Nova Scotia trip planning

I can't comment on the time of the year, but we spent 2 weeks in NS last August, and the weather was perfect except for one rainy day. We rented a car in Halifax and drove to Lunenburg for 3 nights. Then we went to Wolfville for 2 nights, Pictou for two nights, Baddeck for 3 nights, Neil's Harbour for 2 nights and Halifax for 2 nights. If we had to do it over, I think we would have stayed in Digby for 2 nights and skipped Wolfville.

The month May can be cold in Nova Scotia. The leaves don't "come out" until after mid May. Even June can be chilly in NS.
July, August & September are the best months to travel
throughout NS. Given your aversion to tour groups, I would suggest that you go the first 2 weeks in September.
Get a copy of the NS Doers' & Dreamers' Travel Guide which you can order online @ www.novascotia.com

You don't say where you are in "the states", but you may want to consider flying to Sydney (airport code YQY) which is located on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. You can fly to Sydney via Toronto(YYZ) on Air Canada or Westjet. You can pick up your rental car @ the Sydney airport, explore the Cape Breton area including the spectacularly beautiful Cabot Trail. Then return your rental car @ the Sydney airport, fly Sydney(YQY) to Halifax (YHZ), pick up a rental car @ the Halifax airport & explore the oceanside towns near Halifax. Then fly home from Halifax.

There is a lot of good information here on NS & if you scroll down you will see some recent NS threads with excellent ideas. You can also do a search here.

Have fun planning your trip!

Ocean Breeze

Thanks.We are flying from Pa. I can understand the summer months are the best,we may have employer approval issues so that is why I was hoping the end on May beginning of June but we can try for more summer weather- Sept is doable for us. Is Lobster still available in Aug/Sept? We took a trip to Maine years ago and could not get lobster because they were "molting"? Artsbabe, what sites did you see on your stops? Any reason you didn't see Yarmouth? It seems that there are alot of Sea captains houses and old victorian house's B/B's in that town or is it too big? What are the travel distances between each of your stops? Did you like your accommodations?I ordered the guide books too.Any one stay in a light house? I would love to do that. I would like to see the rocky coast and ocean tides. Thanks for your help. Rosetta

Rosetta, there is a poster here named Northwestmale who is very knowledgeable about NS tides. Try to find some of his posts. Or, start a thread with his name in it & he will respond.
About lobster season in NS...it varies from area to area. Pick an area & ask a local...that is the best way to find out! Although you can probably Google "Lobster Season in Nova Scotia" & find it that way. Or, it may be in your NS Travel Guide.

Rosetta, I just topped a post for you where NorthwestMale describes tides. It's called "PEI & NS...10 days or so...input requested". Then you can click on his name & it will give you access to his other posts.

If you are looking for old houses and victorian style B&Bs, then Lunenburg would be great. We never considered staying in Yarmouth. I'm sure it has its charms, but other places seemed more interesting to us. We stayed at the Pelham House Bed and Breakfast in Lunenburg and loved it. In Pictou, we stayed at the L'Auberge Walker Inn and loved it. The other places we stayed were just okay.

More later...

We did a lot of hiking on Cape Breton. We took Donelda's Puffin boat tour, which was fabulous. We visited Peggy's Cove, of course, on the way from the airport to Lunenburg. We visited the Citadel in Halifax, but we didn't go to Louisbourg. We were never in the right place at the right time for the tidal bore. I don't remember too much about distances, but it did take us 6 hours with two short stops to drive from Neil's Harbour to Halifax. We rented, not the smallest car, but the next size up, and we wished we had rented a larger car--not because of space but because of power. The Cabot Trail is pretty steep and the little car barely made it.

pick your places carefully. travelling around ns can be very slow. if you are trying to include cape breton in the plans, two weeks is not that much time. fabulous province. i'd pick september over may. i was there in july one year and didn't find it too touristy.

There aren't really any truly big cities in Atlantic Canada. Halifax, the largest by far, has a population of about 300,000 and is very nice with a vibrant and historic Harbour district (historic buildings turned into shops and boutiques, marine museums, market, pubs, etc.). Cape Breton Island - especially the Cabot Trail through the National Park - is spectacular, one of the most scenic areas of Canada. There are highlands overlooking the sea, rocky coastlines, interesting nature trails, historic towns (e.g. Baddeck), quaint fishing villages. The "Lighthouse Route" southwest of Halifax is also very popular with historic and quaint towns (e.g. the town of Lunenburg as mentioned above is a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Peggy's Cove which makes an excellent scenic stop on the way to Lunenburg has a spectacular rocky shore. Yarmouth is where the ferries from Maine land and although it is certainly not a "large" town, in busy times it is quite bustling with tourists and souvenir shops.
I believe August/September is late for lobster season in much of Nova Scotia, although lobster could still be available from pounds.
Tides are most dramatic along the Bay of Fundy.

... arrives on a magic carpet (takes bow)


Two weeks is pretty awesome in the way of having enough time, and I'm not sure it is appropriate to use the plural form of "big cities" with Nova Scotia in mind (and I'm not entirely sure that the singular form fits either).

With two (full?) weeks, I'd spend 4 nights up north in 2 different spots:

Baddeck
Sydney area

Maybe then Pictou for a night

then ferry to PEI for at least one night

back via the bridge, then to Moncton in order to go down to Hopewell Cape... then maaaaaaaaaaybe back as far as Sackville/Amherst area for the next night

Then take the path down to Parrsboro and drive along the Bay shore back to Truro, and then find spots for getting the full effect of the awesome tides as you drive between Truro and Wolfville.

Map and select maybe 3 nights worth of spots on the loop around the extreme south end of NS.

Finally a night or two anywhere between Lunenburg and Halifax with Peggy's Cove a must on the way through.

When it comes time for mapping your tide viewing, have the tide tables printed out and WITH YOU on the trip, for a small handful of spots for the ENTIRE duration of your trip.

The eternal puzzle is coordinating SIX HOURS between high and low tide, and what to do with that time in these rural spots. If stuck with just one chance to see a spot, opt for LOW tide, so you can get the best sense of what is different and just how dramatic the difference is.

I recall seeing a photo of a dock in Nova Scotia, with boats tied to it, and sitting on the ocean FLOOR, when looking at the Guiness Book of World Records when I was about 8 years old. I have had major fascination with the whole place ever since. That scene happens twice every day there! It was still awesome when I saw it in real life for the first time, some 25 years after seeing that first picture.

Clearly there is much needed improvisation and attention to detail for anyone starting with the general layout that I plotted here.

I do know that you are really giving yourself a good chance to get a true sense of the place.

Perhaps Nova Scotia is most precious for merely being not on the way to anywhere, and thus not overrun by society.