If you’ve got a bathing suit, a car, and a taste for fresh seafood, you’re already set for a delightful trip out East to Canada’s Cape Breton Island. Recently named the top place to travel in 2012 by Lonely Planet, Cape Breton is home to some of the most stunning seaside vistas, beaches, trails, and the friendliest people in the country.
Cape Breton Island is the 18th largest island in Canada, and until the mid-twentieth century was only accessible by a single ferry that crossed the Straight of Canso. Visitors can now drive straight across the Straight via the Canso Causeway, to no toll or extra expense. It takes approximately three and a half hours to drive from Port Hawkesbury, one of the southernmost communities in Cape Breton, to Dingwall on the northern tip of the Island. The coastal views are unreal, with rocky outcrops just a way’s stretch off the highway. Bathing suits at close hand are a necessity, as tidal beaches such as Black Brook and Ingonish Beach are just a short jaunt off the beaten trail. This writer advises hopeful bathers to dip a toe in only after Canada Day, though – the shores of the Atlantic don’t really warm up til around then each year.
Cape Breton Island is the 18th largest island in Canada, and until the mid-twentieth century was only accessible by a single ferry that crossed the Straight of Canso. Visitors can now drive straight across the Straight via the Canso Causeway, to no toll or extra expense. It takes approximately three and a half hours to drive from Port Hawkesbury, one of the southernmost communities in Cape Breton, to Dingwall on the northern tip of the Island. The coastal views are unreal, with rocky outcrops just a way’s stretch off the highway. Bathing suits at close hand are a necessity, as tidal beaches such as Black Brook and Ingonish Beach are just a short jaunt off the beaten trail. This writer advises hopeful bathers to dip a toe in only after Canada Day, though – the shores of the Atlantic don’t really warm up til around then each year.