Louisbourg Reviews

This was my 3rd visit to Fortress Louisbourg over the last 15 years - each time has been outstanding. We had our 4 children (ages 19, 15, 10 and 7) with us and they all enjoyed the visit. We split into 2 groups with the teenagers going off on their own to explore. There is an excellent interpretive program for children - my younger boys loved this. Lots of dressing up and hands-on activities. The activities are varied and the costumed interpreters really well-informed and engaging. This children's program kept us occupied all day.








This is one of the best historical attractions/reconstructions I've visited anywhere in the world. Well worth the trip to Cape Breton.



We had bought a National Park pass that was valid across Canada. This paid for itself many times over during our trip to Nova Scotia as it covered our admission to Louisbourg (and other sites like the Citadel in Halifax). Worth looking into.

We arrived here about 1:00, and regretfully had to leave at 5 when it closed. We have been to a few reconstructed villages, including Williamsburg, and this is the best of them all! Be sure and take one of the free guided tours. All the staff were amazing and well educated about the site. Plan to eat lunch here too, the scent from the restaurants were luscious. We were sorry we had stopped to eat in town before coming. Be sure and bring a jacket, as the sea breezes were much cooler than in town. I only wish we had been able to stay longer. The Fortress is out of the way of the other tourist attractions on Cape Breton Island, but well worth the detour.
If you're a history buff, as is my wife, the history major, Fortress Louisbourg is a great visit. If your interest in history is not quite so rabid, it's still a great visit.

Many folks compare a visit to the fort with a visit to Colonial Williamsburg. I've been to Colonial Williamsburg a bazillion times and feel that the two experiences can't be compared - they're just different. Colonial Williamsburg is really a restoration of parts of a living, breathing town, one that still is living and breathing. The colonial restoration reaches it tentacles into the rest of the town which has grown and changed with time. Many of the restored buildings have stood since colonial times - many in disrepair before John Rockefeller did his restoration thing there in the 30s (still going on). Fortress Louisbourg (at least the way I understand it) was really an uninhabitated ruin that was totally recreated by the Canadian government in the 60s. It stands today totally isolated from the rest of Louisbourg. Again - I don't find one "better" than the other - just different. Both fantastically interesting places.



I think one thing that would really add to the experience is the reconstruction of a wharf or two, along with mooring a restored 18th century brig alongside one of the wharfs . The fortress's reason for existence was, after all, it's purpose to protect the port. The port part of the history is really somewhat ignored. Now - if the Canadian government could just come up with the $millions that would cost.

I've read on many trip advisor forums that one really needs a least a full day in the Fortress. We did it in half a day and found that that was plenty of time to get the flavor of place - poke through many of the buildings, watch and listen to a couple of costumed interpreter presentations, etc. The fact that our visit was in October - a slow time for the Fortress with reduced interpretation events, with concomitant reduced numbers of visitors, may have have been a factor. The place was crowded enough as it was and I am glad we did not have to face the summer crowds.

I found particularly interesting the presentation at the fisherman's house given after one gets off the bus from the visitors' center. There the interpreter explained that while the inhabitant of the hut was really quite well to do by 18th centruy colonial standards, his hut was very modest due to the fact that, in the event of an attack on the fortress, inhabitants outside the the walls would be required to torch their homes and flee to safety inside the walls of the fortress.
As I had indicated in another post, we had brought with us from Baddeck (an hour and 15 minute drive away) a delicious box lunch prepared at the High Wheeler Cafe. There is no place to eat during one's visit to the Fortress save for the two or three restored "18th century" eating establishments inside the fortress. We found the one we visited jammed - so crowded as hardly to be able to get inside place with no hope of reaching the counter. And, having eating "colonial fare" in Colonial Williamsburg, I felt we didn't miss anything. We had our box lunch outside the visitors' center - which has no food available but for a vending machine of candy and snacks - which was empty when we were there. The box lunch proved to be an excellent choice.

The visitors' center was well done with dioramas of the fortress during its various phases.
Is it worth the time and money for a visit? I'd say without question it is.

Williamsburg is a beautiful town. I love the Colonial Park, but it is very commercialized. Then there is Louisbourg. This place never had a real city grow up around it. It was abandoned after a series of attacks by the British in the 18th century. The ruins just sat there as the modern town relocated across the water. So Canada came along and rebuilt about 25% of it. I gather it looks EXACTLY as it did over 200 years ago. It's truly fascinating, a perfect recreation of a Colonial fortified city. The interpreters were fantastic, the food was authentic and delicious and it was not commercialized at all. The special programs during the day were just perfect. And it's a bargain, under $20CAD. Overall, this was the cultural highlight of our week in Nova Scotia.

I live in Louisiana and it a long trip to drive to see this fort but we loved it so much that we went back for a second time last year. This a wonderful place and the admission price was so low. We will be making another trip soon.