We are planning 9 days (not including travel days) at the beginning of October. We are interested in driving tours, rather than hiking. We have tentatively planned 5 days in Breton, staying in Baddeck. It looks like, in addiition to 2 days on the Cabot Trail, there are good driving spots on the Celidh Trail, Bra d'Or Lake drive, and Fleur de Lis/Marconi Trail, Then, we plan to stay just outside of Halifax for 4 days and tour the Wolfville and Lunenberg areas, with a day set aside for Halifax itself.
Does this sound like a good plan? We were thinking about Digby and the Annapolis Valley, but it seemed too far.
9 days in October
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Hello alanl1,
Early october is a beautiful time to visit Nova Scotia. Canadian Thanksgiving is Monday, October 8 this year. October 5-8 will be a very busy travel time so try to book your accomodations asap if you have not done so already. In addition, check to make sure that tourist attractions will still be open after Thanksgiving if you plan to be in NS after October 8.
Do you mean 5 days in Cape Breton staying in Baddeck for all 5 days & doing "day trips"? The jewel of Cape Breton is The Cabot Trail (and, for me, the Ingonish area in particular). So, you may want to consider staying a couple of nights in the Ingonish area. Keltic Lodge is a wonderful place set on a peninsula surrounded by water. If you do stay at Keltic Lodge, make sure you tell them that you want to stay in "The Main Lodge", not in "The Inn" down the hill. The Inn is basically a hotel & not a very nice one.
The Chester/Hubbards area located about an hour from Halifax is a beautiful area to explore. Wolfville is a "University Town" & the home of Acadia University so the place should be very active in early October.
From where are you travelling? And, are you flying or driving to NS?
OB1
Thank you for your reply.
I am flying to Halifax from Los Angeles. I was planning the entire 5 days in Baddeck, taking day trips from there. It looks like it is only a couple of hours from Baddeck to the Ingonish area and a pretty drive, so I thought I could avoid the unpacking and stay in one spot.
True but once you get to Ingonish you will want to stay and not backtrack to Baddeck just to go to bed! Assuming you head out from Baddeck & begin your tour of the Cabot Trail in a counter-clockwise direction (which is my preferred way to do it but others here prefer to go in a clockwise direction),you will head up toward Ingonish. From Ingonish, you can either backtrack to Baddeck or continue along the Cabot Trail down toward Cheticamp & back to Baddeck. Either way, it's a long day. The Cabot Trail should be enjoyed at a leisurely pace.
I would stay in Baddeck the first night when you drive down from Halifax. Call that Day 1 of your 5 days. Day 2 head out from Baddeck and go to the Fortress of Louisbourg. Stay in Baddeck the night of Day 2.
On Day 3, after breakfast in Baddeck, begin your tour of the Cabot Trail in a counter-clockwise direction & head for Ingonish. Stay in Ingonish night 3 & night 4.
Day 5, after breakfast, continue along the Cabot Trail from Ingonish toward Cheticamp & end in Baddeck. Stay in Baddeck night 5. Or, maybe stay in Margaree night 5.
Day 6 head back to Halifax.
Meant to ask, are you interested in golf?
No golf. More into photography.
It is a spectacular time of year for photography especially on the Cabot Trail
Also keep in mind Celtic Colors is happening at that time. We stayed at the Inverary Inn in Baddeck and they provided shuttle service to an very late night "kitchen party" with after hours performances. It was fun.
http://www.celtic-colours.com/ticket-information/
If you are interested in Celtic Colors tickets the events usually sell out in advance.
I am with Ocean breeze...we live in Lunenburg (South Shore, NS) and just visited Cape Breton with friends from the US.
We were staying in Baddeck, doing the Trail (clockwise) and were very sorry that we weren't going to get to stay at the Keltic Lodge but had to drive all the way back to Baddeck. It doesn't seem far on the map, but took an extraordinarily long time and seemed like a great shame to be rushing past all this wonderful scenery just to get back to our hotel, just the other side of Baddeck.
While in Baddeck we did particulary enjoy two things: The Herring Choker Cafe and the Ceilidh (musical party) in downtown Baddeck (St. Patrick's Hall?). You have to book tickets by phone and the notices were up in most hotels and restaurants: at $10 per person it is a great value: we were with a professional musician and he claimed it was one of the best musical evenings he had ever experienced. Jigs, reels, step dancing, fiddle, piano...all by wonderful young locals with not a whiff of amateur about the level of talent.
And when you are done with all that CB stuff, come and see us here in Lunenburg where the Bluenose will 'rise again'!
LJ,
Nice to hear from you. As I recall, you moved to Lunenburg from Toronto when or around the time that your DD was @ Dal. So, now you live there! How wonderful! Are you on the water?
How long does it take to drive from Halifax to Lunenburg? Refresh my memory.
OB1
Yep, that me/us...now DD and SIL have produced GS (grandson!), more reason to live here on the east coast.
It is about 1 1/4 hours on Highway 103 from Hali to Lunenburg, and 3 hours along the old Highway 3, if you doddle and stop at all the beaches, lighthouses,antique stores, cafes, places for chowder etc...which is what Alan should be doing!