What's good / interesting to do in Sydney and/or Cape Breton, Nova Scotia?

[JLMoran]

I'll be in Sydney, NS on August 5 during my upcoming Iceland & Greenland cruise, and so far I'm not seeing any excursions offered by the ship that really grab me or my family; partly because my wife is trying to keep our costs while in Canada lower, and the ship excursions are between $50-$70 per person for outings that will see us spending 1-1/2 to 2 hours of our time in port on a bus. We also got changed from docked to tendering a while back (due to "port congestion"), and our time in port is only from 9 AM to 4 PM. Since excursions will get first tenders, I have to assume we won't even be on land before 10:00 or even 10:30.

My wife found Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design and said she'd like to check that out; she thinks our younger daughter who's an artist would like that as well. I also see there is a "Good Cheer Trail" in Cape Breton,where one can find craft beers and food options (though the food trucks will be absent the day we're there). And I'm sure we'll see plenty of buskers, which will make my older daughter (the musician of the family) quite happy. But I have to imagine there's more to see and do for a family like ours.

Anyone visited there recently and have any places they can recommend on a short port day? Could we maybe hire a taxi for the day to take us to the places they know well and recommend? The satellite maps seem to suggest there's a taxi area at the harbor, so I'd be open to this option if it was viable, since the harbor is actually in North Sydney and it looks like it's a minimum of 30 minutes to get to Cape Breton or any other area.

[jim/nic]

I don't if RC offers it but I believe the fortress of Louisbourg is only a 40minute car ride.. it's a sad day when I live only 5 hours from Sydney and never been lol

[JLMoran]

3 hours ago, jim/nic said:

I don't if RC offers it but I believe the fortress of Louisbourg is only a 40minute car ride.. it's a sad day when I live only 5 hours from Sydney and never been lol

That is one of the tours offered (either on its own or in combo with a visit to the nearby lighthouse), but my wife isn’t interested due to the cost – about $70 per person for either tour, $280 for our family, for about 3-1/2 hours; given you said it’s a 40 minute drive, that means we only get about 1-1/2 to 2 hours to actually explore the place. I don’t blame her for balking at the cost.

Maybe if we don’t do any of the other things I mentioned, we can visit on our own via taxi since that should be a lot less for the four of us, and have some more time to explore. Always assuming she’s ok seeing yet another old fort. (we seem to visit at least one on every big trip we take )