Waterfront
A boardwalk with a great variety of historic buildings, shops, restaurants, and other entertainment. theodore tugboat, a wwii era corvette, and other ships line the harbour. during the summer months, there are many harbour boat tours that launch from here.
Halifax Mooseheads
The Halifax Mooseheads (http://www.halifaxmoosehe...) Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team plays from October to April at the Halifax Metro Centre. Rough, highly skilled games are combined with a near-NHL level of presentation. Tickets are $8-15, and are available at the Metro Centre box office.
Nova Scotia Community College
The Nova Scotia Community College (http://www.nscc.ns.ca/) has a number of campuses in the Halifax area.
Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts
The Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts (http://www.maritimeconser...) provides performing arts education for children and adults.
Spring Garden Road Memorial Public Library
The Spring Garden Road Memorial Public Library, 5381 Spring Garden Road. A convenient place to sit, relax, and watch kids duck between the legs of the pensive Winston Churchill statue out front. As a sliver of scarce downtown green space, the front lawn of the building is well-used by Haligonians as a meeting spot, a reading spot, and most importantly as a place to eat french fries on lunch breaks.
Saint Mary's University
Located in the south end of the city, Saint Mary's University (http://www.stmarys.ca) is somewhat smaller. St. Mary's is renowned for its business school, strong alumni support, and athletics.
Mount Saint Vincent University
Located just off the peninsula, along the Bedford highway is Mount Saint Vincent University (http://www.msvu.ca), a smaller university with a focus on undergraduate studies, and professional programs including those in teaching and public relations.
Harbour Hopper
(http://www.harbourhopper....), guided tour of halifax and harbour in an amphibious vehicle. very informative and highlights major points of interest in the city in fun-filled hour.
University of King's College
The University of King's College (http://www.ukings.ca/) is a small liberal arts university on the Halifax peninsula. Affiliated with Dalhousie University, King's is known for its journalism programs.
Boat Tours
Murphy's the cable wharf is in the heart of the halifax waterfront and offers a variety of boat tours including nature and whale watching, tall ship sailing, deep sea fishing, historical harbour tours and dinner cruises. open seven days a week may-october, 902-420-1015.
Halifax is home to 3 major universities. Students make up a significant proportion of the population in certain neighbourhoods.
Dalhousie University
Spread over 3 campuses, Dalhousie University (http://www.dal.ca) is the largest educational institution in Nova Scotia. With 15,000 undergraduates and a broad range of graduate and professional programs, Dalhousie counts itself as one of the leading universities in Canada.
Atlantic School of Theology
The Atlantic School of Theology (http://astheology.ns.ca/), an ecumenical Christian theological university.
Canoe the Northwest Arm
Head down to the st. mary's boat club, 1641 fairfield road off jubilee 902 490-4688, on saturdays and sundays 11am-7pm and rent a canoe for $8/hour. take a trip up the beautiful northwest arm to see the historic dingle tower in flemming park, watch the numerous sailboats out for a weekend cruise or catch a regatta if you're lucky. gawk at some of the mansions that line the water or for the ambitious, head all the way up to point pleasant park, where the northwest arm meets halifax harbour. while swimming in parts of the harbour was briefly possible due to the installation of sewage treatment plants, they are down for repair and swimming is again not recommended unless a trip to hospital after is desired.
Alexander Keith's Brewery Tour
(http://keiths.ca/k_brewer...). immersive tour of alexander keith's original brewery as it supposedly was in 1863, complete with tour guide actors in period garb singing songs, dancing jigs and relaying a bit of the history of the brewery and keith himself, as well as promoting alexander keith's india pale ale. you do get the chance to sample two mugs of the stuff at the end. tours on the hour and half-hour but limited opening hours outside summer, check the website for details. if you are an air miles collector, you can redeem your miles here for free tickets.
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design
The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (http://www.nscad.ns.ca) is a university offering programs and degrees related to the visual arts and design.
Hiking Trails
Halifax has lots of the great outdoors. Scenic urban parks, protected areas, and coastline trails are all close to the city. Some are well known, others are off the beaten track, all are beautiful.
The military is the largest employer in the region. The city is home to Maritime Forces Atlantic HQ and and the navy's East Coast fleet. Among the military installations around the city are Windsor Park, Stadacona and HMC Dockyard. It is hard to go anywhere without seeing a reference to the Navy.
Many corporations have their regional headquarters in the city, some are located downtown like TD and the Royal Bank, while others are located in some of the major business parks in the region like Burnside Industrial Park or the Aerotech Park which is located next to the Airport. Both have direct access to the major provincial highways and while the Aerotech Park is next to the airport which influences the Aerospace theme, Burnside has ~10-15 min travel time to the Airport.
Dartmouth Ferry
The Halifax-Dartmouth Ferry dates back to 1752. (http://www.halifax.ca/met...) For the same cost as bus fare, one can take the ferry back and forth between Dartmouth and Halifax. Make sure to get a transfer valid for 90 minutes, so you can return on the same ticket.
Other educational institutions include:
Halifax Shambala Centre
The head of the world-wide Buddhist Shambhala organization is in Halifax. The Halifax Shambala Centre (http://halifax.shambhala.org) offers courses in Buddhism, particularly methods related to the the Shambhala tradition.
Events
Tall Ships Festival
(http://www.tallshipsnovas...). every few years, halifax hosts up to 30 historic and unique and usually massive maritime sailing vessels from around the world. the next festival is in the summer of 2012.
Busker Festival
(http://www.buskers.ca) visit in august for the festival of street performers along the waterfront. it's a must see, with amazing acts, some grand and awe-inspiring, some quaint, others funny both intentionally and unintentionally. a very lively time of year along the harbourfront, with music and stalls selling food and the standard run of touristy souvenirs.
Nova Scotia International Air Show
(http://www.nsairshow.ca). a yearly event, taking place in early september. this is a great chance to see the the aerobatic teams from a number of national air forces. the canadian snowbirds (http://www.snowbirds.dnd.ca) perform every year. in past years, the show was held at the shearwater airforce base, but was moved to the civilian airport in 2005, and subsequently to yarmouth 3 hours southwest of the city in 2009.
The Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo
(http://www.nstattoo.ca/). happening every july, the tattoo is the world's largest annual indoor show. its unique combination of music, dance, drama, gymnastics, comedy, military displays, competitions and much more.