Maritimes Trip - First Time 2016
 

Hi! Need Help. Planning trip to the Maritimes this coming September from the 2(eve)-11(eve). We would like to start off in one province and end in another one to maximize our time. We are thinking of flying from Toronto to Halifax and come back from Fredericton to Toronto or vice versa. In between we would like to go to Charlottetown. I am overwhelmed by the internet research that I have done and I don't know where to start. I don't know how many days to spend in each province? We can rent a car too but don't want to spend the time in a car either. Any suggestions?
Thanks, Catherine

I'm glad that you have at least a <b>few</b> parameters there, by which we can begin to help.


Maybe a good place to start would be to click through Fodors for the many other threads I've commented on, about the Maritimes. (IF you click on my name and scroll down... and down... you will find a good representation of others with similar trip ideas)


Anyway, gen-er-al-ly speaking, the top two sights on a random person's list are likely to be Cape Breton, and in particular the Cabot Trail... and <b>Hopewell Cape, NB</b>.


So flying into Halifax, and out of Fredericton, would fit quite nicely.


I think I'd start with a couple of nights in Halifax, and then targeting the Cabot Trail... perhaps surrounded by 2 nights in the Baddeck area... then, on the way back through/near Truro, go and find some representation of the <b>Fundy Tides</b> there... and later head to Hopewell Cape, NB, ideally at both high and low tide, but <b>definitely at low tide</b>.

Then to PEI for whatever strikes you... and eventually back out and over to Fredericton, taking your time, depending upon how much time remains.

As you have probably discovered, there is a large drop-off fee with car rental companies if you rent in Halifax and leave car in Fredericton. Also only Dash-4s or similar propeller planes fly from Fredericton if types of aircraft bother you.

What I would do is on my way from Cape Breton, take the ferry to PEI from Pictou area, spend 2 or 3 days in PEI, and then drive from PEI to Moncton over the Confederation Bridge for which there is a fee.

From Moncton you can visit Hopewell Rocks and either drive from Moncton to Fredericton via Saint John along the Bay of Fundy Coast or drive directly to Fredericton from Moncton which is about 2 hours.

We just returned from two weeks in the Maritimes. I really struggled with planning this trip. There are places I really regret not getting to like Lunenberg and Peggy's Cove. But you can't cover it all in two weeks and there's nothing we did that I would've wanted to miss. If you want a lot of detail, I'm in the process of posting a trip report. I've got the preliminaries and the first two days done so far. But to give you a brief rundown, we landed in Halifax and spent the first night there, the next night was Baddeck and then two in Ingonish followed by one in Mabou. From there we drove down and took the ferry to PEI where we stayed three nights in Souris. We did a short coastal day trip the first day and drove into Charlottetown the second. On our way to the bridge to leave we stopped at Argyle Shores Provincial Park and had lunch in Victoria. The next three nights were spent in Alma, NB just outside of Fundy National Park. We stopped at the Hopewell Rocks on the way there (high tide) and again the next day (low tide). We had lunch in St. John the day that we took the ferry to Digby, NS on our way back to spend the last two nights in Halifax. It was an amazing trip that we'll never forget!

Good luck with your planning!

Thank you all for your suggestions. They are all great.
I will look into your other post NorthwestMale.

Scotia, How can I get around with no car in between provinces to avoid the fees?

CAPH52, would love to see your itinerary.

To avoid the car rental drop-off fees, I would rent and return a car to the same location; e.g., pick up car in Halifax and drop-off in Halifax as an example.

CAPH52 had a good itinerary. Pick up car in Halifax, do the drive to Cape Breton, onto PEI via ferry from NS, enjoy PEI, drive over bridge to NB and return via Saint John. From Saint John take the ferry to Digby and drive back to Halifax through the Annapolis Valley. CAPH52 can advise if he felt it was a lot of driving. OR leave out Cape Breton, drive from Halifax to Lunenburg/Mahone Bay, cut across Province to Digby, take ferry to Saint John, drive to PEI, then the ferry back to NS and onto Halifax. In my opinion, still a lot of driving.

I am planning to drive from Toronto to Nova Scotia and back , 7 days in all via Quebec and NBurnswick. If anyone has done this trip, can you please give me some info on the places of stay enroute and destination.