Trip Itinerary
Day 1: Depart Chicago
Midwest Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island travelers will meet in Chicago Union Station this afternoon. At 8:00 p.m. we’ll start boarding the eastbound Lake Shore Limited. A reception will be held in the dining car for sleeping car passengers. Departure is scheduled for 9:30 p.m.
Relax in your comfortable reclining coach seat with leg rest. Roomettes or Bedrooms are available at an additional cost. You’re free to explore the train. Go to the lounge car for snacks, sandwiches, and beverages.
Eastern tour members will depart tomorrow for Boston.
Day 2: En Route
You will want to enjoy breakfast in the diner this morning and view the passing scenery as we continue on through the State of New York and Massachusetts to Boston.
Upper New York residents can board at Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Utica during the morning.
Lunch and a boxed dinner are included.
Eastern and Mid-Atlantic travelers will arrive throughout the day and transfer to the hotel.
The Lake Shore Limited’s arrival into Boston is scheduled for 9:10 p.m.
Upon arrival we will transfer to the Doubletree Club Boston Bayside hotel for the night.
Meal(s): B*, L* & D*
Day 3: En Route / St. John, NB
Following breakfast this morning we’ll board our deluxe motorcoach and travel 385 miles north east to St. John, New Brunswick.
Enjoy the scenery as we travel through the State of Maine. An “on-your-own” lunch and dinner stop will be made en route.
We will overnight at the Delta Brunswick Hotel in St. John.
Meal(s): B
Day 4: En Route/Digby
We’ll board the ferry for the 12:00 p.m. three-hour cruise across the Bay of Fundy, Canada’s Natural Wonder, to Digby, Nova Scotia. Keep a look out for whales which have been spotted playing in the world’s highest tides.
Our arrival into Digby is scheduled for this afternoon when we will board our motorcoach for our 142-mile trip to charming Halifax, the Maritimes largest city and one of Canada’s most important commercial centers. We’ll check in at the Delta Barrington. 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!
Day 5: 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 housed here.
We have a gala evening planned for you at the Grafton Dinner Theatre. Each dinner course will be followed by one of the acts of a musical or light comedy.
Meal(s): B & D
Day 6: Hopewell Rocks/Charlottetown
We’ll reboard our motorcoach 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.
This afternoon we’ll visit a very unusual attraction in Moncton . . . Magnetic Hill. Cars appear to be driving downhill when going uphill.
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 Rodd Charlottetown.
Meal(s): B
Day 7: 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; also 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 8: En Route / Baddeck
This morning we’ll reboard our motorcoach 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, a charming village on Cape Breton Island. Our home for the next two nights will be the Auberge Gisele’s Country Inn. You’ll have dinner at our delightful hostelry.
Meal(s): D
Day 9: 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 motorcoach 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 Auberge Gisele’s Country Inn. Dinner tonight is included.
Meal(s): B, L & D
Day 10: En Route / Moncton
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.
This afternoon we’ll return to Moncton, New Brunswick. Moncton is the transportation hub of the Maritimes, being the point where roads from Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia connect. Between Amherst and Sackville we’ll encounter the Tantramar Marshes, where dikes built by early Acadian settlers in 1686 hold back the sea forming lush farmland. Dinner tonight is included. Our home tonight will be the Delta Beausejour.
Meal(s): B & D
Day 11: En Route / Portland
This morning we’ll reboard our motorcoach and head south to Portland, Maine. Just north of Fredericton, NB, we’ll pass Grand Lake, just to the north of the highway. It drains over 2360 square miles and is a recreational playground with a very rugged shoreline. Around the lake are sites of early European settlement and very old First Nations archeological sites.
Maine is one of the most beautiful of all our 50 states! From its rock-bound shores to majestic mountains and islands, our 23rd state is the only U.S. state to have a name that is one syllable long, and the only state which borders only one other state (New Hampshire).
We’ll spend the night in historic Portland, Maine’s largest city with 66,000 residents. Our hotel will be the Hampton Inn South Portland.
Day 12: En Route
This morning we will continue on to Boston South Station for the 11:55 a.m. departure of the Lake Shore Limited for Chicago. You’ll enjoy the same reclining coach seat with leg rest you enjoyed on their eastbound trip. Roomettes and Bedrooms are available for an additional cost. Lunch and dinner is included on the Lake Shore Limited.
Eastern and Mid-Atlantic travelers will board trains for home destinations throughout the day.
Meal(s): CB, L* & D*
Day 13: En Route to Chicago
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*
*Midwest members only.