Canada’s Atlantic provinces: Nova Scotia, Newfoundland & Labrador, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

The first clue to Canada’s Atlantic provinces is in the name—the Atlantic Ocean dominates Canada’s four easternmost provinces. There’s Prince Edward Island, the beach-circled, bucolic birthplace of fictional character Anne of Green Gables. Then there’s Nova Scotia, which crams 7,400 km (4,600 mi) of coastline onto a peninsula narrow enough that you’re never more than 56 km (35 mi) from the sea. There’s New Brunswick, which boasts two entirely different coastlines: rocky crags along the Bay of Fundy and sandy shores beside the surprisingly warm waters of the Northumberland Strait. Completing the quartet is Newfoundland and Labrador; a mere 3,200 km (2,000 mi) from Europe, it’s convenient enough for the Vikings to pop by (around 1000 A.D.).

These four may make up Canada’s smallest region geographically, but they’re jam-packed with history, culture, scenery and things to do. And while they’re close in distance, each province is distinct.

In Nova Scotia, true to its name “New Scotland,” there’s a real taste of Scotland that ranges from Gaelic language to whiskey. Read more on Nova Scotia.
New Brunswick has the distinction of being Canada’s only officially bilingual, French-English province. Read more on New Brunsick.
Prince Edward Island resembles a mini-Great Britain, with tidy fields and rolling hills. Read more on Prince Edward Island.
Then there’s Newfoundland, the island known as “The Rock,” with its rugged fishing villages and lively historic capital city, St. John’s; and Labrador, one of the world’s greatest remaining wilderness areas. Read more on Newfoundland and Labrador.

So, who lives in Atlantic Canada? Almost 2.3 million people with diverse roots: two First Nations bands, the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet, who’ve been joined over the centuries by Basque whalers, fishermen from Brittany and Normandy, Scottish highlanders, Loyalists (or Tories, as the Americans called the losing side in the Revolutionary War), slaves escaping up the “Underground Railroad” to Canada, plus waves of Irish, German, Dutch, Lebanese and other immigrants.

Today, the population is often noted for being Canada’s friendliest, with a laid-back charm as distinctive as the Irish overtones in the lilting Newfoundland accent. And Atlantic Canadians are funny—the region is the birthplace of some of Canada’s leading comedians, including Rick Mercer of “Talking to Americans” and “Rick Mercer Report” fame.

The dominant sound to come from Atlantic Canada’s cultural stew is the fiddle, with foot-stomping Acadian, Scottish and/or Irish strains. The bagpipes are big, too, at the Gaelic College on Cape Breton Island, NS, and The College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada on Prince Edward Island.

There’s a great mix of traditional and not-so-traditional music at the annual Miramichi Folksong Festival and Francofête en Acadie, both in New Brunswick. For the classically minded, there’s the Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival, also in New Brunswick, now in its 35th year.

Of course, in this ocean-defined area there’s more than singing and dancing—there’s lots of good eating:

Lobster fresh from the boat in little fishing villages like Rustico, PEI, Pictou, NS, or Quidi Vidi, NL, along with scallops, mussels, oysters, clams or crab, haddock or halibut.
Sardines from Blacks Harbour, NB, home of the world’s largest sardine industry.
Blueberries: New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are prime growing areas.
Chocolate from the Ganong Bros. chocolate factory, in St. Stephen, NB, which is also the site of The Chocolate Museum and central to the annual Chocolate Fest.
You’ll find artisanal cheeses, charcuterie and rum-flavoured cake.

There’s good stuff to drink, too, such as:

North America’s first and oldest single-malt whiskey, from Glenora Inn & Distillery on Cape Breton Island, NS
Wine from one of Nova Scotia’s six wine-growing regions.
Newfoundland screech, which is a locally bottled Jamaican rum.

Options for history buffs are equally varied:

L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, NL, a reconstruction of the Viking settlement that is the earliest known European site in North America.
Port-Royal National Historic Site, NS, where Samuel de Champlain established The Order of Good Cheer in the winter of 1606-07 to boost morale during these cold months.
Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site on Cape Breton Island, NS, the largest reconstructed 18th-century fortified French town in North America.
Kings Landing Historical Settlement, a living recreation of 19th-century New Brunswick life, and the Village Historique Acadien in Caraquet, NB, for an 18th-century view.
Province House National Historic Site in PEI’s capital city, Charlottetown, where Canada formed its Confederation in 1867.