© Shutterstock 

Halifax -

Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, is the busy commercial hub of Canada's Maritime provinces. Based mostly out of Halifax Harbor, trade and industry go hand in hand here. But so too does history and culture. The city is Nova Scotia's seat of leisure and entertainment, its museums, monuments, and galleries showcasing the province's scenery, coastline, and civilization.

© Shutterstock 

Province House -

Canada's oldest seat of government, inaugurated in 1819, Province House stands as one of the finest examples of Palladian architecture in North America. Tourists can admire the building year round, with the ornate Legislative Library (pictured) and the formal Red Chamber undoubted highlights of any tour.

© Shutterstock 

Halifax Citadel National Historic Site -

The defining structure of historic Halifax is the star-shaped hilltop citadel that looms large over the city's harbor. The hill was originally fortified in 1749, with what you see today completed in 1856. Occupied by the British but never actually seeing battle, the citadel today is one of the city's most frequented visitor attractions. In the summer, interpreters wear red British uniforms and interact with visitors to show what life was like here in the 19th century.

© Shutterstock 

Halifax Town Clock -

Complementing the fortress is the Halifax Town Clock, one of the most recognizable urban landmarks. Set on the eastern slope of Citadel Hill, it's been keeping time since 1803.

© Shutterstock 

Halifax Harbor -

Halifax Harbor and its seafaring heritage still define the city. One of the most rewarding ways of absorbing this salt-laced history is to walk the Halifax Waterfront Boardwalk, a 3-km (2-mi) public footpath fringed with shops, restaurants, and bars, and the departure point for tourist excursion ships.

© Shutterstock 

Maritime Museum of the Atlantic -

For a wonderfully informative overview of the harbor's place in Canadian history, linger in the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. One of its most poignant exhibits is that dedicated to the Titanic disaster and Halifax's role as the port where the survivors—and victims—were brought. Another display recalls the destructive Halifax Explosion of 1917. The museum ship CSS Arcadia (pictured) is another highlight.

© Getty Images 

The Halifax Explosion Memorial Bell Tower -

The Halifax Explosion Memorial Bell Tower stands as a reminder of the tragedy that struck Halifax on December 6, 1917, when the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship laden with high explosives, collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo. The resulting explosion killed 1,782 people and leveled the entire northern district of the city.

© Shutterstock 

Fairview Lawn Cemetery -

Fairview Lawn Cemetery is the last resting place for 121 victims of the sinking of the Titanic. Most of them are memorialized with small gray granite markers with the name and date of death.

© Getty Images 

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia -

Housed in the rather stern-looking, late 19th-century Dominion Building in downtown Halifax, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia showcases visual arts from the Maritimes and around the world. Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis (1903–1970) is well represented. Visitors can also admire works by Joshua Reynolds, Robert Field, and other 18th- and 19th-century painters.

© Shutterstock 

Halifax Public Gardens -

For a breath of fresh air laced with the sweet bouquet of dozens of plants and blooms, take a leisurely stroll through the Halifax Public Gardens. Better still, take a free one-hour horticultural and historical tour of the grounds, arranged by prior registration through their website.

© Shutterstock 

Cabot Trail -

Away from the city, Nova Scotia unfolds like a beautifully photographed picture book of landscapes and seascapes. Driving the 300-km (186-mi) Cabot Trail allows you to appreciate this stunning corner of Canada in fine detail. The coastal road rings the northwest coast of Cape Breton Island and Cape Breton Highlands National Park, a route that is simply breathtaking in its scenic splendor.

© Shutterstock 

Cape Breton Island -

Cape Breton Island accounts for nearly 19% of Nova Scotia's total area. It's a land where the highest mountains in the province dramatically meet the Gulf of St. Lawrence. One of the world's largest saltwater lakes, Bras d'Or ("Arm of Gold" in French), dominates the island's center.

© Shutterstock

Bras d'Or Lake -

Bras d'Or Lake is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, designated as such for its tidal and freshwater habitat that a unique and abundant variety of flora and fauna call home.

© Shutterstock 

Cape Breton Highlands National Park -

Cape Breton Island falls within the boundaries of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Mountains, valleys, waterfalls, rocky coastlines, and the imposing Cape Breton Highlands all provide sanctuary for a wealth of wildlife, including the black bear, lynx, wood turtle, and the shy boreal owl. The park is also linked to one of the most significant scientific discoveries of the 19th century.

© Getty Images 

Baddeck -

If you follow the Cabot Trail all the way to Baddeck, you not only end up in one of the most picturesque coastal villages in the province, but the former home of the father of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell.

© Shutterstock 

Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site -

The Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site in Baddeck is preserved as a property where the Scottish-born scientist and inventor, credited with patenting the first practical telephone, built a complex of buildings and a laboratory. From here Bell conducted a series of groundbreaking experiments, including first controlled powered flight in Canada in 1909.

© Getty Images 

Marconi National Historic Site -

Cape Breton Island can also claim another historic link with a celebrated scientist—Guglielmo Marconi. Two sites commemorate the efforts of Marconi to transmit transatlantic radio signals between North America and Europe in the first decade of the 20th century. They can be reached by following the island's Marconi Trail from Louisbourg to Glace Bay along the island's eastern coast.

© Getty Images 

Peggy's Cove -

Surrounded by sea and ocean, Nova Scotia is peppered with lighthouses. Southwest of Halifax is the village of Peggy's Cove, near which stands Peggy's Point Lighthouse, one of the most iconic of Canadian images. Still active since its commissioning in 1914, the lighthouse is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the province.

© Shutterstock 

Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site -

The rebuilt 18th-century French fortress of Louisbourg played a pivotal role in the Anglo-French struggle for what today is Canada. The original settlement took shape in 1713. By 1745, it was in the hands of British colonists. Preserved today as a living history museum, the former military stronghold stands as the largest reconstruction project in North America.

© Shutterstock 

Kejimkujik National Park -

Kejimkujik is the only national park to also be designated a national historic site, so recognized for its association with the Mi'kmaq, First Nations people who occupied the land for millennia. Located in the southwest of the Nova Scotia peninsula, much of the park is only accessible by hiking or by canoe, a fact that lends this sacred environment a mystique all of its own.

© Shutterstock 

Kejimkujik wildlife -

Wildlife rules Kejimkujik National Park, and for those who want to completely immerse themselves in nature, there's an astonishing variety of flora and fauna to discover, including this good-looking species, the Canada warbler.

© Shutterstock 

Endangered and threatened species -

Kejimkujik is habitat to many endangered and threatened species. For example, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has placed the park's Blanding's turtle on the IUCN Red List, such is its rarity.

© Shutterstock 

Lunenburg -

The pretty port town of Lunenburg appears as a colorful canvas of authentic 18th- and 19th-century warehouses, stores, and cottages precious enough for the destination to enjoy UNESCO World Heritage status. The history of the town—the best example of planned British colonial settlement in North America—is chronicled in the excellent Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic.

© Shutterstock 

Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens -

Highlights of the flower-flecked showground that is the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens include the largest rose collection in Eastern Canada, and a reconstructed 1671 Acadian house. Another "don't miss" attraction in Annapolis Royal is the impressive Fort Anne National Historic Site.

© Shutterstock 

Sable Island National Park Reserve -

For a true backcountry-like wilderness experience, make the effort to reach Sable Island, located in the Atlantic Ocean 290 km (180 mi) from Halifax. Accessible only by air or by sea from June to the end of October, the island is world renowned for the Sable Island horse, a feral species found nowhere else on the planet.

© Shutterstock 

Shubenacadie Provincial Wildlife Park -

Shubenacadie Provincial Wildlife Park at Lake Egmont makes for a rewarding day trip from Halifax. Among the residents waiting to greet visitors are four species of fox, including the beloved red fox. The park is also home to Shubenacadie Sam, one of the first groundhogs in North America to predict the weather for the upcoming year.

© Shutterstock 

Grand-Pré National Historic Site -

Once the epicenter of Acadian culture, the Grand-Pré National Historic Site serves as a reminder to the injustice meted out on French-speaking Arcadians in 1755 by the British after they refused to swear allegiance to England. In response, the colonialists deported around 10,000 Arcadians after destroying their homes and farms.

© Shutterstock 

Port-Royal National Historic Site -

Standing as another stark reminder of the hostility demonstrated by the British towards the French in the 17th century, Port-Royal National Historic Site unveils itself near the location of one of the first permanent settlements founded in North America, established by the French in 1609 and known as Port-Royal—the capital of Acadia until its destruction by British military forces in 1613.

© Shutterstock 

Highest tides in the world -

The Nova Scotia side of the Bay of Fundy shares claim to the highest tides in the world. When it recedes, the tide exposes an ocean floor that in some places allows you to walk to locations otherwise only accessible by boat. A perfect example of this is found at Burntcoat Head Park, in Maitland. Study the photograph and note the tiny figures to the right, walking past an exposed outcrop of rock.

© Shutterstock 

Joggins Fossil Cliffs -

A 15-km (9.5 mi) length of the Cumberland County coast constituting the Joggins Fossil Cliffs is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its amazing record of fossils from a rain forest ecosystem approximately 310 million years ago. The fossil of Hylonomus lyelli, which remains the earliest known reptile in the history of life on Earth, was uncovered here.  

Sources: (The Canadian Encyclopedia) (IUCN Red List) (Parks Canada) (Smithsonian Magazine)

See also: Breathtaking World Heritage Sites in Canada

© Shutterstock