Nova Scotia in Sept?

I'll be heading to Ingonish NS in Sept for a wedding. Planning on flying & touring the island with my brother for about a week before the wedding with a rental. For those of you that have been to NS before ( or live there ), what are the must see places that I won't find in the travel guides?

 

do as much of the cabot trail as possible. its too bad ur not going in the fall the colors are amazing. its wild how different this little island is so different from the rest of the province. but really the whole island is beautiful. where abouts are you from? im in moncton new brunswick but my grand parents live just outside of cape breton so im the a few times a year. enjoy your trip it will be fun no matter what you do there and do what the islanders do and enjoy some fine brews while your there lol

 

You're right on the Cabot trail in Ingonish. Make sure you drive it both direction.
Check the web site for NS:http://www.novascotia.com/en/home/default.aspx

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm in northern AB, never been east of Sask.

I was planning on driving the Cabot trail as well as hiking/camping at least a couple days around Ingonish. I was hoping the fall colors I hear so much about would be showing the first couple weeks of Sept when I'll be there. When is usually the best time to see the island in full color?

My nefew is marrying a real sweetheart from Glace Bay. If her family is anything like her we'll be spending lots of time with them. Traveling with my brother, I'm sure we'll be hitting a few pubs and tipping some back. The only beer I know from the east coast is Keith's. What other brews are worth sampling?

Right now we're just starting to make plans. I'm looking for suggestions for good out of the way spots. Mom & Pop restaraunts, fun pubs, quiet campsites or anything else that stands out to you as a good time/meal/experience. I don't get away from the grind very often so trying to make the most of the trip.

 

oh cool id love to head your way someday too. never been past ontario lol. the time for colors is mid october. i went to see my buddy in syndney when he was in school and my mom was at a wedding in ingonish too and we drove the trail and it was stupid beautiful lol. my buddy says the sky line trail is one you have to check out. just look out for moose and coyotes. and no the only beer to drink is a good old keiths thats all i drink . but really like i said before you cant go wrong anywhere on the island its a really cool place to visit.

 

i live in cape breton the skyline is pretty awesome, i hiked 5-6 trails in the cabot trail in late october and it was amazing, everything was all different colours and the leaves were just starting to fall, if you wavnt seen whales before whale watching might be pretty cool, i live in a small town called arichat, its on isle madame, a small island about 35-45 mintutes from the causeway, theres a hiking trail here, not as good as the cabot trail but still goood, its a samll fishing community so there are alot of boats and the crab plant here is open so there should be boats in from crab fishing, almost like cheticamp but better hahha and theres a big church aswell that was built in the 1800's that was quite something, if its any nice as all outside you will probably see boats in the harbour and sea doo's/ waverunners going down the harbour where i live becasuse were always out having fun! haha its quite the place to visit! hope you have fun!

 

Heh, everyone in Newfoundland knows that Capers are just Newfies who ran out of money on their way to Toronto...

J/K try visiting the Canadian Coast Guard College outside Sydney, Fortress Louisbourg, the Gaelic community and academy, Joe's Warehouse (if still open) in Sydney for steak/seafood, cheap smokes at Eddie GooGoo's in Whycocomagh, seafood on the Cabot trail at Cheticamp.
X2 on doing the Cabot Trail in both directions - and take lots of time (full day at least each way) and do some great hiking. Checkout the SkiTuonela cabins and Ski lodge - open in summer as well, near St Ann's, I think.

It's sort of like a primer for Newfoundland , if you can handle Cape Breton, you're ready to step up to the Rock (sorry, damned newfie pride).

You'll love Cape Breton, I spent a year there while at Coast Guard College for a 6 month course - not enough Timmy's in Sydney, though

 

A few of the boys from work told me the same thing .
They also said if I survive the Cape, I might be allowed on the Rock

Had a change of plans so leaving home tues morning for the wedding next weekend. I'll have a couple days to tour by myself after I get into Halifax; brother is already somewhere around Ingonish. My only for sure stops are Skyline & the Grohmann factory in Pictou on the way to the wedding. Have 2 days to get there so will stop when the mood hits me. I don't fly back until later on the 15th & was thinking about following the SE shore on the way back so I might be passing near Arichat JDTRD88. Any nice camping spots you would recommend?

 

I got back last week, finally caught up so have time to update. I got to do Skyline on the 2nd attempt due to rain the first try. It was definately worth the backtrack: thanks Venom73 for the heads up on that one. Rather than give a day by day I'll give my top 5 for anyone thinking of going there.

#1 If you book a car, I recommend Enterprise... I'll get to that at the end

#2 I have nothing but great experience with everyone I met there. Very friendly and helpfull people. They made it a layed back holiday that I would recommend to anyone.

#3 Cape Breton is a stunning place. I rate the drive from Cheticamp to Skyline, Black Brook beach, the Highlands Links and the chowder at Glenhorm in Ingonish as 10+ out of 10. If I had more time there I'm sure I would have found more great experiences. That place should be on every bucket list.

#4 Halifax was a blast. Lots of pubs, college girls and historic sites. Would have been alot more fun if I was single but still alot of fun.

#5 You can cross the province in 3 1/2 hours if you stick to the main highways. Secondary roads will take you days to cover the same ground. Plan your trip accordingly.

Now back to #1. I booked a Susuki Swift or equivilent and got this for the same conditions. This made the trip for me before I left the airport

 

Nice. Let us know how the 5.0 handles.

Where out of Northern AB you from? North or South of The Mac?

 

It's been a long time since I took something like it out so can't give a fair comparison to anything Sj. I can say the car was a blast on those roads; did the stretch in the background of the 1st pic 6 times. It was surprisingly good on gas when driving it sanely.

I'm a little south of Fort Mac in PR.

 

No worries. I drive Diesels, my truck and 4 banger cars, so I don't have anything to compare myself. Still looks like fun though. I'm outta Calgary myself so I was a little curious.

PR? Elaborate?

Love the sig BTW. Went there yesterday for weights. Didn't find them. Went home...checked their online inventory. Instock, went back, still nothing.

Asked;

'We have 5 in store.'

Where?

'We have no clue...there should be a shipment coming in soon though.'

 

Peace River, kind of isolated but I prefer it to city living.

 

"What other brews are worth sampling?"
Short answer...NONE!! You'll love CB Island...I have many friends there

 

haha only if you had that Mustang just pegged the whole time.
3.5 hours from Halifax to Sydney but Halifax is in the middle of NS. From Yarmouth to Sydney is more like an 8 hour drive.

 

thats right...im in kentville and its 6 hrs to sidney and about 2 to yarmouth

 

I was thinking north/south from halifax into NB. It would be a long afternoon drive from Yarmouth to Sydney. To put it into my size perspective, the same distance would only take me 1/2 way across Alberta the long way.

And yes, most of the time I rode that poor Mustang hard

 

Ive driven from Halifax to Calgary a couple times, I noticed how big Canada is....but damn Ontario is wide!
Took me 55 hours from Calgary to Halifax (only stopping for gas) and 30 of those hours were Ontario alone. 25 hours for 1/2 of Alberta, all Saskatchewan, all Manitoba, all Quebec, all New Brunswick, all Nova Scotia, AND 30 HOURS FOR ONTERRIBLE!!! bah!