1. St. Andrews: (Fundy coast, Charlotte County, about 1,800 people, best known for its walkable Water Street, the Algonquin Resort, Kingsbrae Garden, whale watching and Loyalist history on Passamaquoddy Bay)
2. Sackville: (southeastern New Brunswick, Westmorland County, about 5,500 people, best known for Mount Allison University, the Sackville Waterfowl Park, the Owens Art Gallery and the surrounding Tantramar Marshes)
3. St. Martins: (Fundy coast, Saint John County, about 300 people in the village, best known for its sea caves, two covered bridges, shipbuilding past and as the gateway to the Fundy Trail Parkway)
4. Caraquet: (Acadian Peninsula, Gloucester County, about 4,000 people, best known as the heart of Acadian culture, with the Festival acadien, the Blessing of the Fleet and nearby Village Historique Acadien)
5. Shediac: (Northumberland Strait, Westmorland County, about 7,000 people, best known as the "Lobster Capital of the World," with warm-water beaches at Parlee Beach and its giant lobster sculpture)
6. Alma: (Fundy coast, Albert County, about 250 people, best known for its Fundy tides, lobster boats resting on the mud at low tide, seafood and its position at the edge of Fundy National Park)
7. Bouctouche: (Northumberland Strait, Kent County, about 2,500 people, best known for La Dune de Bouctouche, Le Pays de la Sagouine, Acadian culture and a lively waterfront)
8. Grand Manan: (island in the Bay of Fundy, Charlotte County, about 2,500 people, best known for whale watching, puffins, dulse harvesting, hiking cliffs and quiet fishing villages like North Head)
9. St. Stephen: (St. Croix River, Charlotte County, about 4,300 people, best known for the Ganong Chocolate Museum, the annual Chocolate Fest, and its twin-town border with Calais, Maine)
10. Hartland: (Saint John River Valley, Carleton County, about 900 people, best known for the Hartland Covered Bridge, the longest in the world, and its peaceful river setting)

Spotlight on Four of New Brunswick's Most Popular Small Towns to Explore

St. Andrews

Best known for its walkable seaside downtown, its Loyalist heritage, the Algonquin Resort and Kingsbrae Garden.

Natural Setting

St. Andrews sits at the tip of a peninsula where the St. Croix River meets Passamaquoddy Bay, on the Bay of Fundy side of the province. The town slopes down to a working waterfront, and the surrounding shoreline has sandy coves, rocky points and islands, while Chamcook Mountain rises just north of town. Whales, seals, porpoises and seabirds feed in the nearby waters, and the strong Fundy tides rise and fall around the wharves twice a day. Ministers Island, reached by a sandbar at low tide, and Kingsbrae Garden add to the green setting.

Historical, Cultural & Economic Importance

The area was long home to the Passamaquoddy people. After the American Revolution, a group of Loyalists left Castine, Maine and settled here in 1783, and the story goes that some of them took their houses apart and floated the timbers across the bay. The town was laid out on a tidy grid, and many of its streets and buildings from the 1700s and 1800s survive. A number of historic sites, including the 1812 blockhouse, tell the story of the early community and the defense of the border.

In the late 1800s, the arrival of the railway turned St. Andrews into a fashionable summer resort. The Algonquin Resort, opened in 1889 and perched above the town, still anchors the community, and wealthy visitors built grand summer homes. Water Street is lined with galleries, shops, cafes and seafood restaurants, and almost everything of interest is within an easy walk. The Huntsman Marine Science Centre and the whale watching tours help keep a connection to the sea.

Today tourism is the main industry, supported by aquaculture and fishing. Visitors come for whale watching, kayaking, golf, gardens and the relaxed atmosphere, and St. Andrews is often rated among the best small towns in Atlantic Canada for walking and dining.

Sackville

Best known for Mount Allison University, its public art and the Sackville Waterfowl Park in the heart of town.

Natural Setting

Sackville lies on the Tantramar Marshes, a broad, flat landscape of dyked hayfields and tidal creeks near the Nova Scotia border and the head of the Bay of Fundy. Acadian farmers built the first dykes here in the 1600s, and the marshes still produce hay and attract huge flocks of birds. The Sackville Waterfowl Park, a restored wetland of about 55 acres with a boardwalk and ponds, sits right beside downtown. In late summer, the marsh skies fill with migrating shorebirds, and sunsets over the open fields are a local highlight.

Historical, Cultural & Economic Importance

Sackville began as an Acadian and later New England Planter settlement, and it grew through farming and the shipping of marsh hay. The nearby Fort Beauséjour-Fort Cumberland National Historic Site, a few kilometers away, recalls the contest between French and British forces for control of the region. The town was also a manufacturing center for stoves and furnaces through the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Mount Allison University, founded in 1839, has shaped Sackville's character for generations. Mount Allison is credited with awarding the first university degree to a woman in the British Empire, and it still has a small-campus feel with a strong arts tradition. The Owens Art Gallery, one of the oldest university art galleries in Canada, is on campus, and independent galleries, music venues, bookstores and restaurants fill Bridge Street and the surrounding blocks.

The university and a steady flow of visitors drive the local economy, along with farming and small business. Sackville is compact, easy to walk, and a natural base for exploring the Tantramar Marshes, Cape Jourimain and the Fundy shore.

St. Martins

Best known for its sea caves, covered bridges and its place as the gateway to the Fundy Trail Parkway.

Natural Setting

St. Martins sits on the rugged Fundy coast, east of Saint John, where steep hills drop to a small harbour, red cliffs and some of the highest tides on Earth. At low tide, visitors can walk along the beach and explore the sea caves just east of the village, which are carved into sandstone cliffs by the tides, and at high tide the same spots are underwater. Two covered bridges, the Vaughan Creek and Salmon River bridges, frame the harbour, and forested hills and wild shoreline surround the village on all sides. The Fundy Trail Parkway begins just beyond the village.

Historical, Cultural & Economic Importance

St. Martins grew in the 1800s as one of the busiest shipbuilding communities on the Bay of Fundy, launching hundreds of wooden sailing ships from its shores. Timber from the forests behind the village fed the yards, and local captains and crews sailed to ports around the world. The St. Martins Country Museum tells that story with models, photos and artifacts from the age of sail.

With the decline of wooden shipbuilding, the village turned to fishing, forestry and, more recently, tourism. The opening of the Fundy Trail Parkway extended the coast road east, and visitors now stop in St. Martins to see the caves, take photos of the covered bridges and eat at the local seafood restaurants and bakeries. The village is small enough to explore on foot in an hour or two.

Tourism, lobster fishing and small local businesses support the community. Its size, its scenery and its closeness to Saint John, about 45 minutes away, make it a popular day trip, though the quiet inns and cottages also invite a longer stay.

Caraquet

Best known as the heart of Acadian culture in New Brunswick, with a famous summer festival, a working fishing harbour and a long, scenic waterfront.

Natural Setting

Caraquet stretches for several kilometers along the shore of Chaleur Bay on the northeastern coast, where the water is relatively warm in summer and the beaches are sandy and shallow. Fishing boats fill the harbour, and the town's long main street follows the curve of the bay with views across the water. The Acadian Peninsula around it is low and flat, with salt marshes, beaches and birdlife, and the nearby Pokeshaw Rock sea stack is one of the most photographed spots on the coast.

Historical, Cultural & Economic Importance

Caraquet was settled in the mid-1700s by Acadians who had escaped or returned after the Deportation, and it became a refuge and a center for rebuilding Acadian life. Today it is often called the capital of Acadian culture, and French is the everyday language of the town. The Village Historique Acadien, just outside Caraquet, preserves more than 40 buildings that show how Acadians lived from 1770 to 1949, with costumed interpreters, working farms and craft shops.

Each August, around the national Acadian holiday on August 15, the town hosts the Festival acadien, with concerts, parades and a Tintamarre, a joyful noisemaking street parade. The Blessing of the Fleet, when decorated fishing boats receive a blessing in the harbour, is also a highlight. Local restaurants serve Acadian dishes such as fricot, poutine râpée and fresh seafood, and the Acadian Museum and the Maison de la Culture add to the cultural scene.

Fishing and seafood processing, particularly of crab, lobster and herring, remain important, with tourism growing alongside. The town is long and best explored by car and on foot in sections, but its warm welcome, music and food make it one of the best places in the province to experience Acadian culture.