Nova Scotia Escapes

Fight the winter blues

Whether you’re planning a quick weekend away or a longer family vacation during March Break, fight the winter blues and make Nova Scotia your winter wonderland of fun.

If you enjoy wine, you’ll love the late November Icewine harvest. Visit Grand Pre Wines or Jost Vineyards and sample their award-winning varieties. The 2nd annual Nova Scotia Winter Icewine Festival will also take place from February 12 to 22, 2009 as part of the annual Savour Food & Wine Festival, a month-long celebration of fine food, wine and entertainment from February 1 to 28, 2009.

Are you a sports fan? If you’re eager to see the puck drop, catch the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles or the Halifax Mooseheads in action, as they battle it out on the ice against their competitors in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). 

Nova Scotia is also home to some of the best skiing in Atlantic Canada. Pack up your gear, or rent it all when you get here. Prepare for a snowy day filled with family fun and adventure. Most ski resorts feature both downhill and cross-country skiing. Choose from easy or challenging hills at Wentworth, Martock, Ben Eoin and Cape Smokey.

Most years, Christmas starts as early as mid November in Nova Scotia. Christmas parades, craft shows, tree-lighting ceremonies, caroling, concerts and community charity dinners will keep you occupied until the arrival of jolly Saint Nick. Don’t forget the outdoor New Year’s Eve celebration at Halifax’s Grand Parade on December 31. Although sometimes chilly, it’s always a blast!

Celebrate Celtic Culture

The Celtic Colours International Festival has proudly celebrated the only living Celtic culture in North America every year since October 1997. This annual celebration of music and culture features hundreds of musicians from around the world and takes places over the course of 9 days while the fall colours are at their best. Communities around Cape Breton Island host a variety of concerts and workshops so visitors get to witness breathtaking scenery as they travel to their next event.

The festival’s schedule is always jammed-packed with concerts, workshops and events, so there’s never a dull moment. With as many as eight concerts per day, it’s truly impossible to pack it all in. Pick and choose according to your interests, and enjoy events featuring Gaelic singing, Cape Breton fiddling, step-dancing, accordion playing, bag piping and much more.

Year after year, Celtic Colours attracts performers and visitors from all over the world. Past visitors would surely tell you that Nova Scotia is a top quality tourism destination. Just recently, Travel + Leisure magazine has recognized Cape Breton Island as a world-class vacation destination. Cape Breton Island ranks 10th on the list of Top 10 islands overall in the world in 2008’s survey and is the only Canadian island ranked in the Top 10.

This past October, the 12th annual edition of the Celtic Colours festival was once again, a real hit! The festival featured 45 performances from October 10th to 18th, 2008 and more than 260 community and educational events, including a wonderful tribute to singer / songwriter and Cape Breton local Rita MacNeil.

Plan your next fall vacation to Nova Scotia around the Celtic Colours International Festival. Mark your calendars for October 9th to 17th, 2009. The performance schedule will be released around June 22, 2009 and tickets will go on sale at the Celtic Colours Box Office on July 6, 2009.

Watch for whales in the Bay of Fundy

Digby, Nova Scotia is known as the scallop capital of the world and is home to some of the best whale watching in North America. Get up close and personal with whales – the world’s largest mammals – and be among the first to spot them in the distance, as your boat approaches these immense creatures.

If you’re wondering exactly how far you’ll have to travel on your tour before you see any whales, the answer is different every day. Sometimes, whales can be spotted from the shore and other times, your boat will have to venture more than 15 miles out into the Bay of Fundy before you get a sighting. How many will you see? Could be a dozen, or even hundreds!

The whales that you’re most likely to see during your 3-hour cruise are Humpbacks, Minke, Pilot, and Finback, which has even been spotted nearby in the winter months by local lobster fishermen. If you’re lucky, you may even see a rare Right Whale or Blue Whale.

Although called a “whale watching tour”, there’s more to see than whales. You may also meet seals, dolphins and harbour porpoise during your cruise. At times, they even swim along the boat and say hello by jumping in and out of the water!

Whale watching is truly an adventure of a lifetime. If you’re in the Digby area, make sure to book a tour. Whale watching tours typically depart two to three times daily between the months of June to October, and can last between three and four hours.

Every year, Halifax is bustling with Buskers.

Every August, the Halifax waterfront comes alive with the Annual Halifax International Busker Festival, a 10 day celebration featuring street performers. In 2008, the 22nd annual festival was a huge success! It took place from August 7th to 17th and hosted 76 performers from around the world and more than 500 performances.
 
Acts from around the world come to Halifax for this festival to perform on the spectacular show stages on the waterfront. As a spectator, you’ll enjoy watching comedians, pavement artists, mime performers, dancers, jugglers, fire artists and musicians. More than half a million people walk by during the festival to take it all in. Activities start around noon and typically run well into the evenings. In fact, most nights, artists can be found performing until 11pm. There’s also a beer tent with live local entertainment, plus you’ll also find food vendors and kiosks located along the boardwalk where you can buy artwork, crafts, jewellery and other hand-made goods. The face painters are always a big hit with kids of all ages!

This year, the performing acts came from nine different countries. Some have crushed world records, performed on Broadway, Cirque De Soleil and won awards at major Talent Shows like America’s Got Talent and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Fitness Expo.

See the talent for yourself! If you plan on visiting Halifax next August, make sure to plan your visit around the Busker Festival. Book your hotel early! Rooms book up fast in August. The Busker Festival usually takes place in mid-August. Check www.buskers.ca for 2009 dates and performance schedules.  

There’s plenty to discover in this colourful seaport community! As a visitor, you may arrive as a stranger, but the locals promise that you’ll leave feeling like a neighbour. Hospitality is at its finest here, year-round.

Whether you arrive by car, flight or on The CAT ferry, you’ll be greeted by the colourful landscapes of Yarmouth, its scenic rugged coastlines and refreshing sea. If you’re simply stopping through on your way to discover the rest of Nova Scotia, make sure you take some time to discover Yarmouth’s unique gems. No time to see it all? Take a tour! If you prefer having a guide, check out Experience Yarmouth tours by Rodd, or if you like to be a bit more independent in your travels, enjoy a self-guided walking tour or garden tour.

Acadian spirit is in full force in several nearby communities! Pass through Pubnico and you’ll be welcomed to the oldest Acadian settlement in Nova Scotia. Make sure to visit the seaside communities of Argyle and Clare, too. While in the St. Mary’s Bay area, don’t miss St. Mary’s Church Museum, the largest wooden church in North America. » Read More