Duration: 9 Days
If you can’t take the beat, get out of the kitchen! One of the highlights of a visit to the Canadian Maritimes is the Ceilidh (kay-lee), or kitchen party, a Gaelic celebration of music, dancing, and storytelling. In addition to this traditional maritime merriment, this tour of the Canadian Maritimes and Cape Breton has cooked up plenty of unique experiences in this picturesque part of the world. Get your camera ready for Canada’s most photographed lighthouse in Peggy’s Cove, your windbreaker zipped for the highest and widest tides at Hopewell Rocks, and your taste buds ready for a traditional fish cake breakfast, sugar camp lunch, and fresh lobster dinner. Throughout Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, tiny fishing villages, giant whales, and the grandest of scenery will be calling your name, as will Cape Breton’s historic Alexander Graham Bell Museum. Hello, coastal Canada!
Traveller Notes
- We’ve packed everything you need for the perfect holiday—from hand-selected hotels and dining to the friendly expertise of Globus Tour Directors and Local Guides, to seamless transportation between destinations and VIP access to the world’s most iconic sites! Touring by private, first-class, air-conditioned motorcoach with free Wi-Fi.
- Enjoy spectacular fall colours on our Fall Foliage departures: September 16-27 (Mother Nature permitting).
Please note: Itinerary is based on 2024, and is subject to change. Full details will be confirmed in 2024.
Welcome to Halifax!
At 6 pm, meet your travel companions for a welcome drink.
Lighthouse Beams, Bites & Brews
Visit Peggy's Cove, one of Canada's most charming fishing villages. Enjoy a traditional [LF] Nova Scotian Breakfast. We then venture to Lunenburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for a walking tour with a Local Guide. During your free time, explore the quaint Main Street, shop for souvenirs, or spend time at the Fisheries Museum to learn more about this major fishing port. The rest of the day is at leisure. Maybe visit the Maritimes Museum, which explains the area's seafaring past, or perhaps tour Alexander Keith's Brewery, which has been making the home-grown favourite since the early 1880s. (B)
LOCAL FAVOURITE
LOCAL TASTES & TRADITIONS Discover the tastes and traditions in the charming fishing village of Peggy's Cove to select from local specialties of fish cakes and a traditional Nova Scotian breakfast. You'll find many magnificent views for taking photos of the famous lighthouse and panoramic sea views.
Nova Scotia Treats & Treasures
Take an orientation tour of Halifax, including the public gardens and harbour area. Before arriving in New Brunswick, we'll stop at [LF] Sugar Moon Farm to enjoy a Maritime sugar camp lunch, along with a guided tour and traditional sugar camp treat. Spend the evening in Moncton, originally founded by a group of Acadians and then Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants from Philadelphia. Your Tour Director will have suggestions for the best way to spend your evening. (B,L)
LOCAL FAVOURITE
LOCAL TASTES Indulge in the sweet tradition of Nova Scotian sugar Shacks! Each year when maple syrup is produced, locals frequent "sugar shacks" for sweet treats and hearty meals that really stick to the ribs! Join a maritime sugar camp lunch at Sugar moon Farm in the woods on the north shore of Nova Scotia and see why locals love it. True comfort food!
Low Tides & Local Treats
Travel to Hopewell Rocks to explore the dramatic sculpted landscape on the sea. Then, drive across 8-mile-long Confederation Bridge, the longest of its kind. Cross onto Prince Edward Island, stopping for a local treat at Cow's Ice Cream Factory before continuing to Charlottetown. Tonight, enjoy a [LF] lobster supper at a local restaurant this evening. (B,D)
LOCAL FAVOURITE
SEA TREASURE For more than 150 years, Prince Edward Island lobster fishers have been waking up before the dawn to set their traps and haul in the sea's bounty of delicious, red-shelled crustaceans to share with customers around the world. More than one thousand hearty island lobster fishers continue the tradition today out of more than 40 ports to share these sea treasures as they have for generations. Put on your lobster bib and get your butter ready to dive into a cracking good feast!
TOUR HIGHLIGHT
NATURAL WONDERS Discover the ever-changing seascape on the beaches of Hopewell Rocks. Learn about the highest and wildest tides in the world, which rise and fall up to 52 feet each day. Time and tide have carved from the cliffs and coves distinctive sandstone formations topped with trees.
Folk Songs & Sand Dunes
A tour of the island includes a drive to the fishing port of North Rustico Harbour to see the sand dunes and lovely beaches of Prince Edward Island National Park and Green Gables Heritage Place with a Local Guide. Later, enjoy lunch at Prince Edward Island Preserve Company and be treated to a traditional [LF] Ceilidh-a folk music party. The rest of the day is at leisure to explore on your own, do some shopping, or relax in one of Charlottetown's fine restaurants. (B,L)
LOCAL FAVOURITE
CULTURE & TRADITION Kick up your heels with your spirits raised at a traditional Ceilidh (folk-music celebration) to enjoy Scottish or Irish folk music and singing, traditional dancing, and storytelling at Prince Edward Island Preserve Company. A rousing experience in Scottish tradition to get your toes tapping!
TOUR HIGHLIGHT
LEGENDS & LORE Visit the world of a red-headed girl in a straw hat and braids to meet one of Canada's most loved fictional characters, Anne of Green Gables. Relive her mischievous escapades and mishaps within the nostalgic rooms of her home at Green Gables - where local author Lucy Maud Montgomery drew inspiration from the idyllic woodland farmstead.
Inventions of New Scotland
This morning, board a ferry that whisks you across the Northumberland Strait, known as the "Birthplace of New Scotland." It was here that the first ship of Scottish Highlanders landed in Nova Scotia in 1773. Visit the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site to learn about the famous inventor. (B)
TOUR HIGHLIGHT
LEGENDARY LIVES Explore the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site, where fascinating exhibits trace the life and achievements of the iconic inventor of the telephone who spent his last years on Cape Breton.
Legendary Landscapes
Travel along the Cabot Trail, considered one of the most scenic drives in the world. Proceed along the coast, savouring magnificent vistas of the rocky shoreline and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Enter Cape Breton Highlands National Park, a landscape that strikingly resembles Scottish coastal regions. (B,L,D)
TOUR HIGHLIGHT
NATURAL WONDERS Discover one of Canada's most enchanting natural landscapes by the sea, where the mountains meet the ocean in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. As you hug the world-famous Cabot Trail coastline you'll wind through Cape Breton Highlands National Park, where lush, forested river canyons carve into the ancient plateau, edged by rust-hued cliffs. Keep an eye out for wonderful wildlife that lives here, including moose, bald eagles, minks, or even pilot whales breaking the surface of the Gulf of St. Lawrence!
Strongholds & Celebrations
Cross over the Canso Causeway and continue across Nova Scotia to Halifax and visit the Citadel Hill National Historic Site. Tonight, join your Tour Director and new friends at a festive farewell dinner-the perfect finale to your Maritimes holiday. (B,D)
TOUR HIGHLIGHT
HISTORIC SPOT Visit the Citadel National Historic Site in Halifax with its early 19th-century, star shaped fort, majestically commanding an expansive hill overlooking the city. A series of forts highlight an evolution of defensive designs that protected Halifax Harbour from 1749 to 1906 - and never once attacked! Get a fascinating look into the region's colonial past where the 78th Highlanders keep watch in their period uniforms of the day. The call of the bagpipes and rhythm of the drums harken back to a spirited Scottish tradition.
Safe travels until we meet again!
Your holiday ends with breakfast this morning. (B)
