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Frommer's Nova Scotia, New Brunswick & PEI Day by Day will guide readers through the Canadian Maritimes quickly and with an insider's knowledge of the unforgettable sights and experiences these provinces have to offer. Discover everything from the best lobster dinners, friendliest B&Bs and most pristine PEI golf courses to one-of-a-kind adventures like hiking along the trail at North Cape and whale watching near the Bay of Fundy. Filled with tips and itinerary suggestions, hundreds of original color photos, dozens of annotated maps, thematic tours for every taste, and star-rated advice on where to eat, stay, shop, and have fun, this book is the perfect accompaniment to any visit to the Maritimes.
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24 Smart Ways to See the Region
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick& Prince Edward Island
Contents 16 Favorite Moments 1
1 Strategies for Seeing Atlantic Canada 7Seeing Atlantic Canada 8
2 The Best Full-Day Tours 11The Best in 3 Days 12The Best in 1 Week 18The Best in 2 Weeks 24
3 The Best Special-Interest Tours 31Atlantic Canada for Families 32Atlantic Canada for Golfers 36An Acadian History Tour 38
4 Halifax 41Halifax in 1 Day 42Halifax in 2 Days 46The Waterfront & Downtown 50Spring Garden Road 56The South End 60Halifax for Beer Lovers 62Halifax History & Architecture 66Halifax for Art Lovers 70Dining & Lodging Best Bets 75Halifax Dining A to Z 76Halifax Lodging A to Z 79Halifax Shopping A to Z 81Halifax A&E & Nightlife A to Z 83
5 Nova Scotia 85The Annapolis Valley 86Digby 90Southern Shores 92Lunenburg to Chester 96Cape Breton Highlands 100Sydney 106Bras D’Or Lake 108Dining A to Z 111Lodging A to Z 115
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COPYRIG
HTED M
ATERIAL
6 Prince Edward Island 119Charlottetown 120PEI National Park & Anne’s Land 126Eastern Prince Edward Island 132PEI Dining A to Z 139PEI Lodging A to Z 143
7 New Brunswick 147Saint John 148Bay of Fundy 152Fredericton 154St. Andrews 158New Brunswick Dining A to Z 161New Brunswick Lodging A to Z 163
8 The Great Outdoors 165The Best Ocean Adventures 166Hiking on Cape Breton Island 168The Fundy Trail Parkway 170
9 The Savvy Traveler 173Before You Go 174Getting There 178Getting Around 180Fast Facts 181Eastern Canada: A Brief History 186Eating & Drinking in Atlantic Canada 187Toll-Free Numbers & Websites 188
Index 190
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1 Strategies for Seeing Atlantic Canada
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Previous page: Getting off the beaten track while you travel will yield many hidden treasures.
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9A
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Island’s Cabot Trail often looks out on top-dollar ocean vistas. Other times, you might be lodging in a city hotel with a view of parking lots. Prices sometimes reflect these differ-ences in scenery, but sometimes don’t. My advice? When booking, always ask about your view (and try to negotiate a better one, if possi-ble). Going to Eastern Canada and then skipping the views to save a few loonies doesn’t make much sense.
Rule #4: Don’t try to do too much. After all, Eastern Canada is a place to relax. That means traveling and sightseeing slowly. Some of my very best memories here involve slow, solitary walks around harbors or village streets when I had no itin-erary and no watch on my wrist, and the next day’s plans weren’t pressing me to hurry back to my room or campsite. Staying in one town—and one room—for two nights in a row isn’t a bad idea at all.
Rule #1: Get yourself some wheels. Public transit in these prov-inces exists, but it’s pretty spotty. (This is a surprisingly large and mostly rural region.) Unless you’re planning to confine yourself to Halifax—in which case, you could certainly use city buses and your own two feet—you’re going to need a rental car to get anywhere you want to go.
Rule #2: Get out on the water. Literally. Eastern Canada is almost all about the sea, so at some point, you need to feel that salty, bracing sea spray on your face to really expe-rience the place. Whether it’s on a ferry boat, a whale-watching excur-sion boat, or a tall ship, it doesn’t especially matter; just get out there.
Rule #3: Pay more for a view (or don’t). It’s up to you, but find out before you arrive what you’ll be looking at. Even the simplest, least expensive motel on Cape Breton
I’m not going to lie to you: Atlantic Canada is big. Big enough that seeing it on a short schedule is difficult, if not impossible. It’s
also different from many other tourist destinations—quieter, more spread out, and more ruggedly natural than almost anywhere else on the east coast of the continent. You’ll find fewer tourist services but friendly people. Here are a few strategies and rules of thumb to help you get more enjoyment out of this unique place.
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Traveling by boat is one of the best ways to get around Atlantic Canada.
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Rule #8: Be prepared. I’m talk-ing about weather here. We all dream of perfect, sunny days on the beach, but these provinces stick out into the Atlantic Ocean—the hemi-sphere’s champion weather-maker. You can expect to be dealing with rain maybe a third of the time in summer, more often than that in a wet year. In spring or fall, weather could be anything from a lovely stretch to a miserable 3-day blow of a typhoon-like Northeaster—it could even snow. Bring umbrellas, a sweater, a change of dry shoes, puz-zles, a laptop, and a thick novel, just in case.
Rule #9: Adjust your expecta-tions slightly downward. There are certainly enough luxury inns and gourmet restaurants here to build a luxe trip, but many other lodgings and eats in these provinces (espe-cially in the non-tourist towns) are a throwback to the old days—days when a traveler would sleep in a sparely furnished room, sharing hall-way bathrooms and communal breakfasts with fellow travelers, and eat a basket of fried fish for dinner. That’s not an unpleasant experience at all—if you come in expecting it.
Rule #5: Don’t try to see too much. Though it looks cute in pic-tures, you’ll be surprised by how big Eastern Canada is. Between the major tourist points (Yarmouth and Halifax, Halifax and Cape Breton, Hal-ifax and Prince Edward Island), it’s often a 3-to-5-hour drive—some-times with little company en route but spruce trees. Trying to see every-thing in this book in a short period of time is a recipe for disaster.
Rule #6: Get off the beaten track. Throughout this book, I’ve tried to nudge you toward a few expe-riences that aren’t obvious tourist stops—local coffee shops, little-known historical spots, somewhat-secret beaches. You can see just the “greatest hits” if you want, but you’ll probably have a better story to tell afterward if you deviate from them.
Rule #7: Bring a good camera. You’ll probably visit places like stun-ning Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island’s purple-and-red lupine fields, and Lunenburg’s wedding-cake-like vertical town grid just once in your lifetime; make sure you capture it in the digital equivalent of Kodachrome. Even little point-and-shoot cameras are doing amazing things these days.
Don‘t forget to pack a good camera—you‘ll be rewarded with some once-in-a-lifetime photos.
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