Staff Pick
Road Trip Baddeck to Iona – Bras d'Or Lake & Highland Village
Baddeck
Iona
50
km
1h
drive
All seasons
season
The Itinerary
Bras d'Or Lake, a vast salt-water inland sea at the heart of Cape Breton Island, is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Crossing it via Route 223 — the "Hidden Highway" — offers a peaceful alternative to the Cabot Trail, through the Gaelic villages founded by Highlanders expelled from Scotland during the 19th-century Clearances.
From Baddeck, whose Alexander Graham Bell Museum recounts the inventor's final 37 years (his Beinn Bhreagh estate sits across the lake), the road heads south. At Iona, the Highland Village Museum is a living open-air museum recreating 10 eras of Scottish immigration — Gaelic demonstrations, tweed-weaving, forge, dance. It's North America's Gaelic cultural centre.
The free Little Narrows ferry, a short but magical cable crossing, takes the car across a lake strait. To extend: Big Pond and Rita's Tea Room (the home of Rita MacNeil, beloved singer), or St. Peter's Canal — North America's only lock canal between fresh and salt water.
From Baddeck, whose Alexander Graham Bell Museum recounts the inventor's final 37 years (his Beinn Bhreagh estate sits across the lake), the road heads south. At Iona, the Highland Village Museum is a living open-air museum recreating 10 eras of Scottish immigration — Gaelic demonstrations, tweed-weaving, forge, dance. It's North America's Gaelic cultural centre.
The free Little Narrows ferry, a short but magical cable crossing, takes the car across a lake strait. To extend: Big Pond and Rita's Tea Room (the home of Rita MacNeil, beloved singer), or St. Peter's Canal — North America's only lock canal between fresh and salt water.
Points of Interest
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Highland Village IonaLiving Gaelic museum, 10 eras of Scottish immigration.
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Alexander Graham Bell MuseumParks Canada museum in Baddeck, telephone inventor.
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Bras d'Or LakeUNESCO biosphere, inland salt sea.
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Little Narrows FerryFree cable ferry, 2-minute crossing.
Protected areas along the route
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Humes River Wilderness Area
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Mary Harper Nature Reserve
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Baddeck Bay Consevation Lands
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Maskells Harbour Conservation Lands
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Barra Forest and MacNeils Vale Provincial Park
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Cains Mountain Wilderness Area
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Plaister Mines Conservation Lands
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Ponys Point Conservation Lands
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Trout Brook Wilderness Area
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MacAulays Hill Nature Reserve
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Washabuck River Nature Reserve
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Little Narrows Conservation Lands
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Take this route offline
Cell coverage thins out fast once you leave Baddeck. Export the map as a geo-referenced PDF before you go and open it in BorealMaps — your GPS position shows on the map with no signal at all.
Try PDF Export How geo-referenced PDF maps workPractical info
- Departure Baddeck
- Destination Iona
- Distance 50 km
- Duration 1h
- Category Short (< 100 km)
- Best season All seasons
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