the Chanterelle Inn. In June, September and October, we include an oyster and mussel-fishing trip during your stay, and you can fill the rest of your time with visits to interesting villages such as Acadian Chéticamp, scenic drives along the world-famous Cabot Trail, and memorable walks in the rugged scenery of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

Holiday details

ROUTE: 11 nights, car hire from Halifax
1ST NIGHT: Halliburton Inn in Halifax (B&B) (drive from airport 22-mile/30mins)
DAY 1: 100-mile/1.5-hour drive to Mariner King Inn on South Shore (B&B)
DAY 2: Day at Mariner King Inn (B&B)
DAY 3: 85-mile/2-hour drive to Cooper’s Inn on South Shore (B&B)
DAY 4: 115-mile/3-hour drive to Queen Anne Inn in Annapolis Valley (B&B)
DAY 5: Day at Queen Anne Inn (B&B)
DAY 6: 205-mile/4-hour drive to Train Station Inn on North Shore (B&B)
DAY 7: Day at Train Station Inn (B&B)
DAY 8: 165-mile/4-hour drive to Chanterelle Inn on Cape Breton Island (with dinner)
DAY 9: Day at Chanterelle Inn (with dinner)
DAY 10: Day at Chanterelle Inn (with dinner)
DAY 11: 225-mile/5-hour drive to Halifax for flight

Prices

Start: any day
Includes: 3 dinners, 12 days’ category B car hire
With flights also includes: Air Canada flights Heathrow-Halifax
Please call for the full range of flight options from the UK

To discuss this or any other of our holidays in North America, call us on 01653 617793 or email us. We will be happy to tailor-make an itinerary to suit your exact requirements.

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