Nova Scotia and PEI Itinerary

We went to NS last June and to New Brunswick and around Gaspé the year before. I have not been to PEI.

If you have not been to the Bay of Fundy before, I would really try to see the tides, low tide with the fishing boats way out of the water, and the tidal bore as the tide is coming in. There are many places to do this. Check the tides and figure out what makes sense based on your timing.

We really like the Fisheries Museum. We broke for lunch and then went back. Also liked Grand Pre NHS. Fort Beausejour was a nice stop but we were there before the visitor center had opened for the season. We are a picnic and enjoyed the view.

We liked the Joggins Fossil Center but it’s a slow drive. The inland highway is much faster. The museum would be good for kids.

Hi Steve,

Attached is a link to the Canada Day events. Citadel Hill and Pier 21 are both excellent. The Tattoo parade is nice as well.

Joggins is quite fascinating. You can walk the beach there and try to find a fossil.

I’m not sure where you are staying in Halifax, but Peggy’s Cove is about an hour drive each way if you are downtown. The puffin boat trips are 2.5 hours and go to Pearl Island. You can’t dock or get to close to the island, so the puffins will not be close up, but you can certainly see them. I’ve been out a couple of times.

There are some good places in Peggy’s for lunch. I would say that you may not have time for Chester or Mahone Bay for lunch if doing the boat trip, unless you do the early morning trip.

The Natural History Museum is great for kids. It may be doable that day depending on which boat tour you book and such.

Grand Pre/Wolfville is a great pairing for a day. The best winery IMHO is Lightfoot and Wolfville. It’s not far from the Grand Pre Winery. The Church restaurant is also nice out that way. Reservations for meals are a must for all those locations.

Lunenburg is beautiful for just walking around. The Bluenose will be in town then. They could drive to Blue rocks, which is quite nice. St. John’s Anglican Church is beautiful inside. The Ovens Park is nearby also and it has spectacular scenery (although they aren’t overly friendly at the ticket place).

Fort Beausejour isn’t really on the way to PEI. It will already be a four hour drive for you, so I don’t suggest going out of the way further. You can stop at the bridge to PEI for some nice views and there is a whole food/shopping/tourist area just after the bridge on the PEI side.

The Anne of Green Gables house and LLM gravesite are in Cavendish. There is a museum about 20 minutes outside of Cavendish and Daley by the Sea (a filming location in one of the movies) is about a half hour the other way from Cavendish.

There are quite a few interesting lighthouses on PEI, Victoria Row is interesting.

Hope this helps.

Kim

St Andrew’s New Brunswick is a short detour from Route 1 just before you reach St Stephen and the US border. It’s a pretty seaside town. When I was a kid I enjoyed the Huntsman Marine Science Center. The Ganong Chocolate Museum in St Stephen might be fun. It’s in the old factory downtown. They still do demos of handmade chocolates but most of the production is done in the newer factory outside of town.

The drive through New Brunswick to Bangor involves driving through a lot of woods with towns few and far between. Take advantage of rest stops when you see them.

Thanks for the responses. @KB - maybe I'm missing something, but when I put in Halifax to Charlottetown on Google Maps, it shows me passing within 5 minutes of Fort Beausejour (near Aulac, just after crossing back into NB from NS). I certainly wouldn't want to add any substantial time to a 3.5-4 hour drive, but thought it might just break up the ride a bit for the kids to get out and run around for a while.

Steve,

You are quite correct. I looked at the map when I was clearly half asleep. Beauséjour is something I have not done, so can’t comment, but I totally understand wanting to break up the drive a bit for yourself and the kids.