Halifax
Entertainment

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All this and beauty, too

Halifax is always hopping, especially on the waterfront during summer. With almost 100 lakes within its boundaries, beautiful downtown parks, and some of the oldest architectural structures in the country, it's a great place to enjoy the out-of-doors without going out of town.

Its restaurants serve up cuisine from every imaginable corner of the world. The clubs and taverns never quit, and a colorful arts community ensures there's always something to do and someplace to go. One of the advantages of having a city center on the waterfront is that most entertainment venues are within walking distance of major hotels.

Music

Music is, simply put, big in Halifax. From mournful Celtic fiddles, to Irish-pub singalongs, to the thumping bass of blues bands and cool stylings of jazz, music is everywhere. The province's most famous musical name is probably snowbird Anne Murray. Other notables include Ashley McIsaac, Natalie McMaster (both fiddlers and singers), Denny Doherty (of the Mamas and the Papas) and the Joe Murphy Blues Band, which puts on a hectic music and dance afternoon every week at the downtown tavern, Your Father's Moustache. On Saturday afternoons, it's the place to be to drink draft beer, listen to zydeco or down-home blues and get up on the dance floor and shake it.

Symphony Nova Scotia and the Atlantic Jazz Festival draw large audiences while the downtown Halifax Metro Centre hosts the big acts, from The Guess Who to Riverdance. For fans of gospel music, try to locate a concert by the Nova Scotia Mass Choir, which brings down the house during performances throughout the city.

Spectacles

An event that draws participants and audiences from around the world, the Nova Scotia International Tattoo is a spectacular display of military talent that includes marching bands, drill teams and exciting exhibitions of strength and know-how. The Halifax International Busker Festival on the waterfront attracts performers from around the world. Jugglers, musicians and comedy acts showcase their talents from morning to night.

Theatre and Comedy

Neptune theatre, one of the oldest professional regional theatre companies in Canada, offers the classics in music, comedy and drama. Neptune's Second Stage Productions, along with Eastern Front Theatre Company, offer more contemporary fare. Shakespeare by the Sea is an annual summer festival of plays from the Bard, with the occasional Tom Stoppard offering or a production of Waiting For Godot thrown in for good measure, all performed outdoors in the city's lush Point Pleasant Park. Atlantic Film Festival which attracts artists from all over the country provides a great opportunity for first-time viewing of some amazing works and a chance to rub elbows with seasoned and up and coming film makers.

Shopping

Famous for its rug-hooking, antiques and local crafts, Halifax is home to several big markets. The Sackville Flea Market (20 minutes north of downtown) is a huge outdoor market where you can find lost items from your childhood, antiques, or fresh produce. The Halifax Farmers' Market, every weekend, offers classy handcrafts, wheels of locally made cheese and any number of delectable items. The Saturday-morning market at The Forum, in central Halifax, is a treasure chest of jewelry, crafts, glass, and antique clothing.

Downtown, the hot shopping spots are the boutiques in the Historic Properties, which showcase unique clothing, pewter, keepsakes and high-end souvenirs. In the Spring Garden Place Mall, you'll find elegant fashions and beautifully appointed bookstores. Mall Barrington Place Mall offers a large group of shops all accessible from the lobby of the Delta Barrington Hotel. Here you can browse glorious handmade fishermen's sweaters, imported tartans and plaids, and Irish linen. Park Lane has three floors of shops that concentrate on upscale fashion.

Cinema

Cinephiles staying downtown will find an eight-theatre complex on the lower level of Park Lane. But Halifax is also home to Atlantic Canada's only IMAX theatre, where you can see life-sized dinosaurs in 3-D, or Michael Jordan slam-dunking a ball on a screen that's six storeys high. You'll find IMAX at Empire Theatres Ltd in Bayers Lake, which, with its 18 screens, boasts the largest complex in town. Fans of independent and international film should visit the plush Oxford Theatre, five minutes from downtown.

Museums and Interpretive Sites

Halifax's marine history is powerfully expressed in the popular Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, on the waterfront. There you can explore sailing vessels, enjoy the museum's unparalleled ship model collection and put your hands on an actual lighthouse lens. Moored next to the museum is the HMCS Sackville, the last remaining World War II corvette.

Pier 21 is a new interpretive site often described as Canada's Ellis Island, where thousands of immigrants landed between 1928 and 1971 to begin life in a new country. The most-visited historic site in Canada is the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site, a star-shaped fortress designed to protect the city from seagoing invaders.

Outdoor Activities

Boasting five yacht clubs, 12 golf clubs, 171 parks and dozens of lakes, Halifax bustles with sporting events and celebrations. With its mild climate, Halifax doesn't have a single outdoor ice rink, and the snow on Martock ski hill located outside the city, is man-made. Most of the outdoor fun is water-related, and there are dozens of spectacular beaches within a half-hour drive of the city. Nothing's far away in Halifax. You can go from cosmopolitan to quaint in 20 minutes.

Beaches offer miles of white sand and clear water with waves that range from little lappers to big crashers. Jet-skis can be rented at most of the lakes and many of the beaches, as can canoes and kayaks. For hands-on sailing, check out the many for-hire operations on the waterfront during spring, summer and fall.

Sailboats can be seen tacking up and down the harbor as early as May and as late as November. Fog is a rarity in this seaside city, due to the open harbor and cleansing breezes. If you're in town on New Year's Day, bundle up and head down to the water to watch the annual Polar Bear Swim, where crazy people don bathing suits and make like seals.