Madeline Islands

The Magdalene Islands (or Île de la Madeline in French) is that it is , a 110-kilometer long archipelago in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. And is a treasure hidden in plain sight.

Floating between Quebec, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, its six inter-connected rugged islands are a picturesque and largely undiscovered by American tourists. Settled by French Arcadian fishermen, the islands have increasingly turned to tourism as fishing stocks in the Atlantic have declined. Still, few Americans travel here and the place has a laid-back feel unspoiled by the summer hoards of Maine and Nova Scotia.

Each of its six islands has a different feel, from the picturesque, colorful bungalows of Havre-Aux-Maisons at the southern end of the archipelago, to the rolling farmlands ending in dramatic red cliffs on to the gritty working fishing docks of Grosse-Isle, an Anglophone island settled by Scottish fishermen.