Head North to Nova Scotia's Wild Beauty

	To the Lighthouse

Most visitors to Nova Scotia arrive in summer, which is a prime reason to hold off until fall for a weekend getaway to this wild yet easy-to-reach Atlantic destination.

Another is the fantastic foliage display, as spectacular as any found in New England but with fewer crowds and, in many cases, discounted lodging rates and admission prices to boot -- especially welcome now that the Canadian dollar has basically reached parity with the U.S. dollar.

Squint at a map of Nova Scotia and the two-piece province takes the shape of a whale on the Atlantic Ocean: The head and body stretch southwest, toward the Maine coast, and the tail (Cape Breton Island) points northeast.

Arriving at Halifax Stanfield International Airport is the best way to go for a short visit. Nonstop flights take about 90 minutes from Boston, two hours from New York City and three hours from Chicago. You probably won't need a car to get around Halifax, the provincial capital, but to really enjoy Nova Scotia's multifariousness, both scenic and cultural, you'll want to take to the road.

Drop Anchor in Halifax

Although forest cloaks more than three-quarters of the province, the defining feature here is the coastline -- more than 4,700 miles of varied terrain that weaves in and out of intimate coves, elongated harbors and tranquil bays, along rocky headlands, rugged scrubland and tide-etched bluffs. An easy way to experience the seascape is to follow one of the 10 mostly coastal "scenic travelways" the province has mapped out.

Each of the routes has its own appeal, but the 210-mile Lighthouse Route, tracing the convoluted southwest shore, provides a taste of quintessential Nova Scotia without overloading your itinerary.

Halifax makes an excellent base from which to explore not just the south shore but much of the province, and it also offers a good introduction to Nova Scotia's maritime history.