Day 2

Hit the market: 9 a.m.
Established by a Royal Proclamation in 1750, the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market, in the city’s seaport district, is the oldest continuously running farm-to-table trading post in North America. Here, you can pick up everything from new potatoes to blueberries to apples, not to mention craft items such as jewellery and leather goods, trigger mitts and vegan soap bars.

Learn your lessons: 1 p.m.
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia puts on temporary shows that focus mainly on Nova Scotia artists, but also exhibits that explore intersections and parallels between regional and international art. In the permanent collection, you’ll find the works of folk artist Maud Lewis, whose vivid paintings of everyday life are perennial crowd pleasers. For your science fix, head to the Discovery Centre for hands-on exhibits on such topics as home energy use and multimedia tours of the ocean.

Find your sweet spot: 4 p.m.
Who doesn’t need an afternoon pick-me-up? Voted the city’s best bakery in 2019, Vandal Doughnuts, in the city’s North End, doles out dough with holes in an array of rainbow colours and flavours, from lemon square and Caramilk to classics like maple dip and cinnamon sugar. It’s a challenge to pick only one.

Day 3

Relax and recharge: 12 p.m.
The Halifax Central Library might not seem like the most obvious tourist attraction, but we beg to differ. Housed in a glass block that has won awards for its design, the luminous space is the perfect quiet place to reenergize, especially over panini and lattes at the top-floor café, Pavia. At noon on some days, you can even drop in for the library’s one-hour Lunch & Listen: Storytime for Grown-Ups. Just bring your panini or a lunch from outside; coffee and tea are served at the reading.

Raise a pint for diversity: 5 p.m.
The fact that the people who run 2 Crows Brewing Co. actively seek to employ persons from marginalized groups and communities, including BIPOC and LGBTQ folx, is reason enough to clink glasses of this brewer’s craft beers. Add to that the suds themselves — from Laurel, a dark saison, to Shadow Rider, a sour beer aged in tequila barrels with a hint of cucumber and mint, and you’ve got a double winner. Make that a hat trick: Part of the proceeds from each tasting pack of Fortitude beer goes to support the ALS Society, which might well explain why the motto “You are not alone” is printed on the label.