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Getting Here & Around

Getting here is as easy as 1, 2, 3. One major highway. Two direct flights. Three Atlantic ferry journeys. We may be an Island, but we’re definitely not remote—you’ll find plenty of ways to arrive and get around Cape Breton Island by air, sea and land.

A highway winds past an eroding coastline

By Air

Regular direct flight service is available to the JA Douglas McCurdy Airport in Sydney from Toronto and Montreal with connections to the rest of Canada and beyond. Or travellers may opt to fly into the Halifax Stanfield International Airport where they can drive to Cape Breton Island.

JA Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport

Here are the details of flights into Sydney (current as of April 2023):

Air Canada:

  • Sydney/Toronto operates once a day, departing Sydney at 5:30 AM.
  • Sydney/Montreal operates once a day, departing Sydney at 4:35 PM.
  • Please contact Air Canada directly for flight booking information –  https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home.html#/

Halifax Stanfield International Airport

AIR CANADA:

  • Year-Round Daily Service: Toronto – Halifax
  • Year-Round Daily Service: Montreal – Halifax
  • Year-Round Daily Service: Ottawa – Halifax
  • Year-Round Daily Service: Calgary – Halifax
  • Year-Round Daily Service: Vancouver – Halifax
  • Year-Round Daily Service: Boston – Halifax
  • Year-Round Daily Service: New York (Newark) – Halifax
  • Year-Round Service: London, UK – Halifax

WESTJET:

  • Year-Round Daily Service: Toronto – Halifax
  • Year-Round Daily Service: Calgary – Halifax
  • Year-Round Daily Service: Edmonton – Halifax

**For more airlines flying to Halifax, visit: Halifax Stanfield Airport

By Sea

Your journey to Cape Breton Island will be smooth sailing. Bay Ferries offers an inter-provincial ferry service, offering daily service from Saint John, New Brunswick to Digby, Nova Scotia. Northumberland Ferries will offer daily seasonal service from Wood Islands, PEI to Caribou, Nova Scotia.  Bay Ferries will be resuming International high-speed ferry service between Bar Harbor, Maine to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in Spring 2022. From each of these ferries, Cape Breton Island is then easily reached by car, tour bus, motorcycle.

Marine Atlantic offers daily ferry service from Port-aux-Basques and Argentia, Newfoundland to North Sydney.

Cape Breton Island also offers miles of coastline. The Port of Sydney is a popular destination for many prominent cruise lines and visitors with sailboats or superyachts will find and plenty of ports of sail and marinas to dock, moor, and explore.

By Land

Driving? The North American highway system connects all major routes to Nova Scotia via the Trans-Canada Highway, which leads eastward over the Canso Causeway to Cape Breton Island.

Should you need a lift, there are also bus services and charters into the Island from various locations.

Getting Around

Although it’s easy to get around the Island, make sure to give yourself plenty of time. Time to take in all the scenic vistas. Time to get from the heart of Acadie to Sydney. Time to take in a ceilidh, watch a drum circle, and find an isolated piece of paradise tucked amongst the craggy cliffs.

Sydney Area/Marconi Trail 8

Taxi Services

  • Acabie Transport— Cheticamp— 1-902-224-5069
  • Bud’s Taxi – Glace Bay — 1-902-849-4055
  • City Wide Taxi – Sydney – 1-902-564-5432
  • Crown Taxi – Sydney Mines — 1-902-736-6565
  • Dave’s Taxi – Port Hawkesbury — 1-902-631-1510
  • District 11 Taxi – River Ryan — 1-902-271-3635
  • Dynasty Cabs – Sydney — 1-902-562-5777
  • Gerry’s Taxi Ltd – Glace Bay — 1-902-849-7341
  • Harper’s Taxi – Port Hastings — 1-902-625-1434
  • Ingo Cab – Ingonish Beach — 1-902-285-4523
  • Island Taxi – North Sydney — 1-902-794-2224
  • Marg’s Taxi – Glace Bay — 1-902-849-8794
  • Midway Taxi – New Waterford — 1-902-862-6954
  • Sonny’s Taxi – Glace Bay — 1-902-849-1338

Shuttle Services

  • Atlantic B&N Shuttle — 1-902-562-9893
  • Bannockburn Tours — 1-902-979-2001
  • Bay Luxury Shuttle — 1-855-673-8083
  • Cabot Discovery Tours — 1-902-623-2780
  • Cape Shuttle Service — 1-800-349-1698
  • Cape Breton Shuttle Service— 1-902-849-9987
  • Carabin’s Bus Service — 1-902-849-4253
  • East Coast Shuttle — 1-902-794-1512
  • JKB’s Shuttle — 1-902-919-1126
  • Maritime Bus — 1-800-575-1807
  • Sydney & Cape Breton Taxi Tours – 1-902-549-2625
  • Madi G’s Custom Tours — 1-902-563-9080

Transit Services

Car Rentals

Illustrated map of Cape Breton Island

Easy to Find. Hard to Leave.

There are direct flights to Sydney from Toronto and Montreal and from other North American and European cities via those cities. If traveling by ground, the Trans-Canada Highway 104 leads to Cape Breton Island.

Getting Here and Around