Our Road Trip Out East

Last summer we decided to go on a 2nd road trip with kids… we had already gone to Prince Edward County (see here for all of the details), so we decided on heading East to visit the Maritimes. This is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island (PEI). We didn’t visit Nova Scotia but we did visit New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. I live in Ontario so it was a long drive! We drove through the night on the way there so my husband and I were exhausted the next day but the boys were good! On the way home we tried driving and stopping every couple of hours but it was taking a long time, my sons were 3 and 1 at the time, the boys didn’t have a lot of patience! I would highly recommend driving through the night with kids this young.

Here are some of the highlights from the trip!

New Brunswick

We stayed 1 night in Saint John and 1 night in Moncton. We decided to stay in hotels since it was only 1 night in each city.

Hopewell Rocks – this is a must see. Make sure you check out this website before you visit, it gives you the best times to visit so that you are able to walk on the ocean floor! You have to check the tide tables as the tides vary day to day but they can be as high as 52 feet! It really is quite remarkable.

St Martins Sea Caves – I have family in New Brunswick and they brought us out here while we were visiting. I would highly recommend it. It was a beautiful drive to get to the caves. After exploring the caves (which the kids loved) we had fish & chips at the Cave Restaurant which overlooks the caves, you can enjoy it while watching the tide come in… it’s amazing!

Magnetic Hill – There is a lot to do around the magnetic hill… when I was a kid, they just had the hill and that was it! Now there is a zoo and so much more. We went to the hill after visiting Hopewell Rocks since it was close by. It’s definitely worth checking out, we had a lot of fun going up/down the hill!

Mrs. Dunster’s donuts – This is in Sussex, a little town which is near and dear to my heart as I have a lot of family in this area. We used to always get donuts from this factory. I went there last year and the donuts are still amazing!

Sussex – Visit Sussex if you can, it really is lovely! They have an antique show in August and there is a hot air balloon festival in September. I will have to check this out one year! I’ve stayed at the Amsterdam Inn and really liked it.

Find some covered bridges – There are so many in New Brunswick, I love driving through them when I’m visiting. One of the most famous is the Hartland Bridge, it’s the world’s longest covered bridge!

Here is a map of the bridges in NB!

Whale watching – We didn’t go whale watching this time but I have in the past and it was AMAZING! The best point to go is from St. Andrews – St. Andrews is a great spot! There are quite a few companies that go out, we went with Quoddy Link Marine and I would highly recommend them.

Prince Edward Island

We rented a house via Airbnb for a week. We were on the water and pretty central so we traveled quite a bit during the day and the drive wasn’t too bad. This was the beach that was only a few minutes away from the house!

 

New Glasgow Lobster Suppers – Please just book a table, make sure to make a reservation well in advance, and you can thank me later. That’s all. 😉 I ate a lot of lobster while visiting Prince Edward Island!

Basin Head, Singing Sands – We accidentally came across this beach and we were all so sad because we didn’t bring our bathing suits. Actually a few people from the group (we ended up meeting with some family in PEI) jumped in with their clothes on. It was really nice here!

Charlottetown – Very nice to check out, make sure you get some chocolate from Anne of Green Gables chocolates, if not in Charlottetown try to find another location on the island.

Blue Mussel Cafe – This restaurant is located in North Rustico Harbour. Matt and I went there for our anniversary dinner… I absolutely loved it! We couldn’t get enough of the food. We did have to wait 30-40 mins for the table but it’s in a great area, we caught the sunset and enjoyed the views!

Visit Avonlea Village – There is no admission to enter this village. There is enough to see before you move on to your next stop. We had a lobster roll there! After we left Avonlea Village, we went to Cavendish Beach. It was nice but I think there could be better beaches along the North Shore! If you know of any great ones, please let me know!

That’s all I have for now! I plan to keep this updated so please check back with updates as I get recommendations from friends and family about visiting New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island!