First pick
Canso Islands National Historic Site
Park or garden
195 ha0.6 km of path
5 minto walk all 0.6 km of path
32 km eastfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.08.9%protected within 10 km
Outdoors in Guysborough · parks, protected land & trails
The International Appalachian Trail (Nova Scotia) passes Guysborough
308 areas within 10 km are protected for nature. 56 beaches are mapped within 5 km, the nearest Betsys Beach. Out to 10 km from the town’s edge, 8.9% of the land is protected; 2.3% is typical for a Canadian town.
Protected land
8.9%
of the land within 10 km
Typical Canadian town: 2.3%
Protected areas
308
within 10 km, 258 public
Typical Canadian town: 14
Nearest provincial park
At the edge
Black Duck Cove Provincial Park
Walking routes
1
named, within 2 km (OpenStreetMap)
Beaches
56
within 5 km (OpenStreetMap)
Character
The outdoors in Guysborough, in short
Each figure against Canadian towns of 2,500+; tap a tile for the detail.
On a national routeThe International Appalachian Trail (Nova Scotia) passes within 2 kmBeaches56 beaches within 5 kmMany protected areas258 public areas within 10 kmProtected land all round8.9% of the land within 10 km, more than 83% of Canadian towns
What Guysborough has most to offer outdoors is the International Appalachian Trail (Nova Scotia), with its beaches close behind.
Against other towns
Each figure for Guysborough, set against Canadian towns
Each figure against the 2,611 Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ (not city hubs or reserves), with the town marked and the typical one’s line. No letter: the outdoors is described for Canadian towns, not graded.
Protected within 10 km8.9%Share of the land and water within 10 km of the town’s edge in a protected or conserved area
Protected in town15%Share of the town’s own area in a protected or conserved area
Public protected areas258Areas within 10 km held by a government or an Indigenous nation
Walking routes1Named OpenStreetMap walking and hiking routes with 300 m+ within 2 km
Beaches56Beaches mapped on OpenStreetMap within 5 km
CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC, 2026), OpenStreetMap (November 2026). Distances from the town’s outline.
Towns its size
Guysborough has the 9th most protected land nearby of 40 towns its size
The 40 Canadian towns nearest in population (4,627 to 4,816 residents), by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected. Hover for each one’s figures; click for its page.
Protected within 10 km
Guysborough8.9%
Towns its size2.2%
Towns in Nova Scotia8.7%
Typical Canadian town2.3%
Public protected areas
Guysborough258
Towns its size4
Towns in Nova Scotia24
Typical Canadian town4
Walking routes
Guysborough1
Towns its size0
Towns in Nova Scotia2
Typical Canadian town0
None of the other 39 towns its size has more public protected areas than Guysborough.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Protected within 10 km | In town | Areas | Routes | Beaches | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jasper AB | 100% | 100% | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| 2 | Dundas NB | 29% | 1.3% | 12 | 0 | 6 |
| 3 | Cumberland County, Subdivision D NS | 15% | 7.1% | 69 | 0 | 13 |
| 4 | Château-Richer QC | 12% | 0.3% | 38 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | Central Okanagan BC | 11% | 13% | 52 | 1 | 25 |
| 6 | Greenboro East ON | 11% | 0% | 19 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Qualicum - Redwood ON | 11% | 0% | 25 | 2 | 5 |
| 8 | Riverside Park - Mooneys Bay ON | 9.5% | 10% | 35 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | Guysborough NS | 8.9% | 15% | 308 | 1 | 56 |
| 10 | Sutton QC | 6.6% | 12% | 47 | 14 | 0 |
| 11 | Saint-Antonin QC | 6.1% | 0.5% | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Marmora ON | 5.5% | 8.7% | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Cornwallis MB | 5.5% | 3.7% | 26 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | North End East ON | 4.8% | 0% | 23 | 0 | 3 |
| 15 | Kingsland AB | 3.7% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 7 |
| 16 | Electoral Area H, Nanaimo BC | 3.3% | 1.2% | 56 | 11 | 6 |
| 17 | Shippagan NB | 2.5% | 18% | 26 | 0 | 47 |
| 18 | Amaranth ON | 2.3% | 0.2% | 27 | 1 | 1 |
| 19 | Canora AB | 2.3% | 0% | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| 20 | Battleford SK | 2.2% | 1.1% | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Electoral Area B, Nanaimo BC | 2.1% | 3.2% | 38 | 0 | 10 |
| 22 | Saint-Étienne-des-Grès QC | 2% | 0% | 9 | 0 | 1 |
| 23 | Woodlands County AB | 1.8% | 1.4% | 25 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Pembina Strip MB | 1.7% | 0% | 19 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 | Riverview MB | 1.4% | 0% | 24 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 | Electoral Area D, Fraser-Fort George BC | 0.9% | 0.1% | 4 | 0 | 12 |
| 27 | Hampton NB | 0.8% | 0.9% | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Iroquois Falls ON | 0.8% | 0% | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | Britannia ON | 0.7% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | Richmond AB | 0.7% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| 31 | Rossmere-B MB | 0.3% | 0% | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | Baturyn AB | 0.3% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Dutton ON | 0.2% | 0.2% | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Macewan Glen AB | 0.2% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 35 | Grand Valley ON | 0.1% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Kindersley SK | 0.1% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | Flin Flon (Part) MB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Barrhead AB | 0% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | Central McDougall AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 40 | Eastwood AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 1 | 1 |
The map
Where the green is in Guysborough
The town’s parks, woods, protected land and paths, with its named places numbered.
Green: OpenStreetMap parks, gardens, playing fields and woods. Hatched: CPCAD protected areas.© OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); CPCAD (OGL-Canada)
Places to walk
Walk in Guysborough: 5 named parks and woods
The biggest is Canso Islands National Historic Site, 195 ha. Biggest first, numbered as on the map.
5 named parks and woods, 342 ha in all
Parks & gardens 342 ha
Canso Islands National Historic Site plus Boylston Provincial Park account for 84% of the green.
Boylston Provincial Park
Park or garden
93 ha0.1 km of path
20 km north-westfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Black Duck Cove Provincial Park
Park or garden
42 ha3 km of path
40 minto walk all 3 km of path
27 km eastfrom the centre
Bluff Point TrailKeef Point Trail
Directionsto a point inside
Look Off Municipal Park
Park or garden
0.5 ha
7.7 km north-westfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Source: OpenStreetMap parks, gardens, commons and woods with a name, in the town or within 400 m, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Sizes are the mapped outline’s.
Close to home
2 in 10 people in Guysborough live near a park
Residents of each 2021 dissemination area, at a point inside it, within 400 m (about a 5-minute walk) of a park or playing field mapped on OpenStreetMap.
Within 400 m (15%)Further (85%)
Guysborough15%
Towns in Nova Scotia18%
Typical Canadian town83%
About 4,000 residents live further than 400 m from one. A median Canadian town manages 83%.
Protected areas
8.9% of the land around Guysborough is protected
Every protected and conserved area in CPCAD within 10 km of the town’s edge: parks, reserves, wildlife areas and conservation land.
Inside Guysborough15%
Within 10 km8.9%
Towns in Nova Scotia8.7%
Typical Canadian town2.3%
Of the 308, 258 are public land; the others are privately held. Bonnet Lake Barrens Wilderness Area covers 10,367 ha, the most of any named area. 2 areas belong to private owners or land trusts and aren’t named here.
Bonnet Lake Barrens Wilderness AreaNature reserve · 10,367 ha · reaches Guysborough
Canso Coastal Barrens Wilderness AreaNature reserve · 8,013 ha · reaches Guysborough
Ogden Round Lake Wilderness AreaNature reserve · 5,469 ha · reaches Guysborough
Guysborough Headlands Wilderness AreaNature reserve · 3,013 ha · reaches Guysborough
Tracadie River Wilderness AreaNature reserve · 2,526 ha · reaches Guysborough
Big Plains Wilderness AreaNature reserve · 2,118 ha · reaches Guysborough
Nine Mile Woods Wilderness AreaNature reserve · 1,020 ha · reaches Guysborough
Archibald Lake Wilderness AreaNature reserve · 687 ha · reaches Guysborough
Loon Lake Nature ReserveNature reserve · 384 ha · reaches Guysborough
Mulgrave Hills Nature ReserveNature reserve · 248 ha · reaches Guysborough
29 more named areas within 10 km are in the figures.
Source: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
National & provincial parks
Black Duck Cove Provincial Park meets Guysborough
National parks (Parks Canada) and provincial or territorial parks by direction and distance from the town’s edge: every one within 10 km, and the nearest of each within 100 km.
National parkProvincial park
Provincial park
Black Duck Cove Provincial Park
At the edge · east1.4 km²since 2024
For a national park, people in Guysborough travel more than 100 km.
Source: CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC): areas and outlines, distances outline to outline; directions from the town’s centre point.
Footpaths and woods
Paths to walk: 248 km in and around Guysborough
OpenStreetMap footpaths, paths, bridleways and steps, and tracks open on foot, in the town and 1 km around it; woods as mapped (landuse=forest, natural=wood).
Footpaths
248 km
in and around the town (2,758.2 km²)
Woodland
72%
about 1,999.4 km² of mapped woods
Footpaths · km per km²
GuysboroughTowns in Nova ScotiaTypical Canadian town
Footpaths0.1
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
GuysboroughTowns in Nova ScotiaTypical Canadian town
Woodland72%
0%50%100%
For path density, 87% of Canadian towns do better. Woods cover more of it than in 92% of Canadian towns.
Source: OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Mapping varies by place: a dense figure can mean keen local mappers as much as many paths.
Walking routes
Trails around Guysborough
Named walking and hiking routes on OpenStreetMap with at least 300 m within 2 km of the town, longest first; national routes lead.
National
International Appalachian Trail (Nova Scotia)495.5 km
Of the International Appalachian Trail (Nova Scotia)’s 496 km, 7.2 km passes close to town.
Source: OpenStreetMap (route relations hiking, foot and walking), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Trans Canada Trail sections as OSM maps them.
When to get out
Get out in Guysborough in June to August
Environment and Climate Change Canada’s 1991–2020 normals from Collegeville (55 km), and daylight at the town’s latitude. Good months: 12½+ hours of daylight, highs of 15–30 °C, little rain.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.1 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.9 | 15.6 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.9 | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| High (°C) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 16 | 20 | 22 | 19 | 13 | 8 | 4 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 81 | 83 | 83 | 60 | 78 | 86 | 80 | 96 | 106 | 134 | 130 | 105 |
August is the warmest month, with highs around 22 °C; February the coldest, at 0 °C. For dry weather, April is best (60 mm); October gets 134 mm. The climate in Guysborough →
Beaches
Beaches near Guysborough: 56 within 5 km
Beaches on OpenStreetMap within 5 km of the town’s edge, nearest first, with directions.
Betsys Beachin town
DirectionsBezansons Beachin town
DirectionsBlack Duck Cove Beachsand · in town
DirectionsBluff Point Stone Beachpebbles · in town
DirectionsBones Ledge Beachin town
DirectionsCarters Beachin town
DirectionsFox Island Main Beachin town
DirectionsHadley Beachin town
DirectionsLong Beachin town
DirectionsLong Beachin town
DirectionsWithin 5 km is 886 km of coastline. 36 further beaches go unnamed. No open data on beach water quality covers every province, so check with public health before a swim.
Source: OpenStreetMap (natural=beach), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Things to do
Guysborough has 2 viewpoints and 2 waterfalls nearby
Viewpoints, peaks, waterfalls, picnic sites, nature reserves, playgrounds, dog parks, campsites and boat launches mapped within 2 km of the town.
The most common are hills and peaks: 16 on the map.
Every named place, with directions
Hills and peaks 16
Bull Hillin town
DirectionsBull Ridgein town
DirectionsDickies Mountainin town
DirectionsDollivers Mountainin town
DirectionsFlag Hillin town
DirectionsFlagstaff Hillin town
DirectionsIndian Peakin town
DirectionsLookout Hillin town
DirectionsPlus 8 hills and peaks more.
Nature reserves 2
Roman Valley Nature Reservein town
DirectionsSalsman Provincial Park0.2 km from town
DirectionsPicnic sites 3
Plus 3 picnic sites without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 4
Plus 4 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 4
Plus 4 campsites without a name on the map.
Source: OpenStreetMap (tourism, natural, waterway and leisure tags), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Next door
Next to Guysborough
The nearest places, coloured by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected; tap one for its outdoors page. Distances here run 37–46 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Guysborough.
Port HawkesburyRichmond County, Subdivision CSt. Mary'sAntigonish County, Subdivision BGuysborough
Under 1%1–5%5–15%15–40%40%+
| Town | Protected within 10 km | Areas | Routes | Beaches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guysborough | 8.9% | 308 | 1 | 56 |
| Port Hawkesbury 37 km | 5.1% | 36 | 0 | 0 |
| Richmond County, Subdivision C 40 km | 0.6% | 27 | 0 | 31 |
| St. Mary's 45 km | 8.3% | 351 | 0 | 43 |
| Antigonish County, Subdivision B 46 km | 11% | 103 | 1 | 35 |
Its neighbours have no more than twice Guysborough’s protected share.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Walking routes. The list is OpenStreetMap’s, so a missing trail may just be unmapped. The Trans Canada Trail appears where OSM maps it.
- Protected land. Protected here means in CPCAD, Canada’s official list: parks, reserves, wildlife areas and other conserved land, measured within 10 km of the town’s edge.
- Private land. Land owned by individuals, companies or conservation groups counts toward the figures but is never named: a person’s land isn’t a place to visit.
- Beaches. A beach counts when its centre point lies within 5 km of the town’s outline. Names come from the map.
- National and provincial parks. A park at 0 km touches or overlaps the town’s outline; directions point from the town’s centre.
Questions about the outdoors in Guysborough
What is the nearest national park to Guysborough?
None within 100 km of Guysborough.
Are there hiking trails near Guysborough?
Try the International Appalachian Trail (Nova Scotia).
Where can you swim near Guysborough?
Betsys Beach, in town, is the nearest mapped beach.
Are there protected areas near Guysborough?
Within 10 km, 8.9% of the land lies in protected areas.
How far is the nearest provincial park from Guysborough?
Black Duck Cove Provincial Park, which reaches the edge of town.
Which is the biggest protected area near Guysborough?
Bonnet Lake Barrens Wilderness Area, a nature reserve of 10,367 ha.
What is the best season to get outdoors in Guysborough?
On the normals, June to August: that is when days are long, highs reach 15 °C and rain is light.
Sources
Where Guysborough’s outdoors figures come from
Protected areas: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2026: every area within 10 km and the nearest national and provincial parks, measured outline to outline.
Walking routes and beaches: OpenStreetMap, November 2026: named hiking, foot and walking route relations within 2 km and beaches within 5 km.
Towns: Statistics Canada 2021 Census boundaries and populations; the comparison is the Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+, not city hubs or reserves.
When to go: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020, from the nearest station that publishes them.
Green space, paths, woods, things to do: OpenStreetMap (Geofabrik’s Canada extract), November 2026: parks, gardens, playing fields, woods, footpaths, the coastline and things to do in and around each town.
Residents: Statistics Canada 2021 Census dissemination areas (population, boundaries), each at a point inside it.
Walking routes and beaches © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL).
Not on this page: trailheads and trail grades, and beach water quality. No open Canadian dataset gives these for every town yet.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).