Day 1: En Route
West and Midwest Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island travelers will meet in Chicago Union Station this afternoon. At 8:00 p.m. we’ll board the eastbound Lake Shore Limited. A reception will be held in the dining car for sleeping car passengers. Departure is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. Eastern tour members will depart tomorrow for Albany.
Relax in your comfortable reclining coach seat with leg rest. Roomettes or Bedrooms are available at an additional cost. All dining car meals are included. You’re free to explore the train. Go to the lounge car for snacks, sandwiches, and beverages.
Pennsylvania, Virginia and other East Coast tour participants will travel to Albany and spend the night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel (included).
Meal(s): B* & L*
*West and Midwest members only
Day 2: En Route/Montreal
Tour members from upper New York State will board the Lake Shore Limited, coach class, this morning. West and Midwest and Upper New York members will arrive in Albany’s Amtrak station at 2:40 p.m. Eastern participants who spent the previous night in Albany will join them.
All participants will board a deluxe motor coach for the run to Montreal. Part of the journey is along scenic Lake Champlain with the Green Mountains of Vermont in the background. Our home in Montreal is the fabulous Queen Elizabeth, one of Montreal’s premiere hotels.
Day 3: Montreal
You’re free this morning to enjoy the many parks and beautiful churches. Only Paris exceeds Montreal in its number of churches. Nearby St. Catherine Street is a great area for shopping.
This afternoon, plan on a two-and-a-half hour tour of the city, taking in over 200 points of interest including Notre Dame de Montreal (the most magnificent of French-Canadian churches), Old Montreal, the French Quarter, McGill University and a view of this great city from an observation point atop Mount Royale.
We’ll return to Montreal Central Station where we’ll board the Ocean for the 772-mile run across Quebec and New Brunswick to Truro, Nova Scotia. Departure is at 6:45 p.m.
All trains to and from Nova Scotia feature VIA Rail’s Easterly Class service. Most trains include the European-style Renaissance cars. A warm and friendly train staff is ready to meet your every need. The Park Car, with its all-glass, bubble-top Vistadome, Mural Lounge and Bullet Lounge will be the “gathering place”. Enjoy your private room accommodations. Shower rooms are available. A delicious, full-course dining car dinner is included.
Meal(s): D
Day 4: En Route
Enjoy a complimentary Continental breakfast in the Bullet Lounge, then head for the Vistadome. The run through New Brunswick is interesting because it brings us close to the sea. After Moncton, you can enjoy a fine view of Fort Beausejour, the Tantramer marshes, the Cobequid Mountains and the beautiful Wentworth Valley.
This afternoon at 2:30 our train will arrive in Truro, Nova Scotia. A modern, comfortable motor coach will be awaiting our arrival. The rest of the afternoon we’ll travel south through the picturesque Nova Scotia countryside.
Our day will conclude with our arrival into the tiny coastal village of Digby. Our home for tonight will be the Admiral Digby Inn. Dinner is included.
Meal(s): CB & D
Day 5: Annapolis Valley
This morning we’ll continue on to two nearby major Nova Scotia attractions. The first is Annapolis Royal. In the 1630s the French built Fort Anne on the south shore of the Annapolis Basin. When Great Britain took control in 1710, the name was changed to Annapolis Royal in honor of Queen Anne. Enlarged and altered by the British, the fort successfully withstood repeated French and Indian attacks and sieges. Peace was finally achieved in 1781. Annapolis Royal was the capital of Nova Scotia from 1710 until Halifax was founded in 1749. It was gradually decreased and manned by a rag-tag garrison until the last detachment was withdrawn in 1854.
Surviving structures include the powder magazine, storehouse, ramparts, bastions, and ravelins. Along the Annapolis Basin shore, the original French dikes hold back the Bay of Fundy tides, which rise from 20 to 30 feet. The reversing action of the tide can be seen at these seawalls.
We’ll then continue on to the nearby Port Royal National Historic Site - The Habitation. Set on 82 acres in the village of Port Royal, the north shore of the Annapolis River opposite Goat Islands is a reconstruction of Port Royal, one of the oldest European settlements in Canada. The Port Royal Colony was founded in 1604 by the French. It was destroyed by the English in 1613. The settlement, protected by a palisade and a cannon platform, centers on a courtyard in the style of a 17th-century French farm. The buildings include a governor’s residence, priest’s house, chapel, guardroom, kitchen bakery, blacksmith shop, living quarters, an artisan’s workshop and a common room.
Later this morning we’ll continue on along the picturesque coastline to Lunenburg, one of the greatest fishing ports in North America. The fascinating Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic is housed aboard three historic ships and a waterfront building. Lunch is included.
We’ll continue on to charming Halifax, the Maritimes largest city and one of Canada’s most important commercial centers. We’ll check in at the Delta Barrington Hotel. Our home for the next two nights is conveniently located near major Halifax attractions. You’re free this evening to begin to discover all that this delightful, nautically-oriented city has to offer. Try the great seafood!
Meal(s): B & L
Day 6: Halifax
A hot breakfast is included each morning in Halifax.
You’ll spend the day on a sightseeing tour of the greater Halifax area stopping at a number of historical sites. We’ll also enjoy several views of the magnificent Halifax Harbor, one of the most beautiful in the world. We’ll follow the rugged coast of St. Margaret’s Bay to famed and picturesque Peggy’s Cove where a seafood luncheon is an option. You’ll find the Maritimes Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax to be fascinating. A number of relics from the Titanic are here.
We have a gala evening planned for you at the Grafton Dinner Theatre. Each dinner course will be followed by an act of a musical or light comedy.
Meal(s): B & D
Day 7: Hopewell Rocks/Charlottetown
We’ll reboard our motor coach this morning and travel to the Hopewell Rocks Ocean Tide Exploration Site.
Ocean tides have carved the Flower Pot Rocks, pillars of sandstone and conglomerate rock with balsam fir and dwarf spruce growing on top. Visitors may walk the beach below the rocks from three hours before low tide until three hours after low tide. At high tide, the rocks resemble islands. An interpretive center provides viewing decks and multimedia exhibits about the Bay of Fundy. An opportunity for lunch is available at the High Tide Restaurant.
We’ll depart Moncton by mid afternoon for the 136-mile journey across land and sea to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. On our way, we’ll cross the nine-mile long Confederation Bridge that connects the New Brunswick mainland with Prince Edward Island, Canada’s smallest province. Late in the afternoon we’ll arrive in the capital city, Charlottetown. Our home for the next two nights is the attractive Delta Prince Edward Hotel.
Meal(s): B
Day 8: Prince Edward Island
Today is the day we explore the Island. We’ll tour northward, passing horse farms, potato fields, sandy beaches, dunes and salt marshes that abound with shore birds. A visit to the home of “Anne of Green Gables” is scheduled; plus a stop at Charlottetown’s waterfront development and farmers market. We’ll stop on our return at one of the Island’s most famous eateries, the New Glasgow Lobster Suppers. Enjoy a family-style supper of lobster, cold ham or beef served at communal tables (included).
Meal(s): D
Day 9: En Route/Baddeck
This morning we’ll reboard our motor coach and travel east to Wood Island where we’ll board a ferry for the hour-and-a-half crossing of the Northumberland Strait to Caribou. We’ll stop in nearby Pictor for an “on-your-own” lunch. There will be time to visit the historic Hector Heritage Quay.
This afternoon we’ll continue on to Baddeck (Sydney in September), a charming village on the southern tip of Cape Breton Island. Our home for the next two nights will be the Auberge Gisele’s Country Inn (June), the Silver Dart (August) or the Delta Sydney (September). Tonight you will have an included dinner.
Meal(s): D
Day 10: Cabot Trail
A full breakfast is included this morning. A highlight of your tour is the marvelous circle trip along the Cabot Trail through Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The views are absolutely breathtaking as your motor coach surmounts some of the steepest grades in the world. Lunch is included.
Watch for picturesque Neil’s Harbour, a quiet fishing village; Cape North, where Cabot landed in 1497; the Sunrise Valley; the Lone Sheiling stone hut; Pleasant Bay; Cheticamp, noted for its rug hookers, and St. Peter’s Church. We’ll return to the hotel late this afternoon. Dinner tonight is included at our hotel.
Meal(s): B, L & D
Day 11: En Route
A full breakfast is included this morning. This morning we’ll visit the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. You’ll find working models and related written materials, artifacts and photographers of Bell’s experiments during the 37 years he lived in Baddeck.
We’ll then board our motor coach and travel west 162 miles from Baddeck to Truro. An “on-your-own” lunch stop will be made. At 2:30 we’ll board VIA Rail Canada’s Ocean for Montreal. All trains to and from Nova Scotia feature VIA Rail’s Easterly Class service. Most trains feature the new European-style Renaissance cars. A warm and friendly train staff is ready to meet your every need. The Park Car, with its all-glass, bubble-top Vistadome, Mural Lounge and Bullet Lounge will be the “gathering place.” Enjoy your private room accommodations. Shower rooms are available. A delicious, full-course dining car meal is included.
Meal(s): B & D
Day 12: En Route
By morning our train is rolling through the farmlands of eastern Quebec. A Continental breakfast is included. Our arrival in Montreal is scheduled for 8:15 a.m. At 9:50 a.m. we’ll depart Montreal on the Adirondack. Our train will travel along the west shore of Lake Champlain. The Green Mountains of Vermont provide a scenic background. It’s one of Amtrak’s most scenic routes.
Eastern and Mid Atlantic tour members will continue on to Albany, New York, where they’ll spend the night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
Midwest participants will change to the Lake Shore Limited in Schenectady, New York. They’ll enjoy the same reclining coach seat with leg rest they enjoyed on their eastbound trip. Dinner is included on the Lake Shore Limited.
Meal(s): CB & D*
Day 13: En Route
Eastern and Mid-Atlantic travelers will transfer to the Albany train station in time for the 9:00 a.m. departure of the train for New York’s Penn Station. They’ll transfer there for trains to home destinations.
Midwesterners will arrive into Chicago at 9:45 a.m. on the Lake Shore Limited. They’ll continue on to home destinations throughout the morning and afternoon.
Meal(s): B*
Valid Passport required for this tour.
*West and Midwest members only.