We are in the planning stages of our 2009 tour and would like your advice :
We'll be leaving just after Labor day via Brussels-London-Halifax.Here's our tentative itinerary for 22 days tour :
Day 1+2; Halifax visit
3 Hal.-Lunenburg Peggy's cove
4 Lun.-Yarmouth Ovens nat.park-Lunenburg
5 Yar.-Annapolis r. P.Royal habitation
6 Ann.r.-Truro Annap.valley
7 Truro-Alma hopewell cape-moncton-fort beausejour-springhill
8 Alma-Saint john Fundy n.park
9 Saint John visit
10 S;John-Fredericton visit
11 Fred.-Woodstock Kings landing
12 Woods.-Campbelton S.john valley-grand falls-hartland
13 Camp.-Newcastle ferry
14 Newc<.-Charlottetown
15-16-17 PEI scenic drives
18 Charlot.-Baddeck
19 Bad.-Ingonish Cabot trail-Cape breton n.park-cheticamp-baddeck
20 Ing.-Sydney glace bay-cab.trail
21 Sydney-Antigonish Louisburg fortress
22 Antig.-Halifax Sherbrooke
This is basically a planning proposed in the Green Michelin guide.Any comments are welcomed.Thanks.Paul

... well that just about does it I'd say!

I was impressed that there are a couple/three days for Cape Breton. When there, be sure you're in the mode where, at the first sign of a clear day, you use THAT day to drive the Cabot Trail.

You don't want to pin all hopes on one particular date only to find, when you get there, that dense FOG has rendered it all pointless.

The fact that it is sort of a published itinerary from a guidebook assures that you'll likely be able to cover it all during the allotted time.

I can't knock your listed plan much at all.

Hi Paul,

Like NWMale said, this covers the area quite extensively! Just a few notes;

Day 7: West of Amherst, the Joggins Fossils Cliff (Unesco World Heritage Site) just opened last year. They give fascinating guided tours of the cliffs, if you're interested in that sort of thing. http://jogginsfossilcliffs.net

Day 7: Make sure you check the tide schedule before your visit at the Hopewell Rocks http://www.thehopewellrocks.ca/
They are worth being seen at low tide AND high tide, so spending the night in the area might make this easier (tickets to the site are valid for two days to fully experience the tides).

Day 13: Which ferry are you talking about? The only one I know goes from Caribou, Nova Scotia, to Wood Islands, PEI. The ferry that used to be the main link to the island has been replaced by a 13-km long bridge. Just before the bridge, on the New Brunswick side, Cape Jourimain provides a nice picnic stop - it has a nature interpretation centre, a lighthouse and walking trails with nice views on the bridge.

Happy Travels!

Days 19, 20 & 21 don't make sense. You may want to consider touring the Cabot Trail by beginning in Baddeck, driving "counter clockwise" around the Trail, staying overnight in the Ingonish area, continuing on the next day & back to Baddeck. Then from Baddeck you can explore Louisbourg/Glace Bay( what's the attraction for you in Glace Bay???) in a day trip.

Thanks for your replies.
ventdest: day 13 :the ferry is my mistake.We plan to go to PEI from Newcastle via the bridge.Do the 3 scenic drives in three days and then continue by ferry from Woods islands to Baddeck.

OceanBreeze1ays 19-20-21.This is the way the tour is given in detail in the Michelin guide.For Glace bay they give as point of interest the Miner's museum(two stars).
Will have more questions when I start doing the detailed planning.Thanks beforehand for the constructive help.Paul

With all due respect to the Michelin Guide, it makes no sense to tour the Cabot Trail on Day 19 (begin & end in Baddeck going counterclockwise...that part is ok but I wld stay over in Ingonish, enjoy the Park & the beach & golf if you are golfers...one of the top courses in the world!!) then on Day 20 start out in Ingonish ( they have you in Baddeck for the night of Day 19) & go to Sydney, Glace Bay and The Cabot Trail. Then on day 21 they have you leaving Sydney for Antigonish where you will go to Louisbourg! Louisbourg is a short drive from Sydney. Antigonish is not even on Cape Breton Island...it's on the mainland & you will pass it on your way back to Halifax after you cross the causeway.
Do you have the NS Doers' & Dreamers' Travel guide? (www.novascotia.com)

In the next few days I'll dig out a map and go over this route, but I wonder about going from the west side of New Brunswick to the east side (Cambellton)

I think you may be a little short on time to just sit around and look at the ocean, and a little short on the bottom part of Nova Scotia.

Can you give us an idea of personalities and interests?

BAK

Everyone will have their favourite parts of Atlantic Canada, and after this extensive tour, you will discover your own. But, based solely on my own personal tastes, out of the the regions you are already planning to visit, those I would concentrate my time in would be Cape Breton (the National Park [many hiking and nature trails in addition to scenic drives], the Cabot Trail Scenic Drive and the Louisbourg Fortress), Halifax, Lighthouse Route southwest of Halifax (Lunenburg and other historic towns and fishing villages and scenic beaches), a few days in PEI, and 2 or 3 days for various Bay of Fundy destinations (Hopewell Rocks and the National Park). As you are heading out that way and have 3 weeks, maybe the Digby area including Digby Neck and Briar Island (excellent whale watching). Also, as mentioned, the Joggins (and Parrsboro) regions may be of some interest also.

oceanBreeze1:
I think I caused a misunderstanding due to the fact that the itinerary I gave shows first the route for the day and secondly the things worth visiting.For example:
day 19 rive from Baddeck via Chéticamp to Ingonish.Things to see:Cabot trail-Cape Breton n.park
day 20 :From Ingonish to Sydney. Visit Cabot trail-Cape Breton
day 21 ;From Sydney to Antigonish.Visit Louisburg fortress.

Driving the Cabot trail this way (clockwise Baddeck-Chéticamp-Ingonish) is supposed to be safer as you'll be driving on the inner side of the road.
BAK: We're two seniors (72 and 65 years old)love nature and historical things.Have seen enough big cities on our 2008 tour (Toronto-Kingston-Montreal-Quebec-Tadoussac-St felicien-Ottawa-Algonquin-Midland- Niagara).We're not afraid of a good hike.Paul

Paul,I have toured the Cabot Trail at least a hundred times over the years & I can tell you that you need not be concerned about safety going either way! And, personally, I prefer to go in a counterclockwise direction...start in Baddeck & head to Ingonish. The views are panoramic. However, there are many people who prefer to tour the Cabot Trail in a clockwise direction. So, either way, you will be in for a treat. But don't let concerns for safety determine your direction. I would allow for a "fog day" when you do the Cabot Trail...b/c if there's fog you can't see anything! You say you are leaving "just after Labor Day". Is that after Sept 7?

I'd rebuild this whole section:
9 Saint John visit
10 S;John-Fredericton visit
11 Fred.-Woodstock Kings landing
12 Woods.-Campbelton S.john valley-grand falls-hartland
13 Camp.-Newcastle ferry

TWO REASONS
Your schedule does not leave any time to actually visit the places on your itinerary.

For instance, as noted already, the Hopewell Rocks really should be visited at both high tide andlow tide, to get a real impression of what the powers of the tides in the Petitcodiac River are all about. Crossing the border from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick is worth an hour looking at the gardens, listening to the bagpiper, etc.

Moncto's worth an hour or two, I would hope -- I was born there and you could drive past the house where my mother and grandparent's lived, and where I spent summers for 15 years. Fort Beausejour's worth another couple of hours, and so on.

With all due respect to north-eastern New Brunswick, it's well worth skipping in order to spend more time in other parts of the maritimes.

There's a half-decent art gallery in Fredericton, but we're stretching things to say anything else up there is worth rushing through Peggy's Cove, or Lunenburg, or the N.S. coast up from Halifaz.

There's NOTHING all the way from the west side to the east side, even though the highway between them is named after a great uncle of mine.

Revise the trip so you get to the town of St. Andrew's and Campobello Island, between St. John and the Maine border, the cut back to Moncton and go up the NB coast to Kouchibouguac National Park.

Part of the charm of the Maritimes is the relaxed pace, and it really would be a shame if you were not able to enjoy it because you had a schedule to keep, or ended up in Nowhheresville, far away from anything interesting.

That said -- Some might argue that, based on your pace in other areas, three days in Prince Edward Island is on the long side.

And unless a lot has changed since I was last there, I can't imagine why it takes a day from Campbellton to Newcastle (don't try to find Newcastle on a map-- look for Miramichi0 unless you are lucky enough to make plans to go salmon fishing, and those plans are hard to make.

If I was lucky enough to make this trip, I'd try to spend two nights in a couple of places, (arring inthe afternoon, staying a full day, and leaving the second morning, in, perhaps, St. Andrew's NB, Yarmouth, Digy or Wolfeville, N.S. and Maybe Moncton, using Moncton as a base to drive up to the Kbouch Park, visit Parless Beach outside of Shediac, before heading, the next day, for the Bridge to PEI.

And as another variation -- any thoughts of going to Maine?

A day from St. Andrews to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park in Maine would be a day well spent.

Hope this helps.

BAK

mat54-oceanBreeze1-BAK
Thanks for your input.I always do the planning as follows:
1/Get as much info from the region we want to visit via internet,get documentation from the various tourist services,guide books and the forum.
2.Make a preliminary general plan based on the above
3.Start the detailed planning taking all the input from 1+2 into consideration.
4.Book our return flight and reserve our rental car.
5.Start choosing the different hotels/motels and booking them via internet.
This method has been very successfull for all our extensive tours we did in the US and Canada.
BAK We did the 6 New England states in 2004 and visited Bar Harbor,Acadia n.park and did a whale watching excursion.
We usually leave after Labor day,in this case early but for N.England we kept it late for the Foliage.Paul

BAK
Some additional clarification:
The road from Campbellton to Newcastle is about 300km and a visit to the Village Historique Acadien is proposed.Also Shippagan is mentioned.
The 3 days on PEI doing the 3 scenic drives comprices about 800 km.What with visits of beaches, lighthouses, Anne of Green gables pleasing the wife it will take a lot of time no.Paul