tor_roam

We have 9 days, leaving Toronto on Sat. October 7th and returning on Sunday, October 15th. We are traveling with a small dog which limits where we can stay.
Baie St. Paul, QC is the furthest east we have ever been. We are well acquainted with Montreal so no need to stop by this time around. Initially, we thought we would drive to Fundy National Park, explore the area and return with a stop over in Quebec City (probably both ways). Now we are toying with an idea to actually drive all the way to Cape Breton Island to do the Cabot Trail. Is that too much and completely crazy considering that we only have 9 days?
Any suggestions what would be a reasonable 9-day road trip from Toronto? We are interested in fall colors and coastal scenery.

Any help is much appreciated!

xcountry

Someone asked a similar question a couple of month ago. You'd average about 500k of driving a day. Have you thought of cutting down through the US to somewhere around Acadia National Park in Maine. You'd save 2000 kilometres.

Though accommodations may be tight. We had to look hard for last minute places to stay through Vermont and New Hampshire on trips in 2014,15 and 16.

tor_roam

Thank you for your reply, xcountry. In all my research I wasn't able to find how to save any significant distance by cutting through the U.S. Also, you'd have to add wait at the border to it, etc.

I just don't know whether it would be wiser to concentrate on Bay of Fundy, NB or to charge forward to Cape Breton Island. I fully understand that our timeline is very short for any of these destinations but we'd love to get a taste of them so...

xcountry

Sorry Tor_Roam - I wasn't clear. I was suggesting the Maine coast instead of Cape Breton. I was focusing on your second last line ... "We are interested in fall colors and coastal scenery."

My sister, BIL and their small dogs made the drive from Ottawa to Halifax three times a year for 30 years. So it's doable.

You're timing might be perfect:

https://celtic-colours.com/

tor_roam

Thank you so much, xcountry. That link is great, totally something up our alley.

We did upper NY and VT this same week 2-3 years ago and enjoyed it (with this dog). The coast of Maine would be great too but for some reason we are stuck on the idea to go further East in Canada than we've ever been.

laverendrye

I think that doing the Fundy Coast, Cape Breton and Québec City in 9 days from Toronto is stretching it a bit. If you really want to see Cape Breton, then I would drive to Québec City from Toronto, spend a day there, then say to Fredericton, then to Cape Breton. That would give you four days in Cape Breton before a two day return to Toronto.

Instead I suggest you drive from Toronto to somewhere in the Eastern townships (Sutton, Knowlton, Magog, North Hatley are among the lovely places to stop.) Fall colours are beautiful in the townships. Then cross into Vermont, NH or Maine and drive to St Andrews NB, crossing at Calais/St.Stephen. Take your time along the Fundy Coast, perhaps as far as Moncton or Amherst NS. Then head back through Fredericton on the Trans Canada to Québec City, and spend a day or two there. Then return to Toronto. I don't think that you will find any of these crossings too busy, but you can always check wait times on-line.

If you haven't been to Montréal lately, you can avoid all the traffic and congestion on the island. Before you reach the island take Autoroute 30 and cross on the new bridge between Vallleyfield and Beauharnois. You can then join up with A10 to the Townships or A20 to Québec City and beyond.

tor_roam

Thank you kindly,laverendrye. Our initial idea was to concentrate on the Fundy Coast in NB only, with the intention to be reasonable. But then I realized that it's so far away anyway and that much coveted Cape Breton isn't all that much further out, once you've gotten that far. But that's probably not the right way of thinking.

I'll definitely avoid the island. Thanks for that most helpful tip!