Uncovering Hidden Gems on Nova Scotia's South Shore

This island is located off the coast of Nova Scotia and just a few kilometers from the busy tourist attraction Peggy's Cove. But this place feels like it's a world away and this was exactly the experience I was looking for. I had almost the entire island to myself and I didn't see anyone from the time I was dropped off until I was picked up again the next day. There was no tv, no music, just the soothing sounds of the ocean, the crackling fire. It was the highlight of my trip and one of my favorite experiences this year. Little did I know I was gonna see a lot of beautiful coastal landscapes and small towns along Nova Scotia's south shore over the next couple days. And sort of surprisingly my favorite spots weren't the big famous locations found on all the tours and in the guidebooks. It was the smaller lesser-known spots that really struck me. And in this video I'm gonna rank each stop from my favorite down to what I thought were, you know, a little bit overhyped tourist attractions. But let's get started here at the dock at my favorite experience where I'm supposed to meet the boat which will take me across to the island. The company that runs this is called Nova Glamping. I was given specific instructions on where to park and where to meet the boat. I sent a text letting them know I was ready at the dock. Soon the boat arrived to take me across. Once I was on the island I was downloaded with all the necessary instructions like how to start the generator if the solar power runs out and how to keep my wood-fired hot tub burning. Shortly after my hosts boarded their boat and they headed back to the mainland. And there I was alone on this little island paradise. The island is about eight acres and sits a few hundred meters offshore. It's positioned right behind the much larger Dover Island which seems to protect it from the rough open waters of the Atlantic. The first thing I did after dropping my bags was start to explore the island. All the accommodations are on the west side of the island and the east side is basically untouched. There's a few options available on the island like this new A-frame cabin. There's also the original cottage from before this island was turned into a glamping resort. There's a sauna available too which is shared among the guests. The best options I think are the glamping domes which have prime real estate on the island. And the one I booked, Peggy's Dome, is the best one for sure. It's furthest to the west with the most panoramic views. It's also the most private. The hosts ask their guests to not walk in front of other people's domes so basically you get this incredible oceanfront view all to yourself. The dome itself is really nice and comfortable with a comfy king sized bed and lots of warm blankets. It comes with a kitchenette, coffee maker, kettle, hot plate, pots and pans, and there's a barbecue outside. There's an outdoor heated shower too. You also get plenty of clean towels. The wood-fired hot tub is incredible and it's filled every day with fresh salt water from the ocean. It's really an amazing thing to be out here in Nova Scotia and be so close and in touch with nature and your surroundings. I fell asleep to the sounds of the ocean and it was such a peaceful and comfortable night. I just want to take a minute to talk about the sponsor of today's video. Everything I believed about my background might be wrong and that's all thanks to MyHeritage which is the leading genealogy platform for family history and DNA testing. And as someone with an interest in history, taking a DNA test sounded like a fun and interesting thing to do. I've always been curious about my family's origins and I didn't have to wait long because the kit arrived super fast. You quickly do the swab test and you mail it back to them and within a few weeks you get your results. Oh 57.9% South Italian, 26.2% English, less than I thought, 6.4% Scottish and Welsh, 5.2% Irish. 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If you're curious, scan the QR code to explore your genealogy and family history with a 14-day free trial and use my coupon code at checkout to have your kit shipped to you for free. So next up is Polly Cove Trail. I loved this hiking trail. It's actually just a few minutes away from the Nova Glamping Dock. I didn't know anything about this trail really other than the fact that it looked interesting on Google Earth and man do I love it when I'm right. It was so interesting and I just couldn't get enough of this landscape. Especially as an Ontarian, this isn't the type of landscape I get to see that often so it was pretty special. The further I went the more epic the trail got. The unobstructed views from Nova Glamping all the way to Peggy's Cove is just unbelievable and I kept thinking in my head this is like a little piece of paradise. But looking at the weather beaten landscape I'd say that the weather can get pretty ferocious out here. I just got lucky with a sunny warm day. What's nice about this trail too is that you can walk out to the coast pretty easily and most people won't have an issue doing this. But if you're feeling a little more adventurous you can continue hiking along the coast and it looks like all the way to Peggy's Cove. Don't quote me on that. The little fishing village called Prospect was probably my favorite community that I visited. Again I didn't know much about it other than what I had found on Google Maps. Maybe buses full of tourists do stop here. I don't know. But when I was there no one was around. The village is located 22 kilometers outside of Halifax. It was established in the 1750s as a fishing outpost. The earliest settlers were mostly Irish and English fishermen and their families. For most of its history fishing was the main industry but today it looks like it's mostly a bedroom community of Halifax. What I love about this place is that the village isn't the only thing to see. There's also a short trail that will take you out to the rocky coastline. If you follow Indian Point Road you'll reach the High Head Trail. It's a short five minute walk out to some spectacular views. The trail follows the coastline for several kilometers if you want a longer hiking experience. Next up is another surprisingly awesome location that I didn't know much about. But with a name like Thunder Cave and trail names like Sea Cave Trail it's hard to resist heading out to explore. This spot is about 20 minutes outside of Lunenburg so it's an easy spot to reach especially for sunrise. You can drive right out to the coast so the views are good immediately and the trailhead is literally feet from the parking area so this is a super easy one for most people. But the further you go the better it gets so make sure you continue along the trail. The first lookout points are stunning and I thought that was it but the further I went the bigger the views got. And true to its name there are actual sea caves here. You'll have to make your way down some potentially treacherous stairs but it's a very cool experience. I would imagine that on really rough windy days this experience might not even be possible. This was one of the most memorable experiences that I had. I think this place will stay with me for a long time partly because of how unexpected it was but also I just got lucky with an incredible sunrise and the entire place to myself. If you're visiting the Lunenburg area make sure you visit this place. Speaking of, next on my list is Lunenburg and I have mixed feelings about listing it so far down because I know it's one of those bucket list locations for people but it just wasn't a top contender for me personally. It's a very picturesque town no doubt about it but unfortunately it gave me a little bit of like tourist trap vibes and that takes some of the magic out of it. That's not to take anything away from the important history or culture or people but looking past that the town itself is very nice and exploring the downtown is a great way to spend an afternoon. Down at the waterfront you'll of course find the Blue Nose 2 which is famously on the Canadian Dine. Well not this ship it's actually a replica of the original which sank off the coast of Haiti in 1946. It's nice to be able to walk on the ship though and get a sense of what it must have been like to sail aboard this racing schooner. The original Blue Nose was designed and built in Newfoundland and launched from Lunenburg in 1921. It was designed for cod fishing and for speed. The faster the vessel the faster it could fish and return to port with its fresh catch. The original Blue Nose went on to win several racing championships and also recorded the largest catch in Lunenburg at that time. I would have to assume that that record has been broken since then. There's also the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic which is a really cool museum full of amazing history culture and of course exhibits about the local fisheries industry. Today Lunenburg is home to one of Canada's largest fish processing plants Highliner Foods and you can actually tour one of fishing boats that was responsible for putting those fish sticks on your plate when you were a kid. It's included in your admission to the museum. Lunenburg was incorporated as a town in 1888 but its history goes back centuries. Originally the town was Mi'kmaq territory. For about 13,000 years indigenous fishing camps dotted the shores and protected harbors along Nova Scotia's coast. Over thousands of years they developed incredible skills and knowledge many of which are still practiced today and the museum has great exhibits dedicated to the indigenous people from the area. The first Europeans were the Acadians until they were expelled by the British in the 1750s. Shortly after the British settled a small population of Protestant Germans to offset the French Catholic population. The town gets its name from King George I of England's royal house of Brunswick Lunenburg. Settlers were granted plots and farmland and by the late 18th century Lunenburg was supplying Halifax with many agricultural products. The fishery was growing at this time too and you can learn all about it at the fisheries museum. Lunenburg is also a UNESCO world heritage site. Part of that designation is thanks to the preservation of its original planned British colonial settlement layout and the preservation of its 18th century wooden architecture. It's also a designated Canadian National Historic Site. You can also find a piece of the Berlin wall on display here. I think there's three pieces of the wall in Canada and one is here due in large part to the German heritage of the town. A worthwhile little detour is over to Blue Rocks. It's about a 10 minute drive from Lunenburg but it's a beautiful little coastal fishing community and artist hub. It's a great drive with amazing views for sunset. Another great sunset spot is over at Tannery Road which has the famous views of Lunenburg and the harbour that you see in all the promotional content. Lunenburg is a touristy spot but for good reason. It's a beautiful and iconic place to visit in Nova Scotia and by the end of my day in Lunenburg I was feeling less pessimistic about the whole tourism thing and I came to appreciate just how special this place is. Another great small town with an authentic vibe is Chester. It's a picturesque and affluent community between Peggy's Cove and Mahone Bay but this place is just a quiet residential community without any real sense of tourism. That's not to say it doesn't exist. I'm sure it does. It doesn't give like touristy vibes so it doesn't feel like the town relies on tourists therefore feels like a more authentic place to explore. It's worth stopping to walk along the waterfront and see some of the beautiful homes and streets. The downtown is very quaint and you'll find residents going about their day talking to one another in the street and just a really pleasant place to explore without the crowds. Another reason to stop here is to visit a Vauxhall Village pub which claims to be the oldest pub in Nova Scotia. The building has a rich history dating back to the 1760s. It's been a blacksmith shop, inn, pharmacy, even stables. So Chester was a surprise for me and I'd recommend a short visit here even if it's to escape the tourist crowds at the other bigger stops. Like Lunenburg I feel a little bad listing Peggy's Cove lower on my list but it's a massive tourist spot and I was a little overwhelmed with the amount of tour buses and people everywhere. It's a bit of a zoo and not really the experience I was expecting. When dozens of people are lining up to take a photo in front of the lighthouse and taking selfies some of the magic feels a little lost. I think this place is a little overhyped only because it's so congested. Sure it's very nice and without all the people and distractions it would be I think more impressive. The same goes for Peggy's Cove Fishing Village. On its own I can see why people were drawn to visiting here. It's a beautiful coastal village and there's some really great views from up high overlooking the village and there's great views once you get down into the town. But again like Lunenburg it feels like it's lost some of that magic that made it popular in the first place. Like it's pretty obvious that tourism is the main thing here. Some fishing is happening it looks like but for the most part the whole place is just little retailers, coffee shops, restaurants, etc. You know it was definitely one that was a little disappointing but it would be nice to see the tour operators put a little more effort in and stop at a wider variety of places and not just like the main three or four stops. There's lots of amazing places to see and I'm sure visitors would like to see them. Another surprising thing to do is to stop at the Swiss Air Memorial site. There's actually two but I visited the one that's two kilometers from Peggy's Cove. There's a short walking trail out to the coastline where you'll find a monument in memory of those who lost their lives on flight 111. The plane went down just off the coast of Peggy's Cove in 1998. There's some really nice trails here too and they offer a great scenic view of the coast and Peggy's Cove in the distance. Next up is actually technically in Halifax but it's one you could stop at on your way to or from the south shore. This is Sir Sanford Fleming Memorial Tower. It's a short detour away from the main route that people typically follow for the south shore but I'm ranking it a little lower because it might not fit into your itinerary or your driving route. It's located in a really beautiful neighborhood along a harbor called the Northwest Arm. So this is a little residential area but it's a great way to see a different part of Halifax. The tower is located inside a park and near this awesome waterfront trail. Sanford Fleming was a Scottish inventor and engineer. He's an interesting character and was responsible for like a bunch of random but brilliant things. He designed the first adhesive postage stamp in Canada but also is credited with coming up with time zones in the use of the 24 hour clock. He also proposed building this tower to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first representative government of Canada. The tower was built between 1908 and 1912. I didn't know what to expect but I was very impressed with this place. So this place shows up on basically every list and guidebook but I think it's a little underwhelming. It's a nice town but it's touristy. It's basically like two or three streets and they're full of little souvenir shops, restaurants and stuff. The downtown is a pleasant place to explore with all the vibrantly painted buildings and beautifully maintained properties. The town had their scarecrows out for their annual festival too which is fun. The downtown area is very busy with traffic and visitors and it seems like it caters to shoppers mostly. For that reason it's just not one of my top spots. I felt like it lacked some of the picturesque scenery and coastal town vibes that I was looking for but overall Nova Scotia is just an amazing and beautiful place to experience and to explore. And I hope I gave you some alternate ideas about where you can visit besides the main tourist stops. Anyway I'm Mark and I make videos about interesting places and experiences here in Canada. If you enjoyed this one please consider subscribing. I've actually got a Halifax video coming up so stick around for that. Thanks for watching and thanks to MyHeritage for sponsoring this video. If you want to learn about your family's genealogy scan the QR code to get started with your free trial.