Reaching us is easier than you think. With daily direct flights, the Trans Canada Highway and various ferry routes, getting to Cape Breton Island is convenient and straightforward. Though we’re an Island, we’re far from remote—Cape Breton Island offers a variety of ways to arrive and explore by air, sea and land.
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 connect by air or drive to Cape Breton Island.
Here are the details of flights into Sydney (current as of August 2024):
There are daily year-round and seasonal flights from numerous departure cities throughout North America and Europe into Halifax Stanfield. Air travellers to Halifax may then get a connection to Sydney via Pascan Aviation or rent a vehicle in Halifax.
For full details on routes and airlines flying to Halifax, visit: Halifax Stanfield Airport.
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 offers International high-speed ferry service between Bar Harbor, Maine to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. 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.
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.
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.
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