Canadian Maritimes and Coastal Wonders

The 186.4 mile (300 kilometer) Cabot Trail continues around Cape Breton Highlands National Park. It winds and climbs around and over coastal mountains, with heart-stopping ocean views at every turn and moose on the roads.

Peggy's Cove is one of the most visited fishing towns in Canada and for good reason: the rolling granite cove highlighted by a perfect red-and-white lighthouse exudes a dreamy seaside calm. You'll find it surprisingly easy to chat with the friendly locals (there are only 45 of them) and settle into fishing-village pace.

The Fundy Trail opens up previously unreachable areas of the Bay of Fundy coastline and panoramic views. The 10 mile (16 kilometer) trail begins just outside St. Martins, New Brunswick and is less than an hour’s drive from Saint John or Sussex on Route 111. Hugging cliff tops above the world’s highest tides, the Fundy Trail winds its way along one of the last remaining coastal wilderness areas between Florida and Labrador. The area is the breeding habitat for Right Whales and is one of the best places in the world for viewing marine and wildlife.

The Hopewell Rocks are located on the shores of the Bay of Fundy at Hopewell Cape. This attraction is one of the Marine Wonders of the World, and is the site of some of the world’s highest tides. Walk on the ocean floor in the shadows of the majestic flower-pot rocks, unique formations carved by erosion over thousands of years. Experience tides rising up to 4-stories high, making it possible to kayak, at high tide, over the same area you may have recently walked at low tide.

Experience the small fishing village of Mahone Bay. The town sits next to its namesake bay, and has grown from a tourist destination to a hub for new businesses and local entrepreneurs.

The largest of the South Shore fishing villages is historic Lunenburg, the region's only UNESCO World Heritage site and the first British settlement outside Halifax. The town is at its most picturesque viewed from the sea around sunset, when the boxy, brightly painted old buildings literally glow behind the ship-filled port. Of note is the distinctive 'Lunenburg Bump,' a five-sided dormer window on the 2nd floor overhanging the 1st floor.

Floating over the rest of Nova Scotia like an island halo, Cape Breton is a heavenly, forested realm of bald eagles, migrating whales, palpable history, and foot-tapping music. Starting up the Ceilidh Trail along the western coastline, Celtic music vibrates through the pubs and community centers, eventually reaching the Cabot Trail where more-eclectic Acadian-style tunes ring out around Chéticamp.

Prince Edward Island (PEI) is as pretty as a storybook, and it just so happens that the island's depiction in a storybook – Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables – is what has made the place famous. And like Anne Shirley, the heroine of that book, the island is a red-head – from tip to tip, sienna-colored soil peeks out from under potato plants, and the shores are lined with rose and golden sand. Meanwhile the Green Gables-esque landscape is a pastoral green patchwork of rolling fields, tidy gabled farmhouses, and seaside villages.

Cavendish is the home town of Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942), author of Anne of Green Gables. Here she is simply known as Lucy Maud or LM. Owned by her grandfather's cousins, the now-famous House of Green Gables and its Victorian surrounds inspired the setting for her fictional tale. In 1937 the house became part of the national park and it's now administered as a national heritage site, celebrating Lucy Maud and Anne with exhibits and audio-visual displays.

Grand Pré (French for large meadow) is a park built to commemorate the important Acadian settlement that existed here during the 17th and 18th centuries and the deportation of many of its inhabitants by the British during the French and Indian War. Suspected of spying for the French, Acadians were sent around the world. Some went to the Caribbean while others ended up in England. Still others eventually ended up in Louisiana, where their descendents became integral to the development of the Cajun culture. Today, Grand Pre is designated a World Heritage Site and a National Historic Site of Canada.