2016 East Canada Road Trip
 

Hi!
I’m planning a 35-37 day road trip in May-June 2016. My boyfriend and I will be leaving from the Toronto area and plan to start in Quebec City. From there we'll head to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and PEI. Our hopes are to camp, kayak and hike as much as we can, rain or shine :)

I have an itinerary started but I would really appreciate any advice or suggestions on different campsites, how long to stay in different locations, different activities and attractions. What wineries or distilleries will be near us? Should we reserve campsites ? Thank you for reading

Day 1 – Drive from Toronto to Quebec City-explore Old Quebec City
Day 2 – Quebec City- Montmorency and Île d’Orléans, explore inner city
Day 3 – drive to Saint john or St Andrews?, stop at Grand Falls, Hartland, Axe, stay one night in Saint John or St Andrews?
Day 4 –Saint john to Digby, may not have time for the balancing rock and Brier island and might go straight to the ovens then to Lunenburg (where to stay in Lunenburg?)
Day 5 – Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, Chester
-Three churches, bluenose, Ironworks distillery
Day 6 – Lunenburg, blue rocks, Peggy’s cove and then leave for Halifax
Day 7 – Halifax
Day 8 –Halifax
Day 9 – leave Halifax to Tidal Bore Rivers, Tidal rafting tour, Masstown market? Anything else to see in the general area that’s close
Day 10 – Leave to Cape Breton-Corney Brook campground was recommended any other sites? Meat cove?
Day 11 – Cape Breton
Day 12 – Cape Breton
Day 13 – Cape Breton
Day 14 – Cape Breton
Day 15 – day trip to Louisbourg and North Sidney, leave for Newfoundland at night from North Sidney
Day 16 – Newfoundland
Day 17 – Newfoundland
Day 18 – Newfoundland
Day 19 – Newfoundland
Day 20 – Newfoundland
Day 21 – Newfoundland
Day 22 – Newfoundland
Day 23 – Newfoundland
Day 24 – Newfoundland
Day 25 – Newfoundland –leave for NS at night
Day 26- Arrive NS in am and drive to Caribou for PEI ferry, arrive in PEI
Day 27- PEI cottage rental for a few days, explore from there
Day 28-pei
Day 29- pei
Day 30-pei
Day 31-pei
Day 32 – Drive across bridge stop in Shediac for lobster pic and food, drive to magnetic hill, drive to Fundy National park
Day 33 – Hopewell rocks and Fundy national park
Day 34 –Stay at Fundy national park (campground suggest?)
Day 35 –
Day 36-
Day 37-Home at the latest

throw out a few thoughts...
for the mahone bay area, i'd consider staying at rissers beach provincial park. it's a gorgious beach area.

in cape breton...i stayed at the highlands national campground for 2 nights. very nice went out the first day and drove about 1/2 of the cabot trail stopping to visit some hikes and scenic points. then after two nights i drove the entire cabot trail and camped in baddeck. stayed at the baddec cabot trail campground. i was travelling alone and ask for quiee site. they were nice and gave me the group site as it wasn't booked. it was huge. they also have a pool there. i think this itinerary worked well for me.
if you want to camp one night before heading to pei, i recommend caribou munroes provincial park near the lovely town and pictou and close to the ferry.
you are going pretty early in the season so you shouldn't need to worry too much about reservations. i reserved a few sites because i wanted ocean front campsite.

one more note. i had 2 nights planned at the oven natural park campground. ended up only staying one as the sites were too close together and no privacy. i did go on their boat trip through the caves and that was good.

Twintraveller, I'm not a camper, so can't offer you much advice there, except to say that your dates are quite early in the season and you'll encounter some very cool nights. But if you're used to that, you should be fine.

A point about your Lunenburg/Mahone Bay/Chester plans:

"Day 5 – Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, Chester
-Three churches, bluenose, Ironworks distillery
Day 6 – Lunenburg, blue rocks, Peggy’s cove and then leave for Halifax"

I think I'd group those slightly differently. On day 5 I'd stay in the Lunenburg area, so the Bluenose (assuming she's there), Ironworks (I like their gin; it tastes very slightly of spruce), and Blue Rocks. I'd recommend the Fish Shack for lunch.

On day 6, drive from Lunenburg to Halifax on Highway 3 via Mahone Bay (the three churches, plus lots of other things to poke your nose into, including a store that sells haskap preserves, which are delicious, but avoid their gin). Continue on Highway 3 to Tantallon. Personally, I wouldn't stop in Chester; I find it pales in comparison to Lunenburg and Mahone Bay. I'd instead pause for a few minutes to walk the beach at Queensland or Cleveland Beach in Ingramport. Stay on Highway 3 as far as Upper Tantallon, then south on 333 to Peggy's. It will be a long day, but a good one.

You mentioned wineries. The best place for that is the Annapolis Valley, which isn't on your planned route. You could spend a good day there, but something else would have to give, such as reducing your Halifax time from two days to one.

Thank you very much for your recommendations. We will probably be staying at the rissers beach provincial park near Mahone bay area and look into the baddec cabot trail campground.
In blue rocks we’ll be sure to go to the fish shack and I have copied and pasted your notes for highway 3. This is some very detailed advice that I don’t want to forget. We have a day or two to play with so on our way up to the tidal bore area from Halifax, we can add a day to the Annapolis valley. Do you have any winery suggestions? AnselmAdorne, I also stumbled across your trip report for Newfoundland I’ll be sure to have a good read when planning there next.
Thank you !

Don't forget to pick up the National Geographic Travel Map of Newfoundland... a great help when designing itineraries --> http://tinyurl.com/nltourism

I think you should see <b>Hopewell Cape</b> on the way IN... and NOT save it for 5 weeks down the line, when you're tired and perhaps too rushed to get it.


Much of the rest seems in-order.

From Vancouver Island,we have just completed a portion of our maritime tour, so far,Labrador,Newfoundland & Nova Scotia.Absolutely wonderful ! We are in a 24' RV and I have to advise everyone the Labrador portion was a vehicle nightmare !The Labrador highway,for major portions,is not a highway,it doesn't qualify even as a decent logging road.(The portion of hwy between Bay Comeau and Labrador City is just as bad,so you can't go back !)Don't get me wrong,the country is great and the people very accommodating.Again Newfoundland is a wonder.A lot of miles between towns and gas is around 1.39 a litre. For Cape Breton and this part of NS I wish I had been born here ! Hopefully I can now get my doors and cupboards fixed after the TLH battering !!!