It’s a different type of holiday experience, but it’s the kind that you’ll find again and again in Nova Scotia. Located on the North American east coast, about a six-hour flight from the UK, this is Canada’s foremost seacoast destination, and a paradise for anyone with adventurous bones. Home to over 13,000km of coastline, it’s a part of the world overloaded with special culinary and outdoor experiences, often intertwined with the area’s rich maritime culture and charm. Meanwhile, a size similar to Scotland makes its laidback seaside villages and inland driving routes perfect for a road trip.

Trout Point Lodge in Nova Scotia is known as the world’s first starlight hotel. This unique resort is made up of luxurious rustic lodges, each with handcrafted furniture, that are nestled in the Tobeatic Wilderness Area, part of a Unesco biosphere reserve. By day, you can live like an explorer, learning your way around the beeches and birches of the surrounding Canadian woodland – foraging, kayaking, mountain biking and even forest bathing. Then by night, something spectacular happens. Light pollution here is low, meaning the stargazing is out of this world. First, visitors can settle down for the resort’s daily-changing gourmet table d’hôte dinner, before venturing into the forest with the staff astronomer for an unforgettable tour of the night sky.

Foodies in particular will lose themselves in Nova Scotia. A whole lot of coastline means there’s some incredible seafood to try. Fresh oysters are a big deal here, while there are entire culinary trails dedicated to the province’s must-visit chowder and lobster hotspots (think lobster mac & cheese and lobster poutine). Head to Digby in the south-west and you’ll find the area’s world-famous scallops, cooked up at waterside joints in a number of tasty ways.

Nova Scotia has a long and rich tradition of growing grapes for wine, with a number of wineries happy to show you around. For a more extravagant bottle, visitors can book on to a heli picnic island escape – take a helicopter trip over the historic buildings of the capital Halifax to the secluded Sambro Island, where a private picnic will include a Nova Scotian wine selection curated by local experts. If you’re more about spirits, then go behind the scenes for a couple of days at the award-winning Steinhart Distillery on the northern coast. The gin made here is inspired by 300-year-old German family traditions, and a few recipe secrets might get shared as you forage for ingredients and craft your own version.

This part of Canada is also known for its historical and geological wonders, and it claims six Unesco designated sites. A perfect example is the Bay of Fundy, where you’ll find the highest tides in the world and dark red cliffs standing 300 feet tall. Here, you can trace the stories of the indigenous Mi’kmaw people and encounter the oldest dinosaur fossils in the country. It’s certainly a place made for hiking boots, while keen riders can tour the ocean floor by horseback – trotting along the famous bay to a fossil site, where the low tides will reveal 300-million-year-old dinosaur remnants. It’s one of the many beautiful vistas and dramatic seacoasts that you’ll find here.

Whether you’re encountering the wilderness, the history or the culture of Nova Scotia, you’ll always come away a little wide-eyed. Through its charming villages, relaxed atmosphere and breath-taking experiences, it’s a place that encourages you to tap into your adventurous streak and do more.