I visited Grand Pré with my family in August 2019 during our WH trip to Nova Scotia. We came from Amherst (our base for Joggins) and headed next to Lunenberg. We stayed at a campground in North Grand Pré for two nights. It means we had to cross the core zone anytime we wanted to go somewhere.

As the tragic history of Acadians is already explained by previous reviewers, I will concentrate on my visit. We arrived there by midday and spent our first afternoon touring the polder. The size of the landscape is impressive when you consider that Acadians took it from the sea by building dykes and aboiteaux. Moreover, it's not any sea. It's the Bay of Fundy with the highest tides in the world, averaging 11.6 m at the site!

We started our visit around the church, with the statue and the nice gardens. We then walked to the viewpoint which is a must do the realize the size of this podler! [photo showing the view of the church and Cape Blomidon in the background, which was included in the buffer zone for this view] Our next stop was the Covenanter church, which is just outside the core zone. This church was built in 1811 and is the oldest extant Presbyterian Church in Canada and a National Historic Site of Canada. We then made it by car to Horton Landing and the Deportation Cross, which is where Acadians were forced to board boats, but also where New England Planters landed.

We dedicated our second day to a hike at Cape Split. Nevertheless, we visited two other points of interest around Grand Pré. First, the small and closed North Grand Pré Community Church. Lastly, we enjoyed The Guzzle, at the tip of East Long Island Road. It offers a great view of the Bay of Fundy and is good for birding. When we were there, we saw thousands of sandpipers moving in synchrony. Evangeline Beach is a similarly interesting site for wildlife spotting and tides watching.

Overall, Grand Pré depicts an important history and impressive landscape planning techniques in a large tidal range environment. Nothing is life changing here, but it is definitely a pleasant visit.