New Brunswick Guide

The province of New Brunswick, roughly 320km long and 260km wide, attracts less tourist attention than its Maritime neighbours, and it's hard to understand quite why. It's true that the forested upland that makes up the bulk of the province is a trifle repetitious, but the long river valleys that furrow the landscape compensate and the funnel-shaped Bay of Fundy, with its dramatic tides and delightful coastline, is outstanding. Equally, in Fredericton, the capital, the province has one of the regions most appealing towns, a laid-back easy sort of place which, besides offering the bonus of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, also possesses strings of fine old villas and a good-looking cathedral. Handsome scenery is within easy reach too - it's a short trip south to scenic Passamaquoddy Bay, an island-studded inlet of the Bay of Fundy that's home to the likeable resort of St Andrews. Southeast of Fredericton, the Saint John River snakes a tortuous route to the Bay of Fundy at the busy port of Saint John. Along with most of the settlements of southern New Brunswick, Saint John was founded by United Empire Loyalists, whose descendants, mingled with those of British colonists, account for around sixty percent of the province's 725,000 inhabitants. Some 130,000 people live here in Saint John, making this the province's big city - it's much larger than Fredericton - and although hard times have left the place frayed at the edges the city boasts a splendid sample of Victorian architecture. Also, although industry has scarred the Fundy coast hereabouts, there's still no denying the rugged charms of Saint John's setting, and not far away are the more pristine land and seascapes of both the coastal Fundy Trail Parkway and Fundy National Park.

The remaining third of New Brunswick's population are French-speakers, the descendants of those Acadians who settled in the region after the deportations of 1755. To avoid further persecution, these refugees clustered in the remote northern parts of the province, though since the 1960s they have become more assertive - following the example set by their Québecois cousins - and have made Moncton, in southeast New Brunswick, the effective capital of modern Acadia, with a French-speaking university as their cultural centre. Moncton is, however, of limited interest to the passing visitor - it's a modern, brassy, breezy sort of place - and is chiefly of use as a stepping stone either west to Fundy National Park or east to the beautifully remote remains of Fort Beauséjour. As for the other Acadian districts, they are best visited on the way to Québec. Two main roads link Fredericton with its northern neighbour. The first - which is both more scenically diverting and more direct - slices up the western edge of the province along the Saint John River Valley to French-speaking Edmundston, en route to Rivière-du-Loup . The second cuts northeast for the long haul up the Miramichi River Valley to the cluster of small towns that are known collectively as Miramichi City. Near here are the untamed coastal marshes of the Kouchibouguac National Park and, in the northeast corner of the province, the Acadian Peninsula, whose pride and joy is the re-created Village Historique Acadien, near the fishing village of Caraquet.

SMT buses run a reasonable provincewide network of services, with daily connections along the Saint John River Valley and up the east coast from Moncton to Campbellton. There are also regular buses from Fredericton, Saint John and Moncton over to Charlottetown on PEI, via the Confederation Bridge. The Saint John to Digby car ferry is a useful short cut if you're heading down to southwest Nova Scotia.

At first sight Saint John seems a confusing hotchpotch of industrial and residential zones spread over the bluffs, valleys and plateaus where the Saint John River twists and turns its way into the Bay of Fundy, 100km southeast of Fredericton. In fact, the downtown area is squeezed onto a chubby peninsula immediately east of the river mouth - a surprisingly compact centre for a city of 130,000 people with the focus firmly on the short main drag, King Street. In 1877 a fire wiped out most of the town, but as a major shipbuilding centre Saint John was sufficiently wealthy to withstand the costs of immediate reconstruction. Consequently, almost all the city's older buildings - at their most resplendent along and around Prince William Street - are late Victorian. Most of the shipyards have now gone and the place survives as a modest seaport and manufacturing town - hence the belching chimneys - with a good range of restaurants. Apart from its diverting Victorian architecture, Saint John's leading attractions are the New Brunswick Museum and the Reversing Falls Rapids; the latter is a good place to see the effects of the Fundy tides. The town's most famous son is Donald Sutherland; its most celebrated product, Moosehead beer.

Situated 100km inland from the Bay of Fundy on the banks of the Saint John River, Fredericton, the capital of New Brunswick, has a well-padded air, the streets of its tiny centre graced by well-established elms and genteel villas. There's scarcely any industry here and the population of 46,000 mostly work for the government or the university, at least partly fulfilling the aims of one of the town's aristocratic sponsors, who announced in 1784: it shall be the most gentlemanlike place on earth. Fredericton has few specific sights, but what there is is good, principally the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the gift of that crusty old reactionary Lord Beaverbrook, and the occasional building left from the Military Compound that once housed the garrison.

About 40km east of Saint John along Hwy 111, one of the most beautiful portions of New Brunswick's coastline has been opened up by the Fundy Trail Parkway, a newly created, 13km-long scenic highway that drifts along a dramatic stretch of seashore. It begins at the attractive seaside village of St Martins, which boasts no less than two covered bridges and where there are several first-rate places to stay. Even more beautiful and a good deal wilder - but much further east - is Fundy National Park , whose rugged sea cliffs, bays and coves are patterned with superb hiking trails. Highway 114 cuts a diagonal through the park, branching off the Trans-Canada about 100km east of Saint John to access its trails and campsites, before finally emerging at the seaside hamlet of Alma, the only sizeable settlement hereabouts and a handy spot to break your journey. If you're after visiting both the parkway and the park, allow at least a couple of days especially as the drive between the two is a time-consuming, wearying business - though there are long-term plans to build a coastal road between St Martins and Alma.