Atlantic Canada honeymoon - what must we see?

[calgarywinning]

While I have extensive family and have spent many summers in PEI, I would say that spending the majority of your time in Newfoundland should be highly entertaining and relaxing.

I will always remember the newfies for their hospitality and hilariousness at the same time. You just can't beat it. Plus it's pretty damn beautiful there.

[JonDuke]

It's kind of outta the way to where you should be going, but if you're taking a trip to New Brunswick anyway, I would suggest the Hopewell Rocks:
http://www.thehopewellrocks.ca/



There's some decent hiking trails in Fundy National Park, which is in that same area too.
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nb/fundy/index.aspx

[Devils'Advocate]

I am from Halifax, but I took a tour of the Maritimes last fall because there were so many things I had never seen and really, really should have. The tour bus had a pretty good route.

Halifax to Cape Breton, through the highlands (if you are lucky, you might catch the start of the leaves changing, but it is beautiful even when green), over to Fortress Louisburgh, back to mainland Nova Scotia, take the ferry over to PEI, visit Charlottetown, over to Anne of Green Gables Heritage Site, up to Canvendish beach, take the bridge over to New Brunswick, visited Hopewell Rocks, and then back to Halifax to see Citadel Hill and Peggys Cove. Then they gave us a day on our own to do whatever we wanted in Halifax, so I took over as guide. Took the 'Mericans by the Fisheries Museum, down the harbourfront walk to the wave, past the Brewery Market, down to the new farmers market, Peir 21, and then to Point Pleasant Park, through the SMU and DAL campuses back to the Public Gardens, did some shopping along Spring Garden Road. I chose to do my first (and only) full marathon through my hometown because it is such a beautiful and historic city with lots to see (ie cannons in PPP, boats out in the harbour, town clock, etc).

I agree with what someone said above. You could rush through this stuff and just get a cursory view of everything, or you could take a slower "more Maritime" pace. But I *would* at some point in your life visit the west side of Newfoundland. I was a teenager when I went there, so more than 20 years ago, but it is still one of the most memorable vacations. L'Anse Aux Meadows particularly. We were hoping to see a moose given the hundreds of moose warning signs along the highway.

[jaymac106]

Since it is your honeymoon, you're bride may appreciate a walk along one of PEI's beachs; weather wise it is still fairly nice weather in September.
Link also for a nice little brewing company as well. http://peibrewingcompany.com/

[GreenLantern]

Thanks for all the great suggestions guys, really good stuff. This sounds kind of funny, but I hate tourists.. I was hoping at this time of year since it isn't peak whale/iceberg we would miss quite a few of them.. so a tour bus is hell for me, but I really appreciate the route lay out as it gives me good ideas of things to try and hit. I enjoy trying to blend in, while probably sticking out but in my mind I am.. lol.

I really wanted to do St. Johns.. but it seems like I have an over whelming response to the west coast instead which is interesting to me. I definitely will do some salmon fishing, that would be awesome.

This is a tough choice.. not enough days. We decided to push our limits and stay that extra day and come home the Sunday, straight back to work Monday. Might regret it but we are already out there and it seems every hour counts. Also that is my birthday weekend so might as well enjoy it.. I got a lot of thinking to do here, I am really glad I asked this question so far in advance.

[Jimmy Stang]

This sounds a lot like my honeymoon back in 2003. We managed to hit all of the Atlantic provinces, although New Brunswick was just for an afternoon en route to PEI.

In short - beautiful places, great people, seafood, history, etc. Do not skip Newfoundland. It really is the most "different" province I have visited, yet is still familiarly Canadian. We only spent a few days in St. John's and did a side trip up to Trinity (which is beautiful). NL is massive though - the scale is completely different than the rest of the Atlantic provinces.

Our honeymoon basically consisted of a drive around the south shore of NS and back up the Fundy side including Digby Neck (stopping each night at a different B&B), across the bridge to PEI for a couple of days, ferry back to Halifax, flight to St. John's, and then back home from there. I think that we spent about 12 days or so in total.

My big regrets are not seeing the West side of NL, and not going to Cape Breton. And also that hockey puck-sized Digby scallop that, in hindsight, might have been a tad undercooked and led to a day or two of... gastrointestinal delight. We also did a fair amount of driving (particularly through NS) and while it was nice to see a lot of places, you may want to opt for a slower pace. Depends on your style of holiday.

I'd highly recommend the East coast and Newfoundland for a honeymoon. Absolutely. My wife and I are thinking of trying to get out there again in the next few years, this time with our son, which will change the itinerary considerably!

[GreenLantern]

Jimmy did you locate and book all of the B&B's far in advance? Or were you kind of able to just figure out when you were tired and stop? The wife definitely wants to do a coastal drive/B&B stop, spend a day or two doing this alone, that is my trade off for being able to go fishing in multiple places

[Huntingwhale]

Take her to Tuktayuktuk and participate in the murder/beatings of baby seals.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

Jimmy did you locate and book all of the B&B's far in advance? Or were you kind of able to just figure out when you were tired and stop? The wife definitely wants to do a coastal drive/B&B stop, spend a day or two doing this alone, that is my trade off for being able to go fishing in multiple places

We booked them all in advance. I can give you some of the places and names of them (if I can remember) in a little bit. Just need to get some work done today before I waste any more time on the internet!

Some were really good and interesting, some were a little underwhelming. And, of course, this was ten years ago, so much may have changed. I'm sure that with the magic of the travel review sites now available that weren't as handy/prevalent in 2003, you could probably avoids some of the duds.

One major disappointment was not getting to stay at this place: http://www.trainstation.ca/ I have a thing for trains, so figured it would be a fun "stop" for a night or two. But they apparently overbooked due to a wedding (or, more likely, our reservation was getting in the way of a large block booking) and couldn't honour their reservation, but did put us up in some nearby cabins which was actually kind of nice as well.

Anyway - more to come via PM a little later today, or maybe tonight.

[Puppet Guy]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

Yes I was aware of that and why I asked.. it tastes like water, but calls itself an IPA. As a lover of IPA's I find this offensive.

Propeller on the other hand is a brewery I could see myself touring..

I'm duty-bound to hype the Granite Brewery in Halifax.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

For Nova Scotia this thread actually is very good despite it starting out as a thread about Halifax, http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=129600 It turned into a thread about Nova Scotia & Cape Breton (Flames Addiction changed his plans and added more time to God's Country, aka Cape Breton Island).

There's not much to add that I didn't put in that thread. When you're here if there's anything you need, or if you have specific questions about Nova Scotia, particularly Cape Breton Island, let me know.

[GreenLantern]

Ugh that is a great thread, I can't believe it slipped through my searches. Thank you very much, out of thanks for now but I will get you back. Reading that thread makes me wish I was going there with a group of buddies to get pub drunk for an entire weekend.

I also see a lot of posters in that thread that haven't posted anything in here yet, not calling any names or anything but pretty Friken' smug Jiri, pretty smug.

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Take her to Tuktayuktuk and participate in the murder/beatings of baby seals.

fur is not murder, but paying for it sure is......

[GreenLantern]

Alright so did some more research and heres the rough sketch of what I've got so far, looking for positive input on my plans and recommendations for stops I should make. Stay away or don't come to my province are not acceptable answers!

Day 1 (Monday) Land in Halifax, early morning flight approximately 7-8 hours should put us there with about half the day left, including time change.
Day 2 rent car, start the Great Cape Breton tour!
Day 2-4 touring Cape Breton. Right now I am planning to start by going up the NW coast, working our way down to Sydney, then ultimately back to Halifax.
Day 5-6 Arrive in Halifax, spending the weekend here (see how I timed that?)
Day 7 (Sunday) drive down to Lunenberg for the day/spend the night.
Day 8 Back up to Halifax and fly out to western Newfoundland
Day 9-11 spend touring the west coast of Newfoundland
Day 12 Drive to St. Johns (Friday)
Day 13 Spend the day in St. Johns (again, a weekend, great timing amirite?)
Day 14 Fly home/hating life cause we have to leave this beautiful part of the world.

She's tight, but I was able to convince the wife (can I call her that already? I can't say fiance without sounding like a jerkoff, future wife?) to drop PEI so we could spend more time touring Cape Breton/West coast of NFLD. We will have to hit PEI and NB the next time. We really want to hit both Halifax and St. Johns, this gives us 2 uninterupted days in Halifax on the weekend and 1.5 days in St. Johns again on the weekend. Probably not enough time but otherwise we have to cut a lot of the scenic stuff out.. so I figured 1-2 days on the weekend is probably better than 3 during the week.

I was hesitant to land in Newfoundland as recent interactions with some newfies really turned me off of the place, but then I thought, they can't all be basement dwelling virgins with their panties in a knot, so lets give er a go!

The next step is to start looking into activities, and I have been able to find a few good fishing outposts so far, but any recommendations from personal experiences would be awesome.

We are definitely going to work in a night at the Train Station, thanks again Jimmy for that great recommendation.

[MarchHare]

^^ Looks like a pretty solid itinerary, but it's a shame you couldn't find room for a day or two in the Annapolis Valley.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

^^ Looks like a pretty solid itinerary, but it's a shame you couldn't find room for a day or two in the Annapolis Valley.

All the leaves will be gone by then anyway, no?

[GreenLantern]

I know I really wanted to get to the southwest but if we went south then really there wouldnt be any time for NFLD.. so had to make a decision. Already so tight. There is some room for movement, like if the weather is the craps when we are on the west coast in NFLD, head to St. Johns a day or two early.. etc.. Depending on flight time to NFLD we might be able to work in just a quick drive by.. google maps says its only about 1.5 hour drive from Lunenberg? But it would be a really short visit..

I figure this time around we will do this tour, figure out what we liked/didn't like, then when we come back we can make up for what we missed.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by JonDuke

It's kind of outta the way to where you should be going, but if you're taking a trip to New Brunswick anyway, I would suggest the Hopewell Rocks:
http://www.thehopewellrocks.ca/



There's some decent hiking trails in Fundy National Park, which is in that same area too.
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nb/fundy/index.aspx

Thanks, I totally forgot about this place.

Spent a lot of time there as a young boy.

This is the same place at high tide, just ####ing amazing place.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

Alright so did some more research and heres the rough sketch of what I've got so far, looking for positive input on my plans and recommendations for stops I should make. Stay away or don't come to my province are not acceptable answers!

Day 1 (Monday) Land in Halifax, early morning flight approximately 7-8 hours should put us there with about half the day left, including time change.
Day 2 rent car, start the Great Cape Breton tour!
Day 2-4 touring Cape Breton. Right now I am planning to start by going up the NW coast, working our way down to Sydney, then ultimately back to Halifax.
Day 5-6 Arrive in Halifax, spending the weekend here (see how I timed that?)
Day 7 (Sunday) drive down to Lunenberg for the day/spend the night.
Day 8 Back up to Halifax and fly out to western Newfoundland
Day 9-11 spend touring the west coast of Newfoundland
Day 12 Drive to St. Johns (Friday)
Day 13 Spend the day in St. Johns (again, a weekend, great timing amirite?)
Day 14 Fly home/hating life cause we have to leave this beautiful part of the world.

She's tight, but I was able to convince the wife (can I call her that already? I can't say fiance without sounding like a jerkoff, future wife?) to drop PEI so we could spend more time touring Cape Breton/West coast of NFLD. We will have to hit PEI and NB the next time. We really want to hit both Halifax and St. Johns, this gives us 2 uninterupted days in Halifax on the weekend and 1.5 days in St. Johns again on the weekend. Probably not enough time but otherwise we have to cut a lot of the scenic stuff out.. so I figured 1-2 days on the weekend is probably better than 3 during the week.

I was hesitant to land in Newfoundland as recent interactions with some newfies really turned me off of the place, but then I thought, they can't all be basement dwelling virgins with their panties in a knot, so lets give er a go!

The next step is to start looking into activities, and I have been able to find a few good fishing outposts so far, but any recommendations from personal experiences would be awesome.

We are definitely going to work in a night at the Train Station, thanks again Jimmy for that great recommendation.

Looks good. I can tell you Newfoundland is awesome. I say there is only one Newfoundlander I ever met that I didn't like (for the record Bob Cole is an ***hole). You'll love it over there.

Do you need recommendations of places to stay? I can recommend a couple cabins in Ingonish (there's also the Keltic Lodge there), the hotels around Sydney (we used the Cambridge Suites for our wedding hotel and have a room booked there for New Year's, although the Hamptons seems nice as well, and Holiday Inn is nice for a Holiday Inn). There's also the Birches in Ben Eion which is awesome (about 30-40 minutes outside of Sydney) it's next to a golf course on the Bras d'Or Lakes. It's an inn so only 12 rooms (I think) and a 5 star restaurant. Or if you prefer I can tell you the best park benches to sleep on.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

Looks good. I can tell you Newfoundland is awesome. I say there is only one Newfoundlander I ever met that I didn't like (for the record Bob Cole is an ***hole). You'll love it over there.

Do you need recommendations of places to stay? I can recommend a couple cabins in Ingonish (there's also the Keltic Lodge there), the hotels around Sydney (we used the Cambridge Suites for our wedding hotel and have a room booked there for New Year's, although the Hamptons seems nice as well, and Holiday Inn is nice for a Holiday Inn). There's also the Birches in Ben Eion which is awesome (about 30-40 minutes outside of Sydney) it's next to a golf course on the Bras d'Or Lakes. It's an inn so only 12 rooms (I think) and a 5 star restaurant. Or if you prefer I can tell you the best park benches to sleep on.

Off topic MQS, but does the piper still stand at the NB/NS border during the summer?