Location

Cape Breton – Unama’ki is an island on the northeast of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, connected to the mainland by the rock-fill Canso Causeway across the Strait of Canso. Surrounded by the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the west and the Atlantic Ocean on the east, the Island is roughly 100 kilometres wide, 150 kilometres long, and covers an area of roughly 10,300 km². Cape Breton – Unama’ki boasts a variety of landscapes, including rocky shores, sandy beaches, rolling farmland, glacial valleys, barren headlands, highlands, woods and plateaus.

Embedded in the centre of the Island is the world-renowned Bras d’Or Lake, a UNESCO designated Biosphere. Though it may be called a lake, the Bras d’Or is actually an inland sea of saltwater with three passages to the Atlantic Ocean (including the St. Peter’s Canal National Historic Site).

Cape Breton – Unama’ki communities are connected through a variety of highways, rural routes, and other roadways, making travel easy for residents and visitors alike. The following table shows travel distances between a number of those communities:

	Inverness	Ingonish	Baddeck	Sydney	St. Peter’s	Port Hawkesbury
Port Hawkesbury	85km	180km	90km	130km	45km	—
St. Peter’s	120km	210km	120km	85km	—	45km
Sydney	155km	135km	80km	—	85km	130km
Baddeck	65km	90km	—	80km	120km	90km
Ingonish	170km	—	90km	135k	210km	180km
Inverness	—	170km	65km	155k	120km	85km

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Last Modified: October 1, 2021