Cape Breton Highlands National Park
photo from Parks Canada

Leading north from the Trans-Canada Highway, the Cabot Trail circles the northern section of Cape Breton Island. The national park is located near the northern tip, at Ingonish Beach, offering camping, swimming, fishing, and hiking.

Nova Scotia

The ferry from Newfoundland lands at North Sydney, and the Trans-Canada Highway proceeds along the shoreline of several bays, crossing to the mainland over the Streit of Canso.

It dips south, to Truro, and then wanders to Amherst, and the border with New Brunswick. There are many opportunities to take short drives to the small towns on St. George's Bay (inc.uding Havre Boucher, Tracadie, andPomquet), and on Northumberland Strait (Pictou, Pugwash, and Northport).

The distance from Sydney to Amherst is 252 miles (405 KM), but a nonstop tour of the Cabot Trail will add a day to your visit.

Nova Scotia, one of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, is a quiet land of bays and lakes, picturesque fishing villages, and wonderful parks. The Cabot Trail is a must-see tour route, hugging the coastline for almost all of its journey around the northern peninsula of Cape Breton Island.

Visit the town of Baddeck (on the Trans-Canada) where you'll find Alexander Graham Bell's Canadian home, a national historic park. Seafood is plentiful along the way, along the Cabot Trail, in Antoginish, New Glasgow, and Truro.

The Trans-Canada does not pass through Halifax, the provincial capital and Nova Scotia's largest city, but it's only 63 miles southwest of Truro, and worth visiting.

As it leads toward New Brunswick, the Trans-Canada (Route 104) moves inland, passing Wentworth Provincial Park, with Amgerst Shore Provincial Park a 30-minute drive north of Amherst.

The next province on this tour is Prince Edward Island. To get there, cross the border into New Brunswick. Then turn east onto Trans Canada Route 16, and cross to the island on the new 11-mile bridge. You can also take a privately-operated car ferry to PEI, from Pictou, Nova Scotia -- a 75-minute cruise.