Saint John is New Brunswick's largest city and its industrial heart, sitting at the mouth of the Saint John River on the Bay of Fundy. It is not the provincial capital — that's Fredericton — but it is the economic centre. The city has a gritty, working-port character that feels quite different from the tourist-polished towns elsewhere in the Maritimes.
The city has genuine character: Victorian-era architecture with elaborately detailed facades, a lively Saint John City Market (one of Canada's oldest covered markets), and a terrain of dramatic ups and downs that makes walking it unexpectedly interesting. The Reversing Falls — where the tidal bore of the Bay of Fundy meets the river current, causing the river to appear to flow backwards — is the famous natural spectacle.
History is close to the surface in Saint John. Loyalist House dates from 1817, and the Loyalist Burial Ground contains graves from the founding year of 1783. Partridge Island in the outer harbour was the quarantine station where thousands of Irish famine immigrants arrived — and where hundreds died and were buried.
Saint John can be wrapped in sea fog, which gives it an atmospheric quality. The surrounding coastline offers good walking at Irving Nature Park, where the Bay of Fundy shoreline is wild and the tidal range creates a landscape that changes completely between visits.