Seafood features strongly on most menus. The pub district in Halifax is said to be one of the best in North America, with dozens of establishments.

Things to know: Beer, wine and liquor are sold in licensed restaurants (you must also order food) and in licensed lounges (where you don't need to buy food). Beer and wine only are sold in pub-style beverage rooms, which offer snacks and light meals. Permitted liquor service hours for lounges and beverage rooms are Mon-Sat 1000-0200 and Sun 1200-0200.

Regional specialities:
• Seafood galore: try fish and clam chowders, lobster and salmon. Not forgetting scallops: fried, baked or grilled, and usually served with tartare sauce.
• Solomon gundy (a herring dish).
• Lunenburg sausage exemplifies the German influence, as do hugger in buff, fish and scrunchions, Dutch mess and house bankin - all names for tasty combinations of fish and potatoes in cream sauce, onions and salt pork.
• Desserts make use of plentiful fruit and berries, especially blueberries, and include a stewed fruit and dumplings dish called grunt, and baked apple dumplings wrapped in pastry and served with cream, sugar or lemon sauce.

Regional drinks:
• Nova Scotia beer warmer is a glass of beer with a dash of hot pepper sauce to get the blood circulating again. Provincial beers include Alexander Keith's and Propeller.
• Nova Scotia has recently become a popular wine-producing area, especially in the Annapolis Valley. A number of good vintages have been produced there.
• Canada's only single malt whiskey, Glen Breton Rare, is produced by the Glenora Inn and Distillery in Cape Breton.

Legal drinking age: 19.

Tipping: It is customary to tip 15% in bars and restaurants.

Nightclubs are mostly centred in Halifax. You can hear Scottish bagpipe music and Gaelic songs all over the province in concerts, bars, hotels and restaurants. Professional and amateur theatre is very popular; details of forthcoming performances are available from Tourism Nova Scotia (see Contact Addresses).

For years, Nova Scotia was the only Canadian province that largely prohibited Sunday shopping. Now, the only day of the year stores are legally required to close is Remembrance Day (11 November).

Shopping hours: Generally daily 0930-1800 (until 2100 in many large stores and malls, particularly Thurs-Fri). Sunday hours may be shorter.