1

Nova Scotia is beautiful and well worth a visit. The south shore where you are thinking of going has many beautiful places, Halifax is well worth a trip, the Acadian shore (Grand Pre and west along Hwy 1) is rich in history, scenic and has a whole different flavour again. Then there are the Cape Breton Highlands even though that's a whole other trip, being another 500 km of driving one way - anyhow, lots of great things to see and do in Nova Scotia.

You would probably appreciate the Nova Scotia experience which will be very different from Montreal/Quebec City and NYC. It's just a matter if how much time you want to spend on the road or rails between places.

Here are a few ideas for your to consider:

Montreal to NYC is only ~600 km by car but White Point, NS to NYC is more more than 2.5 times as far with nearly 1,600 km. That's because you have to backtrack all the way to Fredericton, New Brunswick and catch the border crossing near Woodstock, NB, then take the I 95 through Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusettes to NYC.

If you took the ferry http://www.acadiaferry.com/schedule-and-fares/ from Digby, NS to Saint John, NB and then drove from there (to Fredericton and then the border as above) it's still 1,000 km by car. Depending on the ferry schedule it won't save you that much time in the end, but it'd be fun to be able to say you sailed the Bay of Fundy which boasts some of the highest tides in the world.

You should take a look at flights via Porter Airlines (http://www.flyporter.com/ regional airline that services all of your destinations) if you haven't, yet. www.flyporter.com - just to see if they have any decent deals for you (make sure you get to the costs that include all taxes - the super cheap $79 flights usually double with airport fees, taxes, security surcharges )

Another option might be to start your trip in Nova Scotia to avoid the back tracking re: road tripping. Unclear if you like this sort of road tripping in the first place given your total time. To drive for 11 hrs is best done over 2 days - or you need more than 1 driver to do it safely in one stretch. Depending on where you are flying in from there are overseas flights that land in Halifax, too.

Finally, there are tons of lovely things you can do in the Quebec, Montreal, NYC corridor - on both sides of the border. I like spending quality time in the Adirondack mountains in upstate New York, for outdoors action like awesome hiking for instance.

Hope this helps at least a bit :)

2

nova scotia is fabulous but it deserves more then 4 days. i don't know if it would be worth the arrangements to get there for such a short tiem.

3

There is absolutely no need to go through Fredericton if you are starting from St. John. The border crossing at Calais ME can be reached just by driving down the Fundy coast. This is the route given by Google maps for a trip from St.John NB to NYC. Also the scenery on this route is gorgeous and I recommend stopping at St. Andrews. This route is 1009 km while going through Fredericton would be 1153 km. It somewhat defeats the purpose of taking the Digby ferry as you would be giving some of the km back.

However I have to agree with sltt that you need far more than four days to see NS especially if you want to drive. With only four days flying would be your only choice regardless of the cost.

4

The border crossing at Calais ME can be reached just by driving down the Fundy coast.

You are right, of course - St Stephens border crossing makes it a shorter route. Thanks for catching that.

5

Too far for too little time. If you come, plan to spend a while and enjoy it. And you didn't say when you plan to travel. If it is during winter forget sticking to driving schedules. It just might not work.

6

You should also be aware that the White Point Resort lodge burned down a few weeks ago! I have no idea what impact this has on their timeshare business but I suspect that it would impact on meals, communal activities, etc.

I've just recently moved to Halifax from Ontario and absolutely love the Maritime experience. I love to drive so don't find the drive from Quebec all that daunting. If you decide to head East you can be assured that you'll find breathtaking scenery, warm, friendly people and a way of life that just doesn't exist many places any more.

But travel is always about trade-offs, I find. Perhaps this would be better for a focused trip rather than as a side-trip.

7

Main lodge burned but timeshares and cottages were unharmed.