Halifax to Baddeck -- which route to take??
Replies: 4 - Last Post: Aug 15, 2012 11:07 AM Last Post By: christabelle
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Halifax to Baddeck -- which route to take??
We are going to be arriving in Halifax (night flight from Vancouver) and picking up a car rental and will be on the road at 8:00a.m. (Aug 24th). We have a night's stay in Baddeck in order to catch the ferry to Port-aux-Basques the following morning. We were thinking of driving the coastal route as far as maybe Hwy 7 (Stillwater) and then heading up to Antigonish and along to Cape Breton from there. Is this a good plan or should we go north from Halifax (Hwy 2) and connect to the TransCanada and head to Cape Breton. A couple of things to note: we will be on western time upon our arrival so won't have had a great sleep. We aren't sure when we'll be leaving NF (we have 3 weeks vac. total) as it will depend on weather, etc and how our plans there go. If we get off "the rock" with a few days to spare, we'll head along the Annapolis Valley and down to Lunenberg and find our way back to Halifax and we have 3 nights there.Upon our arrival -- Is there much to see along the Eastern shore or should we take a quicker route and spend a bit more time around the Cabot Trail. And we're not terribly worried about missing a lot of the Maritimes this trip as we will be back when we have more time to do it justice. this time we are concentrating on Newfoundland.
Appreciate your thoughts.
1
My Microsoft Streets and Trips is set for an arbitrary departure time of 9 am, yours may be different.Time Km Instruction
Summary: 353.1 kilometers (3 hours, 42 minutes)
09:00 0.0 Depart Hwy-102, Halifax NS on Hwy-102 Bicentennial Dr (East) 0.2 km
09:00 0.2 At exit 1D, keep RIGHT onto Ramp 0.3 km North West Arm Dr. / Dunbrack St.
09:00 0.5 Keep LEFT to stay on Ramp 40 m Dunbrack St. / Kearney Lake Rd.
09:00 0.5 Bear LEFT (North) onto Local road(s) 20 m
09:00 0.5 At exit 1K, turn LEFT (North-West) onto North West Arm Dr 0.2 km
09:01 0.7 At exit 1H, take Ramp (RIGHT) onto Hwy-102 Bicentennial Dr 98.6 km HWY-102 N / Truro / Airport / Windsor
09:56 99.3 At exit 15E, take Ramp (RIGHT) onto Hwy-104 Trans Canada Hwy 168.5 km HWY-104 E / Trans Canada Hwy / Cape Breton / New Glasgow / Pei Ferry Caribou
11:42 267.8 Keep RIGHT onto Local road(s) 0.1 km
11:42 267.9 At roundabout, take the SECOND exit onto Hwy-4 Trans Canada Hwy 0.1 km
11:43 268.0 Keep RIGHT onto Trans Canada Hwy 0.3 km
11:43 268.3 Road name changes to Hwy-105 Trans Canada Hwy 84.8 km
12:42 353.1 Arrive exit to Baddeck
SUMMARY
Driving distance: 353.1 kilometers
Trip duration: 3 hours, 42 minutes
Driving time: 3 hours, 42 minutes
Driving time I would suggest is a bit optimistic since there is a fair amount of small highway driving involved, realistically add another 2 - 3 hours.
This is assuming you leave downtown Halifax and probably the fastest route to Baddeck. In Baddeck you might want to take in the Alexander Graham Bell (Inventor of the telephone and much more) exhibit.
===========================================
This is for the "coast" route via Antigonish,
Time Km Instruction
Summary: 378.2 kilometers (4 hours, 55 minutes)
09:00 0.0 Depart Hwy-102, Halifax NS on Hwy-102 Bicentennial Dr (East) 1.2 km
09:01 1.2 At exit 0, keep RIGHT onto Ramp 0.7 km Joseph Howe Drive
09:02 1.8 Turn LEFT (North) onto Joseph Howe Dr 1.0 km
09:03 2.8 Keep RIGHT onto Ramp 0.3 km HWY-2 / HWY-111 / Windsor St.
09:04 3.1 Bear RIGHT (East) onto Hwy-2 Kempt Rd 0.3 km
09:04 3.4 Turn LEFT (North) onto Hwy-111 0.7 km
09:05 4.2 Take Ramp (RIGHT) onto Hwy-111 7.4 km Dartmouth
09:12 11.6 At exit 6B, keep RIGHT onto Ramp 0.5 km HWY-7 E / HWY-107 / Eastern Shore / Main Street
09:13 12.1 Bear RIGHT (East) onto Hwy-7 Main St 3.8 km
09:17 15.8 Keep STRAIGHT onto Hwy-107 Hwy-7 29.4 km
09:37 45.2 Keep RIGHT onto Local road(s) 80 m
09:37 45.3 Bear RIGHT (East) onto Hwy-7 Marine Dr 51.8 km
10:22 97.1 At 18049 Hwy-7, Halifax NS, stay on Hwy-7 Marine Dr (North-East) 24.8 km
10:43 121.8 Turn LEFT (East) onto Hwy-374 30.8 km
11:07 152.7 Bear RIGHT (North-East) onto Local road(s) 8.1 km
11:13 160.8 Bear LEFT (North) onto Local road(s) 1.9 km
11:15 162.7 Bear RIGHT (East) onto Local road(s) 2.5 km
11:17 165.2 Bear RIGHT (North) onto Local road(s) 1.6 km
11:18 166.8 Bear LEFT (North-East) onto Local road(s) 1.6 km
11:19 168.4 Bear RIGHT (East) onto Local road(s) 3.2 km
11:21 171.6 Bear RIGHT (North) onto Local road(s) 2.2 km
11:23 173.7 Bear LEFT (North-East) onto Local road(s) 0.7 km
11:23 174.4 Turn RIGHT (East) onto Local road(s) 1.3 km
11:24 175.7 Bear LEFT (East) onto Local road(s) 0.3 km
11:25 176.0 Turn RIGHT (South) onto Local road(s) 3.0 km
11:27 179.0 Bear RIGHT (East) onto Local road(s) 0.9 km
11:28 179.9 Bear LEFT (East) onto Local road(s) 0.6 km
11:28 180.5 Bear LEFT (North-West) onto Local road(s) 1.2 km
11:29 181.6 Bear LEFT (North) onto Local road(s) 2.7 km
11:31 184.3 Turn RIGHT (North) onto Local road(s) 1.8 km
11:32 186.1 Bear RIGHT (East) onto Hwy-348 20.5 km
11:48 206.6 Turn LEFT (North) onto Old Church Rd 2.9 km
11:51 209.5 Turn LEFT (North) onto Glenelg Church Rd 1.7 km
11:53 211.2 Turn RIGHT (East) onto Hwy-347 1.3 km
11:54 212.5 Turn LEFT (North) onto Hwy-7 3.5 km
11:57 216.0 At 12985 Hwy-7, St Mary's NS, stay on Hwy-7 (North) 17.9 km
12:11 234.0 Turn RIGHT (East) onto Old Pinevale Rd 5.8 km
12:16 239.7 Turn LEFT (North) onto Hwy-316 8.2 km
12:22 247.9 Turn RIGHT (East) onto Pomquet River Rd 7.3 km
12:28 255.2 Road name changes to Pomquet Rd 40 m
12:29 255.2 Turn RIGHT (East) onto Hwy-104 Hwy-4 37.8 km
12:55 293.0 Keep RIGHT onto Local road(s) 0.1 km
12:56 293.1 At roundabout, take the SECOND exit onto Hwy-4 Trans Canada Hwy 0.1 km
12:56 293.2 Keep RIGHT onto Trans Canada Hwy 0.3 km
12:56 293.4 Road name changes to Hwy-105 Trans Canada Hwy 84.8 km
13:55 378.2 Arrive exit for Baddeck.
SUMMARY
Driving distance: 378.2 kilometers
Trip duration: 4 hours, 55 minutes
Driving time: 4 hours, 55 minutes
Again I would assume at least 3 - 4 more hours for this route. While it is only about 20 km more on this route, it would be on much smaller highways.
Good luck
2
Thanks, RGM for your reply.I also did a check on the timing for both routes and came up with something very similar. What I'd really like to know is which route would be the better to take re scenery, villages, etc. We do live on the coast in B.C. so get to see the ocean/water on a daily basis. would we find the inland route more interesting, do you think, or the coastal route.
Opinions?
3
The in land route is boooooooring. The coastal route is much longer, albeit prettier. An alternative might be to shoot up the Trans Canada to New Glasgow then 245 around Cape George and down to Antigonish, there's some pretty coast, beaches, a light house, a blue fin tuna centre and some pretty good fish and chips around that way.4
The Eastern Shore route (route 7) is lovely in places, but very slow going. I would head on the main (boring) highway to Cape Breton and go around the Cabot Trail which has spectacular scenery.Here are some choices:
http://goo.gl/maps/cVlR9
http://goo.gl/maps/WKMYa
http://goo.gl/maps/PYcDV
http://goo.gl/maps/Clka3
http://goo.gl/maps/P3QNz
