Lighthouses are beautiful in every way. The steady sentinels standing on the edge and their flashing lights are a reminder of times gone by and a rich maritime history. A trip to Nova Scotia isn’t complete until you’ve seen at least one, two, three, or more lighthouses. The volunteers will greet you and tell you stories about the lighthouse keepers. The jagged rocks around the lighthouses and the sunsets will dazzle you.

As you plan your own road trip through this beautiful province, you might find it hard to decide which lighthouses to visit. In this guide, we’ll focus on the Southwest region and show you 9 of the best lighthouses in Nova Scotia.

The Cape Forchu Lighthouse, which is at the southwestern tip of Nova Scotia, is one of the most well-known lighthouses there. Since the middle of the 1800s, this historic lighthouse has helped ships enter and leave Yarmouth Harbour. Today, people come here for the beautiful harbor and idyllic scenery.

The lantern room can only be seen in the Cape Forchu Lighthouse. It is the only lighthouse in Nova Scotia where people can take a tour. You can book a guided tour online in advance to help you climb the 77 steps to the top of the lighthouse.

Once you get to the top, you can see the cape and harbor in every direction. From around the lighthouse, you can also enjoy the sunset and look at the stars. The Evangeline Trail is a scenic road in Nova Scotia, and this lighthouse is a stop along the way.

It takes about three and a half hours to drive from Halifax to Cape Forchu, which is about 312 kms or 194 miles away.

Prim Point Lighthouse is on a rocky headland that looks out towards the Digby Gut. It keeps an eye on the deep water passage where the Fundy Rose ferry between Digby and Saint John goes back and forth.

There is a lot of history to learn about at this place. You can learn about all the lighthouse keepers, shipwrecks, foghorns, and different versions of the lighthouse from the plaques and displays.

In fact, the lighthouse at Prim Point is on its fourth design. The buildings that came before it either burned down or were bulldozed over the bluff. There’s even a cool little glass panel that shows where the previous version was and what it looked like.

Spend some time exploring the rocks below, which go quite far out into the water and are safe to climb on. Just don’t get too close to the seaweed.

The Seal Island Lighthouse is also found in the southern part of Nova Scotia. This lighthouse was built in the middle of the nineteenth century to help sailors find their way through the area’s dangerous seas.

Since the Seal Island Lighthouse is on an island, it can be hard to get there. But if you want to see the lighthouse in a different way, the Seal Island Light Museum in Barrington is another option. In 1978, this museum was built as a copy of the lighthouse. It looks like the top half of the tower. You can look at the parts of the lighthouse and different things that show the history of fishing, sailing, and the lights on nearby islands.

A cast iron lantern from the old lighthouse is on top of the Seal Island Light Museum. One fun thing about the museum is that you can climb the iron stairs to the third floor and look at the original clockwork structure and the Second Order Fresnel Lens from the original lighthouse.

The Seal Island Light Museum is on the Lighthouse Route, which is a scenic road that runs along the south shore. Several of the lighthouses in this article are on this route.

It takes about 240 km to get from Halifax to the Seal Island Light Museum (around 150 miles). It would take about 2 hours and 30 minutes to drive that far.

The Gilbert’s Cove Lighthouse is one of the cutest little lighthouses in Nova Scotia. It is literally a square keeper’s house that has a lantern on top of the roof.

The Gilbert Cove & District Historical Society has done a great job of keeping the site in good shape and has friendly staff members who are there to tell the site’s stories.

Inside the lighthouse, there are a lot of interesting things to see, like photos, quilts, carvings, and old prints.

The best part is that you can climb all the steps to the top of the lantern and look out over the whole cove. Most lighthouses in Nova Scotia can’t be climbed, and this is true for most of them.

The Cape Sable Lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in Nova Scotia. It stands at 101 feet. This lighthouse, the third highest in Canada, may be found in southern Nova Scotia.

The Cape Sable Lighthouse was built because of a sad story. In the mid-1800s, the first lighthouse was built near Cape Sable because the area was so rough and dangerous that many people died at sea there. In addition to white lights, the tower also had red lights to help guide ships in the right direction. The current Cape Sable lighthouse was built in the middle of the 20th century. This tower was made of reinforced concrete so that it could withstand the harsh weather in the area.

The Cape Sable Lighthouse is on the island of Cape Sable, which makes it a little hard to get to. (Don’t mix it up with Cape Sable Island, which is close by.) The nearby Hawk Beach on the mainland is a great place to see the lighthouse. Take a walk on the beach with white sand and look at the lighthouse in the distance. If you like watching birds, you’re in luck, because this beach is also a great place to do so.

The Cape Sable lighthouse is about 261 km (about 163 miles) from Halifax. It would take almost 3 hours to drive there. The Lighthouse Route goes by this lighthouse as well.