About Joggins Fossil Cliffs

A UNESCO World Heritage Site preserving a 300-million-year-old fossilized rainforest.

Features & Highlights

🏛️ UNESCO World Heritage Site
🏛️ 300-million-year-old fossils
🏛️ Guided fossil tours
🏛️ Joggins Fossil Institute museum
🏛️ Cliff-side boardwalk
🏛️ Canadian natural wonder

Detailed Information

Joggins Fossil Cliffs UNESCO Site

Stand on the tidal flats at Joggins and you are walking across the petrified floor of a 300-million-year-old Coal Age rainforest. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008, these constantly eroding cliffs have produced some of the most important fossil finds in the history of paleontology, including the tiny reptile Hylonomus lyelli - the oldest known reptile, ancestral to every living reptile, bird, and mammal. Every high tide scrubs the shoreline and lays bare fresh specimens in the rock, so no two visits ever turn up exactly the same beach.

What to See & Do

Begin at the Joggins Fossil Centre, where interpretive exhibits unpack the geology, the ancient ecosystem, and the story of how 19th-century naturalists Sir Charles Lyell and Sir William Dawson reshaped our understanding of deep time. The collection includes standing fossil lycopsid trees still rooted in the coal measures where they grew - an entire forest turned to stone in place.

Then walk down to the beach and cliffs at low tide to search for fossils yourself. Loose specimens on the shore can be picked up and photographed, while the cliff face and any fossils still embedded in it are protected and must stay put. For the richest experience, book a guided beach tour with one of the Centre's interpreters, who read the rock layers the way a librarian reads a shelf and know exactly where to look.

Practical Visitor Info

  • Season & Hours: The Joggins Fossil Centre is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., May 1 through mid-October. The beach is accessible year-round, but winter ice and high tides make conditions hazardous.
  • Admission: Adults $7.39 + tax; Students and Seniors $6.52 + tax; Children 5 and under are free.
  • Guided Tours: The Explorer Experience is a 1.5-hour interpreter-led beach walk at $25 per person + tax - the single best way to understand what you are looking at.
  • Dining: The Roundhouse Cafe operates on site (Saturday to Wednesday, June 29 to August 31, 2026) for light meals and coffee between fossil hunts.

Getting There

Joggins sits on the upper Bay of Fundy shore, about a three-hour drive from Halifax via highways 102 and 104. Aim for 100 Main St, Joggins, NS B0L 1A0. Pair the trip with Advocate Harbour and Cape Chignecto for a multi-day Fundy coast loop.

Plan Your Visit: