A Weekend in Halifax: The Harbour, Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg

Two days, one harbour city and one stretch of Atlantic coast. Day 1 is Halifax on foot: a market founded in 1750, the pier where nearly a million immigrants landed, a hilltop fort and dinner in a schoolhouse built in 1817. Day 2 is a drive down the South Shore to Peggy's Cove, Mahone Bay and Lunenburg. It suits a first visit to Nova Scotia, and anyone who wants the sea at every stop.

Morning. Start with breakfast at the Halifax Seaport Farmers' Market. It was created by Royal Proclamation in 1750, a year after Halifax was founded, and has traded from its building on the Seaport since 2010.

Next along Marginal Road, the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 occupies the national historic site where nearly one million immigrants landed in Canada between 1928 and 1971. Its research centre holds passenger lists and a ship arrivals database, so you can look up a family member's crossing before you leave.

From there, follow the Halifax Waterfront north. The 4.4 km Harbourwalk runs along the seawall past cafés, shops and museums.

Late morning. On Lower Water Street, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic covers two disasters that marked the city. Its Titanic exhibit tells Halifax's side of 1912, when the dead were brought here, and Explosion in The Narrows covers the morning of December 6, 1917, when the Mont-Blanc blew up in the harbour. The museum's own ship, CSS Acadia, launched in 1913, is the only vessel still afloat that survived that blast.

Afternoon. Climb to Halifax Citadel National Historic Site, the hilltop fort with a commanding view of Halifax Harbour. Interpreters bring back the garrison of 1869 to 1871: the 78th Highlanders in feather bonnets and Mackenzie tartan kilts, and the Royal Artillery in blue, who fire the Noon Gun, a daily Halifax ritual since at least 1856. Leave time for the Army Museum inside the walls.

Walk down to Spring Garden Road and the Halifax Public Gardens. Opened in 1867 and laid out in the Victorian Gardenesque style, the gardens hold a bandstand from 1887 and Griffin's Pond, and entry is free.

Evening. Book dinner at The Five Fishermen on Argyle Street. The building went up as a schoolhouse in 1817, later housed Anna Leonowens' art school, and as John Snow & Co. funeral home received victims of the Titanic in 1912.

Find a place to stay in Halifax

Morning. Take Route 333 out of the city to Peggy's Cove Lighthouse. The light, officially Peggy's Point Lighthouse, dates from 1915, and an accessible viewing deck, with long, shallow ramps and several viewpoints, looks over the light and the coastline. The village around it is an active fishing community, with families who have lived here for generations.

Before you leave, find The Fishermen's Monument, William deGarthe's tribute to the people of the sea: 32 fishermen, their wives and children, St. Elmo with wings spread and the legendary Peggy, carved into a 30-metre granite outcrop behind his house.

Lunch. In Mahone Bay, stop at Famous Town Pie Shop on Orchard Street for all-butter hand pies, espresso and cake. Grab a sweet one for the road.

Afternoon. Lunenburg was founded in June 1753 on a British model-town grid, and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995. Some 400 major buildings stand in the old town, 70 percent of them from the 18th and 19th centuries, almost all of them wood and many painted in bold colours. Start on the Lunenburg Waterfront and walk the grid from there.

On the wharf, the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic fills the red buildings that once housed a fish processing plant. The Cape Sable, docked at the museum, opens its deck and wheelhouse to visitors, and the daily presentations include Lobster Lore and Bluenose Saga.

Then head to Ironworks Distillery, which makes rum, gin, brandy and whisky in an 1893 marine blacksmith's shop that once produced ironwork for the shipbuilding trade. Book Spirits with a Story, its guided tasting, or pick up a bottle in the distillery shop.

Evening. Finish at Bar Salvador on Montague Street, a 22-seat tapas bar in the old Block Shop, where wooden blocks and pulleys were once made for Lunenburg's ships. It takes walk-ins only. Come for Spanish wines, sherries and vermouths alongside tapas that pair Spanish cooking with Nova Scotia seafood.

Find a place to stay in Lunenburg

• Stay off the wet, dark rocks at Peggy's Cove. Rogue waves wash over them even on calm, sunny days.
• Peggy's Cove is a lived-in village, not parkland. Respect the residents' private property.
• From mid-November to May, the Citadel's grounds, Parade Square and Noon Gun carry on, while the interior rooms and exhibits close for the winter.
• The Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic closes for the season in late October.

Tell the planner your dates and it will build this weekend around them.

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