My youngest wants to go on a graduation trip, and she’s suggested Canada. We’d be on a budget, so I was thinking of taking Amtrak to Brunswick, ME, renting a car, then doing a driving tour of southern NB. I’ve done some research and I think we’d like to do a whale sighting adventure, and do some Bay of Fundy activities. I was considering staying in St. John, Sussex, and Moncton.
Another alternative would be a cruise from Montreal to New York with stops in:
Montreal
Quebec City
Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island)
Sydney (Nova Scotia)
Halifax
Bar Harbor
Boston
We’d take a train to Montreal and then back home from Boston.
Does anyone have any experience with those areas of Canada in June or July? Or other suggestions?
I vote for the cruise because of the exposure to so many incredible cities.
Exposure to Canada can be life changing because it may encourage a student to study in Canada. Foreign students who study in Canada (and earn a Canadian degree I believe) have an easy path to gaining residency in Canada & getting a work permit.
Michigan State University, for example, offers a four year law degree which results in the student being awarded two law degrees–one US & one Canadian (University of Ottawa). Easy to practice law in Canada which tends to offer lawyers more equitable pay than do US firms (either very high pay or low pay for the most part).
Regardless of degree earned in Canada, it is fairly easy to get permission to live & work in Canada.
If you haven’t seen & visited Vancouver & Victoria, British Columbia, then I hope that you consider doing so. Much more moderate climate & stunningly beautiful.
The cruise sounds like a nice idea if you don’t want to do a lot of driving. Both Montreal and Quebec City will be ideal weather for touring in June. There is a big provincial holiday in mid-June so watch for that as museums for example will be closed that day. We had booked relatively late last time we went to Quebec City (was when the two escaped from Dannemora as our car was searched at the border crossing) and it was actually somewhat hard to get a hotel reservation.
We’d like a mix of city/outdoorsy activities. We have one daughter who doesn’t much like outdoorsy stuff but is game for a mix. She’d love the cities. The other three of us like outdoor activities, thus the Bay of Fundy idea with whale watching, beach combing, and fossil hunting.
But I happened upon the cruise and it sounded nice to not have to drive so much. It is also surprisingly inexpensive as are the train fares to Montreal and back from Boston. I think we’d have the opportunity to do a few outdoor activities on the cruise but not as much as the road trip.
@Publisher The youngest will be a freshman a VTech next fall and our other daughter is at Bryn Mawr so I think they’re both set at least for UG. We also lived in the NW for several years and saw much of the country in that area. Unfortunately we never made it to BC. We considered an Alaskan cruise but it didn’t fit our budget. My H and I have been to Alaska but our girls haven’t.
@bookmama22 Thanks for the tip. Yep, I’m trying to get things ironed out now so hopefully I have things booked soon. BTW, just saw that a movie is coming out soon about the Dannemora escape!
Montreal and Quebec City have an almost European feel because of the language. Also, the old parts, especially the old town of Quebec City are really special. Montreal has great restaurants. Our family did an RV trip from the Boston area to New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. The highlights were the incredible tides in the Bay of Fundy and Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. Be prepared to pay a bit more for gas if you are driving in Canada. It is also a little expensive to cross the bridge to PEI. PEI has great seafood and pretty beaches with relatively warm water. I wasn’t that blown away by it to make it worth the detour to get there.
Since DH’s family settled in New Brunswick in the late 1700s, we did a tour of the southern part of the province a few years ago. While it was a beautiful area, if it were me I would go for the cruise. There are some great cities on the itinerary!
I really enjoyed a trip to New Brunswick a few years ago. We stayed at the Algonquin Resort in St. Andrews, went to Kingsbrae Gardens, Campobello Island (FDR), Bay of Fundy. The cruise sounds fun too. Hope you have a great trip!
Funny about PEI. DH accompanied a friend on a driving trip last summer, our friend had wanted to replicate a trip he had taken with his late wife several years before. Since DH and friend golf together a lot, DH was happy to go and play some golf, eat some of the famous PEI mussels, always enjoyable to go through Maine anytime. I had suggested that reserve hotels in advance as in August but DH’s friend insisted shouldn’t be an issue. DH always wants to stay in a hotel with a pool either indoor or out so you can have a swim and hopefully relax in hot tub after day of touring. So long drive to get there, expensive bridge and hard to find hotels to stay in,some of the golf courses too pricey for DH’s friend to want to play, island not all that picturesque as many, many potato fields, nothing to do for the most part on rainy day other than swim in indoor pool. DH’s friend forgot to pack bathing suit as it didn’t occur to him to do so and the mussels were not good. DH thinks that they export the good quality ones… so long drive, a few laughs and remind him never to do that one again.
Years ago we went to Cape Breton as part of a long 2 week vacation, beautifully scenic however everything closes by 8 PM… need to have early dinners there!
The cruise sounds wonderful. We have visited Montreal and Quebec City (on a driving loop from Maine), enjoyed them both, though I found them two very different cities. Montreal is definitely a “big city,” while Quebec City has a much smaller feel. I preferred Quebec City (and I’m usually much more of a “big city” guy), but both are worth visiting.
While you didn’t ask for opinions on Bar Harbor, Acadia and environs are one of our favorite spots to visit (though opportunities for us to do so 3,000 miles away are rare). If you’ve never been, I think that would be an excellent bonus point in favor of the cruise.
I have never visited NB/NS/PEI before, but we are seriously considering such a trip for our major summer excursion this year. (Hence my bookmarking of this thread.) The cruise does sound like a wonderful option, but no matter which way you go, I hope you have a great time!
As one who has lived in Canada for 40+ years, I would do either Nova Scotia or Newfoundland before NB. That time of year is iceberg season in NF and they are spectacular. Beautiful scenery, friendly people, great food. Both are popular destinations, particularly NF, given the huge success of Come From Away. So, yes, make reservations, regardless of where you go. It always amazes me when I hear that people go on trips without reservations.
I ask because the state of Washington, a border state with Canada, offers enhanced driver’s licenses for easy travel in & out of Canada. But I have heard that US customs is now stopping & questioning those with enhanced driver’s licenses.
They still work to get into Canada, however.
P.S. Maybe an enhanced State of Washington driver’s license with a MAGA hat ?
My H is a fed employee (currently furloughed) and I’m a fed contractor (currently not allowed to work on my project). We’re not going to make any reservations until we’re working again anyway. We’ve been through this many times before and hope that this one won’t last much longer.