Toronto to Cape breton?

Question

We are planning a trip this summer. We have 10 days and plan to cover a lot of distance. I am looking for helpful tips, good value Hotels, scenic/ historical spots for stop overs and destination selection. We are still debating whether to drive to Gaspe/ Grande-Riviere/ Halifax/ Cape Breton. Can anyone suggest which one will be a good trip in terms of scenic drive. Is 10 days sufficient for the trip with stopovers for 2 days in Montreal, 1 day in Quebec city.

Cheers

Answer 1

The Gaspe is a beautiful drive if you have the time.  If you have only ten days, I guess you need to decide if you want to skim through a lot of country and not see much, or if you want to focus on one or two areas and see a lot there.

In New Brunswick arrange a stop at York's restaurant in Perth Andover.  It is an experience.  Another stop worth the trip in NB is to see Parlee Beach at Shediac.  While there visit the Pointe du Chene wharf.  There is a very good seafood restaurant there.  Go to Buctouche and see the play La Sagouine.  King's Landing and Acadian Village are worth seeing in NB - each one requires a day.  Since you will be in the area, drive to Cape Tormentine and across Confederation Bridge to PEI.

In PEI there will be lots of tourists, so if you want to spend the night there you should probably make reservations, but there is a very good tourist information center immediately after you get off the bridge.   In PEI consider a boat tour and see some of the Anne of Green Gables stuff.  You will see all the options when you get there - nowhere is far on PEI.  Leave PEI by taking the ferry to Nova Scotia.

The previous poster gave you quite a bit of info about Nova Scotia.  I would focus on Cape Breton.  Go see the Miner's Museum and take in the fortress at Louisbourg.

In Halifax see if you can get tickets to the Grafton Street Dinner Theater.  It is a great evening out with a meal and entertainment.  Don't miss Peggy's Cove since you will be so close.  Walk along the waterfront in Halifax in the evening and look for the colourful local character who will do sandstone carvings while you watch.  Walk through Pleasant Park.

So if you add up the time, 2 days in Montreal, 1 day in Quebec, 4 days of driving (TO to CB and back) - you are running out of time without seeing a lot.  Have fun though, but my advice would be to pick and choose.

Answer 2

I don't know what or where Gaspe/ Grande-Riviere is.

I've just been to NS last summer.

I managed to cover the whole of Nova Scotia [except the southeastern bit of Cape Breton (Sydney&Louisbourg) and the western-most end (Barrington&Yarmouth)] in 9 days last summer.

Mind you, all time estimates are based on my experience, and I am a person who likes to visit a lot of small places, but at the same time, I do constantly look on my watch while doing so, and try to stick to my overall schedule.

Halifax is a fun little city, but you can see it all in 2 days, basically (that's citadell, parliament, historic properties, shops and Mount Uniacke outside the city; leaving out any sort of beaches or wildlife places in the Halifax area). Add a third day if you want to see Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg as well.

The way I did Cape Breton - dropping Louisbourg&Sydney, spending one day in and around Baddeck, one day on the Cabot Trail, and one day on the shores of Bras d'Or Lakes - it is possible in three days; so 5 might be realistic if you want to see the whole of Cape Breton.

IMO, Baddeck is ideally situated as a base for visiting Cape Breton; you could basically stay in accommodation there for you whole time in Cape Breton.

Some advice about driving in Nova Scotia:

Avoid the so-called Glooscap Trail between Summervilla and Truro. It's utterly boring and costs way too much time. The other half of the Glooscap Trail, between Truro and Joggins is much more beautiful, but also costs too much time. If you want to see that coast, but not loose too much time, I strongly

recommend you only follow the Glooscap Trail between Truro and Parrsboro (or the other way round).

Avoid the so-called Marine Drive along the south coast between the Canso Causeway and Halifax. It has some beautiful spots, but - again - they do not weigh up against the immense loss of time.

Order the free "Scenic Travelways Map" from Nova Scotia Tourism (https://novascotia.com/en/home/planatrip... - the two routes I've been talking about are clearly shown in there, so you might better understand what I am talking about.

BTW, guidebooks say you can enjoy the Cabot Trail more travelling it clockwise, because that way you are not constantly driving on the outer edge of the road along those cliffs....

Please e-mail me; I've got the itinerary and the B&B addresses all here somewhere and could search for them and send them to you - in a couple of weeks time, as I am rather busy right now.

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EDIT:

One other piece of information you might find useful. After you've crossed the Canso Causeway, the Trans-Canada-Highway very soon turns into a little road all the way up to Baddeck (it gets better again between Baddeck and Sydney, for some reason) - since all the lorries go up the Highway from the Causeway to Sydney, and there are steep hills, and you cannnot overtake them becasue the road is so small, you will need a good deal longer to reach Baddeck than your first estimate might be.