Summer Trip suggestion for Maritimes

[essaarcee]

Folks,
I am planning to take a road trip this summer from Toronto to Maritimes. Was planning to head to PEI first and work backwards checking NOva Scotia, New Brunswick etc.

Most likely for 7-10 days long.

The question is shall we drive my 2010 Mazda 3 Sedan or rent a car? Few of my friends had told me that for long trips the car takes quite a beating and eventually costs much more in service/repairs etc. Thus better to rent a car and forget about those after trip worries.

What will you guys suggest: rent or own car? It'd be round trip around 3500km i guess.it'd be my wife n myself. tops another friend might join us.

Also any experiences on a road trip that part of our country? W.r.t roads, anything i should be knowing/careful, anything i should not miss etc?

Thanks for your suggestions.

[PearlM3]

I drive to nova scotia twice per year. Just make sure you change oil before and after. It's a beautiful drive and is really easy , you should have no problems.

[poke65]

Just watch out for moose. I hit one about 17 years ago. It is a sure way to right off your car

[pacmann33]

LOL! Just drive your car! Whoever told you that a long drive is crazy wear and tear is nuts! putting 3,000 highway kms on in a week is way better than ANY 3,000 kms of normal day to day driving kms you normally put on your vehicle.

I drive back home to the maritimes once a year.

As mentioned above make sure you don't overshoot your service intervals while on vacation. I hit 24,000 kms while in NB last year so I went to Atlantic Mazda in Moncton for my 24k service. It was great, new dealership, drank their coffee...relaxed. I am from Moncton originally.

Also took the Mazda to Brier Island in NS for whale watching with my GF, visited my sister who recently moved to Halifax from Burlington.

Make a stop in Quebec for beer before you cross into NB. It's hella cheap there compared to NB LOL!

[pacmann33]

As far as roads....man, Nova Scotia has some wicked roads!

Don't forget to swing by Lunenburg and maybe go for a sail on the Bluenose 2 if it's in port while you're there. The view of Lunenburg from the water is spectacular.

[DaveIrwin24]

I live in Halifax, deinitley hit up the lighthouse route if your in nova scotia.. nice scenic route right beside the coast the takes you down the south shore

[SomeGuy]

Road trip and not take a 3? You'd be mad!

[KING1307]

Take your 3! I know you werent really asking this but I have a few suggestions as to where you go when you swing by New Brunswick. You HAVE to go to a little place called Grand Manan Island! I can guarantee you wont be disappointed! Ive been going there ever summer for the past 8 years. There is an amazing camp site called Hole In The Wall Camp ground, amazing! Beautiful sights, amazing hiking, you can see squid every night off the dock. Just amazing. To get to the island, you have to go to a place called Blacks Harbor and take a pretty large ferry from there, you drive your beautiful 3 inside, explore the ship for a few hours and your at Grand Manan. Just writing this is bringing me back so many amazing memories. I cant wait to go this summer!
Hope you have a grand trip

[Unoriginalusername]

great drive. Been to NB (Flowerpot rocks), NS (Cabot Trail), NL and PEI. They're all great, take the 3

[thehawk]

I was out in Alberta and BC last fall. I didn't drive all the way there from Ontario - think I would have gone a bit nuts - but I did rent a car once I landed in Calgary. Driving through the mountains was amazing but there were some parts where it seemed like you're going down for a good while. I've been to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick too and even the roads there can get interesting. I guess in addition to an oil change, make sure your brake pads are still in good shape.

[Revolver]

My wife and I did that trip 2 years ago. I would say if you're driving then you'll want 10 days minimum to take it all in. We flew into Halifax and rented a car from there because we only had 9 days. If we'd had more time we would have driven too. These are the sights that we saw, in the same order that we did them on the trip.

Hopewell Rocks near Moncton. This place has the highest tides in the world. If you do this try to plan it so you arrive at low tide so you can go out and walk around on the floor, and then watch the tide come in. It's pretty neat.

From Moncton we went to Charlottetown. We took the Confederation bridge over and then the ferry back to New Brunswick when we left. There's not a whole lot to do in Charlottetown, but it's a nice place. In the tourism centre by the water you can get a map to do a walking tour. We did that and took in some nice restaurants. We also spent a full day driving all along the North coast in PEI National park and on the beaches there. It's a really beautiful area. We passed by Green Gables. We pulled into the parking lot to see what we could see from outside, but didn't really feel the need to go in.

After that we headed up towards Cape Breton. On the way up we stopped at the only single malt whiskey distillery in North America, Glenora Distillery which makes Glen Breton Rare. I like my scotch and we got some free samples during the tour. I'd recommend it only if you enjoy whiskey or are interested in how it's made.

We stayed the night just outside Cape Breton National Park so we would have a full day to take it in. Cape Breton is really beautiful and the drive is awesome. If you take this route make sure your camera has full batteries and an empty memory card here. We went to the beach where Cabot first landed way back in the day and did a hike up Mount Franey which took ~3 hours. On the hike we saw a ton of wildlife and the views from the cliffs at the top are impressive. We stayed the night in a nice little town called Baddeck not too far outside the Park.

After that we were heading back to Halifax. We detoured out to Louisburg to check out the fort there. It's ok but kind of boring, especially for how far out of the way it is. I would only recommend it if you're a history buff. If you are a history buff though it's interesting to see things from the French point of view (Louisburg was the French's fort) and then go to the Citadel in Halifax and get the story from the English perspective (the Citadel was the English's fort). Louisburg is a lot bigger than the Citadel, but the construction of the Citadel is much more impressive and we learned much more during the tour of the Citadel and in the Citadel's military museum than we did at Louisburg. If I could do the trip over, Louisburg is the only thing I wouldn't do again.

We spent the rest of our nights in Halifax. We took a day trip down to Lunenburg. We wanted to go whale watching, but we just missed the boat (literally) and didn't want to wait for 3 hours for the next charter. That was the one thing we really wanted to do that we didn't end up having time for. We also checked out the Blue Nose and stopped at Peggy's Cove on the way back.

Our last day we spent in Halifax just walking around and taking in the sights, old buildings and museum's. We did the Citadel, a museum about ships by the water, another museum I can't remember now also on the water, and the Alexander Keith's distillery tour. The Citadel is worth checking out. The museum's were ok but not great. The Keith's tour is pretty cheesy, but worth it if you like beer.

Not really maritime related, but if you've never been and can detour for a night to Quebec City either on the way there or back it's definitely worth it. Old Quebec City is a really nice place.

Also, be sure to eat as much chowder as you possibly can on the trip.