New Brunswick
Discover New Brunswick
New Brunswick (French: Nouveau-Brunswick; NB) is one of the Atlantic Provinces of Canada, and the country's only bilingual province with both English and French as official languages. While the province covers a land area the size of Ireland, there are only 780,000 inhabitants (2020), most of them along the coasts and in the Saint John River Valley. The inland consists of sparsely populated forest. The province's name comes from the English and French translation for the city of Braunschweig in Lower Saxony, northern Germany, the ancestral home of the Hanoverian King George III of the United Kingdom.
What to Experience in New Brunswick
Taste of New Brunswick...
New Brunswick offers a wide variety of restaurants ranging from seafood to Oriental to fast food to Acadian. One of the province's specialties is fiddleheads (fern fronds, served as a vegetable), which are found in the Saint John River Valley area. Poutine rapée, a boiled potato dumpling with a pork filling, is a dish served along the Acadian coast area. Founded in 1867, Moosehead Beer is Canada's oldest independent brewery, and the local favourite. Brewed in Saint John, it is "exported" across the country. The craft beer revolution has also come to New Brunswick: there are many microbreweries throughout the province, and especially in Moncton, Fredericton, and St. John. There is also a winery on Magnetic Hill in Moncton that makes drinkable grape and rhubarb wines. Many travellers pass through New Brunswick to reach other parts of the Maritimes. When passing through New Brunswick, it is advisable to use the number 2 highway, which passes along the border with Maine before turning east and passing through Fredericton and Moncton. More adventurous travellers can find more to see by following highway 11 up the east coast of the province, and then cutting across the province via the remote road connecting Miramichi to Plaster Rock. This road is used largely by logging trucks, and there is only one gas station, which is approximately halfway along the road.
Climate
Much of New Brunswick's climate is moderated by the extreme proximity of the ocean, resulting in mild summers, and winters which are mild relative to the temperatures seen in Ontario and the prairie provinces. The recorded temperature has ranged from -47.2°C (-53°F) in 1955, at Sisson Dam in the northwest, to 39.4°C (102.9°F) in 1935, at Nepisiguit Falls in the northeast. Winter temperatures are most commonly in the range of -5°C to -15°C, and summer temperatures from 15°C to 25°C. Snowfall is common during the winter months, however snow does not typically accumulate in large amounts until late December. Tourism is a good source of revenue for much of the province, and during busy periods of the summer, book ahead to ensure rooms are available. Due to the relatively limited range of options within the province when following the Trans-Canada Highway, a very busy weekend could result in the closest available rooms being hours of travel away.
Essential Information
Getting There
Multiple OptionsNew Brunswick has road links with Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Maine. VIA Rail Canada, toll-free: +1-888-842-7245. Operates trains routes across Canada. (updated Apr 2022) Operates The Ocean, which travels between Halifax and Montreal via Moncton. There are three trains per direction per week. It provides a somewhat limited service along the Eastern coast of New Brunswick, entering the province from Nova Scotia at Aulac, and then passing through Moncton, up to Bathurst, and then from Campbellton across the border into Quebec, eventually terminating in Montreal. Options for the trains vary, as two different types of rolling stock are in use. Standard class involves sitting for the entire journey, while a range of berths, single rooms, double bedrooms, and sitting rooms are available, depending on the cars in use. Standard class is feasible, but an exhausting option! Travel by car is the easiest way to see New Brunswick....
Regions
Explore AreasThe province's name comes from the English and French translation for the city of Braunschweig in Lower Saxony, northern Germany, the ancestral home of the Hanoverian King George III of the United Kin…...
Getting Around & Staying
Getting Around
Travel by car is the easiest way to see New Brunswick. The Trans-Canada Highway and four-lane highways cross much of the southern stretch of the province. Drivers accustomed to any major metropolitan traffic will find most intercity roads to be very lightly used, even in summer months. The roads of New Brunswick are patrolled by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and speed traps are sometimes in place. Speed limits have no official tolerance in them; however typically travel under 10 km/h above the speed limit will not attract attention. RCMP officers are not always known for their sense of humour, however, where speeding (or anything else) is concerned, and tickets may be issued for any speed above the posted limits. If you are pulled over by the RCMP, typical North American rules for police interaction apply; keep your hands on the steering wheel while being approached by the police, and be respectful at all times.
Language & Talk
New Brunswick is the only province in Canada that is officially bilingual (English and French). Francophones speak a dialect known as Acadian French. Acadian French is distinct from Quebec French, since Acadia's history is separate from that of Quebec. Acadian French speakers are instantly recognizable by their charming and strongly trilled r. It is similar to the dialect spoken by Francophones in Acadiana, Louisiana. Near Moncton and in other urban areas, you might hear a distinct variety of Acadian French known as Chiac (its name comes from the city of Shediac, right in the middle of the region where it's spoken). It's frowned upon as "bad French" by Francophones and "bad English" by Anglophones, but not a language of its own.
Safety Information
Glimpses of New Brunswick
Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean just before golden hour.
Serendipitous find. Lovely seaside village in New Brunswick, Canada.
aerial view of city
architectural photography of gray clock tower
A row of bright, colourful fishing boats on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in August 2020.
a light house sitting on top of a lush green field
blue and white wooden house near body of water during daytime
A beautiful sunset after a downpour in the Canadian summer.
a body of water with rocks and a beach with hills in the background
empty pathway
Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean just before golden hour.
Serendipitous find. Lovely seaside village in New Brunswick, Canada.
aerial view of city