Things to Do in Halifax: 18 First-Timer Must-Sees

A roughly 4 km (2.5 mile) harbourfront boardwalk of restored historic warehouses turned into shops, restaurants, and museums, running from the casino to the cruise pavilion. It is the spine of any first visit to Halifax - flat, free, and the easiest way to get your bearings along the harbour. See our full Halifax waterfront boardwalk guide for the mile-by-mile walk.

Canada's largest maritime museum, right on the boardwalk - home to the world's largest collection of Titanic artifacts, a powerful gallery on the 1917 Halifax Explosion, and the CSS Acadia, a 1913 hydrographic vessel you can board in summer. See our full Maritime Museum guide.

Canada's equivalent of Ellis Island - the ocean-liner terminal where more than one million immigrants, refugees, and war brides entered Canada between 1928 and 1971, now a national museum. Interactive exhibits, real passenger records you can search, and the moving story of how modern Canada was built.

Halifax's hands-on science museum on the Lower Waterfront - physics, astronomy, an indoor climbing structure, and a planetarium. The best rainy-day stop in the city if you are travelling with kids, and a genuine pull even for curious adults.

The star-shaped fortress above the harbour and Halifax's #1 attraction. Costumed 78th Highlanders drill on the parade square, the noon gun has fired daily since 1857, and the ramparts give the best free panorama of the city. See our full Halifax Citadel guide.

The 1803 clock tower at the foot of Citadel Hill, ordered by Prince Edward (Duke of Kent) to keep the garrison punctual - one of the most recognisable landmarks in the city and the classic Halifax postcard view. You can't go up it, but you walk past it on the way up to the Citadel.

A small island fortress in the middle of Halifax Harbour, Fort Charlotte, and a network of tunnels - newly reopened to the public and reached by a short summer ferry from the waterfront. The finishing piece of the Halifax Defence Complex. See our Georges Island guide.

One of the finest surviving Victorian public gardens in North America - 16 acres of formal beds, fountains, a duck pond, and a bandstand, right in the middle of the city, open roughly May through November. Free to wander, and genuinely restful.

A 75-hectare (185-acre) forested park at the mouth of Halifax Harbour, gifted to the city by the British Crown in 1866 for one shilling a year. Ocean trails, old military batteries, the Shakespeare by the Sea outdoor theatre in summer, and off-leash areas for dogs.

Three white-sand beaches and a boardwalk trail in a protected provincial park, about 30 minutes south of downtown Halifax - the closest genuinely beautiful ocean beach to the city, with turquoise water on a calm day. The first beach is clothing-optional beyond a point; the farther coves are not.

One of the oldest continuously operating farmers markets in North America (founded 1750), now in a LEED-certified building on the waterfront. Dozens of farmers, bakers, fishmongers, craftspeople, and hot-food stalls - the best single Saturday-morning stop in the city.

A working brewery founded in 1820 (the current Lower Waterfront building dates to 1863) offering guided tours led by costumed interpreters in character as 19th-century Haligonians - the tour ends with beer tastings in the historic tavern. One of the more theatrical brewery tours you will take anywhere.

Halifax's main shopping and dining street, running from the Citadel down to the Public Gardens - bookstores, boutiques, cafes, and restaurants, plus the Lord Nelson Hotel at the top. The commercial heart of the downtown. See our full Spring Garden Road guide.

An award-winning piece of contemporary architecture in the downtown core - a cantilevered stack of glass boxes topped by a free public rooftop terrace with a cafe and panoramic city-and-harbour views. Free to visit, and one of the most photographed buildings in Atlantic Canada.

The iconic lighthouse on a granite outcrop, about 45 minutes west of Halifax - one of the most photographed places in Canada. A half-day trip from the city that no first-timer should skip. See our Day Trips from Halifax guide for the full itinerary.

A UNESCO World Heritage fishing village about 1.5 hours west of Halifax - brightly painted heritage buildings, the Bluenose II schooner, the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, and some of the best food on the South Shore. The single best day trip from the city.

A 15-minute harbour crossing on the oldest continuously operating saltwater ferry service in North America (1752), connecting downtown Halifax to Alderney Landing in Dartmouth. The cheapest harbour cruise in the city - under $3 each way - and the best views of the Halifax skyline from the water.

A converted Vietnam War-era amphibious truck that drives you through downtown Halifax and then - without you getting out - drives straight into the harbour for a 30-minute water tour. Loud, touristy, and genuinely fun, especially with kids. The city's most photographed tour vehicle.