Discover Cape Breton
World-class golf, the iconic Cabot Trail, fresh-caught lobster, ceilidh nights, and the friendliest people you'll ever meet — all on one island in Nova Scotia.
What is Cape Breton First?
Cape Breton First is the Cape Breton-focused planning hub for first-time visitors, returning travellers, and locals showing friends around. We track what's open, what's happening, and what's worth your time across the island's eight regions — with curated restaurants and operators, trails and beaches, golf courses, festivals and events, and deeper town guides and multi-day itineraries for every trip length.
Travelling to Cape Breton? Start here.
Four ways into the island — pick the one that sounds most like the trip you want.
Stay & Play
Golf trip packages — hotel & tee times in one booking
Cabot Cliffs, Cabot Links, Highland Links and more — combine world-class rounds with island accommodations, from a one-night quick escape to a full multi-day trip. Curated by golfers who play these courses.
Happening this week
This week on Cape Breton
Featured
Local favourites
Baddeck Lobster Suppers
All-you-can-eat mussels, chowder, and a whole lobster on the lake.
★★★★★ (807)Red Shoe Pub
Live Cape Breton music seven nights a week. Owned by the Rankin Sisters.
★★★★★ (957)
The Rusty Anchor
Lobster rolls, ocean view, and the perfect mid-Cabot-Trail lunch stop.
Tee times
World-class golf, right on the island
Highland Links
Stanley Thompson's seaside masterpiece in Ingonish — top-ranked in Canada for 80+ years.
Cabot Links
Canada's only true links course, on the site of an old coal mine.
Cabot Cliffs
Ranked among the world's top 10 courses — perched on cliffs above the Gulf.
Outdoors
Hike, swim, explore
Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site
Largest historical reconstruction in North America, a partial rebuild of an 18th-century French fortress.
Skyline Trail
Iconic boardwalk-ended headland trail with sweeping Gulf of St. Lawrence views, frequent moose sightings, and the most-photographed sunset in Atlantic Canada — reserve in peak season.
The Cabot Trail (Scenic Drive)
The most famous drive in Canada — a 298-km loop around the northern Highlands.
Cape Breton, ranked
Curated lists by locals
25 Best Places to Visit in Cape Breton (2026)
A locally-curated, ranked guide to the island's essential stops — beaches, lookoffs, fortresses, lighthouses, fishing villages, and the drives that connect them
The 15 best Cabot Trail stops, in driving order
A clockwise loop with the must-stop lookoffs, beaches, hikes, and meals — plus where to skip and where to spend extra time
Cape Breton in fall — the 12 best stops for autumn colour
Where to be in early-to-late October when the Highlands turn red and gold — plus when to go and what else is on
The best beaches on Cape Breton Island
Sandy stretches, warm-water swimming, and the wild Highlands coast
What's on
Upcoming events
Theatre Baddeck presents The Golden Anniversaries by Mark Crawford
A couple revisits their rustic cottage retreat to confront marital tensions on their 50th wedding anniversary.
Book Club – Mabou
A monthly book club meets in Mabou on September 3 at 6 p.m. to discuss The Correspondent by Virginia Evans.
Thursday Ceilidh Sessions
Weekly ceilidh sessions with local musicians and dancers run Thursdays 6:30pm–8:30pm at Inverness County Centre For the Arts.
Men of the Deeps at the Miners Museum
A choir of working and retired Cape Breton coal miners performs at the Miners Museum.
From the blog
Stories from the island
Cape Breton in Three Days: The Speed-Run Itinerary
A tight three-day plan for travellers with limited time, hitting the Cabot Trail, Louisbourg, and a real ceilidh without burning out.
Family-Friendly Cape Breton: 5 Days with Kids
A five-day Cape Breton itinerary built around kids, with short hikes, beaches, museums that hold attention, and dinners that work for everyone.
Cape Breton Craft Beer and Distillery Trail
A self-drive route through Cape Breton's breweries, the only single malt distillery in North America, and the cidery worth the detour.
Today's view
Photos from the island
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