On foot
Skyline at sunset
On the western side of the loop, the Skyline Trail's boardwalk staircase steps you down a headland over the Cabot Trail and Atlantic. Walk it for sunset and you may share it with moose.
The Canadian ExplorerDiscover Canada · Explore Beyond
Try searching for
Cape Breton · Nova Scotia
Ingonish
Mountains meeting the Atlantic on Cape Breton's east coast.
- Best time
- June – mid-October; the Cabot Trail closes lookouts in deep winter.
- Getting there
- Halfway around the Cabot Trail; 2.5 hr from Sydney or Baddeck.
- Suggested stay
- 2 – 3 nights
- Known for
- Cape Breton Highlands NP · Keltic Lodge · Ingonish Beach
A portrait of Ingonish
An essential stop.
Halfway around the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton's east coast, Ingonish is where the Cape Breton Highlands slide steeply into the Atlantic — a string of beaches, headlands, and a famously sited resort within the national park boundary.
Field notes
Three ways to feel the place.
On the map
The six places
to anchor your trip.
A tour through the icons and the under-the-radar corners — laid out the way a local would walk you through.
- 1
Ingonish Beach
Long crescent of pink sand inside the national park boundary.
- 2
Middle Head Trail
Easy 3.8-km peninsula walk between Atlantic surf on both sides.
- 3
Keltic Lodge
Tudor-style 1940s grand hotel perched on a forested peninsula in the park.
- 4
Cape Breton Highlands NP
26 trails through highland plateau and along the Atlantic and Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Ingonish Beach
Middle Head Trail
Keltic Lodge
Cape Breton Highlands NP
N
Year-round
Ingonish through the seasons.
Spring
Bald eagles thick along the shore; trails reopen in May.
Summer
Beach days at Ingonish and Black Brook; long evenings at the Coastal Restaurant.
Autumn
Cape Breton fall colour rivals Vermont — first two weeks of October are peak.
Winter
Highlands Links golf shutters; Keltic Lodge closes.
Insider tips
From people who live there.
- 01
Highlands Links is one of the world's top-100 public courses — book months ahead.
- 02
Wreck Cove General Store south of Ingonish has decent coffee and local crafts.
- 03
Stop at Mary Ann Falls for a swimming-hole detour off the Cabot Trail.
More Canadian cities
Keep exploring
Alberta
Banff
A mountain town carved into the heart of the Rockies.
Alberta
Jasper
A wilder Rockies basecamp beneath dark-sky peaks.
British Columbia
Whistler
Two mountains, one village, an endless season.
Quebec
Quebec City
A walled European capital on the edge of the wild north.
British Columbia
Vancouver
Where the rainforest meets the Pacific — and the skyline meets the sea.
British Columbia
Tofino
Surf, storm-watching, and rainforest on Vancouver Island's wild edge.
Ontario
Toronto
Canada's largest city — and one of the world's most diverse.
Ontario
Niagara Falls
A thundering icon with wine country at its shoulder.
Quebec
Montréal
A French-speaking island city with European bones and a North American pulse.
Alberta
Calgary
A modern prairie city with the Rockies on the horizon.
Nova Scotia
Halifax
An Atlantic port city where every street ends at the sea.
Ontario
Ottawa
Canada's capital — gothic spires, a frozen canal, and small-town charm.
British Columbia
Victoria
Garden-laced capital on the southern tip of Vancouver Island.
Alberta
Edmonton
Alberta's festival capital above a 48 km river valley.
Manitoba
Winnipeg
Where the rivers meet — and the polar bears wait.
Manitoba
Churchill
Polar bears, belugas, and aurora on the edge of Hudson Bay.
Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John's
North America's oldest city, painted in jellybean colours.
Saskatchewan
Saskatoon
The Paris of the Prairies — bridges, bistros, big sky.
Prince Edward Island
Charlottetown
The birthplace of Canada, on an island of red roads and oysters.
British Columbia
Squamish
Granite walls, eagle skies, and the Sea-to-Sky's outdoor capital.
British Columbia
Nanaimo
Vancouver Island's harbour city, a launchpad for the wild east coast.
British Columbia
Port Hardy
The end of the road on Vancouver Island, where the ferry north begins.
British Columbia
Bella Bella
Heiltsuk homeland on a remote island in the Great Bear Rainforest.
British Columbia
Prince Rupert
The misty deep-water port where the Inside Passage meets Alaska.
British Columbia
Haida Gwaii
The misty archipelago at the edge of the continent.
Alberta
Drumheller
Hoodoos, dinosaurs, and the strangest landscape on the prairie.
Alberta
Canmore
A former coal town turned alpine playground at the gates of Banff.
Saskatchewan
Regina
Saskatchewan's quiet capital, ringed by wheat and big skies.
Saskatchewan
Moose Jaw
Tunnels, mineral pools, and prairie murals.
Ontario
Algonquin
Ontario's first provincial park — a canoe country of moose and maple.
Ontario
Sault Ste. Marie
Locks, canyons, and Group of Seven horizons at the edge of Lake Superior.
Ontario
Thunder Bay
Where the Sleeping Giant guards Lake Superior's north shore.
Québec
Québec City
The walled city above the St. Lawrence, North America's only fortified capital.
Québec
Charlevoix
A meteor-crater landscape of artists, whales, and great farm tables.
Québec
Gaspé
Where Jacques Cartier landed and the Chic-Chocs meet the sea.
Québec
Mont-Tremblant
The Laurentians' alpine village, founded by Algonquin and finished in pastel.
Québec
Sainte-Adèle
Lakeside Laurentian town of cafés and ski hills, 45 minutes from Montréal.
New Brunswick
Saint John
Canada's oldest incorporated city, where the Bay of Fundy reverses a river.
New Brunswick
St. Martins
Covered bridges, sea caves, and the start of the Fundy Trail.
Nova Scotia
Baddeck
Lakeside village on Bras d'Or Lake and Alexander Graham Bell's beloved home.
Prince Edward Island
Cavendish
Red cliffs, green gables, and the Anne of Green Gables homeland.
Prince Edward Island
North Cape
The wind-swept top of PEI, where two seas meet and reef extends a kilometre out.
Prince Edward Island
Souris
Fishing harbour with Magdalen Islands ferries and Singing Sands beach.
Newfoundland & Labrador
Bonavista
Where John Cabot saw land in 1497 — fishing-stage village turned design destination.
Newfoundland & Labrador
Twillingate
Iceberg capital of the world, on a string of islands in the North Atlantic.
Yukon
Whitehorse
Yukon's capital on the Yukon River — small city, vast wilderness on its doorstep.
Yukon
Dawson City
The Klondike gold-rush town frozen at the moment of its 1898 fever.
Northwest Territories
Yellowknife
Gold-rush capital on Great Slave Lake, beneath some of the world's best auroras.
Nunavut
Iqaluit
Nunavut's capital on Baffin Island, where Inuit culture and Arctic tundra meet.
Nunavut
Pond Inlet
An Inuit community on the floe edge at the entrance to Sirmilik National Park.
Nunavut
Cambridge Bay
A Kitikmeot hamlet on Victoria Island and a stop on the Northwest Passage.