Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Honeymoon in the Maritimes!

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Honeymoon in the Maritimes!

Please Help Kind Fodor's Forum People!

My new hubby and I are planning a 7 day trip (May 28-June 4) to the Maritimes and are so confused how to break up the trip. We will be flying in and out of Halifax, and we will rent a car. Our interests are great seafood and scenery and relaxation! Sightseeing is not super important--Anne of Green Gables, museums, historical tours, etc, not a huge draw for us. Nor is big hiking/trekking, golfing, etc. Just peaceful walks on the beach. We want a relatively laid back trip where we can enjoy each place that we visit for a couple or three days and take little day trips to different places to enjoy the natural landscape.

We were thinking Halifax, then PEI, then back. Or Halifax, St. John NB, PEI, and then back. Or Halifax, Cape Breton, PEI, and back.

Any itinerary suggestions? I've read so many of the forums and I'm just getting more confused. We will DEFINITELY be returning to the area for anniversaries, so it's not necessary to visit all 3 (NS, NB, PEI) provinces this time. Folks talk about everything from Cape Breton to the Cabot Trail and then way down to Hopewell Rocks, and we know we can't do everything on this trip. Less will definitely be more. Again, we love the idea of little fishing towns, lighthouses, the ocean, and great seafood! Just a quiet and romantic honeymoon...:)

Thanks so so much in advance for any suggestions and we will do what you say!!!! We're at your mercy Forum users!!!

Maybe you are just thinking too much.

It sounds like you already have a handle/awareness of what your priorities should be.

"Cape Breton, Cabot Trail, Hopewell (Cape)"

And I do recognize that a honeymoon should be a bit more leisurely than is the break-neck pace I like to keep (at least in my head) while in the area.

I wonder... if, with your 7 nights... you might contemplate the first 3 up in the Baddeck area, with a circuit of the Cabot Trail during one day.

Then, because it's a honeymoon... maybe a path over toward Parrsboro, via Truro and Hwy #2... and at least research suitable romantic lodging somewhere in the area of Joggins... (somebody here on Fodors a while back introduced me to Joggins Fossil Cliffs... and that sounds interesting to me, who loves the Fundy tides)

That area would put you reasonably near to making a day trip via Moncton to Hopewell Cape. (and of course, IF appealing lodging were found over there (in NB)... then that might be suitable instead of the Joggins area).

But I have scaled-back my lists of scores of places and paths, for the sake of the honeymoon vibe... yet if you want some other examples/ideas... then you could click on my name and scan the posts which will show.

NorthwestMale,

Thanks so so much for your thoughtful reply! I will definitely do some research on the Baddeck area and Joggins, as well as looking at your other helpful posts. I just Google mapped the itinerary you're proposing, and it seems just our speed and in keeping with the honeymoon vibe :)

One last question: the itinerary skips PEI...so NS and NB would be a better idea than NS and PEI in your opinion for this first trip to the maritimes in this small amount of time?

Thanks again!!! I really can't wait for this trip and a lifetime of trips to the area!

To be clear, I know somebody in this (great, wide world) who really has a thing for Anne of Green Gables (and who knows essentially nothing more of PEI)... SHE should definitely go there, just to feel...

And while I would kiiiiiiiiiinda like to go back to PEI to learn whether I could ever duplicate a scene I had there, where I was on the north coast, due north of Charlottetown, and despite my being right beside the water, there was no wind and no waves (the latter surely due to ice farther from shore) and NO SOUND of any sort. This was in March, and (hopefully) not possible during the warmer months...

I don't think PEI would greatly enhance your experience.

IF, say, you were really into riding bikes, or something, then PEI would BE a great move... with rural, rolling inclines (too gutless to call them 'hills') and wide-open spaces all around, without much traffic.

And heck, SOME of a honeymoon is for the looking-back you will do off in the future...

With that in mind, the photos from the Cabot Trail, and from Hopewell Cape will look and seem honeymoon-worthy throughout the ages. Same can be said for the tide flats in many spots in the Bay of Fundy (like almost nowhere else). LOL, just the sign (at Hopewell Cape) that reads: "WARNING, YOU MUST BE OFF THIS BEACH BY _____ TIME to avoid being trapped by the incoming tide" will set your honeymoon apart from some random day at the beach in the years to follow.

The rural paths and silly, remote settings on the road to and from these places will further make memories for your honeymoon.

I can recall passing through the town of Pugwash, NS, where they had a restaurant/hotel in old train cars... I didn't dine there, but I would have were it a honeymoon.

http://www.tatatrainstation.com/

Despite implications, I would also try the "McLobster" sandwich, sold in-season at McDonald's in the Maritimes, were I on a honeymoon.

Who knows? Maybe it would help you better appreciate the great seafood for which you'll otherwise be searching.

I truly feel that just the two-ish destination itinerary, and all of the random-ish driving around required in-between, would be enough for a honeymoon.

You could branch-out slightly in various directions by including Fundy National Park (NB), Pictou, NS, Peggy's Cove, NS, Sydney, NS, (more of) Baddeck, NS... and an added potential variable is shaving one night off of one of the two destinations, and getting back for a bit more of Halifax itself.

*sigh* - IF only you could match the setting I once found in Moncton, New Brunswick, where at 11pm I was sitting on bleachers, beside the river, awaiting the scheduled Tidal Bore with the whole area illuminated by a full moon sitting right across the river from this otherwise-empty "Tidal Bore Park" (Beyond that, Moncton isn't really a destination, it's just that you just about have to go through it to or from Hopewell Cape, and thus it makes a good spot to stop for dinner and the Tidal Bore)

I know you said hiking isn't important to you, and I am NOT a hiker myself... but I made a point of hiking to Cape Split, NS... where at the (outer) end of it you are on a bluff, overlooking the Bay of Fundy, with the tides rolling around down below...

It's a neat place for a picnic of some sort, and there are sheltered-ish areas just back from the far end up on a bluff.

(clarity: You drive to Scot's Bay NS... as far out as you can, and then park, and take a popular 5-hour round-trip hike on what must be by now even better trails than I knew when I went) (*it's mostly little more than walking... with a few inclines, but nothing terribly challenging )

You might not do it because you're any sort of a hiker, but as something unique for a honeymoon, it really might be fun to enjoy.

Oh, and for heaven's sake...

since you already know the window of your trip

Print out the tide times for various spots around the Bay of Fundy for the entire duration of the time you'll be there.

http://bayoffundytourism.com/tides/times/

Definitely use Hopewell Cape... and perhaps Truro, and some other random spot or two. (Joggins?)

Sometimes it is better to be able to keep moving, and see various spots again, at the opposite tide, when passing back through/near various areas, than it is to occupy six hours in between...

Uh, although this is a honeymoon...

i would just stay in nova scotia. plenty to see there with your short time frame. i'd try to include two nights in lunenburg. it sounds like a good fit for you. some nice beaches in the area.

Dear NorthwestMale,

Did you say McLobster? Hahahahaha! Oh, THAT is on the agenda now. I really can't thank you enough for all of the good advice and really, really thoughtful answers, keeping the honeymoon vibe in mind. I really do hope we can experience some of those "moments" you describe...:) And I also think we would rather stumble upon some cool thing on the way to wherever rather than have a strictly structured trip. With that said, I think we might bag PEI for another day and concentrate on NS and NB.

Thanks so much again!!! And I'll report back after the trip!!!

Dear ITT and llsessions,

Thanks so much for your input and information!! Very helpful indeed!!!

Cheers!