Greetings to our neighbors northeast of us. My husband and I would love to visit the Cabot Trail area in late Sept. We've already been to Halifax and the various sites in that area so we think we will concentrate on the Cabot Trail area. My question is this: We will only take a week and perhaps a little less, how should we arrive? By land, sea, or air? We can plan on renting a car when in NS. Also would it be best to fly into Sydney if possible? Which airport would give us the best vantage point to travel the area? Or should we plan on a ferry? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciatd.

There is no non-stop flight from BOS to Sydney (YQY). Total travel time with a change in Montreal may easily exceed 5 hours. And may not be cheap. Might just fly to Halifax (YHZ) and drive from there.

The other alternative is to just drive up there. Save on airfare and rental car cost. But Boston to Sydney is close to 800 miles. So, it's 1.5 days of driving each way; which will eat up 3 days of your time.

Ferries won't help you.

Sydney has very few flights and should be avoided any way. It's a grimy mining town. Most convenient is flying non stop Boston to Halifax. There's a ferry from Portland to Yarmouth (southern tip of Nova Scotia). I believe it tarvels overnight so you don't lose time since you're sleeping anyway. Driving from Boston to Nova Scotia is surprisingly long as there are no connecting major highways.

the ferry no longer runs from Portland...service was cancelled this year. You can drive to Bar Harbor and take the Cat hi-speed ferry. Boston-Bar Harbor is about 5 1/2 hours. The ferry leaves at 8AM or 4PM and takes around 3 hours. Yarmouth to Halifax is roughly 3 1/2 hours.

you're probably better off flying to Halifax, unless you like the idea of making the car trip, and maybe spending some time in Bar Harbor. I don't think the ferry saves you any travel time versus driving around, especially if your final destination is Cape Breton, not Halifax. so like rkkwan said, I don't think ferries will help you, although they might save you some driving.

You could drive up through New Brunswick, spend a night somewhere around the Bay of Fundy.

Thank you for the information. How about flying into New Brunswick would that be possible from Boston and is it closer to the Cabot Trail area opposed to Halifax?

Moncton isn't closer to Cape Breton than Halifax, and I don't think there's non-stop flight from BOS. Therefore, doesn't make sense either.