Long Weekend Cabot Trail Itinerary

Planning to drive the Cabot Trail on a long weekend? Here are all my favorite things to do, places to eat and where to hike!

Planning your stops on your Cabot Trail road trip can be daunting! The views on the drive are amazing any time of year (but especially in the Fall). Cape Breton has plenty of things to do, whether you are looking for hiking, golfing, relaxing or checking out museums! It’s the perfect long weekend road trip.

What Is The Cabot Trail?

The almost 300km Cabot Trail is a popular tourist attraction in Nova Scotia. The Cabot Trail refers to the road that you are driving, but the best parts are in the small towns along the way.

Here’s a handy map of our stops!

How Long Does It Take To Drive The Cabot Trail?

Without stopping, you can drive the Cabot Trail in about 4 hours. But trust me, you’re going to want to stop! We recently spent about 2.5 days on the trail, but you could definitely spend a week exploring (and hiking the 26 trails in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park).

A highly controversial question… should you drive clockwise or counter-clockwise? Well it doesn’t REALLY matter but we enjoyed traveling counter-clockwise because you’re driving on the outside lane, you get some great views.

Long Weekend On The Cabot Trail

As an example:

Day 1: arrive in Baddeck from mainland Nova Scotia in the afternoon, check out Alexander Graham Bell Museum and walk the main street.

Day 2: Drive to Ingonish in the morning and hike the Franey Trail, have lunch in Ingonish or wait to drive to Neil’s Harbour to check out Chowder House. Next stop is Beulach Ban Falls and then Lone Shieling. Stay in Cheticamp or Pleasant Bay for the night.

Day 3: Hike Skyline Trail and then explore Cheticamp. Hike the Gypsum Mine trail and stay the night in Cheticamp or drive back to Baddeck

Day 4: Eat at the Dancing Goat for breakfast before heading home!

If you’re not into hiking, substitute golf, or just relaxing. It really is a choose your own adventure type of trip!

Cabot Trail Itinerary

We’re going to start in Baddeck for the purposes of this post, but you can start wherever you like. In fact we came from Sydney and started in Ingonish on our trip. If you’re coming from outside of Cape Breton, you might take Highway 105 to Baddeck and start there, or follow Route 19 – The Ceilidh Trail to Margaree and start there!

Baddeck

Once you drive into Baddeck you’ll realize just how many hotels, motels and bed & breakfasts there are. In fact this town of 700 residents has over 600 rooms for you to stay in! The main road; Chebucto Street has so many great shops and restaurants. We loved stopping into Bean There Cafe to grab a drink before wandering around the town.

To eat, you may want to try the Freight Shed Bistro on the waterfront. The food is imaginative and delicious.

One of the main attractions in Baddeck is the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site. It is a museum dedicated to the life of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone and Baddeck summer resident. Bell was a pioneer in deaf education, and also experimented with aeronautics. Baddeck was the site of the first controlled powered aircraft flight in Canada in 1909 on the Silver Dart, designed by Bell and the Aerial Experiment Association.

Ingonish

Ingonish is a cluster of 5 communities (Ingonish Ferry, Ingonish Harbour, Ingonish Beach, Ingonish Centre and Ingonish) with lots of great things to do. First; it is the Eastern entrance to Cape Breton Highlands National Park. There is a small visitor’s centre where you can pay for your day pass ($7.90 per adult) and grab a map.

If you’re up for a bit of a challenge, we recommend hiking Franey Trail. It is a pretty difficult hike because it is mostly uphill but the views at the top are worth it! It is about 7.5KM long and took us just over 2 hours, but we walk pretty speedy so it may take you a bit longer.

If you’re looking for a place to stay, the famous Keltic Lodge in Ingonish is a great choice. It started as a private residence but in 1936 the Corson family sold the property to the Canadian Government to be turned into a luxury resort. The Cape Breton Highland Links golf course is on the same property and was designed by Stanley Thompson. He called it the “Mountains and Oceans” course, and it’s currently sitting at #9 in Canada according to ScoreGolf Canada.

To eat, we recommend Salty Rose’s & The Periwinkle Cafe. Salty Rose’s is a cute gift shop, selling locally made clothing, home decor, jewelry and gifts. In the same building you can order a delicious bite to eat and coffee from Periwinkle Cafe. There are a few seats outside and inside. If they happen to have the roasted squash and sage soup when you visit, I highly recommend getting that!

Neil’s Harbour

Neil’s Harbour is a quaint fishing village that most people probably drive past! We stopped in and visited the lighthouse, which serves ice-cream in the summer (sadly not in October!). Just over from the lighthouse is The Chowder House. I have it on good authority that the seafood chowder is amazing, however we did not stop in!

To continue on your Cabot Trail journey, you could leave Neil’s Harbour and get back on the Cabot Trail road, however we recommend taking New Haven Rd through White Point for better views (it only adds about 10 minutes to your trip). In Dingwall you’ll have the option to continue on the Cabot Trail or detour up to the Aspy Bay and Meat Cove. If you have the time it is a lovely area with great views and hikes! If not, continue on the Cabot Trail…

Beulach Ban Falls

Our next stop is in the middle of nowhere, but on the side of the road in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park you can see Beulach Ban Falls This 65’ waterfall is impressive, and the best part is there is no hiking to get to it! The parking lot is just steps away from the bottom of the falls. Beware: it can be very busy here! There is a 10km hiking trail that leaves from the same parking lot called Aspy Trail.

Pleasant Bay

Our next stop is also along the side of the road; Lone Shieling is a replica of the huts built on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. You can also walk the short trail through a 350 year old sugar maple forest! It was magical in the Fall!

Pleasant Bay is a great place to go on a whale watching tour. There are several companies offering tours May through mid October. We did not take a tour this time around (we did have a great experience whale watching on Brier Island in southwest Nova Scotia though).

There is also a Whale Interpretive Centre where you can learn about the whales, dolphins and porpoises that visit Cape Breton waters every year.

Skyline Trail

The Skyline Trail might be one of the most popular hikes in Cape Breton! The views are amazing, but even though the hike is long, it is fairly easy and flat. You have the option of a 7km in and out hike, or 9km loop. We opted for the loop and it took us about 2 hours from start to finish (but we walk fast!).

We saw people of all ages on the trail, which has washroom facilities both at the start of the trail and throughout the trail.

Cheticamp

Cheticamp is the biggest town along the Cabot Trail, with a population of almost 4000 people. French is the native language of 38% of people who live in the Cheticamp area due to the large Acadian population.

It’s the second entrance/exit to the Highlands National Park, and you can find a Welcome centre with a campground to pay your park fees and get a map and park information!

Another great hike is the Gypsum Mine Trail. It’s private land but all well marked. There are several trails, but just follow the sign that says Lake (or Lac in French). The views are amazing at the end, and you can swim in the lake in the summer. You will have to climb a bit for the classic views, but it’s worth it!

For the golf enthusiast, Le Portage Golf Club offers an amazing course with spectacular views. Although this course isn’t as popular as the Highland Links or nearby Cabot Cliffs or Cabot Links, it’s a bit of a hidden gem!

Now for my favorite topic; food! You must stop at Aucoin bakery to grab some sweets and bread for your trip! We grabbed some cinnamon rolls, a donut and an apple fritter and everything was delicious. For lunch we ate at The Doryman Pub & Grill, and really enjoyed it! They serve classic pub food, and they are known for their live music.

Margaree Valley

Once you leave the Cheticamp area, you’ll drive through the Margaree Valley to connect back to Baddeck.

I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about the Dancing Goat Cafe, but sadly we did not stop in. Along the Cabot Trail road you’ll find lots of gift shops and local craft stores to stop into. The Margaree Salmon Museum will teach you all about the famous Atlantic Salmon (sadly closed for the 2020 season!) in an old one room schoolhouse.

Final Thoughts

There’s no rule that you have to do the WHOLE Cabot Trail. We skipped Maragree and kept heading down the coast to follow the Ceilidh Trail through Inverness and Port Hood. Check out more tips to plan your Cabot Trail trip.

Cape Breton also has so many more amazing destinations like Sydney, and the Fortress of Louisbourg.