Hi everyone! Leaving for N.S. shortly and have never visited although we have seen New Brunswick and P.E.I. I do know Nova Scotia is large so with only a week including the driving from near Lindsay Ontario (NE of Toronto) we won't have much time. We will share driving though. We may look at houses for sale and think that we should stay in the Bay of Fundy, Yarmouth and South Shore area as we probably won't have time to see anything else. Does this sound reasonable? I am hoping someone can tell me if we will be able to find inexpensive B & B's or motels at this short notice. Can anyone recommend accommodations in these areas? Do you think that we are missing out on too much by only staying in this area? Thank you so much for any advice!
First Time to Nova Scotia
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(deep sigh)
IF your interest in "houses for sale" implies that you may be BACK for a good, long (life)time, then it isn't so important what you fit into your trip this time.
From online mapping devices I can tell that it is 1300 miles and 21 hours of driving time to get from Toronto to Yarmouth, NS, so to do just that both ways would require a whole lot right there.
If it were me, doing what you describe, I would opt to go north and see Cape Breton on a first-ever trip to NS. The town of South Harbour (Cabot Trail), NS is the same distance driving from Truro as is Yarmouth, NS... and given good weather, the Cabot Trail is the piece d'resistance.
If however your major purpose is to look at places for eventual relocation, then of course you'd have other priorities.
I'm not the one to report on accommodations, but I will say that it would be a good move to print out the Bay of Fundy tide tables for the entire window of your trip, to have handy in the glove box.
http://www.lau.chs-shc.gc.ca/cgi-bin/tide-shc.cgi?queryType=showZone&language=english®ion=5&zone=30
Print them for Hopewell Cape, Truro, and perhaps for Digby, NS in the event you do go south once in NS.
What you do in NS upon arrival depends largely on whether you're likely to ever get back there again.
Yes, a week including travel time is quite limiting. For longer-term stays, I personally have found Cape Breton, Halifax and the South Shore (Lighthouse Route) offer the most in quantity and variety of things to see and do as day trips. There are other very nice areas, but in general warrant less time to see and do everything nearby (I'm thinking in terms of where, with my own personal preferences of course, I would want to live or spend a lot of time, as you mention looking for houses for sale).
As far as finding inexpensive last minute accommodation - the summer vacation season of course starts this weekend. We always book ahead because I always have very specific plans and destinations in mind. But if you are flexible, I know several people who have visited mid summer without reserving and managed to find B&B's and motel rooms. You might want to stop at the Visitors Information Centres scattered through the province as they can help with accommodation bookings: http://www.novascotia.com/en/home/planyourtrip/visitor_info_centre.aspx