37 Best Sights in New Brunswick, Canada

President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his family spent summers at this estate, which is now an international park with neatly manicured lawns that stretch out to the beach. Guided tours of the 34-room Roosevelt Cottage run every 15 minutes. Presented to Eleanor and Franklin as a wedding gift, the wicker-filled structure looks essentially as it did when the family was in residence. A visitor center has displays about the Roosevelts and Canadian-American relations. In the neighboring Wells-Shober Cottage, Eleanor's Tea is held at 11 am (10 am EST) and 3 pm (2 pm EST) daily. A joint project of the American and Canadian governments, this park is crisscrossed with interesting hiking trails. Groomed dirt roads attract bikers. Eagle Hill Bog has a wooden walkway and signs identifying rare plants.

More than 40 restored buildings here re-create Acadian communities between 1770 and 1949. There are modest homes, a church, a school, and a village shop, as well as an industrial area with a lobster hatchery, a cooper, and a tinsmith shop. The bilingual staff tells fascinating stories and provides demonstrations; visitors are invited to take part. You can also enjoy dinner and entertainment during the evening and stay overnight in the grand Hôtel Château Albert, an authentic re-creation of a 1907 hotel.

This wonderful aquarium has a serious side and a fun side, with labs that are the backbone of marine research in the province and more than 1,000 specimens to see in more than 31 indoor exhibition areas, outdoor touch tanks, and the harbor seal pool. Feeding time for the seals (at 11 and 4) is always popular, as are the touch tanks, containing such species as sea stars, clams, sea cucumbers, and rare blue lobsters. Another exhibit illustrates the underwater world of the Acadian Peninsula and how fishing is carried out there, and there are various educational activities and a documentary film to see.

Formerly a thriving shipbuilding center, this is one of Miramichi's most interesting outdoor spots. Start at the museum-style interpretive center, with interactive audio-visual displays. A short boat trip will then take you to the island to see two historic sites, staffed by characters who love to share their colorful island stories and adventures. There are also guided tours and trips around the island in a 26-foot traditional Voyageur canoe, and regular special events are another attraction.

If the name of the cape isn't enough of a hint, the 140-year-old (still-working) lighthouse perched on the end of its rocky promontory says much about the nature of the waters here. Add tides that rise as much as 16 vertical meters (53 feet) and this becomes a must-see. If the ziplining, rappelling, and rock-climbing opportunities represent too much excitement, you can walk the boardwalk to a viewing platform below the lighthouse, and from there head down to the long "wilderness" beach below (check tide times and leave at least two hours before high tide; staff can advise).

The four-level tower, a great place from which to survey the harbor and Partridge Island, was built during the War of 1812 as a precaution against an American attack. Guides portray the spartan life of a soldier living in the stone fort, and an audiovisual presentation in the visitor center outlines the tower's role in the defense of Saint John during World War II. The Sunday afternoon "Saint John Privateers" program in July and August, included in admission fee and available in English and French, brings the era to life for families with children ages 6 to 11 (call to reserve space).

Big cats and other exotic species are highlights of this charming 35-acre zoo, run as a nonprofit organization by its dedicated team. There are pleasant woodland trails, a waterfowl habitat with a boardwalk and floating gazebo, and an Aboriginal Medicine Wheel and Garden. The Discovery Center has touchable displays to engage and educate children. The zoo also has a monkey house, a miniature golf course, and the Vanished Kingdom Park, a display that focuses on extinct animals.

The Ganong family has been making chocolates in St. Stephen since 1873 and their original candy factory now houses this museum. It explores the sweet history of candy making with hand-dipping videos, a collection of antique chocolate boxes, and hands-on exhibits. A Heritage Chocolate Walking Tour, available Monday to Saturday, July through mid-August, includes a guided tour of the museum and a stroll around town, where the guide points out buildings associated with the chocolate industry. There are occasional activities for children and a chocolate festival in early August. After all that chocolate talk and those tempting displays, there's a sweet finale: an on-site, year-round retail outlet selling the indulgent treats.

Get an update on the tides before heading here if you want to walk out to the lighthouse (also known as Head Harbour Lighthouse) as you can only do so at low tide, via the ladders there---be careful on the wet rocks. On a tiny island off the eastern end of Campobello, this distinctive lighthouse is marked with a large red cross and is accessible only at and around low tide, but it’s worth a look no matter the sea level. You may spot whales in the island-dotted waters off the small park on the rock-clad headland across from the light. Seasonal tours of the light may be offered.

The Officers' Quarters in the Historic Garrison District house a museum that presents a living picture of the community from the time when only First Nations peoples inhabited the area through the Acadian and Loyalist days to the immediate past. Its World War I trench puts you in the thick of battle, and the shellacked remains of the giant Coleman Frog, a Fredericton legend, still inspire controversy. There is also an artists' co-op store featuring locally produced art and crafts. If you're visiting outside the summer months, wear warm clothing—the historic site has no heating or insulation. 

Starting at the Malabeam Tourist Information Center, the walk covers the full length of the gorge and is dotted with interpretive panels and monuments. Nearby, you can descend the nearly 250 steps to the wells, holes worn in the rocks by the swirling water. Guided walking tours are also available. According to native legend, a young woman named Malabeam led her Mohawk captors to their deaths over the foaming cataract rather than guide them to her village. The bodies of the Mohawks were found the following day, but Malabeam was not found. The view over the gorge from the center is breathtaking, particularly at snowmelt time or after heavy rain.

The 1,049-acre park has camping, a restaurant, playgrounds, a 9-hole, par-36 Geoffrey Cornish golf course, a 1-mile beach, and six hiking trails, one of which follows a carriage and logging trail once used by the Roosevelts.

This small but interesting aquarium, established in 1969, is at the Huntsman Marine Science Centre, a private not-for-profit research and education institution. Marine exhibits include a huge two-story tank with indicators showing the varying levels of the Fundy tides, teeming touch tanks that delight children (and adults), rare wolffish, sea horses, squid, salmon, and a pair of very entertaining harbor seals (fed at 11 and 4 daily), as well as free movies and slide shows. A trail leads to the beach on the Saint Croix River (depending on tides). Check the website for other feeding times, behind-the-scenes tours, and sleepover opportunities. Also consult the website or call for driving directions—it's not easy to find.

Accessible by bridge from Île Lamèque, Miscou, on the northeastern tip of New Brunswick between the Bay of Chaleurs and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, has white sandy beaches, and the dunes and lagoons are good places to see migrating bird species.

The center preserves a superb example of a coastal ecosystem that protects the exceptionally fertile oyster beds in Bouctouche Bay, a salt marsh, and an important 12-km (7½-mile) sand dune. Hiking trails and an 800-meter (½-mile) boardwalk with ramps and stairs to the beach make it possible to explore sensitive areas without disrupting the environment of one of the few remaining great dunes on the northwest coast of the Atlantic Ocean, and electric vehicles provide tours for visitors with mobility issues. An outstanding interpretive center puts the ecosystem in perspective with nature exhibits, a film presentation, a saltwater aquarium and seasonal special events. The staff regularly conducts guided walks. Swimming is allowed.

The marine ecosystems of the southern New Brunswick coast are preserved in this lovely 600-acre park on a peninsula close to downtown, where a salt-marsh boardwalk, eight walking trails, a seal observation deck, and a lookout tower make bird- and nature-watching easy. Many shorebirds breed here, and it's a staging site on the flight path of shorebirds migrating between the Arctic and South America—a wildlife tracking system here feeds data to Bird Studies Canada as part of an important research and conservation project. The Children's Forest has a playground and there are picnic sites and gas barbecues. Various educational programs, guided walks, and activities are offered. Motor vehicles are excluded on Saturday before noon.

This Acadian culture theme park re-creates the world of La Sagouine, an old charwoman-philosopher created by celebrated Acadian author Antonine Maillet. It's a make-believe island community that comes to life (in French) in daylong musical and theatrical performances, with dinner theater/musical evenings July through September. There are also four performances in English Wednesday to Sunday, from June to September. Tours are available in English and French, and the Friday-night jam sessions are accessible to English-speaking visitors, too.

Surrounding the giant pond created by the Mactaquac Hydroelectric Dam on the St. John River is Mactaquac Provincial Park. Its facilities include an 18-hole championship golf course, two beaches, two marinas (one for powerboats and one for sailboats), supervised crafts activities, myriad nature and hiking trails, and a restaurant. There are also guided walks on summer Wednesdays through a nature reserve to beaver ponds. Reservations are advised for the more than 300 campsites in summer. Winter is fun, too, with trails for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and sleigh rides are available by appointment (506/328--7030). The toboggan hills and skating/ice hockey ponds are even lighted in the evening. There's a TreeGO attraction ( 877/707--4646;  www.treegomactaquac.ca) in the adjacent Centennial Park.

This is an excellent theme park, adjacent to Magnetic Hill. It includes the SplashZone water park with a huge wave pool, thrill-ride body slides, including the 60 km/hour (37 mph) Kamikaze and three giant twister slides. The FunZone has plenty of thrill rides as well as rides for younger children, including battery-powered Bumper Boats with built-in squirters, while video games in the TekZone and four 9-hole golf courses round out the attractions.

This is the largest zoo in Atlantic Canada, covering 40 acres and housing 575 animals in more than 70 species, including a Big Cat exhibit housing endangered Amur tigers (which produced three cubs in 2018) and a leopard in a replication of a Siberian landscape (the New Brunswick climate is also similar to that of Siberia). In addition to imaginative viewing areas, the cats are fed from a zipline, which encourages them to chase and jump. There's no shortage of other exotic species, including lemurs, lions and other big cats, zebras, and ostriches, plus around 80 bird species are represented, both Indigenous and exotic. A tropical house has reptiles, amphibians, birds, and primates, and at Old MacDonald's Barnyard, children can pet domestic animals or ride a pony in summer. Check feeding times on the way in.