Side Trips

A Road Trip to Peggy's Cove

About 42km (26 miles) southwest of Halifax is the fishing village of Peggy's Cove (pop. 120), which offers postcard-perfect tableaus: an octagonal lighthouse (surely one of the most photographed in the world), tiny fishing shacks, and graceful fishing boats bobbing in the postage stamp-size harbor. The bonsai-like perfection hasn't gone unnoticed by the big tour operators, however, so it's a rare summer day when you're not sharing the experience with a few hundred of your close, personal bus-tour friends. The village is home to a handful of B&Bs and a gallery, but scenic values draw the day-trippers with cameras. While there, make sure to check out the touching Swissair Flight 111 Memorial among the rocks just before the turnoff to the cove; this site memorializes the passengers of that flight, which crashed into the Atlantic just off the coast.

Want to stay awhile? A good lodging choice in the area is Peggy's Cove B&B (tel. 877/725-8732 or 902/823-2265), close to the lighthouse with five rooms costing C$99 to C$145 per night; breakfast is included. Units all have phones, Wi-Fi access, and DVD players. If it's full, Code's Oceanside Inn (tel. 888/823-2765 or 902/823-2765), about 2 miles away in West Dover, has two rooms and a suite for C$105 to C$195 per night. (The name isn't some mystic or cryptic puzzle. The owners are a couple whose last name is Code.)