Weekend Travel Ideas for Eastern Canada
 

I recently moved to Philadelphia (from Texas), and am looking to travel along the East Coast, into Canada. I have never been to Canada, and want to explore as much as possible, while my company has me here.

I'm looking to spend a weekend visiting Eastern Canada [Friday, Saturday, Sunday]. Ideally, I would like to spend my time in the mountains or along the shore, but wouldn't be opposed to spending time in Montreal, Quebec, Halifax, etc..

What would be a good weekend travel option, coming from Philadelphia? I would most likely rent a car and drive up, unless I can find a cheap flight.

Thank you,

MeritTraveler

Weekend Travel Ideas for Eastern Canada
 

Montreal, Quebec city. North American city with a touch of Europe.

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ZFV-YHZ is often in the $300 RT range. Rent a car and drive Cabot Trail.

Keep in mind..a drive from Montreal to Cape Breton in NS is about 14 hrs, one way. With just 3 days, you can only pick one spot.

Halifax looks like a nice place to escape the city and work. Not a fan of dropping $300 on airfare, but the hotels seem reasonably priced.

Option I'm considering:

Summer:
Fly PHL > YHZ in the summer.

Fall:
Drive Philadelphia to Montreal, then back down through Vermont and the Hudson Valley.

Use AA miles to YHZ
 

I've driven from Boston to Montreal and it is a very nice drive. Kind of a long drive from Philadelphia for a weekend though.

Do you have AA miles and/or interested in the AA Citicard? I've often seen good sAAver availability to YHZ (at least from ORD) and it is often on the Citicard Reduced Mileage sAAver Award list. Very good value compared the usual airfare to Canada.

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If low-tier award-seat availability exists, a roundtrip on US from PHL to YYZ, YOW, YUL, YQB, or ART (Watertown, NY, close to the Thousand Islands region) can be had for only 9,000 BA Avios and minimal fees. The roundtrip from PHL to YHZ would cost 15,000 Avios.

Several different Chase and Amex credit cards earn points that can be converted to BA Avios. Avios can also be earned by crediting paid flights on AA, US, and any other oneworld carrier to a BAEC account.

Right.

This is exactly what you should do. Look for festivals and/or regional events being held in both cities. Maybe take that in too.

Cheers,

I would give myself longer than a weekend if I were to drive to Montreal. Halifax, though, looks like it could be done over the weekend.

How are the tolls driving from Philadelphia to Montreal? Do I need to buy an E-Z Pass?

merittraveler,

this is really more for Canada forum, so I am moving the thread there.

~moderator, Budget Travel

Now I and ex drove from northwest Connecticut to Nove Scotia in one weekend (may have been a long weekend), but can tell you we did little else other than drive.

Northern Maine was quite pretty, but not all of Nova Scotia is picturesque IMHO @:-)

two separate trips
 

Making this two trips is a good idea. You won't see much of Eastern Canada if you try and drive it from PHL in 3 days.

Flying to YHZ is one alternative. Another option is YQM (Moncton). The YHZ airport is a long way from the city. Suggest you pick up a rental, drive to Wolfville (Acadia University, 1 hour) and then on to Pictou, take ferry to PEI:
http://www.ferries.ca/nova-scotia-to...-island-ferry/

NB One-way rentals are to be avoided, as they charge huge drop-off charges.

Drive from Philadelphia to Portland Me (about 6 to 7 hrs) and take the new overnight cruise-ferry to Nova Scotia.

(When you click on the Ferry link below, today (Sat) you’ll see we’re getting hit by Hurricane Arthur and the Nova Star is tied up for the day.)

http://novastarcruises.com/