If you were asked what your favorite season of the year is, would you say autumn? Many a Nova Scotian would. Fall is the season of brilliant colours, sunny days and refreshing evenings. Whether your idea of the perfect fall day is exploring the nooks and crannies of historic villages or trekking along the tops of tide-sculpted cliffs, Nova Scotia has something to offer.
You can feel autumn in the sea air in Nova Scotia. It’s in the cool breeze that wafts in the window of a seaside cottage in the evening. It’s in the crisp, blue morning sky as the sun rises over the water on another perfect September morning. Outdoor adventure operators have a menu of tours and packages lined up to an incomparable autumn experience in this seacoast province.
Freewheeling Adventures (freewheeling.ca) offers cycling and multi-sport packages from one end of Nova Scotia to the other. A six-day excursion on Cape Breton Island, the destination recently ranked number 2 on Gentleman’s Quarterly’s (GQ’s) list of Best Summer Escapes and number two spot on Travel and Leisure Magazine’s 2007 Best Islands in the Continental U.S. and Canada list, will take you sea-kayaking, hiking and biking through Cape Breton Highlands National Park, around the Cabot Trail, near Saint Peter’s historic canal, across the Acadian island of Isle Madame, and into Mabou, the music heartland of Celtic Cape Breton. Biking around beautiful Lake Ainslie takes you right to the doors of the only single malt distillery outside of Scotland. A visit to Glenora Distillery might just give you a bit of a boost for hiking the coastal hills of Sight Point the next day.
Freewheeling’s South Shore Secrets tour takes you through the UNESCO World Heritage Town of Lunenburg. The shorelines around this historic port town where the Bluenose and her daughter Bluenose II were both born, where the ghosts of rum runners haunt the wharves of the working waterfront, and where an award-winning museum pays homage to the fishermen who sailed aboard saltbank schooners for generations. The tour itinerary has been designed to let you sink your toes into the endless stretch of sand and your happily weary body into the hot tub at Nova Scotia’s beloved White Point Beach Resort on the last day of your action filled excursion.
If you prefer to trek on two-feet than tour on two wheels, consider a Scott Walking Adventure as the ideal way to see Nova Scotia. (scottwalking.com) Specialists in hiking and walking trips designed for the inquisitive traveler, they combine your choice of challenge and adventure with the finest of creature comforts. Custom walking and hiking vacations are becoming increasingly popular. Guided or self-guided, a trip for two or for twenty-five, Scott Walking Adventure Tours can design a customized itinerary just for you and your group or you can book an existing adventure itinerary for groups of ten or more. Autumn packages from this established active-vacation expert include their Seacoast to the Bay Tour. You’ll trek through old-growth forest in Kejimkujik National Park and Historic Site, visit the expansive historic gardens in Annapolis Royal, one of the prettiest towns in Canada, take in a whale watching cruise on the Bay of Fundy where the world’s highest tides rise and fall, and hike the Acadian dykes at Grand Pre in the heart of the Land of Wordsworth’s Evangeline.
Whatever mode of travel you prefer when you get here – bike, kayak, or hiking boots – reaching your Nova Scotia autumn getaway is a breeze. There are direct flights from major cities across the continent and the province is just a day’s drive away from most points in New England.
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