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Cape Breton Island

Rugged, wooded and genuinely wild, the northwestern region of Nova Scotia almost feels like a province apart. Famous for its circuitous coastal road, the 297km-long Cabot Trail, which dips and dives round the edge of Cape Breton Highlands National Park, it's a dream destination for road-trippers, and figures pretty high on everyone's must-see list – so expect traffic jams aplenty in summer. The best time to visit is in fall, when the area's roads are quieter and the forests light up with color.

Beyond the borders of the national park, Cape Breton has a rich Celtic and Acadian heritage, so you'll almost certainly hear live music wafting out from many pubs and bars, especially during the Celtic Colours festival in October. Also well worth visiting is the historic fort at Louisbourg, arguably the most evocative fort in all of Nova Scotia.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Cape Breton Island.

  • See

    Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site

    The fortunes of the province that became Nova Scotia are inextricably bound up with this mighty fortress, built by the French but battled over countless times before finally being burned to the ground in 1760. The current site recreates the fortress as it was in 1744, right down to the people – costumed soldiers, cooks, orderlies, musicians, gardeners and artisans create a real sense of time travel, and bring the place to life with stories and free guided tours.

  • See

    Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site

    Telecommunications pioneer and inventor Alexander Graham Bell fell in love with Bras d'Or during a family holiday – apparently the hilly scenery reminded him of his Scottish homeland. In the late 1880s he built a lavish summer estate, Beinn Bhreagh (Gaelic for beautiful mountain), on a peninsula across the bay from Baddeck. This fascinating museum at the edge of town houses full-scale replicas of Bell's groundbreaking Silver Dart aircraft, along with electrical devices, telegraphs, telephones, kites and medical inventions.

  • See

    Cape Breton Highlands National Park

    One of Atlantic Canada's most famous and spectacular national parks, Cape Breton Highlands occupies 20% of the Cape Breton Island landmass. It's accessible by the famous Cabot Trail, a third of which runs along the edge of the park. With dramatic highland scenery, it's a superb place for hiking; the park's most famous route is the 8.2km round-trip Skyline Trail. Park permits can be purchased at the entrance gates in Chéticamp or Ingonish Beach.

  • See

    Glenora Inn & Distillery

    The first distillery in North America (and the only one in Canada) to make single-malt whisky, this renowned producer claims to take its secrets straight from the old country. Guided tours explore the process and include an all-important tasting.

  • See

    Cape Breton Miners' Museum

    Coal mining played a central role in the development of this part of Nova Scotia, so you shouldn't pass up the chance to venture into a disused mine in the company of a former miner. It's fascinating, a little spooky, and not for the claustrophobic. The museum has interesting exhibits on this aspect of Cape Breton's past. It's at Glace Bay, 22km east of Sydney.

  • See

    Les Trois Pignons

    This excellent museum explains how rug hooking went from home-based activity to international business. Artifacts illustrate early life and artisanship in Chéticamp. Almost everything – from bottles to rugs – was collected by one eccentric local resident, Marguerite Gallant. Among the amazing array of hooked rugs, look out for portraits of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the Queen, and Christ attended by angels.

  • See

    Celtic Music Interpretive Centre

    This well-run center is one of the region's best places to experience Celtic music. The main exhibit room explores the origins and styles of the local musical culture, and there are often fiddling sessions and step-dancing workshops during summer, as well as 1½-hour walking tours with one of the center's instrument-playing guides. The restaurant hosts regular lunchtime ceilidhs (parties with music and dancing).

  • See

    Membertou Heritage Park

    This First Nations reserve has an interesting visitor center where you can learn about Mi'kmaw culture, and workshops (from $25) where you can try your hand at making a traditional tribal basket, drum or dream catcher. There's also a good restaurant, Kiju's, where you can sample Mi'kmaw dishes, and a shop selling indigenous crafts and petroglyph engravings.

  • See

    Cabots Landing Provincial Park

    Stop in this wonderful provincial park, 10km north of the Cabot Trail en route to Bay St Lawrence, to enjoy Aspy Bay and its spectacular beach. The area is supposedly the site of the historic 1497 landing of John Cabot, the first European to set foot in North America; a cairn marks the spot, although some historians still dispute the claim that Cabot actually landed here.