Day 1: Arrive Halifax
Airport greeting. Transfer to hotel. Evening: Welcome reception with your Tour Director. Overnight Halifax.
Day 2: Halifax Exploration
Morning: Halifax Citadel — 78th Highlanders, noon gun. Waterfront boardwalk, Pier 21 (Canadian Museum of Immigration), and the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic (Titanic exhibit, Halifax Explosion of 1917). Afternoon: Fairview Lawn Cemetery (Titanic graves), Public Gardens, and a drive through the historic South End. Evening free. Overnight Halifax.
Day 3: Peggy’s Cove, Lunenburg & Mahone Bay
Morning: Peggy’s Cove lighthouse — the classic Maritime photograph. Continue the Lighthouse Route through charming fishing villages. Mahone Bay’s three churches. Lunenburg — UNESCO site, colorful waterfront, Bluenose II schooner, and the Fisheries Museum. Lunch at a waterfront pub. Overnight Halifax.
Day 4: Halifax to Moncton via Millbrook
Morning: Millbrook Cultural & Heritage Centre — Mi’kmaq quillwork, drumming, and history of Atlantic Canada’s First People. Drive to Moncton, New Brunswick. Afternoon: Magnetic Hill (where cars appear to roll uphill — a famous optical illusion) and the Tidal Bore on the Petitcodiac River. Overnight Moncton.
Day 5: Prince Edward Island
Cross the Confederation Bridge to PEI. Morning: Green Gables Heritage Place in Cavendish — Anne’s world comes alive. Prince Edward Island National Park — red cliffs, dunes, and the endless beaches of the North Shore. Afternoon: Charlottetown — Province House (Birthplace of Confederation), Victoria Row, and a PEI lobster supper (included). Optional Anne of Green Gables musical. Overnight Charlottetown.
Day 6: PEI to Cape Breton via Pictou
Morning: Northumberland Ferries crossing from Wood Islands, PEI to Caribou, Nova Scotia (75 minutes) — watch for seals and seabirds. Stop at Pictou — the “Birthplace of New Scotland” where the first Scottish settlers arrived on the ship Hector in 1773. Visit Hector Heritage Quay with its full-scale replica ship. Continue to Baddeck on Cape Breton Island. Evening: Celtic music at a Baddeck pub. Overnight Baddeck.
Day 7: Cabot Trail & Cape Breton Highlands
The Cabot Trail. Morning: Cape Breton Highlands National Park — climb to the Skyline Trail viewpoint, watch for moose and bald eagles, and take in the Gulf of St. Lawrence panorama. Lunch in Cheticamp — Acadian flags, rug-hooking demonstrations, and traditional rappie pie. Afternoon: Alexander Graham Bell Museum in Baddeck — the inventor’s flight experiments on Bras d’Or Lake. Overnight Baddeck.
Day 8: Baddeck to Halifax
Scenic drive back to the mainland. Stop at the Canso Causeway viewpoint. Continue through the Antigonish Highlands to Halifax. Afternoon: last chance for Maritime shopping at the Historic Properties or a brewery tour. Farewell dinner — Digby scallops, Nova Scotia wines, and blueberry grunt. Overnight Halifax.
Day 9: Departure
Airport transfer. Depart with the memories of lighthouses, lobster, and the Cabot Trail.
