Need help planning a Nova Scotia/PEI trip
 

Hey everyone,

One of my good friends is getting married, and I'm turning the trip into a vacation, but I could use some help planning this out. Here is the tentative plan:

I would fly out to Canada (arriving at Halifax Airport) on June 27. The wedding is on July 4th in Prince Edward Island (where exactly, I'm unsure). I would presume that I would have to be in PEI by at least the 3rd. Wedding is on the 4th, and I would then fly back on July 5th from Charlottetown airport.

Any advice on a good way to plan out my trip? My first feeling is to go straight to Lunenburg when I land, work my way back and do Halifax, and then work my way back east and North to PEI. Any advice on places I should go or make sure I hit, as well as how long I should stay? (I'm unsure how many nights I should stay in Lunenburg for instance). Nova Scotia/PEI seem to generally be known for their scenery and nature rather than hustle and bustle, which is something I'm not quite used to doing.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

so you are going to pick up a rental car in halifax and return it to charlottetown? have you checked into the fee for doing a one way drop off? if you are fine with that extra charge, let us know. but, don't want to spend time planning an itinerary if you discover you can't afford that. in which case, you should consider flying in and out of the same airport. don't know where you are coming from but check into "canadian affair" for rentals. for overseas visitors, they can often waive that fee.

From where are you flying? Charlottetown is not a major airport. All major flights would route through Moncton or Halifax.

I would do this:
2 nights in Halifax with day trip to Lunenburg.
Drive to your wedding destination (4 hours to Cavendish via the Confederation bridge - do not risk the vagaries of the ferry on your outbound trip.)
2 nights for wedding.
Take the ferry to Pictou or the bridge, your choice, and head to Baddeck Cape Breton for 3 nights. Drive the Cabot trail on 1 day. Do a day trip to Louisbourg (3 hours round trip) another day.
Drive back to Halifax for your last night. You will have sights to occupy yourself until your flight home.

Tweak this itinerary to suit your dates.

Alright, so after getting wedding details, plans are a bit more in place.

Indeed, it's ungodly expensive to return the rental car to a different place. I'm flying out the day after my friend's wedding. It's looking like it's going to be a late night at the wedding, and all the flights that land back in the US at a decent hour leave in the morning, and I'd rather not chance being 3+ hours away from the airport. This means that I'm flying into and out of Charlottetown.

So here's my tentative plan that I can mostly lock in. The rest I'll need some help with:
Fly in Saturday (6/27) (land most likely in the evening). Explore some of Charlottetown, and spend the night.



Friday (7/3): Drive back to Charlottetown and explore. My friend recommends the Creamery, which I actually have an interest in seeing. She recommended Avonlea as well. I can't say I'm an "Anne of Green Gables" fan (never read the books), so I don't know if it's worth it.
Saturday (7/4): Drive to the wedding venue (St. Duncan's Basilica). Maybe explore a little in the morning, but since the wedding is at 2, and I'll be in a suit, I obviously won't be doing much.
Sunday (7/5): Fly back.
So really, I have Sunday-Thursday That I need to fill up. The general idea I had was this:
Sunday (6/28): Get up freaking early and drive to Lunenburg. Spend the day there, then drive and spend night at Peggy's Cove.
Monday (6/29): Spend day at Peggy's Cove.
Tuesday: Halifax
Wednesday (6/30): Get up freaking early again, and drive to Cape Breton. I'll spend Wed. and Thursday here.
And of course, get up freaking early again, and drive back to Charlottetown, and the rest of my schedule as stated above.

Now, the only wildcard in this idea is Canada Day. I'm tentative to be in Cape Breton, but I haven't made hotel reservations yet, and I have no idea if it will be filled up by now or not. If anyone has suggestions or comments on this, please let me know. I assume if the general answer isn't "You're out of luck", the answer will be "Better book now".

Any other suggestions or comments, feel free to let me know!

Oh, and does anyone have an idea how much the tolls are on the Canada Highway? I know the toll for driving over the bridge from PEI to Nova Scotia is like $44. Do Canadian toll booths accept credit cards, or just cash? Is there an EZ Pass type system?

And yes, I do realize I had a date typo above...the Wednesday should be 7/1.

And to further clarify...it seems the generic picture I see about Nova Scotia/PEI is "beautiful outdoors and picturesque landscapes". Hence why I'm not spending a lot of time in Halifax. Feel free to offer a counterpoint to this.

I'd revise it slightly.
Sun - Drive to Peggy's Cove and spend night there. It is very scenic but very tiny.
Mon - drive to Lunenburg for the afternoon, exploring coastline en route. Lunenburg is also not a big place.
Tues onward as you have planned.

Canada day will definitely be busy in PEI and possibly Baddeck as well. Book soon.

PEI is small. Think beaches, potato farms, lobster. Try to get up to the beaches in the north shore National Park (30 minutes or so from Charlottetown - yes, you could squeeze it in the day you arrive, or on Friday 3rd. ) Go to Richard's fresh seafood for a lobster burger or fish and chips.

http://richardsfreshseafood.com/the_eatery.html