Experience the best of Sydney

Sydney stands on a deep harbour on the northeast coast of Cape Breton Island, in Nova Scotia, and was founded in 1785 as the capital of the colony of Cape Breton. Coal and steel built the city in the 19th and 20th centuries, and Cossit House, a restored 18th-century home, and the St Patrick's Church Museum recall that era. A giant fiddle on the waterfront nods to the island's musical traditions.

The Fortress of Louisbourg, a reconstructed 18th-century French fortified town, lies a drive away on the coast. The Cabot Trail loops around the northern highlands through Cape Breton Highlands National Park, with sea cliffs, moose and forested valleys, and Baddeck, on the Bras d'Or lakes, has a museum devoted to Alexander Graham Bell.

Cape Breton's Gaelic and Acadian heritage sounds in the fiddle music of its kitchen parties and festivals, and oatcakes, seafood chowder and fresh lobster feature on local menus. Summers are mild and winters snowy, and the Celtic Colours festival in October fills the island's halls with music while the hills turn red and gold.