7 Day Road Trip

How to do a Nova Scotia Road Trip in 7 days 

So, you have a week off and you want to visit Nova Scotia, but you don’t think you can do much? Well, we have some suggestions to make the most of your ‘short’ road trip to Canada’s Ocean Playground. We understand that this 7 days (or less) itinerary is not ideal for everyone, but our goal is to show you that you don’t need to use up all of your vacation days to make the most of your trip. 

Full disclosure: I have been to Nova Scotia many times, and as a result, I have done a lot throughout the province, so there is a lot I can skip from time to time. 

Start off by visiting the Nova Scotia Tourism information centre in Amherst to gather all of your travel reading materials, planners, maps, suggestions, coupons, and more. This is one of the finest Tourism Information booths that I have ever seen. 

Day 1: Amherst to Parrsboro to Truro

From Amherst, head to Parrsboro for a fun time along the Bay of Fundy. Parrsboro is an area known for its rich deposit of fossils of prehistoric animals and plants. Visit the Fundy Geological Museum to discover this amazing history first hand. 

The Harbour View restaurant serves a mean seafood chowder. 

From there, drive along the Fundy shore to Economy, and Five Islands Provincial Park for some amazing views. 

Masstown has an amazing market that you will want to stop at for some great shopping, amazing baked goods, and don’t forget Fish & Chips at the lighthouse. 

Day 2: Truro to Halifax

Truro has some fun activities you may want to take part in – Tidal Bore rafting for example. Definitely, plan to visit the Truro Tidal Bore Viewing visitor centre at just the right time to watch the tides go out. 

From Truro head to Stewiacke. Here you will find Mastodon Ridge, where there is a giant statue of a Mastodon visible from the highway. Pop into ColdStream Clear distillery, makers of some amazing spirits that you will want to bring home with you. 

Head to Halifax for a great afternoon of visiting the Citadel, the shops of Barrington St, the Harbour Front. Enjoy a nice meal on the Harbour at Gahan’s, or one of the many restaurants/pubs downtown. 

Day 3: Halifax to Lunenburg (and back)

Take a drive out towards Lunenburg along the Coast. I recommend the scenic drive early in the day to maximize daylight. First stop will be Peggy’s Cove. You will want to stop here and get your photos of Canada’s most famous lighthouse. Pick up some great souvenirs in the gift shop. 

There are cute shops in the area that you will want to visit as well, from gift stores to craftspeople, and jewellery.  

As you head to Mahone Bay, you will pass many seafood shacks, that are great places to stop for some chowder, lobster roll, or clams. 

In Mahone Bay, there is so much to see – the 3 Churches, the great shopping, the markets, and the epic views. 

Head to Lunenburg, where you will find one of the most colourful little towns in all of Nova Scotia. The views are spectacular, the history of the town is very interesting, there is a lot of shopping opportunities, and don’t forget that this is the ‘home’ of the famous Schooner “The Bluenose II”. If it is in the dock, you will want to get your photos, and maybe take a tour. 

As you head back to Halifax, if you are looking for a great Lobster Supper, stop by Hubbard’s and visit the Shore Club for a great lobster meal. 

Halifax is a great city to explore at night, the shops, bars, restaurants are all open late, and the harbourfront area is alive with activity. 

Day 4: Halifax to Sydney 

You will want to head out early, to make the most of your drive from HFX to SDY. 

There is a lot of gorgeous scenery along the way through Cape Breton. If you stop at the Cape Breton souvenir shop on the other side of Canso Causeway – you might spot some porpoises (or whales) in the harbour. 

Once in Sydney, the Waterfront is where you want to be. The Giant Fiddle will be your guide. Take some photos of this fun roadside attraction and walk along the harbour. 

Dinner: Governor’s pub is amazing but always busy. If it is, check out the Old Triangle Irish Alehouse for some great food at reasonable prices, and great beer.

Day 5: Sydney to Cheticamp (Cabot Trail)

This is the going to be the hardest part of keeping your itinerary short. The Cabot Trail is not only Canada’s most scenic drive, but it is one of the top scenic drives in North America. You will want to stop at every lookout, vista, and small town. As someone who has seen it all, after a while you will realize the vistas start to look a lot alike, so choose wisely. 

The Whale Interpretive Centre in Pleasant Bay is a great (quick) stop to learn all about whales to prepare for the whale watching tour you will take. 

There are several great seafood restaurants along the route to enjoy a snack. 

In Cheticamp plan a Whale watching tour for the evening so that you make the most of your night. Captain Zodiac is a great option for a real whale watching adventure. 

I highly recommend staying at the Cabot Trail Sea & Golf Chalets for a comfortable stay with great service. 

For dinner, there are several restaurants worth a try such as Evangeline, Happy Clam, Le Gabriel and more. 

Day 6: Cheticamp to Wolfville

As you leave Cabot Trail, there are plenty of things to do. Inverness Beach is a beautiful spot to stretch your legs and enjoy the water. 

In Mabou, you will find the Glenora Inn & Distillery, which is a beautiful property to visit. 

On your way, stop in New Glasgow for Louie’s Food Truck for a nice lunch of great fish sandwiches and more. 

Wolfville is a cute little town, and there are plenty of nice places to check out. Just outside of Wolfville is the town of Hall’s Harbour, along the Bay of Fundy. You will want to visit this place in the evening before sundown for some great photos, and then enjoy a Lobster supper at the Hall’s Harbour Lobster Pound. 

Day 7: Wolfville to Digby

Start your morning by going to Grand Pre National historic site, and learn about the Acadians and the history of the area. 

From there, head towards Digby. When you get to Digby, you will want to enjoy a great meal of delicious, world-famous Digby scallops. Spend the night at one of the many great hotels. Some of the finest sunrises I have seen have been in Digby. You will definitely get to see the sunrise because you have to get up early in order to catch the Digby to Saint John ferry. 

I hope this quick itinerary inspires you when you are planning your own trip to Nova Scotia so you can make some great memories as well. 

Follow us On Instagram:   @NovaScotiaTraveller

Instagram Travels

Hello Travellers:

We have started our brand new Instagram account to share photos of the beauty, and wonder of Nova Scotia, to give you inspiration to make travel plans to Nova Scotia.
You can connect with us on Instagram at:

@NovaScotiaTraveller 

Tourism operators, or any business in Nova Scotia that would like travellers to come visit their business are encouraged to connect with us. Tag us in your own Instagram posts, for #reposting.
Let us know what is going on, and we will share. Leverage the power of social media connectivity, and we will help you out.

Restaurants, Hotels, Bed & Breakfasts, gift shops, cafes, attractions, museums, whale watching, craft breweries, craft distilleries, clothing stores, and more.

We will follow every Nova Scotia Based Instagram account, and we want to promote tourism year round.

We have visited Nova Scotia during every season, and every weather activity and we know what it is like to experience Nova Scotia at any time of the year.

Let's get connected.

#Instatravel #travelgrams

Get Inspired to #VisitNovaScotia

Let the adventures begin. 

We will be heading off on our Province wide road trip across Nova Scotia this Sunday August 6th.

The goal of Nova Scotia Traveller Blog, is we want to inspire your future travel plans to Nova Scotia.   As we head out on the adventure, we want you to follow along with us.

In addition to blogging here at Nova Scotia Traveller,
We will also be posting many different photos on our Travel Instagram account: @Rogue_Trippers
and our Twitter accounts for @NSTravelerblog and @Rogue_trippers.

So, if you have never been to Nova Scotia, and always thought about going, Now is your time to see the Real Nova Scotia, through the eyes of Real travellers. Our reviews are real, we are not sponsored by any company, business, or firm (yet). If we receive any sort of compensation, we will be honest and transparent about that, but no one is sponsoring us at this time.

If you have been to Nova Scotia, You will still want to see what we do. We are intrepid travellers, and we love to take part in offbeat attractions. We find the great roadside attractions that you will want to see and take your own photos with. Do you love haunted places, abandoned buildings, urban exploration (UrbEx)? Well, we will have you covered. Authentic East Coast Seafood is a huge priority, and one of our destinations is the Digby Scallop Festival. Lobster, scallops, mussels, clams, and much much more.

Follow along as we explore Nova Scotia, track the hashtags:
#NovaScotiaTraveller
#RogueTrippers

RogueTrippers Nova Scotia Traveller

Digby Scallop Days

Digby Scallop Days is Coming!

Planning our upcoming Nova Scotia Roadtrip was based on this year's Scallop Days festival in Digby. I have been to Nova Scotia many, many times, and yet the only time I ever visited Digby was for an overnight stay in order to get the ferry early the next morning.

Nova Scotia Traveller / Roguetrippers are huge fans of festivals. We have done day trips and road trips across Canada & the USA focused on a particular festival, and this year, one of our trips is dedicated to DIGBY, and the world's greatest Scallops.

Digby Scallop Days takes place this year from August 10-13th, 2017.
We will be there on Saturday August 12th.

You can follow our Nova Scotia Traveller Roadtrip Adventures by following us on:
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Follow RogueTrippers:
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There is still plenty of time to plan your trip to make it to Digby for Scallop Days.

Visit Nova Scotia and SEA what Canada's Ocean Playground has to offer.

www.roguetrippers.com

Tourism Industry Reviews

The importance of exceptional customer service in the Tourism Industry. 

As I mentioned in previous posts, I am planning an epic road trip across the province of Nova Scotia. Part of the planning involves booking accommodations, activities, restaurant reservations, and much more.
Having visited Nova Scotia many, many times in my lifetime, I have been just about everywhere in the province, experienced many different eactivities, visited many different hotels, and ate at many many restaurants. I have always found the hospitality of Nova Scotian People to be far exceeding the hospitality and service levels of any other place I have ever visited.

I am a very well travelled person, who has experienced all kinds of service, and I am aware of the nuances of bookings. I know what I need, what to ask, what to say, etc.

NEVER would I ever say a negative thing about the service, kindness, and amazing hospitality of the Nova Scotia Tourism operators/owners. They have always left me with such a great feeling, and has deepened my love for the province of Nova Scotia.

However....
Recently, I went to book accommodations along the Cabot Trail. We have plans to do whale watching, which is some of the best whale watching in the world, by the way. I called a few places in Cheticamp to make my plans. I needed a dog friendly place, as we are travelling with a small service dog, who is extremely well trained, and stays in a crate.
While I was inquiring, I made it very clear the number of people, the fact that we had a small dog who stays in a crate, and the dates, and type of accommodations we were hoping to get. As we are 2 couples, we are fine sharing a room if the space is right.  Because we had whale watching plans, which can take 2-3 hours to do, I was also very clear about asking for late check out, so that we can leave the dog (in her crate) in the air conditioned room to ensure her safety.

Well, few places were willing to allow late check outs. This is rather annoying as the main attraction in Cheticamp is Whale Watching, which many of them advertise on their website as "things to do in Cheticamp".  While I understand their rationale for not allowing this, I was hoping for a little lenience, in order to ensure our dog's safety.

The most interesting responses I got were from one hotel in town, that actually allowed a slight extension of the check out time. Oddly enough, the ONE hotel that was willing to extend the check out time a little, is actually the very same Hotel that I felt the need to complain about. It is not even about the check out time. It is the attitude in which this hotel spoke to me over the phone when I tried to clarify the specifics. As the Whale watching starts at 10 Am, and is scheduled to be 2.5 hours, the hotel was willing to allow a late check out until 12:30PM.  This sounds good, right? Well, my question was "what if the tour lasts a little longer than 12:30?  Their answer was that they will charge 1/2 a rooms rate if you are late. As it is a technicality of 12:30, the question about being a little longer than 12:30, was really my point. This hotel chose to yell at me and ask me "what makes you think you are so special that you deserve special treatment?"  This was just ONE of many choice phrases the Hotel Manager used to explain her position, and company 'policy'.

As a person who has worked in Customer service industries of various different kinds, and someone who is also a Travel and Tourism counsellor and tourism blogger, I found the attitudes, and comments made by the staff at this hotel to be completely unacceptable. I wasn't trying to be a jerk, I was just trying to ensure the safety of my dog. Another factor they tore a slice out of me for:  "I am not even sure how you got this room when you have a pet - it is not a Pet Friendly room". Let's be clear - I never booked anything at this point, I had only emailed a list of questions to the hotel, and was told the best option was "house #1". I made no demands, I made no expectations. I literally just asked questions to clarify to see how their hotel could suit my needs.

As I felt over a barrel, I did not respond to them as I would have under any other situation, but I will not allow this to go unattended to. Their responses left a bad taste in my mouth, and I did NOT feel good about booking here, regardless of how desperate or in need we may have been (which we are Not).

I then took to TripAdvisor to check out other reviews. Many reviews of the hotel are favourable, some not so good, etc. However, after reading many, many reviews for this place, one theme became very clear. Overwhelmingly, the worst complaint people had to say about this hotel was the atrocious customer service. Words and phrases like: "rude". "indifferent", 'abrupt', 'could care less', and many others, were a very common theme. It seems that the people who work at this hotel, and the people who manage it, have no concept of customer service skills and hospitality. In the hospitality industry in a  tourism destination with a very short season, you would think that they would want to make the most of their short season. As Cabot Trail is a HUGE destination, and one of the greatest places on earth, I guess the staff & management of this establishment do not feel they need to be better at Hospitality in the Hospitality industry, because if they lose my business, they will have the next person. No loss to them.

Luckily, I had already booked accommodations in Cheticamp with a LOVELY lady at the Sea & Golf Chalets, before  I called Laurie's Motor Inn.  I am happy to give my business to Gloria at the Chalet, and NOT support Donna and the staff at Laurie's Motel.

Perhaps if Donna wants to be an effective Manager, she could do a full staff (including herself) Customer Service training seminar in the Hospitality industry. Read your reviews on TripAdvisor, and other reviews, and maybe you will realize that while people liked your eggs Benedict, the general consensus seems to be that your staff are the Rudest people out there.

I normally would never write this kind of Rant, but my biggest problem with tourism based businesses is when a business doesn't care about their customers.
This is NOT about the late check out, we will survive, and find other options - or just not do whale watching. This is about the absolutely terrible way you treated me over the phone.

As a small business owner myself - Social Media Marketing, I would be happy to Help Sea & Golf Chalets with their marketing and promotion, and as a Travel & Tourism counsellor, I will be happy to make recommendations to anyone visiting CABOT TRAIL, and Cheticamp (and where not to stay).
I can also arrange for a training session for the staff of this one hotel, on perfecting customer service in the Travel & Tourism industry.

Thank you for your time.

Nova Scotia Roadtrip

We are planning our Nova Scotia Province wide road trip that we have planned for August.
We will be embarking on an epic road trip that will cover as many areas of Novas Scotia as possible. While we may not be Able to hit every great small town, tourist destination, or attractions, we will definitely be doing our very best to make this the most EPIC road trip.

Beginning at the Nova Scotia Tourism information booth in Amherst, Nova Scotia, we will gather up all of the brochures, and maps that we will need to help us along our travels. We will head straight to Parrsboro for some great Dinosaur adventures & exploration with a stop at the Fundy Geological Museum, which we absolutely love.

From there, we will drive along the coast of the Bay of Fundy to Five Islands, and then a stop at Masstown Market for some Fish & Chips at the lighthouse, and some amazing baked goods and gifts at the market.

With stops along the way to Truro, New Glasgow, (Pictou), Antigonish, Port Hawkesbury, we will make our way to the Cabot Trail. Along the Cabot trail, we will make stops on Inverness &  Cheticamp; where we will spend some time, and enjoy great seafood, and Whale watching.

The Cabot Trail is one of the most scenic drives in North America, and we will be enjoying every coastal vista, and beautiful spot for photos along the way. Having been on the Cabot Trail many times in my life, I will be bringing people who have never seen it. This will be quite a treat for them, as you can see many wildlife, including many moose, and much more.

After the Cabot Trail, we will head to Sydney area, to visit some family, enjoy some beer at the Breton Brewing, and then a stop at Fortress of Louisbourg. Fortress of Louisbourg is one of the many great attractions in Canada that will be free of charge as part of Parks Canada Canada150.  #showusyourpass

From there, we head to Stewiacke for one of our favourite stops on a Nova Scotia Road trip- Mastodon Ridge. As RogueTrippers, we will be wearing our Matching "FLINTSTONES" t-shirts, to ensure the best photo opps for our visit to Flintstones house. A relatively new addition to Mastodon ridge is a great Craft Distiller, ColdStream Clear craft distillers of vodka, rum, and spirits.  If you have never tried Coldtream Clear, I highly recommend their products. Their Christmas seasonal flavours are the BEST I have ever had.  Candy Cane, Peppermint patti,  and more.

Peggy's Cove is a must stop destination for that iconic Postcard photo.  The Sou'Wester restaurant is a nice place to enjoy a good seafood meal.

Mahone Bay and Lunenburg are the great coastal towns that absolutely are stunning. I have always had an affinity for Mahone Bay. The image of the 3 churches is another iconic Nova Scotia postcard photo. Don't forget to make a visit to Oak Island. It is Haunted, and has a history of pirates. FUN!

I have to make a stop at Grand Pre for the 'home' of Evangeline.

And...that brings us to Digby, where we are heading to for Digby Scallop Days.
We love a good festival, and great seafood, and what could be better than to enjoy Scallops in the home of the "Best Scallops on the World"?
Our plan is to stay at the Digby Pines Hotel, one of the great accommodations in the province of Nova Scotia.

At the end of our trip, we will embark on the NFL Ferries from Yarmouth to Portland, Maine.
This will bring our trip to a conclusion.

Follow us on Instagram & Twitter for inspiration for your own Nova Scotia Travel adventures.

Nova Scotia Traveller

If you are a Tourism operator or business in any of these areas, and would like us to Review your business, We are looking for Corporate sponsors for this Epic Road trip.
We would love to stay in your Hotel, eat at your restaurant, experience your museum, or attractions.

Send us an email to make arrangements. We will blog about your business on our 2 travel and tourism blogs, create posts on Instagram, twitter, and Facebook.
email Address:  greg@roguetrippers.com

Lobster Festivals

Lobster Season is Coming

There is no food item more quickly identified with the culture & cuisine of Nova Scotia quite like Lobster.
Atlantic Lobster is well known, and highly sought by tourists to the Maritimes. No visit to Nova Scotia is complete with wither a lobster roll at a seaside fishing village, or a great lobster supper at one of the many amazing seafood restaurants across the province, or a delicious seafood chowder chock full of big hunks of the most succulent lobster you have ever had.

Lobster Festivals will be coming up during the summer months.

If you haven't planned your trip to the East Coast, perhaps you want to plan it to coincide with one of the Lobster festivals that will be taking place.

June 1-4, 2017: Shelburne Lobster Festival 

June 3 - 4, 2017: Coldwaters Seafood Festival

June 30 - July 2, 2017: Digby Lobster Bash

July 7 - 9, 2017: Pictou Lobster Carnival

Nova Scotia Lobster

Visit Nova Scotia

www.roguetrippers.com