The wife and I decided that we’d like to spend a couple of weeks in Canada this year and I’ve come up with the following basic idea.
Paris -> Montreal
Spend up to 3 days
**
Montreal -> Halifax (fly)**
Spend 9 days travelling in Nova Scotia
Halifax -> Toronto
Spend 2 days
**
Toronto -> Paris**
All this is pretty pricey though:
€2000 (US$ 2642) for transatlantic + internal flights
€220 for car hire
accom : €1000
So before food is taken into account we’re looking at €3200 (US$ 4226) for 2-weeks for 2 people.
I guess that since our last vacation (last year was Mexico City → Dallas and then drove from phoenix to San Fran via Grand Canyon, Vegas & LA) the world has turned upside down and I don’t know if I should be spending so much money on our summer vacation.
As usual my SD threads have turned into a stream of consciousness rather than a proper question so…
Does the itinerary look ok?
Will we be missing out on anything between Montreal and Halifax?
Is it actually worth going to Toronto when the other option is to spend an extra 2 days in Nova Scotia?
There seems to be a lot of backtracking in your itinerary–fly west to Montreal, fly east to Halifax, fly west to Toronto, fly east to Paris… I understand that flghts from Paris to Halifax may not be frequent, or even exist, but maybe you could consider flying to Toronto, renting a car, and driving east through Montreal to Nova Scotia. That would allow you to see Quebec City, possibly the Gaspe, and New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island on your way to Halifax. Then, if there are no Paris-bound flights from Halifax, fly to St. John’s or New York and connect to Paris from there. This way, you’d save a bit of time and money on domestic flights that backtrack.
Just an idea, anyway. I think you would miss a lot between Montreal and Halifax if you flew, and I also think Toronto deserves more than two days. But that’s just my opinion.
Hmm. Despite, or possibly because of, being a Torontonian, I would say you should give it a miss and fly Paris-Montreal return (possibly with Air Transat – they’re pretty cheap). Then I would either fly (possibly with WestJet), or take the train, to Halifax, rent a car and visit Newfoundland as well. Return to Montreal and back to Paris.
Unless you’ve got something you desperately need to see in Toronto (um, the CN Tower?), I don’t know if it’s worth the extra expense. Though, the new Gehry extension at the AGO is pretty cool.
I agree with Spoons about all the hopping back and forth. Consider flying into Toronto and flying out of Halifax or St. John’s, if at all possible.
Renting a car is a good idea as some of the scenery along that route is gorgeous, esp. the Gaspe and into New Brunswick. A couple of friends and I drove from Toronto to Halifax in about 22 hours, but that was non-stop. The drive would be much more manageable breaking it into smaller chunks esp. with stopovers in Montreal and/or Quebec city (only walled city in North America and well worth a look).
If you don’t want to drive (and who could blame you, esp. around the traffic hell that is Toronto), then you could consider taking the train. I doubt there’d be much savings with a train over domestic flights but I find train travel less stressful and you get to see more of the countryside that way.
I highly suggest you take the Cabot trail in Cape Breton. Simply outstanding. You can do the entire thing in one day, or two if you decide to stop and see the sites.
Then when you’re done with that, swing north and take the ferry to Prince Edward Island and tour there for a few days, then you can use the Confederation Bridge and drive off the Island into New Brunswick. Halifax is only 3.5 hours from PEI and a pretty easy drive, especially in the summer.
Yes, I live in PEI and want you to come spend your money here
Yes, I agree about the backtracking. It’s something I’ve been trying to avoid but it isn’t really working out due to there not being any direct flights between Halifax and Paris in summer (but there is in April/May??) We may end up heading east towards Halifax and then catching a flight out of Canada, back to Paris from Halifax via Montreal/Toronto. I hadn’t considered travelling back to Europe via St. Johns nor JFK so it looks like another evening with just me and Google.
As for why Toronto? Well to be very honest my wife read that they had good food there But we’re used to spending 3+ weeks on vacation and visiting cities even if they aren’t always the most wonderful in the world
We don’t mind driving. the idea of the Cabot Trail sounds wonderful and exactly the type of driving that we have in mind. After the 1000 miles last summer we’re looking for a holiday where we have days where we never even see the car rather than my usual planned holiday where I know where we’ll be at any given minute weeks or months in advance
Thanks for the advice everyone !
This is actually a pretty good idea. I’ve taken the train between Montreal and Halifax before, and it’s a nice way to travel between the two cities. It’s a proper overnight train, with a variety of accommodations, dining car, lounge car, etc. and may not be as fast as flying but neither is it as stressful (I find). And the trains between Toronto and Montreal run frequently and offer downtown-to-downtown service, avoiding the problems of getting to/from airports that are a distance from the city. You can check out schedules and fares for Canadian train travel at www.viarail.ca.
We did the Cabot Trail a number of years ago, we were staying at the Silver Dart lodge in Baddeck, Cape Breton Island.
While there, we found a poster for a tour, for a very reasonable price, we were about 8 people in a van, the driver took us to places that we never would have found on your own, for example, we went to a local dock where fisherman were bringing in their catch of grab, my wife got to enjoy fresh snowgrab as it was in season at the time.
What I enjoyed the most was getting to see nice scenery while letting the chore of driving to someone else, very relaxing after having driven all the way from Ontario.
Also, if you do visit Cape Breton Island, you may want to consider the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site.
Alas your country is a tad large to see it all in just 2 weeks
I’ve decided to fly to Montreal, train to Halifax and then fly from Halifax back to Paris via Montreal so back-tracking just to get back home.
