McNabs Island sits in the mouth of Halifax Harbour, a twenty-minute boat ride from the city waterfront, and offers some of the most peaceful walking in Atlantic Canada without leaving Halifax. Almost a thousand acres of spruce forest, meadows, beaches, and saltmarsh, with no roads and no cars. The trails pass the ruins of old fortifications, the remnants of a nineteenth-century quarantine hospital, and a lighthouse at the southern tip. You may see harbour seals hauled out on the rocks at low tide.
Ferries run from Cable Wharf on the Halifax waterfront from May through October; the crossing takes about twenty minutes. There are no services on the island, so bring water and food. The main trail loops the perimeter and takes about three hours at a comfortable pace. In summer the beaches — particularly Mauger's Beach — are genuinely pleasant for swimming in warmer water than you might expect. The island has been a provincial park since the 1990s and is maintained by a volunteer friends group that organises cleanup days and guided walks.