A lot of this depends on how far out of your way you're interested in going, and when long you're going to be here.
For things to see, Annapolis Royal, Port Royal and Fort Anne are probably a bit out of your way, given that they're in the opposite direction from Cape Breton. Grand-Pré is a bit less out of your way.
Lunenburg is usually interesting, and relatively close to Halifax, as is Peggy's Cove. You can usually get fairly good sea food around there, although Peggy's Cove is a bit of a tourist destination.
In Cape Breton itself, there's the Cabot Trail if you're in to hiking, the Alexander Graham Bell museum in Baddeck, the Miner's Museum in Glace Bay and the Fortress of Louisbourg.
In Halifax itself, there's Point Pleasant Park and Sanford Flemming park which have a few interesting features such as a Martello tower and the remains of several batteries. But mostly they're
just nice places to walk. The waterfront has a lot of small shops and restraunts, and if you're going to Peir 21 you'll be at the southern end of that. This includes, but is not limited to the
Maratime Museum of the Atlantic, Garrison Brewing, the Atlantic Film Festival (in September), Harbour Hopper Tours (but don't believe everything their guides say), and Nova Scotian Crystal.
In the vein of museums in Halifax there's also the Maritime Command Museum, the Africville Museum, Quaker House and the Dartmouth Heritage Society.
If you're more into nature there's the Public Gardens downtown, and a number of other parks around the city. Hemlock Ravine park is nice, and connected to the heart pond and the Prince's Lodge, which sounds more grand than it is. Shubie park is also nice and has a fewbits and pieces of the old canal still working, IIRC you can rent canoes and possibly kayaks there. But as I said, there's a lot of parks in and around the city.
I'd go see the Public Gardens in any case, as you'll be close by if you're visiting the Citadel.
For food, in Halifax there's several nice restaurants in the Hydrostone market. My knowledge of the more downtown places is slightly out of date, but Tom's Little Havana was always nice. There are a lot of restaurants in the downtown area. As far as seafood goes, there are some ok places along the waterfront, and Wharf Wraps at Fisherman's Wharf in Eastern Passage used to be very good, but it's beena while since I've been there.
As far as Scottish style food, that's mostly going to be found in Cape Breton. The rest of the province is a mixture of French, German and English by heritage.
For local breweries, I'm not a big beer drinker, but there's fair number around the province. In Halifax Propeller and Garrison are the big-ish ones. There's also Good Robot Brewing, the Downeast Beer Factory, Gahan house, Granite Brewery, Nine Locks Brewing, North Brewing, and Two Crows, among other. There's also a lot outside of Halifax, but I'm much less familiar with them.
You've missed craft beer week by about a month, sadly.
For distilleries, there's the Gelnora Distillery in Glenville Cape Breton, who also have an Inn attached. The Steinhart distillery in Airisag, the Halifax Distilling Co., Chain Yard Cidery among others.
If you do end up going to the Annapolis Valley, there's the Luckett Vineyard which has a nice restaurant and a good view of the Gaspereau valley, and several other vineyards in the area.
For souvenirs, I don't really know about that. There's one store that I know of that's nothing but kitsch for tourists and you can find Nova Scotia themed almost anything there. Though I can't speak for the quality. You could probably get something nice, but rather expensive at Nova Scotian Crystal.
Events and bands and the like tend to depend on when you're going to be here. I'm also really a bad person to ask about this sort of thing as my usual way of finding out about stuff is hearing people talk about it the day after. Shakespeare by the Sea is doing _All's Well That Ends Well_ in July and _Julius Caeser_ in August, and _Peter Pan_ all summer, starting in July.
I wouldn't mind a meet up while you're in Halifax.
--
"Can there yet remain some villany thou hast not committed?"
- Mom, _Calvin & Hobbes_
For things to see, Annapolis Royal, Port Royal and Fort Anne are probably a bit out of your way, given that they're in the opposite direction from Cape Breton. Grand-Pré is a bit less out of your way.
Lunenburg is usually interesting, and relatively close to Halifax, as is Peggy's Cove. You can usually get fairly good sea food around there, although Peggy's Cove is a bit of a tourist destination.
In Cape Breton itself, there's the Cabot Trail if you're in to hiking, the Alexander Graham Bell museum in Baddeck, the Miner's Museum in Glace Bay and the Fortress of Louisbourg.
In Halifax itself, there's Point Pleasant Park and Sanford Flemming park which have a few interesting features such as a Martello tower and the remains of several batteries. But mostly they're
just nice places to walk. The waterfront has a lot of small shops and restraunts, and if you're going to Peir 21 you'll be at the southern end of that. This includes, but is not limited to the
Maratime Museum of the Atlantic, Garrison Brewing, the Atlantic Film Festival (in September), Harbour Hopper Tours (but don't believe everything their guides say), and Nova Scotian Crystal.
In the vein of museums in Halifax there's also the Maritime Command Museum, the Africville Museum, Quaker House and the Dartmouth Heritage Society.
If you're more into nature there's the Public Gardens downtown, and a number of other parks around the city. Hemlock Ravine park is nice, and connected to the heart pond and the Prince's Lodge, which sounds more grand than it is. Shubie park is also nice and has a fewbits and pieces of the old canal still working, IIRC you can rent canoes and possibly kayaks there. But as I said, there's a lot of parks in and around the city.
I'd go see the Public Gardens in any case, as you'll be close by if you're visiting the Citadel.
For food, in Halifax there's several nice restaurants in the Hydrostone market. My knowledge of the more downtown places is slightly out of date, but Tom's Little Havana was always nice. There are a lot of restaurants in the downtown area. As far as seafood goes, there are some ok places along the waterfront, and Wharf Wraps at Fisherman's Wharf in Eastern Passage used to be very good, but it's beena while since I've been there.
As far as Scottish style food, that's mostly going to be found in Cape Breton. The rest of the province is a mixture of French, German and English by heritage.
For local breweries, I'm not a big beer drinker, but there's fair number around the province. In Halifax Propeller and Garrison are the big-ish ones. There's also Good Robot Brewing, the Downeast Beer Factory, Gahan house, Granite Brewery, Nine Locks Brewing, North Brewing, and Two Crows, among other. There's also a lot outside of Halifax, but I'm much less familiar with them.
You've missed craft beer week by about a month, sadly.
For distilleries, there's the Gelnora Distillery in Glenville Cape Breton, who also have an Inn attached. The Steinhart distillery in Airisag, the Halifax Distilling Co., Chain Yard Cidery among others.
If you do end up going to the Annapolis Valley, there's the Luckett Vineyard which has a nice restaurant and a good view of the Gaspereau valley, and several other vineyards in the area.
For souvenirs, I don't really know about that. There's one store that I know of that's nothing but kitsch for tourists and you can find Nova Scotia themed almost anything there. Though I can't speak for the quality. You could probably get something nice, but rather expensive at Nova Scotian Crystal.
Events and bands and the like tend to depend on when you're going to be here. I'm also really a bad person to ask about this sort of thing as my usual way of finding out about stuff is hearing people talk about it the day after. Shakespeare by the Sea is doing _All's Well That Ends Well_ in July and _Julius Caeser_ in August, and _Peter Pan_ all summer, starting in July.
I wouldn't mind a meet up while you're in Halifax.
--
"Can there yet remain some villany thou hast not committed?"
- Mom, _Calvin & Hobbes_