Laced with leafy parks and plant-filled neighborhood ‘greenways', Montreal is a multicultural whirl of traditions and flavors, from the restaurants in Chinatown to the trattorias and cafés of Little Italy. Come hungry for a visit to Mile End – the city's foodiest district – where the Jean Talon farmers' market houses dozens of stalls selling local produce, alongside street-food kiosks offering everything from Lebanese meze to Mexican tacos. There's history, too, in the Gallic streets of the French quarter and the collection of Inuit art at the Museum of Fine Arts, while Eaton Centre Mall is one of Canada's best shopping destinations.

Cape Breton Island's main city Sydney is peaceful and cozy. This Canadian port town reveals its history in the Heritage & Science museum, and boasts the world's largest fiddle on the waterfront. Enjoy the coastal scenery on Cabot Trail for a true taste of this special landscape.

Bagpipers bid a warm welcome to Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia and the most Scottish of all Canada's great cities. The Citadel Fortress, which dates to the city's founding in 1749, stands over the thriving downtown area, where modern buildings nestle alongside the exquisitely restored Historic Properties waterfront. Here you can shop for authentic Scottish tartans and superb hand-knit woolens. Nova Scotians claim they have the freshest air and warmest smiles in Canada.

A prime location at the mouth of the Gulf of Maine established this port's strategic importance centuries ago. Today you can unpick this rich history at Yarmouth's museums, which chart its origins as a settlement of the Mi'kmaq nation and the arrival of the French Acadians and English. The landscape offers many attractive clues to Yarmouth's heritage, too. Stroll about its streets to find fishing wharves and grand homes built for sea captains. Along the way, enjoy a local craft beer and snack on a lobster roll or a warming bowl of seafood chowder, courtesy of the fishing boats bobbing in the harbor. Yarmouth's natural surroundings are as charming as the town itself. Climb the 77 steps of the Cape Forchu Lighthouse for superb views of the rugged coastline. Take a walk in pretty Frost Park, particularly eye-catching during fall. And, at night, look up at the explosion of stars in the clear, dark skies for which this part of the wild east coast of Canada is famed.