From an off-grid island (no motor vehicles!) to whales and icebergs, Canada’s East Coast is a haven for island lovers. Welcome to your next adventure.
Twillingate’s endless adventures
Arriving in Twillingate is stunning. An island, off an island, off an island, in central Newfoundland, it’s remote, yet not, just 90 minutes from Gander, “Crossroads of the World,” and no more than a five-hour drive from either St. John’s or Deer Lake.
“It always strikes me as you drive past that last causeway and see the island against the vast sky. It feels like wow,” says native daughter and the Anchor Inn co-owner, Deborah Bourden. “There’s something magical about that moment. It feels quite incredible you’re coming to this place that’s almost far-flung. There are tiny coves and bays, a harbour and fishing boats, and that quaintness hits you.”
Tickle Bridge connects Twillingate’s North and South islands. A tickle is a narrow salt-water strait in Newfoundland’s distinctive English.
Visitors flock here, along Iceberg Alley, for the iconic whales and icebergs, but neither are guaranteed. What can you count on? The landscape, hiking, fresh air, and a chance to sit, undisturbed. “That’s always here,” says Bourden.
“There’s so much space and so few people. People are craving that in many ways. But it’s not isolated. There’s entertainment every night in season, and different restaurants to choose from. Even though it’s a rural destination, the amenities are there,” she adds. “It’s hard to explain that balance until you experience it. I call it hard days and soft nights. You can hike, climb over rocks, and come back to a glass of wine and a show.”
People forge a connection (even without seeing icebergs or whales), Bourden says, to this living fishing community, home to small museums, artist studios, dinner theatre, winery, and cafés. “I call it the Nantucket of Newfoundland and Labrador. We have a love of the arts, creativity, and heritage.”
Water, salt air, and sunsets surround you, says Dave Boyd, proprietor of fishery and heritage centre The Prime Berth. The Twillingate resident grew up just across the water, in the fishing stages, and has seen tremendous change in his lifetime. Visitors connect to this authenticity. People feel at home, he says. “That’s the nature of our community, that’s the nature of our people.”
The Caribbean of the north
“Les Îles de la Madeleine (Magdalene Islands) are one of the best surprises on the East Coast. You would never guess you could find such endless beautiful beaches at this latitude. We often laugh, saying that we are the Caribbean of the north,” says Pauline-Gervaise Grégoire, director of multidisciplinary boutique Atelier Côtier. She was born on the islands, a archipelago in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, formed in the shape of a halfmoon stretching across 85 kilometres. Grégoire, a kitesurfer, sailor, and runner (“So, yes, I take advantage of this unique place”), studied away and travelled, “before realizing this place is paradise.”
What makes it so idyllic are the beaches, warm, clear water, perfect for water sports, rich culture, and no big hotels. “It’s a more calm and simple way of life.”
Reachable by a five-hour ferry crossing from Souris, P.E.I., or by air, it’s a slice of Quebec, in the Atlantic time zone, with sea views everywhere.
The landscape’s beautiful, but fragile, says Grégoire, and it’s best to learn how to access the beaches and hills to protect the flora, fauna and yourself. Some snack places even encourage one to pick up trash and give free food as thanks.
Frédéric Myrand, with Tourisme Îles de la Madeleine, says the immediate, total change of scenery is striking. As are the Madelinots’ famed hospitality, gastronomy, and culture, rooted in Acadian and Quebec culture.
“The islands and the dunes seem to blend, and then stretch out from view, as though deposited there by the whims of the sea. A delightful Atlantic adventure, with a French flair,” he says.
Grégoire says visitors can join in morning swims all year long on la Grave. They can learn to kitesurf, camp oceanfront at Parc Gros Cap, discover the inland trails, in their modest “forest” and pick mushrooms. The twice-monthly market in Cap aux Meules is great. “Walk the Bout de Banc beach, visit Entry Island, go mackerel fishing, and cook it on a barbecue. Don’t be shy to come off-season, for a calmer visit and beautiful place to unwind. Yes, some places will be closed, but the islands themselves have so much to offer. And finally, don’t make too many plans, or plan on making no plan.”
Summer simplified on Pictou Island
Pictou Island, N.S., is dreamy beaches, serenity, starry nights, far from hustle and bustle. “It really does feel like you are somewhere else,” says summer resident Lorne Matheson, owner of Pictou Island Wooden Tents, one of two island accommodations.
The off-grid, roughly 25-square-kilometre island in the Northumberland Strait between Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island has no cars and no electricity, and over the years has been a farming and fishing community, once home to five canneries.
Today, visitors, who arrive mostly by 45-minute passenger ferry from Caribou, N.S. (the island receives air and boat charters, too), find about 100 summer residents, 20 living here year-round. While rich in natural beauty (beaches, blue heron colony) there’s a scarcity of certain resources. Bringing your own supplies (think camping resources, from food to water) is essential to this place, where visitors find an abiding sense that enjoying life is its own best reward, says Matheson.
Turn off your phone. Spend the night, he advises. “There is nothing that beats waking up on an island.” (Make reservations at Wooden Tents or Kirribelli Eco Retreats. There’s no public tenting.)
Spend days hiking, swimming, watching bald eagles and diving gannets, and exploring heritage sites like a pioneer cemetery and heritage church.
It’s a wonderful place to explore, says retired veterinarian Brenda Spence MacLeod, who always loved visiting with her family and moved here full-time two years ago.
Bring a picnic and a bike for a day trip, she suggests. Outside of a little store at Wooden Tents, you can’t spend money. “No admission is charged for anything you want to see.
“I do think it’s an idyllic place. It’s not a place for everybody. But if you want to relax and disconnect this is the place.”
Sea glass and specialty coffee on Grand Manan
Excitement for a Grand Manan adventure grows on the 1.5-hour ferry ride across the Bay of Fundy from Black’s Harbour, N.B., especially as you round the peninsula and see majestic Swallowtail Lighthouse, says Jennifer O’Neal of Grand Manan Tourism.
You see this land mass come into view, and towering cliffs at the back of the island. “They’re up to 300 feet (100 metres), it’s pretty jaw-dropping,” O’Neal says. Passing the Seven Days Work Cliff, you may see porpoises, seals, and whales, while approaching the largest of southwest New Brunswick’s Fundy Isles.
“All of a sudden, you see this gorgeous, iconic lighthouse set out on a peninsula. You have to round the peninsula, and you have a great view of the lighthouse and then you’re just about here.”
A working island with fishing as its main industry, Grand Manan has a year-round population that hovers between 2,700 to 3,000. Bird and whale watching are particularly excellent as the island’s a migratory stop for many birds. Birdwatchers have noted up to 600 species, and the nutrient-rich water draws marine life.
O’Neal says Grand Manan has all the things that make you go “Wow, amazing,” yet you feel like you’re the only one here.
“Once you visit, you wonder why it took you so long,” says Heather Brown, a retired teacher and guidance counsellor who always carries maps (and beach glass) in her vehicle and prides herself on being a Grand Manan ambassador.
As much as island sunsets wow, Brown is a morning person and says sunrises are unmatched at Castalia Marsh and Swallowtail Lighthouse.
Wonderful hiking trails circle the island, and she says hiking even a portion of The Red Trail allows one to take in the rugged trails and shoreline views. For a slower pace, and kid-friendly trails, The Anchorage Provincial Park has multiple trails.
Walking to Swallowtail light is popular, and visitors can climb up, visiting interpretive centres on each level.
Beach glassing is a huge draw, and Stanley’s Beach is one the best. The island is home to souvenir shops, cafés with sweets and specialty coffee, the not-to-miss Grand Manan Museum, and the chance to walk amid historic sheds where workers once smoked the herring catch. Other highlights? Seal Cove’s sand beach, seeing those sheer cliffs and island geography, kayaking, and puffin tours to Machias-Seal Island.
Isle Madame: the art of slow living
Isle Madame is one of those rare places where life follows a slower, more deliberate pace, shaped by the ocean, the seasons, and the long-held traditions of its people, says Shauna Austen, describing the small island off Cape Breton Island’s southeastern coast that’s home to four major communities and is known for its strong Acadian culture and natural beauty.
“The island’s greatest charm is its simple, timeless feel,” says Austen, owner of The Clairestone Inn, an ocean-facing boutique hotel in Arichat, a traditional fishing village and one of Nova Scotia’s oldest communities.
Lennox Passage Bridge connects Isle Madame to Cape Breton. Rocky shores, quiet coves, beaches, fishing wharves, and several lighthouses dot the coast. The waters are ideal for kayaking, sailing, and fishing, while the island offers great walking, cycling, and birdwatching. You may hear French in shops and cafés and see bilingual signs. You feel connected to nature, whether through crashing waves, brisk Atlantic winds, or seeing lobster boats checking traps in spring.
For a small island, with a population of less than 4,500, visitors are pleasantly surprised by the amenities: music, festivals, restaurants, and “baked goods that our grandmothers would have made” at La Goélette à Pépé, a café/gift shop with interpretive panels about local Acadian families. Isle Madame Historical Society and LeNoir Forge Museum host events and there are provincial parks at Pondville Beach and Lennox Passage. Picnic or catch glorious sunsets at Marache Point Lighthouse, and do follow winding roads to Little Anse, a rugged Acadian community almost unchanged in two centuries. It’s the best place for storm watchers to catch big waves.
Come with a kayak, bike, or hiking shoes to get big payoff moments, says La Goélette owner Lisa Samson-Boudreau. “It’s nice for meditation, self-discovery and getting a feeling for who you are.”
