Day 1: Arrive Halifax
Welcome meeting with your CEO. Evening: seafood dinner on the waterfront. Overnight Halifax.
Day 2: Halifax to Antigonish — Highland Heart
Morning: Halifax Citadel, waterfront, and the Titanic graves at Fairview Lawn. Drive to Antigonish — the heart of Nova Scotia’s Scottish Highlands. Afternoon: meet a local historian at St. Francis Xavier University, then hike the Keppoch Mountain trails. Evening: ceilidh (pronounced “kay-lee”) — a traditional Scottish kitchen party with fiddle, bagpipes, step dancing, and Gaelic song. Overnight Antigonish.
Day 3: Cape Breton Island — Cabot Trail
Cross the Canso Causeway onto Cape Breton. Morning: hike the Skyline Trail — the full 7km loop, not just the viewpoint, immersing in the Acadian forest and coastal barrens before the dramatic clifftop reveal. Picnic lunch with Gulf views. Afternoon: Cheticamp — meet an Acadian rug-hooking artisan who demonstrates the centuries-old craft. Drive the northern Cabot Trail through the Cape Breton Highlands. Arrive in Ingonish on the Atlantic side. Overnight Ingonish.
Day 4: Cape Breton — Ingonish & Baddeck
Morning: whale watching boat tour from Ingonish (seasonal) — pilot whales, minke whales, and humpbacks with Cape Breton’s cliffs as backdrop. Or hike the Middle Head Trail for stunning coastal views. Afternoon: drive the eastern Cabot Trail to Baddeck. Visit the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. Optional: sail on Bras d’Or Lake on the Amoeba, a traditional schooner. Overnight Baddeck.
Day 5: Cape Breton to Prince Edward Island
Morning: visit the Gaelic College (Colaisde na Gaidhlig) in St. Ann’s — the only Gaelic college in North America, preserving Scottish Gaelic language and culture. Try a milling frolic — beating newly woven wool on a table while singing Gaelic waulking songs. Drive to the ferry for the crossing to PEI. Arrive in Charlottetown. Evening: PEI lobster supper. Overnight Charlottetown.
Day 6: Prince Edward Island — Cycling & Anne
Morning: bike the Confederation Trail — PEI’s converted railway trail covering tip-to-tip. Ride a gentle section through pastoral countryside, red soil, and potato fields to the sea. Stop for Cow’s ice cream at the trail’s end. Afternoon: Green Gables Heritage Place — Anne’s world, the Haunted Wood, and Lover’s Lane. Walk the red sand beaches of PEI National Park. Optional: deep-sea fishing from North Rustico. Overnight Charlottetown.
Day 7: PEI to Moncton — Fundy Coast
Cross Confederation Bridge to New Brunswick. Afternoon: Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park — walk the ocean floor among the flowerpot rocks at low tide. Kayak the Bay of Fundy (optional) — paddle among the towering rock formations as the tide begins to rise. Visit the Fundy Geological Museum in Parrsboro to understand how these tides and formations were created. Overnight Moncton.
Day 8: Moncton to Saint John
Morning: meet a Mi’kmaq elder for storytelling — hear the legend of Glooscap, the Mi’kmaq cultural hero who created the Bay of Fundy’s tides, and learn about the Mi’kmaq relationship with the land. Drive the Fundy Coastal Route to Saint John. Afternoon: Reversing Falls Rapids, Saint John City Market. Evening: craft brewery crawl — Saint John has one of Canada’s best craft beer scenes. Overnight Saint John.
Day 9: Saint John to Digby — Ferry Crossing
Morning: Irving Nature Park — coastal hiking trails through salt marsh, forest, and volcanic rock beaches on the Bay of Fundy. Afternoon: Bay of Fundy ferry from Saint John to Digby, Nova Scotia (3 hrs) — whale watching en route (fin, minke, humpback). Arrive in Digby — scallop capital. Dinner: Digby scallops, the sweetest you’ll ever taste. Overnight Digby.
Day 10: Annapolis Valley & Return to Halifax
Morning: drive the Annapolis Valley — Nova Scotia’s wine country. Visit Luckett Vineyards (with its iconic red phone box in the vineyard — calls anywhere in North America are free) or Benjamin Bridge (sparkling wines from cool-climate grapes). Continue through the Acadian heartland to Grand-Pré National Historic Site — the UNESCO memorial to the 1755 Acadian Deportation. Arrive Halifax. Farewell dinner at a North End restaurant. Overnight Halifax.
Day 11: Departure
Airport transfer. Depart with 11 days of lighthouses, lobster, ceilidhs, and the Bay of Fundy’s magic.
