What is the best thing to do in Halifax, Novia Scotia on a short time frame?

Question

I am going there on a cruise and only have about 8 hours.....I wish I had more time, but what are some things I can do with about 8 hours....

Answer 1

The Maritime Museum on the waterfront is really great, and just walking around town.

The Titanic victims' cemetery was really touching -- I think there is more than one, but the one I saw had a mother/child grave, and the graves of some or all of the musicians, who played on the deck as the ship was sinking.

And of course -- eat some seafood!

Answer 2

In addition to what others have said, walk around the waterfront area and look for the old guy who does sandstone carvings as you watch - an interesting character.  Go for a walk in Pleasant Park.  If you are there in the evening check out the Grafton Street Dinner Theatre.  Have fun.

Answer 3

8 hours is a very short visit.  My best advice would be to walk along Barrington, until you reach Spring Garden Drive.  Spend about 2 hours window shopping, up and down Spring Garden, check out a cafe or two.  And then go back down Barrington and spend the rest of the time at the casino and have a few drinks.

Have fun!!

Answer 4

Lawrencetown Beach !

half an hour drive out of Halifax, BEAUTIFUL beach, if you surf or just like big waves this is the place. The water is quite cold, but the waves are worth it, trust me. I would also recommend the restaurant Giovanni's, deeelicious :)

enjoy your trip, Halifax is a really gorgeous city.

Answer 5

there is the museums - Natural History, Museum of the Atlantic and the museum of the Arts.  There are pubs every where and good restraunts in the downtown area as well.  There are small shops that are interesting along Spring Garden Rd. and Barrington St.  These two streets are connected.  The side streets off of Spring Garden Rd. are full of shops that are from crafters and specialty shops.  There is the Harbour Hopper that will take you all around the downtown and then into the harbour.  It is an amphibious craft.  If you are going to be here in July, there is the Jazz Fest on Spring Garden Rd.  It is held every year and people come from all around to hear the talent.  The waterfront, just North of the cruise ship is rife with Buskers and interesting talent.  Also, more interesting shops for every taste.  The museums are also close by.  Another harbour cruise is the Harbour Queen and also the whale watching tours.  You will find them also on the waterfront.  If you like to see Historical Views, there is the Citadel Hill and museum which is on top of the hill.  There is a cannon that is fired every day at noon from uptop there.  Also a military historical museum there as well.  We have rikshaws that will take you all over the place that are fun to ride in.  (Sulkies that are people powered).  There are antique shops, malls, museums, historical places, bistros, events galore.  The Public Gardens is a nice place to visit.  It is the oldest garden of it's magnitude in Canada.  It was once privately owned quite some time ago and has been open to the public.  The list goes on...... enjoy, the people are very friendly.

Answer 6

I was in Halifax a couple of months ago.

It's a very beautiful city, with a lot of nice corners, but if you'd ask me what there is to see in Halifax that you HAVE to visit, I'd struggle to come up with anyhting, except for the Citadel.

The Citadel is interesting (and huge, which you wouldn't be able to tell from the outside); plus you can walk all around the ramparts and take beautiful pictures of the city. You can spend 1 to 2 hours easily at the Citadel. They also fire a gun up there sometimes, at noon, I guess, but it's not all that impressive.

Then there's the NovaScotia parliament, which you can visit (if it's open). Th eonly really interesting rooms are the actual parliament chamber and a sort of assembly room opposite, as well as the library. You can spend 30 or 40 minutes in the building, but you can easily do it in 10 as well...

Opposite the parliament there's a huge art gallery. You can easily spend several hours in there, but only if you are interested in that stuff.

The nicest things are the restored harbour buildings, the so-called "Historic Properties", which house many shops etc. Have a look around them, as well as the shops and nice square adjacent to them (at the northern end of Granville Street).

Closer to the cruise docks, there's the Alexander Keith brewery, which is a nice historic building. On certain days, at certain times, there's a large underground Farmers' Market nearby, but it is very very overcrowded.

If you are not done yet with shopping, you can walk up Spring Garden Road, which has nice shops, and end up at the Public Gardens which is a small but very beautiful park.

You can also see some impressive university buildings along the way.

My suggestion would be:

go to the Alexander Keith brewery and have a look and decide, if you want to pop in on your way back and for how long, then go up the hill and then keep north, in order to reach the Citadel; after visitng the Citadel, see the parliament and the shops (I think it's called Barrington shopping Centre?) and the Historic Porperties; by now you should have at least used up 4 hours, so now you can look at your watch and decide whether to spend more time at the Historic Properties, or head for Spring Garden Road for some more shopping, or go back to the brewery....

**********

EDIT

I haven't seen the Titanic cemetary, but most of the people I have heard talking about it seemed to agree that it is a sort of semi-fake thing for tourists.

Answer 7

Go to the Old Triangle, have some Propeller Bitter, and say hi for me.  Avoid the Harbour Hopper.

Addition:  More of interest than the Titanic gravesite, which includes a simple series of gravestones (including one marked J. Dawson), would be the Halifax Explosion Memorial nearby, with its Bell Tower and view of the Narrows,  a cab ride to the North End.

Then on to the Old Triangle.  The NS legislature, Art Gallery and Historic Properties on the harbour are close by, and if you really need a Titanic fix, see the excellent exhibit at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.