Editor's picks
A local's shortlist — the places worth your time first, each with a tip.
Citadel Hill
Landmark · Above downtown
A star-shaped fort on the drumlin the whole city is built around, with the noon gun fired daily and the best free view of the harbour from its ramparts.
Local tip: The gun at twelve is audible across the peninsula and across the water in Dartmouth — you will hear it long before you see the fort. Walk up the grassy glacis at dusk rather than paying to go inside; the view over the harbour and the two bridges is the actual attraction.
Pier 21
Culture · Seaport, south waterfront
The Canadian Museum of Immigration, in the shed where around a million people entered Canada between 1928 and 1971 — the Atlantic equivalent of Ellis Island.
Local tip: Its research service will look up an individual arrival record for you, which turns an abstract museum into something specific if anyone in your family came through. A strange and quite moving place to visit in your first month as an immigrant yourself.
Point Pleasant Park
Nature · Southern tip of the peninsula
Seventy-five hectares of coastal forest and shoreline path at the end of the peninsula, leased from the Crown for a shilling a year on a 999-year term.
Local tip: Hurricane Juan flattened tens of thousands of trees here in 2003 and the replanting is visible everywhere once you know to look for it — the park is a live record of what an Atlantic storm actually does. Go out to Black Rock Beach and the Prince of Wales Tower, and go in fog.
Dartmouth & the ferry
Neighborhood · Across the harbour
The other half of the city, reached by the oldest continuously operating saltwater ferry service in North America, running since 1752 — Portland Street, the Dartmouth Common, and a chain of lakes inside the urban area.
Local tip: The ferry costs an ordinary transit fare and takes about twelve minutes, which makes it the best-value harbour cruise on the continent and a genuinely pleasant commute. Do it at sunset with the skyline behind you, then eat on Portland Street, which has quietly overtaken most of downtown Halifax.
The Hydrostone
Hidden gemNeighborhood · North End
Ten blocks of concrete-block terraces around planted boulevards, built to rehouse people after the 1917 Halifax Explosion and now a National Historic Site.
Local tip: It exists because the explosion flattened everything here — the largest human-made blast before nuclear weapons — and the garden-suburb layout was the reconstruction plan. The market street has a bakery, a cheesemonger and a couple of good restaurants, and almost no visitor to the city ever finds it.
Peggy's Cove & the South Shore
Nature · 45 minutes west
Granite barrens, a working fishing village and the most photographed lighthouse in Canada, with Lunenburg and the South Shore beaches beyond it.
Local tip: Everyone goes at sunset in July, which is when it is least worth seeing. Go on a grey weekday in October. And take seriously the signs about the black rocks — they are black because waves reach them, and people are swept off and killed there with some regularity.
Explore 61 places across Halifax
Museums, landmarks, monuments, heritage sites and parks — mapped, with photos. The most notable spots first.
Museums & galleries
(9)
MuseumArt Gallery of Nova Scotia
Art museum in Nova Scotia, Canada
MuseumCanadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21
Immigration museum in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
MuseumFultz House
Historic house in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia
MuseumScott Manor House
Historic house in Bedford, Nova Scotia
MuseumSteele Wheels Motor Museum
Automotive museum in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
MuseumDiscovery Centre
Science museum in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
MuseumCole Harbour Heritage Farm Museum
Farm museum in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada
Halifax Citadel National Historic Site
Museum.
Army Museum
Museum.
Landmarks & architecture
(5)
LandmarkGeorges Island
Island in Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada
LandmarkFort McNab
Fort.
Strawberry Battery
Fort.
President’s Residence
Historic manor.
Monuments & memorials
(5)
MonumentMont Blanc Anchor Site
Monument in Halifax, Nova Scotia
MonumentNaval Memorial
Monument
Historic Properties
Historic monument.
Roberts Street Social Centre
Public artwork.
Moose
Historic monument.
Places of worship
(17)
ReligiousSt. Mary's Basilica
Church in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
ReligiousSt. Paul's Church
Anglican church in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
ReligiousSt. George's Anglican (Round) Church
Church in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
ReligiousLittle Dutch (Deutsch) Church
Church building in Halifax, Canada
ReligiousSt. Patrick's Church, Halifax
Church building in Halifax, Canada
ReligiousFort Massey United Church
Church building in Halifax, Nova Scotia
ReligiousSt. Matthew's United Church
Church building in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
ReligiousShaar Shalom Synagogue
Synagogue in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
ReligiousPresbyterian Church of Saint David
Church building in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
ReligiousVictoria Road United Baptist Church
Church building in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
ReligiousSt. Mark's Church
Historic church building in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
ReligiousChrist Church
Historic church in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
ReligiousWest End United Baptist Church
Church building in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
ReligiousUmmah Mosque
Mosque in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
St. Andrew's United Church
7
Place of worship in 7.
St. Brendan's Chapel and Church of the Redeemer
Place of worship.
Halifax Nova Scotia Temple
Colby Village
Place of worship in Colby Village.
Heritage & archaeology
(3)Bayers Lake Mystery Walls
Historic ruins.
Indian Point
Historic ruins.
Trainer Farm
Historic ruins.
Parks & nature
(20)
ParkHalifax Public Gardens
Public park in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Park
ParkPoint Pleasant Park
Large, partially forested municipal park at the southern tip of the Halifax peninsula
ParkConrose Field
Park in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
ParkDartmouth Commons
Park in Nova Scotia, Canada
ParkRoyal Artillery Park
Military installation in Halifax, Canada
ParkSaunders Park
Municipal park in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
ParkVictoria Park, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Park in Nova Scotia, Canada
ParkSir Sandford Fleming Park
Park in Halifax, Nova Scotia
ParkLeighton Dillman Park
Park in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
ParkSullivan's Pond Park
Park in Canada
ParkGraves-Oakley Memorial Park
Canadian urban park and sports field
ParkAshley Cheeseman Memorial Park
Park in Halifax, Canada
Park
ParkFort Needham Memorial Park
Park in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
ParkFish Hatchery Park
Park in Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada
ParkMerv Sullivan Park
Park in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
ParkLarry O'Connell Field
Park in Nova Scotia, Canada
Citadel Hill
Public park run by Parks Canada.
Hydrostone Park
Public park.
More to explore
(2)Halifax Brewery Farmers Market
Visitor attraction.
York Redoubt
Visitor attraction.
Data from Wikidata (CC0) & OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Images via Wikimedia Commons — see each credit. Listings are community-maintained and may be incomplete or out of date — verify hours and access before visiting.
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