Blackwood Tours: Highland Village, Baddeck, Bell Museum Tour
Badge of Excellence
Sydney, Canada
- 6 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Make the most of your time when docked in Sydney, Canada when you book this half-day shore excursion. Visit the 17th-century Scottish “working village” of Highland, take a tour of the Alexander Graham Bell Museum, walk through the quaint village of Baddeck, and more. Note: only one tour is offered per cruise ship, so make sure you book the corresponding tour; if ship arrival times change, so does the tour.
- Discover the quaint towns of Nova Scotia
- See where the first telephone was invented
- Learn about the history of the area from your guide
- Enjoy round-trip transfers from your cruise ship
What's Included
- All Fees and Taxes
- Coffee and/or Tea
- Brunch
- Dinner
- Snacks
- Lunch
- Bottled water
Meeting and Pickup
You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup
Itinerary
1
Highland Village
1 hour • Admission Ticket Included
2
Little Narrows Presbyterian Church
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
3
Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site
1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
4
Baddeck
1 hour • Admission Ticket Free
5
Saint Anns
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
6
Seal Island Lighthouse
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Near public transportation
- Most travelers can participate
- Total duration is 6 hours because it includes travel time.
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 40 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.7
based on 82 reviews
marla_g, Oct 2025
Very enjoyable experience. Clean bus. Adequate time for points of interest, safe driver. Only suggestion would be to have driver always use microphone so passengers in the bag could understand and hear what he was saying.
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Thank you Maria, the microphone has been adjusted for all to hear well, Robert
Robert_G, Oct 2025
Guide gave a lot of information we like the detail he went through. He also covered a lot of experiences he had growing up in the area.
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Thank you Robert for your good review, your guide enjoys his job
wgdcpatx, Oct 2025
Very disappointed in this tour. The driver/tour guide told us he’s just been driving with this company for 2 weeks. He took off his headset and basically told us nothing about the countryside, history of the area or any other stories for the whole day. He did talk some to the guest in the shotgun seat but the other 15 of us in the minibus were not privy to the conversation.
My biggest complaint is his lack of time management. At the Highland village stop he just said we would stay ‘about an hour’. So 14 of us were timely and came back to the bus in an hour but 2 people were on their own schedule and we had to wait another 20 minutes for them. The driver did nothing about their tardiness—the other guests had to go find them. This shortened the time we had for the rest of the day.
I thought this was going to be a nice guided tour but all we got was a driver who didn’t talk.
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Hello William, I am sorry that you had a poor tour. Bob said that the others were ok with him not using the mic. It seems that sometimes one person can take the attention of another and the others feel left out.
Sid_S, Oct 2025
Stopped two places with lunch on your own. The Bell Museum was mainly reader boards - think Wikipedia. We walked into the nearby town versus spend over a hour in the “museum”. Highland Village was nice but no music as advertised. All and all this was not a good value. Although the tour guide was nice and informative.
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Hello Sid Stern, lunch is not included in the price of your tour. I am not aware of any guarantee of music at the Highland Village as per my website or Viator.
claytonca561, Oct 2025
I cant speak highly enough about this small group tour by Blackwood Tours in Sydney, Nova Scotia! Our tour guide Jim was waiting for us at the end of our cruise ship dock as we joined ten others from the ship on our educational adventure. Our guide provided information on the city, our upcoming stops, and kept everyone on schedule. I could have spent a half day at the Highland Village, a recreation/living history museum focusing on the life and culture of Nova Scotia Gaels. The views alone are worth the visit! Next, we stopped in the village of Baddek for a scrumptious lunch. Finally, we went to the Alexander Graham Bell Natural Historic Site to learn about his life and innovations. It was a wonderful way to spend a beautiful fall day in Nova Scotia, Canada!
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Thank you Cathy, I am sure Jimmy will be thrilled with your review, Robert
Jeff_S, Oct 2025
Awesome tour. There were only four of us along with our guide/driver. Great overview of the area. The Highlands are beautiful and the musuem there is very informative and and well done. Great overview of the Scots migration to the area and the challenges they faced. Bell museum was very informative also. Our guide also picked out a great restaurant for lunch on our own.
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Hello Jeff, I will pass along your wonderful review, thank you so much, Robert
Susan_S, Sep 2025
The Highland Village characters in costume as you moved through time was fantastic. We would highly recommend adding this to your travels. Our driver was great and provided interesting information about Sydney. We liked the Bell Museum. Baddeck had some nice shopping and restaurants. Great tour.
Response from Host, Sep 2025
Thank you Susan, I am glad that you enjoyed your tour with Blackwood Tours, Robert
Thomas_W, Sep 2025
The meet up spot was amongst many people boarding buses. We contacted our guide through viator, who messaged us to use Whatsapp. He persevered messaging us and walked to us for the meet up.
He explained a tremendous amount of history to us while walking us around the city.
About half way through we asked to stop for a drink, which he promptly found a place we could sit inside, out of the sun and rest a bit.
He found us a store and walked us back to the ship area.
Great historian. Excellent English. Highly recommend.
Response from Host, Sep 2025
Hello Thomas, I think you may have the wrong company. Thank you though, Robert
Angela_J, Sep 2025
Homestead was a lot of walking to/ from entrance and hilly paths. Guide was great. Bell museum, could have spent more time
Response from Host, Sep 2025
Hello Angela, Highland Village is a bit of walking. Sometimes we drop off at the top and then you just have to walk down. With the time constraints for the cruise ships there's not a lot of wiggle room for extended stays at certain places. Thank you for the review on our guide, Robert
PAMELA_S, Sep 2025
Bell museum as very interesting. Tour guide was very interesting. The transportation vehicle was good. The guide was easy to find when off the ship. I would recommend the tour.
Response from Host, Sep 2025
Thank you Pamela, we are happy that you had a good tour, Robert
Catherine_G, Sep 2025
Destination was Bell museum so I was surprised at Highland Village which I thoroughly enjoyed
Kudos to tour director Francie
Some good driving along winding roads
Much prefer small van I was on to large tour busses. Sense of community formed in those 7hrs together
Highly recommended for those who enjoy scenery!
Response from Host, Sep 2025
Hello Catherine, thank you for your review of your tour with Francie, yes she is a great driver, Robert
Kimberly_H, Sep 2025
Nice tour really enjoyed the highland village and my husband enjoyed the Alexander Graham Bell museum. One slight note; our guide was super nice but had heavy accent so a little bit hard to follow sometimes
Response from Host, Sep 2025
Thank you for your review, the accent is our Cape Breton brogue. Sometimes we talk a little fast also, Robert
David_N, Sep 2025
Very nice and well-paced tour. Francie did an excellent job both driving and providing great narration from her lifetime on Cape Breton. The Highland Village stop was interesting with a little more walking than I anticipated. Baddeck is a good lunch stop spot and the Bell Museum is very well done. We were 7 hours in total but Francie made good use of that time.
Response from Host, Sep 2025
Thank you David, I am sure Francie will appreciate your review, as I do, Robert
Harriet_R, Aug 2025
All locations are very interesting. Lovely scenery on ride from port. Unfortunately, I felt rushed as there was so much to see and learn. I wish we had more time. Tour guide was excellent. I would definitely recommend this tour.
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Excellent, thank you . I appreciate your review, Robert
Kenneth_R, Aug 2025
Viator tours did a great job working with a local tour operation. Out driver was very knowledgeable and did a good job driving. The tour exceeded our expectations. We recommend this tour.
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Thank you Kenneth, your review is kindly accepted, Robert
Cheryl_W, Aug 2025
It’s a lot of driving. We seemed to arrive before things were open, so our itinerary was altered to accommodate opening times of the bell museum and highland village. To make up time, we stopped in the middle of nowhere at a converted church, which is a diner next to a graveyard. Was a waste of an hour, because this was our “lunch stop” at 10:45 am. We just hung out in the parking lot and felt that there was a better use of our time had thus stop been made in Banneck with the quaint town by the bell museum. Poor planning on the tour company’s part. They knew we were arriving early from a cruiseship and should have customized this tour better.
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Hello Cheryl, from what I understand the rest of the customers on the tour enjoyed the stop . We have to get the tour concluded in the time allotted by the ships port call. Your ship was in early, not sure why they dock so early but we have to adjust to their times of arrival and departure.
JimGee, Aug 2025
Owner cancelled original private tour with no explanation at the time. Later told me "I don't book private tours through Viator" as of I was supposed to know that.
Tour guide was great and Bell museum was a good visit but, to be honest, was a lot of driving for a couple of distinctive sights
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Hello Jim Gee, I am not sure who cancelled your original booking but it wasn't Blackwood Tours. I do no allow Viator or other OTA's to book Private Tours with Blackwood Tours , because of the commission Viator takes . Thank you, Robert
Roberto_J, Aug 2025
Great tour! Our guide shared good information about Cape Breton along the beautiful drive to Highland Village and Baddeck. We really enjoyed the experience and beautiful scenery along the way. It was nice to have a few photo ops stops along the way.
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Thank you for your grateful review, we really appreciate it, Robert
Jeffery_O, Jul 2025
This review is more about the company that created this tour. We were on a 28 day cruise from Boston to Iceland. Many delays prevented us from arriving in Boston on tine and we missed the ship. We were finally able to arrive in Sydney to meet the ship. We arrived about 1:30 am and this tir began at 830 am. Through many conversations with Robert, he had the driver pick us up at the hotel and meet the group. After the tour the driver took us back to the hotel to get our luggage and then back to the port to check in. This is beyond our expectations! Great service and great tour company!
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Thank you so much Jeffery, I'm glad that everything worked out for you. Robert
Thmsvereecke, Jul 2025
Our bus driver/ tour guide Francie was excellent..very informative, knowledgeable and friendly.
The stops were great....would have liked a little more time in Highland Village.
Bell museum was very well done!
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Thank you and I will let Francie know about your fine review.
Matthew_J, Jul 2025
Great tour and great tour guide. Mike Syms was an amazing guide. He went out of his way to help us feel the full experience of Cape Breton/Sydney. The Highland Village was great to see. The people there spoke in Gaelic and English and helped us feel as if we were going back in time to really understand and feel what their ancestors went through to come to Nova Scotia. We had pizza with Mike, learned more about Alexander Graham Bell and his many inventions besides the telephone, and had a great tour. I highly recommend Mike and his company, Blackwood Tours. You won’t go wrong with them.
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Hello Matthew, thank you for your fine review. We are glad that you have a good tour with Michael, Robert
Lauren_C, Jun 2025
wonderful guide great experience highly recommend for large families. covers a lot of ground in a short period of time gorgeous!
Response from Host, Jun 2025
Thank you Lauren for your kind review. I will share this with Francie. Robert
Erin_C, Oct 2024
Bob did a great job as a tour guide. He filled in every square inch of time with history and fun facts!
Response from Host, Oct 2024
Thank you Erin, Bob has enjoyed this season very much.
patbarbwiese, Oct 2024
The Bell Museum was very I treating but not enough time there.
The highland Village was disappointing—maybe because it was late in the season but only 3 people in costumes. Not much activity.
There is nothing in Beddeck except a couple of small cafes and we weren’t interested in eating. Don’t understand the attraction to this town. Time would have been better spent at the museum.
Michael_C, Oct 2024
This tour covered such a variety of experiences without feeling rushed. Our guide and driver Bob was very knowledgeable and willing to accommodate the wishes of our small group of 3 couples. Since we were all interested in seeing more and not spending as much time eating at sit down restaurants, we were able to pick up food to eat and spend more time visiting the historical village and Bell museum. This tour was my best tour on my two week cruise although I did not book it with the cruiseline.
Response from Host, Oct 2024
Thank you Michael for your kind review, Bob truly enjoys conversing with others about Cape Breton.
Julia_L, Oct 2024
We had an amazing tour with Bob. Cape Breton is a beautiful place and Bob's warmth and storytelling ability made it even better. He worked around our shortened tour and made sure we saw all the key things and had a wonderful day. Thank you, Bob!
Response from Host, Oct 2024
Thank you Julia, Bob will be glad to read this review.
Kristine_B, Oct 2024
Beautiful drive to Highland Village. Bob gave interesting commentary and shared his love for the area. We would recommend this tour.
Response from Host, Oct 2024
Thank you Kristine, I will let Bob know that he has made a good impression on his customers. he loves what he does !
Coleen_F, Oct 2024
The best part of our tour was our guide , Bob! He made every minute enjoyable. His knowledge of the areas we visited was incredible. You can tell he love his country and his job! You should clone him!
Response from Host, Oct 2024
Thank you, I will be sure to show Bob your kind review, Robert
Chris_S, Oct 2024
Bob was wonderful, pleasant and very informative. He was very funny!! My wife and I would do this again.
Response from Host, Oct 2024
Awesome, Thank you kindly for your review !
GaryandGlenda_R, Oct 2024
I loved everything about this tour! The countryside is beautiful, the sites we saw were most enjoyable and offered interesting variety to the day. Bob is most knowledgeable about the history of the area, an enthusiastic narrator, a great storyteller, and very attentive to the wishes of the guests, while keeping to the necessary schedule. Thank you for a great day!!
Response from Host, Oct 2024
Excellent, your review is gladly accepted !
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