Halifax is the capital of Nova Scotia and the largest city in Atlantic Canada, and it is defined entirely by the sea. It grew up around one of the world’s great natural harbours, and that harbour has shaped everything — its founding as a naval base, its role as the gateway for a million immigrants arriving by ship, its proximity to the Titanic disaster, and the catastrophic 1917 explosion that levelled much of the city. Today it is a relaxed, salty, walkable place with a long waterfront boardwalk, a serious maritime history, and the windswept coast of the province on its doorstep. It is the natural base for exploring Nova Scotia, and a thoroughly likeable city in its own right.
Halifax is on our must-do list along with New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island.
A Little Background
The harbour the city wraps around is K’jipuktuk — “the Great Harbour” — to the Mi’kmaq, who have lived along these coasts for thousands of years and whose territory this remains. Their seasonal fishing and hunting grounds were long established when Europeans arrived.
The British founded the town of Halifax in 1749, under Edward Cornwallis, as a military counterweight to the French fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton. The move intensified conflict with both the French-speaking Acadians and the Mi’kmaq, who resisted the seizure of their land. The fortified town grew into Britain’s principal naval base in the region, its great hilltop Citadel guarding the harbour. Two episodes mark the modern city’s memory above all: in 1912 Halifax received the bodies recovered from the Titanic, many of whom are buried here; and in 1917 the Halifax Explosion — the collision of a ship laden with wartime explosives — devastated the north end of the city and remained the largest human-made explosion until the atomic age. The city rebuilt, and the harbour remains its reason for being.
What to See and Do
The Halifax Citadel, the star-shaped fort crowning the hill above downtown, is the most-visited national historic site in Canada. Costumed soldiers, the firing of the noon gun, and commanding views over the harbour make it the obvious first stop; the present fortifications date from the 1820s. Below it, the Halifax waterfront boardwalk runs over four kilometres along the harbour — one of the longest in North America — lined with restaurants, breweries, buskers, and the moored historic ships.
On the waterfront, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is the city’s standout: superb exhibits on the Titanic (Halifax’s connection is deep and moving) and on the 1917 explosion. A little further along, the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 occupies the actual shed through which nearly a million immigrants entered Canada by sea — the Atlantic equivalent of Ellis Island, and powerfully done. Beyond the city, the single most popular excursion is Peggy’s Cove, about 45 minutes away: a tiny fishing village with a much-photographed lighthouse on wave-battered granite, drawing more than half a million visitors a year. It is busy, but the coastline is the real Nova Scotia.
Getting There
Halifax Stanfield International Airport is the main air gateway to Atlantic Canada and sits about 35 minutes from downtown. A car is useful for exploring the province and reaching Peggy’s Cove and the South Shore, though the compact downtown and waterfront are very walkable and served by local buses and harbour ferries. Halifax is also a major cruise port.
Weather
Halifax has a maritime climate, milder and damper than inland Canada but with plenty of fog and wind off the Atlantic. Summer and early autumn (June–October) are the best time to visit — warm, with the waterfront and coast at their finest. Winters are cold and snowy but moderated somewhat by the sea. Spring is late and foggy. Aim for summer or early autumn.
The Bottom Line
Mid-range hotels run roughly CAD$170–300 a night, higher in peak summer. Two days covers the city and its museums; add a third for Peggy’s Cove and a stretch of the coast, or use Halifax as the launch point for a longer Nova Scotia road trip. It is the friendliest of Canada’s regional capitals, and the sea is never out of sight.