Travel Alert--Remember to take passports to any of the Caribbean, Central American, Mexican, and Canadian locations. Even children traveling with their parents need passports.

Nova Scotia is the heart of the Canadian Maritime Provinces and Canada's ocean vacation playground where the sea breezes can relax the most harried vacationer. Visitors to Nova Scotia need to bring their golf clubs, binoculars, hiking boots, and passports. They can get to the Province by driving from New Brunswick, taking a ferry from any of the Maritime Provinces or Maine, flying on any major airline to Halifax International Airport, sailing or boating along the Atlantic Ocean coastline, or cruising on a luxury liner to Halifax or Sydney. Like the other Maritime Provinces, visitors to Nova Scotia can explore lighthouses, go curling, and watch whales as well as other sea mammals and wildlife like puffins. Whether by boat or car, all visitors should circumnavigate the Province or take the harbor cruises from any of the major cities. Nova Scotia is one of the only places where visitors can explore an old cemetery by candlelight.

Nova Scotia has French and Scottish heritages. The Scottish heritage is strongest on Cape Breton Island which is home to the Cape Breton Highlands National Park and Bras d' Or Lake where sailing is very popular. Cape Breton Island has several incredible hiking trails and scenic drives. Visitors can stay at a picturesque bed and breakfast before taking a weeklong hike on the "wild side" of Cape Breton Island where the forested hills swoop down to meet the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Cape Breton has plenty of places for camping, golfing, and touring national historic sights including, the Alexander Bell National Historic Park. When visiting Cape Breton Island, vacationers should explore the Ceileah, Cabot, Fleur-de-lis, and Bras d' Or Lake scenic drives and trails. Quaint cities a communities to visit on Cape Breton Island are Cheticamp, Ingonish, Inverness, Baddeck, Sydney with the ferry to Newfoundland, Louisbourg, St. Peter's, and Port Hawkesbury. While visiting the communities, visitors should plan on having a chopped lobster sandwich for lunch.

In Nova Scotia, besides enjoying the lobster and other Maritime cuisine, vacationers can experience beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Visitors, who want to see especially incredible views of the sunrises, should follow the Sunrise Trail from Amherst to New Glasgow and Antigonish along the Northumberland Strait. This route is accessible from New Brunswick and includes passing through scenic Cape George near St. Georges Bay and Antigonish Harbor. While traveling through any region of Nova Scotia, vacationers can stop at any of its 100 beaches, participate in some of its 700 festivals, or visit game sanctuaries.

Along the west coast of Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy, visitors can arrive in Digby by ferry from Saint John, New Brunswick and sample the local wines in the Annapolis Valley. Near Digby, there are national historic parks, a wildlife management area, and a national park. Communities to visit in this area include Clare, Annapolis Royal, Bridgetown, Middleton, Kingston, Kentville, Wolfville, and Windsor. From Digby, auto-tourists can visit Yarmouth. Between Yarmouth, Liverpool, and Luenburg, the coastline has many inlets and coves that form natural harbors. This area also is beautiful in the fall with its autumnal foliage.

Nova Scotia is important historically for Trans-Atlantic communication because of Marconi and the wireless telegraph. Visitors to the Province should explore the Marconi Museum and follow the Marconi Trail.

Halifax is the capital city and next to Dartmouth between Halifax Harbor and Bedford Basin. It is the home of the Celtic Feis, a famous Celtic Festival, tall ships, museums, gardens, golfing, and the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. Many sailors from the eastern United States use Halifax as a sailing destination.

Alternative travel ideas should include using Nova Scotia as a base for visiting the other Maritime Provinces:

• New Brunswick
• Newfoundland and Labrador
• Prince Edward Island