Mountain biking in New Brunswick is Canada’s best-kept secret. From a 400-year-old coal mine to lift-served downhill, here are the best trails across the province.
I was tearing through a trail about 45 minutes from Fredericton, New Brunswick, with my son, Dylan. It was a rhythm section of a trail called Insanity Later, a flow trail where our speed seemed to dial up with each peak. Dylan had stretched out his lead, disappearing in the distance, his whoops of joy the only thing that let me know he was still there.
Until those whoops stopped.
Fearing the worst, I picked up speed to catch up, and as I rose over the next mound, I almost smashed right into the back of him. What stopped him wasn’t a wipe-out; it was a view. And when my heart slowed down, and I turned to look at what he had braked for, I too was stopped dead in my tracks.
Below us were ponds radiating with colours that would be more at home in the mountains of Alberta than in central New Brunswick. Turquoise, emerald, and an almost radioactive blue. We were surrounded by fifty years of Acadian forest that had swallowed up a former coal mine. The wild landscape was carved up by draglines and earth movers, and it was the most beautiful mountain biking trail I had ever seen east of the Rocky Mountains.
The first thing that popped into my head was “why is no one talking about this?”
The honest truth about mountain biking in New Brunswick is that no one is talking about it. In Eastern Canada, Quebec holds the title for the most trails. In Canada, it’s British Columbia and Alberta that have the highest verticals and largest communities. The New Brunswick mountain biking community, though, has been a quiet, determined force acting in near solitude.
But those quiet voices are starting to get louder. And they have something to shout about.
Look across New Brunswick, and you don’t see massive cities and industry. You see trees. Lots of them. Because 85 percent of the land in New Brunswick is covered in forest. That’s the highest amount of any province in Canada. And within those forests, a growing network of volunteer trail crews has been building one of the fastest-growing mountain biking regions in the country. And with almost no crowds, it has become the best-value mountain biking destination in the country.
Tourism New Brunswick is paying attention to this rising scene and getting behind that momentum. The organization has flagged mountain biking, along with other outdoor adventure sports, as a focus as it aims to grow tourism in the province from $2.7 billion annually to $3.7 billion by 2031.
If you love mountain biking, this guide is for you. I cover every mountain biking region in New Brunswick and share where to ride, where to sleep, where to eat, and what makes each trail worth the drive. And it all starts with a coal mine 45 minutes from the provincial capital.
Why New Brunswick Is a Different Kind of Mountain Biking Destination
I’ve been riding bikes in just about every province in Canada. I’m no professional; heck, I’m barely an amateur, but I love mountain biking and the adrenaline, beauty, and fitness that comes with it. I’ve been on big trails in Quebec, like Sentiers du Moulin, one of the adventure riding parks outside of Quebec City. And I’ve held on for dear life riding the single tracks at Three Blind Mice in Penticton. What makes riding in New Brunswick its own thing isn’t that it’s like Quebec or B.C. on a smaller scale.
It’s that it doesn’t need to be.
New Brunswick is pretty small by Canadian provincial standards. But the terrain here is anything but. That size and the variety of landscapes packed within it mean that you can wake up on the Fundy Coast, ride rocky, root-covered, salt-air-filled singletrack in the morning, and be on lift-accessed Appalachian downhill by late afternoon. New Brunswick’s epic landscapes combine coastal cliffs, Appalachian foothills, river valleys, forested highlands and reclaimed industrial land all within a province you can drive across in four hours.
You won’t find that in any other Canadian province.
Most of the mountain biking trails in New Brunswick are built and maintained by non-profit clubs like River Valley Cycling in Fredericton, the Saint John Cycling Club, and Mountain Bike Minto. That grassroots backing means the trails in the province feel personal rather than packaged. It also means you should buy the trail pass and join the local club if you’re planning on hitting them regularly. After all, these trails exist because people gave up their nights and weekends to make them happen.
New Brunswick is also pretty empty. Some of the top trails in the province, like Minto, only host about 4,000 riders a year. A place like Whistler might see upwards of 100,000. Dylan and I rode the trails in Minto and only saw three other people.
The province’s dense forest and maritime landscape also make for diverse riding experiences. Rockwood Park, near Saint John, will beat you up with rock gardens and exposed roots in the old-school Maritime tradition. Minto offers speed, exposure, and steep, rootless tailing trails. Fundy National Park offers mud, ravines, and that sweet coastal weather. Edmundston can give you 1,589 metres of vertical that most people would never expect of New Brunswick.
Mountain biking in New Brunswick isn’t the same as it is in Quebec, Alberta, or B.C. It’s quieter, more improvised, and far more raw. That’s what makes it so awesome.
Planning Your New Brunswick Mountain Biking Trip
Just like any adventure travel trip in Canada, getting the logistics right will help make the experience as seamless as possible. Here are some planning tips to help make the most of your New Brunswick mountain biking trip.
Mountain Bike Season in New Brunswick
The mountain biking season in New Brunswick runs roughly from May through late October. Most bike parks operate between June and October. Several trail systems, including Minto, Poley, Fundy’s Chignecto area, and Sentiers Madawaska, flip to fat biking during the winter months.
Trail Passes
Several mountain biking trail networks require or request that you purchase a pass: Sentiers Madawaska sells day and season passes through Républik Nature. Association Plein Air Shediac Outdoors Association (APASOA) in Shediac requires one; and Poley and Sugarloaf sell lift tickets. Elsewhere, day passes and memberships through the local trail clubs are the honest way to ride. Budget $10–$40 a day depending on where you are.
Trail Maps
If you don’t already have it, download the Trailforks app before you leave home and make the maps available offline. Cell service can be patchy once you’re out of the cities and off the highway, and some networks (Minto especially) can be labyrinthine.
New Brunswick Mountain Bike Guides and Tours
There are very few private mountain bike guides or organized tours in the province. The exception is Be Rad Adventure Co. out of Saint John. That company was founded in 2018 by Sam Bosence, a certified instructor who brought the Professional Mountain Bike Instructors Association to New Brunswick in 2019. The company now has around a dozen certified instructors in the province. Be Rad runs lessons, camps, guided rides and multi-day adventures across the Maritimes. In the Fredericton area, River Valley Cycling runs group rides and skills programs for youth and adults across all its networks.
Mountain Bike Rentals
There are bike rentals available in major cities throughout New Brunswick and some small towns as well. However, if you’re travelling through the province, it’s helpful to have your own bike. Outside of Fredericton, Fundy, and Sugarloaf, the pickings get pretty thin. The Radical Edge in Fredericton has a pretty good selection and a passionate team with good local insight.
The Best Mountain Bike Trails In New Brunswick
Fredericton & the River Valley: The Hub
Fredericton is where most riders should look as a base for riding, and it’s where Dylan and I parked ourselves during most of our mountain biking adventures in the province. The Fredericton Capital Region is Atlantic Canada’s mountain biking hub, with multiple premier networks inside a 45-minute drive of downtown. River Valley Cycling’s president Chris Norfolk put the region’s trajectory well when he said: “they’re closing in on 100 km of trail within a half-hour drive.”
It’s also just a very good city to be in between rides. Fredericton features more than 100 miles (160 km) of multi-use trail, one of the highest concentrations of taprooms per capita in Canada, and a walkable downtown you can reach from every trailhead. I’ve written more family travel in the city itself over on my other website, Wandering Wagars, and We Explore Canada has a full rundown of things to do in Fredericton.
The Fredericton region has more riding beyond what’s listed below. Mactaquac Provincial Park adds trails and strong winter fat-biking options; the UNB Woodlot holds about 13 km of flat-to-rolling doubletrack and rooty singletrack inside the university’s conservation forest; Marysville Place offers technical singletrack that dries fast and gets groomed for fat bikes in winter, and there’s a smaller network at Oromocto/Deer Park worth a lap if you’re passing through.
Minto Mountain Bike Trails
Distance from Fredericton: 35–50 minutes | Trails: 40–50 km | Best for: all levels and beautiful scenery
In 2012, a Minto family physician named Dr. Sean Morrissy finished his shift and went looking for somewhere to ride after work. Behind his own office, he found a trench, one of many left behind by the abandoned Minto coal mines. The community called that landscape the “mud dumps”; it was considered a barren wasteland that nobody had any use for. Morrissy looked at it and saw opportunity.
Coal mining began in Minto in 1639. Nearly four centuries of pit and strip mining ended in 2010, leaving huge ridges of overburden, steep-sided ravines, turquoise lakes and hundreds of kilometres of underground tunnels. Fifty years of forest grew over the top of it. The harsh spoil holds almost no rocks or roots, which means the ground drains fast and rides smooth.
What started as 4 km of personal trail is now more than 40 km (with the network pushing toward 50), hosting around 4,000 riders a year plus several races, fondos, hikers, skiers and snowshoers. It’s been written up in Bike Magazine, Canadian Cycling Magazine and National Geographic. An abandoned coal mine turned into a mountain biking gold mine.
Dylan and I rode it after being introduced to it by Dan McLeod from Grand Lake Tourism, who knows the network intimately. We warmed up on casual loops like Serenity Now before stepping onto Insanity Later, which, despite the name, is nowhere near as brutal as it sounds. The trail winds past old tailing ponds so clear and vividly coloured that they gave us flashbacks to the glacial lakes we’d hiked past in the Canadian Rockies a few weeks earlier. A good introductory loop links Tabula Rasa, Caveat Emptor, Spoil Banks, Serenity Now, Insanity Later, Scotia Banks and Highwall for a ride of about 13 kms.
Then Dylan decided our legs weren’t finished and dragged me to the flow trails, where I walked my bike up the inclines while he waited patiently at the top before we dropped into a series of black diamond jumps and pumps that had both of us hollering.
If you’re riding the trails with your family, Minto is one of the most underrated family riding destinations in Eastern Canada. Because there are so few rocks and roots, beginners can see challenging terrain from a long way off and prepare in advance. The trails are well marked with maps at intersections, easy go-arounds and clear “experts only” signage. A group with wildly mixed abilities can all ride and regroup in the same parking lot.
For rentals, this is the best deal in New Brunswick mountain biking. The Municipality of Grand Lake provides free mountain bike rentals to anyone who wants to try the trails, booked through Tiny Trails during office hours. Call or email ahead. You can also book rentals through The Radical Edge in Fredericton.
Killarney Lake Park: Fredericton’s Brand New Backyard Riding Trails
Distance from downtown: about 10 minutes | Trails: 12 km by end of 2026, building to ~32 km | Best for: after-work laps, families, skills progression, post-ride beach time.
It’s hard to believe that the trails in Killarney Lake Park didn’t exist two years ago.
River Valley Cycling started working with the City of Fredericton on a long-term trail plan for Killarney roughly a decade ago. After years of stop-start planning, the city broke ground in 2025 on a $350,000 construction project that year and another $250,000 in 2026. The city completed 6 km plus a skills park in 2025, and by the end of 2026 the network has a goal of hitting 12 km. The ultimate goal is a trail system of roughly 32 kilometres, including adaptive mountain bike trails designed by McElhanney Consulting with input from former Canadian pro Matt Hadley, and built to serve everyone from after-work riders to Canada Cup contenders.
Dylan and I met up with Rebekah Chasse, a local rider who offered to show us around. What was supposed to be a quick show-and-tell turned into a couple of hours of ripping flow trails, jumps and banked curves that would be a destination in their own right in most provinces. When our legs finally gave out, we rolled down to Killarney Lake Beach and collapsed on the sand.
That beach is the part of what makes Killarney Lake such a special place. There’s swimming, a playground and space to spread out, which means a family with one keen rider and one reluctant one can split the difference and still meet in the same place. My wife Christina doesn’t ride. This is where we’ll come the next time she’s with us in Fredericton.
Woolastook: The Locals’ Network
Distance from Fredericton: about 20 minutes west | Trails: 33 km | Best for: cross-country and enduro riders who want to earn it
Woolastoook is built and maintained by River Valley Cycling in a former provincial park under an agreement with the Province. IT features 33 km of forested, rolling cross-country trails and enduro riding along the Wolastoq (Saint John River). Trails like Split Rail and Shoreline West offer real flow that gets harder the faster you carry into it. Bev’s Knoll is classic Fredericton singletrack with chunky roots weaving through old forest. Almost everything rides well in both directions, which effectively doubles the network. Make the climb to the top of Mountain Road for the view.
Woolastook hosts the annual Wooly 4, a four-hour endurance race, and it’s a favourite of experienced riders who want to run race laps until their lungs quit.
Crabbe Mountain
Distance from Fredericton: about 40 minutes | Trails: 7.8 km and growing | Best for: advanced riders and downhill
Crabbe Mountain has the largest vertical drop in New Brunswick at 260 metres, and for years that solely benefitted skiers. The mountain biking here is still young. There are 7.8 km of volunteer-built trails on the hill right now, and they are mostly advanced black diamond, which is another way of saying the people who built them were building for themselves.
That’s changing. A partnership between River Valley Cycling and the Crabbe Mountain Resort opened up roughly 400 acres of terrain for downhill and enduro development, and the network is being built out now. Crabbe hosted the 2026 Velo NB Provincial Downhill Championships in August, which tells you where this is heading. Come for the vertical and check what’s open before you drive out, because the map is different every season.
Where to Stay and Eat in Fredericton
The Crowne Plaza Fredericton-Lord Beaverbrook is the only downtown waterfront hotel, steps from the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and Boyce Farmers Market, with an indoor pool and hot tub that your legs will thank you for. Delta Hotels by Marriott Fredericton offers the best waterfront patio in the city.
11th Mile is the city’s high-water mark — modern Canadian small plates and serious cocktails in a room that doesn’t try too hard. 540 Kitchen & Bar and STMR 36 are the other two consistently at the top of every list. Isaac’s Way is set in the old courthouse with a rotating local art auction on the walls, a properly separated gluten-free kitchen and prices that don’t punish a family. Wolastoq Wharf on the north side does the best seafood in town.
For post-ride beers, work the Fredericton Taproom Trail: Graystone Brewing, Trailway Brewing, Picaroons and Grimross are all within striking distance of downtown. There’s more in our roundup of the best restaurants in New Brunswick.
Edmundston & Madawaska: Real Mountain Riding
Trails: ~60 km of singletrack plus 11 km of enduro | Vertical: 1,589 m total descent | Best for: strong XC riders and enduro heads
If Minto is New Brunswick’s most distinctive mountain bike network, Sentiers Madawaska Trails is its most serious. This is real mountain terrain in the foothills of the Appalachians, and it starts two minutes from downtown Edmundston.
Madawaska boasts nearly 60 km of singletrack, including 7 beginner, 9 intermediate, and 4 expert trails, all built to International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) specifications by volunteers from Vélo Edmundston on land made available by generous local forest owners, plus 11 km of enduro trails, and a cumulative descent of 1,589 metres.
The network runs from the city out to Mont Farlagne, a 352 m ski hill that adds enduro-style runs and a skills park near its North Parking lot.
Three trailheads serve the Madawaska bike network: Rue Nadeau (about 30 parking spaces, gazebo, trail map, repair tools), Chemin Canada past the Travelodge (about 20 parking spaces), and the Centre plein air Mont Farlagne at 360 Mont Farlagne Road, which has 200+ parking spaces, wash stations and washrooms with showers. A trail pass is mandatory to ride the Madawaska trails. You can buy it online here before you go.
The whole operation is run by Républik Nature, a co-operative that brings Mont Farlagne and the Madawaska trails under one banner, which is an unusual model in Canadian trail management, and part of why this network punches so far above its weight. The park hosts an Olympic-format XCO race every summer, plus Le Petit Sault, an XCM endurance race with 15/30/60 km options.
Where to Stay and Eat in Edmundston
Consider the Four Points by Sheraton Edmundston Hotel & Conference Center for use as a home base. It features an indoor heated pool, a 24-hour fitness centre, and is pet-friendly. Best Western Plus Edmundston is a reliable alternative.
Frank’s Bar & Grill, attached to the Four Points, is a member of Acadie Gourmet and open daily for all three meals. It’s convenient when you roll in filthy at 8 pm. Edmundston’s café-bistro scene is small but great quality; ask at the trailhead gazebo where the club is eating that week. Note that this is a proudly francophone corner of the province. The Republic of Madawaska has its own flag and its own sense of humour about it.
Campbellton & Sugarloaf: Atlantic Canada’s Lift-Access Bike Park
Trails: ~50 km, 10+ downhill trails, 25+ km of cross-country | Vertical: 500+ ft of chairlift-served descent | Best for: gravity riders and progressing families
Sugarloaf Bike Park was Atlantic Canada’s first lift-accessed mountain bike park, and it remains the region’s most serious gravity trail network. The downhill network was designed and built by Gravity Logic, the same crew behind the famed Whistler Bike Park, which explains why the jump trails feel so incredibly epic.
You can ride the chairlift up more than 500 feet, then choose from 10-plus downhill trails: smooth beginner cruisers like Sugar Mama, flowy intermediate singletrack like Swamp Donkey and Ridgeline, and tight, steep, rocky black diamonds for experts. The trails are loaded with berms, tabletops, drops, step-ups and wooden features. Beyond the downhill, there are 25+ km of cross-country trails, a pump track and a family-friendly skills park. On-site bike rentals and a full-service lodge make this the easiest place in the province to show up empty-handed.
One fascinating piece of Sugarloaf Mountain trivia is that the park is built on an extinct late Devonian volcano, sitting inside an 11.5 km² provincial park within Campbellton’s city limits. You are riding a volcano.
The park has a rolling list of events throughout the year, including the Crankworx Summer Series. The park also hosts the long-running Adrenaline Bike Festival.
Where to Stay and Eat in Campbellton
Sugarloaf Provincial Park campground is the best option if you want to be a few pedal strokes from the lift. It features tent sites, RV sites, rustic ready-to-sleep shelters and the unique Ch-A-lets, with the Altiture resto-bar on site. In town, check out Super 8 by Wyndham Campbellton; it’s walkable to restaurants.
Campbellton’s dining is unfussy. Chez Kim, Al’s Pizzeria, and Brasserie 1026 are all within walking distance of most hotels. The Sugarloaf Community Market runs Saturdays year-round, 9 am–2 pm, for those who want to dive into the local scene or do some shopping.
Bathurst & the Acadian Peninsula: Riding the Emerging Coast
Trails: growing networks at MFB Chaleur and Caraquet | Best for: riders who want trails and culture in the same day
Bathurst isn’t Edmundston, Minto, or Rockwood, and it doesn’t try to be. Bathurst and the Acadian Peninsula make up an emerging mountain biking region rather than an established one. But that’s exactly why I’d point people here. Riding this coast is about pairing trail time with one of the most distinctive cultural corners of the country.
MFB Chaleur, in the Bathurst area, offers the more technical riding of the two. It’s a mix of fire roads and easily spotted singletrack, accessible from several points around the city, and it’s excellent for riders who like puzzling out a network rather than following signage.
Club plein air de Caraquet is the flow network. The trails sit on land owned by the town and were developed with expert consultants to IMBA standards. Because this part of the province doesn’t have much elevation to work with, the builders leaned hard into flow instead, packing the trails with berms so riders carry speed through the turns. Everything rides well in both directions.
The real reason to come, though, is the drive. The coastal route between Bathurst and Caraquet threads through French-speaking Acadian fishing villages the whole way, and if shellfish are your thing, your post-ride situation is going to be very good indeed. Bathurst’s Daly Point Nature Reserve is also the trailhead for the 147 km Nepisiguit Mi’gmaq Trail, which runs all the way to Mount Carleton Provincial Park. That one is for hikers, not bikes, but it’s worth knowing it’s there.
Where to Stay and Eat in Bathurst and Caraquet
In Caraquet, Auberge de la Baie is the standout. Its coastal location makes it a great spot to relax after a day on the trails. Super 8 by Wyndham Caraquet is the practical alternative. In Bathurst, Best Western Plus Bathurst Hotel & Suites is a good option.
The Hotel Paulin dining room serves seafood pulled from the Gulf of St. Lawrence alongside traditional Acadian dishes, and breakfast is included if you’re staying. Mitchan Sushi and Café Phare are both walkable in Caraquet. Build in time for the Village historique acadien and the Musée Acadien while you’re here. Our guide to art galleries in New Brunswick covers several more stops along this stretch of coast.
Miramichi: The Undiscovered Trails in New Brunswick
Trails: ~20 km of singletrack plus 12–15 km of doubletrack | Best for: riders who want a network to themselves
The Miramichi region doesn’t have the purpose-built infrastructure of Edmundston or Minto. What it has is forested interior terrain, wilderness recreation, and the feeling that you’ve slipped off the map entirely.
French Fort Cove is the network to ride. Built and maintained by the Miramichi Mountain Bike Club (you can find their Facebook page here), it’s roughly 20 km of tight, twisty singletrack rolling down the hills into the Miramichi River valley, supplemented by another 12 to 15 km of doubletrack, powerline and NB Trail sections. Difficulty runs from easy right through to extremely difficult, and the trails are rarely wet, which makes this a reliable stop when the rest of the province has just been rained on. The season here runs from late April to the first snowfall, usually early December.
Start at the main parking area on Route 8 (King George Highway), which has a map, picnic tables, washrooms, a water fountain, a playground and a skills park. Warm up in the skills park, then take Fish Quarry for a gradual climb to the plateau. From there, link Creaghan’s Gulch to Blueberry Ridge and loop back through the blue trails. On the ridge side of the Gulch loop, look for the rock lookout; it’s the iconic French Fort Cove photo. Crow Brook is the descent down into the river valley, followed by a switchbacked climb that will remind your legs they exist.
There’s no access fee, but joining the club supports the trail initiative. And keep an eye out for the ghost of the Headless Nun, whose legend is attached to this cove and who is, as far as I can tell, the only supernatural entity with her own mountain bike network in Canada.
Where to Stay and Eat in Miramichi
Miramichi has a handful of motels and inns plus a couple of campgrounds in the region. The Rodd is a popular hotel with great amenities. Ritchie Wharf Park is the best base for eating, with restaurants, shops, a gallery and live entertainment most summer evenings. Our roundup of the top 10 things to do in Miramichi will fill in the rest of the days.
Moncton & the Southeast: Pockets, Coastline, and a National Park
The Southeast doesn’t have a single mega-destination the way the River Valley or Madawaska do. What it has instead is a scattering of fascinating bike trail networks that make Moncton a genuinely workable home base hub for mountain biking. The region has a coastline that gives non-riding partners something far better to do than simply wait in a parking lot, and the best family-friendly mountain biking routes in the province are an hour down the road at Fundy National Park.
Fundy National Park & the Chignecto Recreation Area
Distance from Moncton: about 1 hour | Trails: 65+ km | Best for: families, fat bikers, and finishing a ride at the ocean
Fundy National Park is one of only a handful of national parks in Canada with a purpose-built mountain bike network. Parks Canada has deliberately leaned into the sport here, and the result is the flagship for mountain biking in Canada’s national park system.
The hub is the Chignecto Recreation Area, a multi-use trail centre developed with input from the IMBA. The Chignecto Pavilion has washrooms, showers, a picnic shelter, a wood stove, a food prep area and, crucially, a bike wash station. Beside it sits a fantastic pump track with an easy 106.5 m inner loop and a moderate 141.6 m outer loop, tucked under the canopy of an old-growth Acadian forest.
It might be the most beautiful place in Canada to spend hours riding in circles.
Green trails cluster around Chignecto for new riders and kids. The east coast classic is Whitetail, which connects Chignecto South Campground to Cannontown Campground; expect creek crossings and mud. Maple Grove and Tippen Lot trailheads are right there too. The Goose River Trail is the premium coastal ride, a rebuilt and ecologically sustainable trail through Fundy’s coastal forest with big Bay of Fundy views and several stream crossings along the way.
During winter in Fundy National Park, staff groom more than 20 km of trails for fat biking. The local favourite loop links Cygnus to Blackhorse to Maple Grove, returning to the Pavilion via Orion.
Outdoor Elements is the park’s official adventure outfitter, with locations in Sussex, Alma and the park itself, offering mountain bikes, fat bikes, service and repairs. Parks Canada also rents fat bikes from the Chignecto Campground kiosk. Rental availability shifts season to season, so call ahead at 506-433-3060 rather than assuming.
Where to Stay and Eat in Alma
Alma is the small town that acts as a base of operations for Fundy National Park. The town is tiny, with a few inns, a handful of restaurants and some excellent gift shops. The Parkland Village Inn is the top spot, and it also hosts one of the best restaurants in town. It’s a 15-room property with 200 feet of ocean frontage right beside the Fishermen’s Wharf and five minutes from the park entrance. Book an ocean-view balcony room and watch the world’s highest tides come and go from bed.
A good backup in case the Parkland is booked (which it probably will be if you don’t book well ahead of time) is the Alpine Motor Inn on the edge of town. Chignecto Campground inside the park is the basecamp option, sitting high above the Fundy shore directly across the road from several trailheads and the Pavilion.
At the Parkland Village Inn, Tides Restaurant is the top spot. Bay of Fundy lobster and scallops get top billing, but the house-smoked ribs and pulled pork are the thing locals will tell you nobody talks about enough. Kelly’s Bake Shop has been an Alma institution for more than 50 years, and its sticky buns are always flying out the door. Tipsy Tails has the best patio in the village, overlooking the wharf, and Holy Whale Brewing Co. and Buddha Bear Coffee Roaster share a delightfully odd space that handles both ends of the day.
Shediac, Dieppe & Hillsborough
Shediac is home to APASOA, the Association Plein Air Shediac Outdoors Association, which builds and maintains non-motorized nature trails to IMBA standards with a strong emphasis on environmental protection and rider safety. The trails start just east of the Riverside Drive and Lino Road intersection. A trail pass is required and can be bought online, and it’s worth checking their Facebook page before you drive out because closures happen. Shediac also happens to be the self-proclaimed lobster capital of the world, so the après-ride scene is excellent.
Dieppe’s Rotary St-Anselme Park is a cluster of short-track laps that intersect a BMX track, a playground, a beer garden and a splash pad. It is not a destination network. But as a place to ride laps while your family does literally anything else, it’s close to perfect.
Hillsborough’s White Rock Recreational Area offers challenging and varied terrain, and it’s the closest thing in the immediate Moncton region to a properly technical ride.
Where to Stay and Eat in Moncton
In Moncton, you’ll find the deepest hotel inventory in the province. Delta Hotels by Marriott Beausejour and Crowne Plaza Moncton Downtown are the reliable downtown choices, and Château Moncton sits right on the riverfront near the tidal bore.
Tide & Boar Gastropub on Main Street is the one to book, in my opinion. The restaurant features locally sourced everything and a boar poutine that has become a city institution. Little Louis’ Oyster Bar is the upscale option. Our guide to things to do in Moncton covers the city properly, and the Bay of Fundy UNESCO sites and Fundy National Park both have full write-ups worth reading before you go. For casual dining where the locals flock, Pump House Brewery downtown has excellent wood-fired pizza, a great selection of locally crafted brews and one of the best social atmospheres in town.
Sussex: Poley Mountain
Trails: 16+ km of downhill | Lift: triple chairlift | Day ticket: around $35 | Best for: gravity riders and lift-served laps
Poley Mountain has been a winter skiing and snowboarding institution near Sussex since 1957. It was revitalized in 1999 by a group of about 40 local ski enthusiasts, who have since reinvested nearly $15 million into the place. In 2020, they launched lift-accessed mountain biking, and the bike park now has more than 16 kilometres of downhill mountain bike trails served by the triple chairlift. The bike season runs June through October, generally Fridays through Sundays.
Tribute is the marquee trail, a professionally built jump line loaded with big jumps, berms and drops that runs directly below the lift. Which means everyone riding up gets to watch you either style it or bin it. There are also machine-built and singletrack climb routes for riders who’d rather pedal up, and e-bikes are permitted on both uphill and downhill trails, with two dedicated purple-marked climb routes running up the ski runs.
Poley is a serious winter fat-biking destination as well, and at the top of the mountain there’s a five-storey observation tower that was built in 2019.
This is also a mountain worth watching for mountain biking development in New Brunswick. In May 2026, Poley acquired 110 acres of new land and brought in Ecosign, the Whistler-based mountain resort planning firm, to develop a master plan aimed at turning Poley into a true four-season destination with on-mountain accommodation.
One useful hack that will help your visit to Poley. If you buy a 2026-27 winter season pass in the spring, summer or fall, your access card activates immediately for the summer bike season.
Where to Stay and Eat Near Poley Mountain
Sussex is 15 minutes away and has straightforward highway motels and inns. Poley also offers slope-side van-life parking, which is the right answer if you’re on a dedicated bike trip. The lodge has a food and drink program that’s an active part of the experience, and Alma and Fundy National Park are only 45 minutes south, which makes a Poley-plus-Fundy weekend easy to plan.
Saint John: Rockwood Park
Trails: 40–56 km of singletrack | Best for: technical, old-school riders
The name is not a coincidence. Rockwood Park delivers exactly what it advertises: rock and wood. This is old-school Maritime cross-country riding, full of rock gardens, roots, and punchy climbs, with enough technical challenge to humble anyone who’s been eating flow trails all week.
What makes it remarkable is the setting. Rockwood is one of the largest urban parks in North America, and having a mature, well-planned, well-maintained singletrack mountain bike network sitting in the middle of a city is genuinely rare. Estimates of its size vary depending on who’s counting. The city cites 60 km of trails, while the cycling community usually says 40 to 56 km. Either way, more than half of it is rated blue and black, with a few double blacks thrown into the mix.
If you’re new to the park, start with Millennium Falcon, the beginner flow trail, which sits conveniently next to the Mountain Bike Skills Park and its collection of confidence-building obstacles and features. Jedi Academy is a fun green loop with introductory features in the same area. Park at the Horse Stables lot; it’s closest to the skills park, the beginner trail and a kids’ playground.
When you’re ready to step up, Bunny Rampage is the intermediate favourite. Built to IMBA standards, it packs rock features, rock gardens, roots, hip jumps, big jumps and berms into a single trail. Skywalker is the highest-rated trail in the park, a flow trail built in 2017 by the SJ Trail Miners that follows a gorgeous ridge and is best ridden from the far end.
The Saint John Cycling Club has been steadily expanding the network, including Enduro Park trails through the old ski hill area built to IMBA standards. There are also two other networks within 25 minutes of uptown, including a newer park built on a hill with green, blue and black options and a 1 km crushed-stone doubletrack with short green loops coming off either side. That last one is the single best place in the region to start a young kid riding.
This is also Be Rad Adventure Co.’s home network, so book a guided ride or a skills session with them if you want to unlock the park quickly.
Where to Stay and Eat in Saint John
Hilton Garden Inn Saint John, Delta Hotels by Marriott Saint John, and Chateau Saint John are all uptown or harbourside with access to the city’s historic downtown core and waterfront.
East Coast Bistro is the standout restaurant in the city, serving French-influenced Maritime cooking in an exposed-brick room with a hyper-local, seasonal menu. Order the New Brunswick oysters by the half dozen. Italian by Night and Saint John Ale House are the reliable evening picks, the latter overlooking Market Slip. Billy’s Seafood Company has been drawing people from across the border for years. For post-ride pints, try Picaroons General Store, set in a converted garage and dog-friendly, or Gahan House Port City.
Don’t skip the Saint John City Market either. It’s Canada’s oldest continuously operating farmers market. More in our guide to things to do in Saint John.
Three New Brunswick Mountain Biking Itinerary Suggestions
The Long Weekend: Fredericton Capital Region
Day 1: Fly into Fredericton, pick up rentals at The Radical Edge, ride the Killarney Lake network in the afternoon, swim at the beach, then dinner at 11th Mile.
Day 2: Drive 40 minutes to Minto. Ride the intro loop in the morning, then the tailing ponds and flow trails after lunch. Taco-in-a-bag at the Big Dipper, overnight at Tiny Trails.
Day 3: Woolastook in the morning, then the Fredericton waterfront trails and Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge in the evening, working the Taproom Trail as you go.
The Full Province: Five to Seven Days
Edmundston (Sentiers Madawaska, 2 days) to Campbellton (Sugarloaf Bike Park, 1–2 days) to Bathurst and Caraquet (1 day, plus the coastal drive) to Miramichi (French Fort Cove, half day) to Moncton and Fundy (Chignecto, 1–2 days) to Sussex (Poley, 1 day) to Saint John (Rockwood, 1 day) and back to Fredericton and Minto (2 days). It’s a loop, and every leg is under three hours.
The Mixed-Ability Family Trip
Base yourself in Fredericton. Minto and Killarney both offer genuine beginner terrain alongside the hard stuff, both finish at a beach or a lake, and both have free or cheap bike access. Then add two days at Fundy for the pump track, the green trails and the Bay of Fundy tides. Nobody in the group will be bored, and nobody will be terrified.
| Network | Region | Trails | About |
| Minto Mountain Bike Trails | Fredericton/Grand Lake | 40–50 km | Fast, flowy, reclaimed coal mine, few rocks or roots |
| Killarney Lake | Fredericton | 12 km (→32 km) | New purpose-built singletrack, skills park, adaptive trails |
| Woolastook | Fredericton | 33 km | Rolling XC and enduro along the river |
| Crabbe Mountain | Fredericton region | 7.8 km + building | NB’s biggest vertical, mostly black diamond |
| Sentiers Madawaska | Edmundston | ~60 km + 11 km enduro | Real Appalachian terrain, 1,589 m descent |
| Sugarloaf Bike Park | Campbellton | ~50 km | Lift-accessed downhill by Gravity Logic |
| MFB Chaleur / Caraquet | Acadian Peninsula | Emerging | Technical and flow, Acadian coastal culture |
| French Fort Cove | Miramichi | ~20 km singletrack | Tight, twisty, rarely wet river hills |
| Fundy National Park | Alma / Southeast | 65+ km | Coastal forest, pump track, family-friendly |
| APASOA | Shediac | Growing | IMBA-principle nature trails, pass required |
| Poley Mountain | Sussex | 16+ km DH | Chairlift downhill, jump lines, fat biking |
| Rockwood Park | Saint John | 40–56 km | Old-school rock and root, urban park |
Is New Brunswick Worth a Mountain Biking Trip?
New Brunswick has around 850 kilometres of multi-use trail, and the province is pushing to expand it every year. There are seven distinct mountain biking regions, and a tourism strategy that has finally put a spotlight on a sport the province has quietly been building behind the scenes for a decade. The three headline regions are Fredericton and the River Valley, Madawaska and Edmundston, and Saint John and the Fundy Coast.
This is a province that clearly understands the draw of mountain biking as a sport, and knows full well that it has the goods to deliver a package that people will travel for. It’s also one of the top road trip destinations in Canada, so that market blends perfectly with those who want to combine four wheels with two.
But the mountain bike trails that stuck with me are the unique ones. A four-century-old coal mine turned into flow trails, a national park that decided mountain bikers were welcome and a ski hill built on an extinct volcano.
Dylan and I went mountain biking in New Brunswick expecting decent riding through forest trails. What we got was some of the most beautiful mountain biking I’ve done east of the Rocky Mountains, on trails we mostly had to ourselves, in a province that hasn’t quite figured out how to brag about it yet.
Go before it does.
For more on the province, see our guides to the best places to visit in New Brunswick and some fun New Brunswick facts to keep the car entertained between trailheads.
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