Canada road trip tips?

[GoSlow2GoFast]

I'm planning a road trip from north eastern United States into south eastern Canada this summer and wonder if people have any good Canada travel tips to share?

~gs2gf

[Lummer535i]

Ontario - Recommend crossing the border at Rainbow Bridge (Niagara Falls). Other bridges have more transport trucks. Avoid long weekends (Ontario has a civic holiday on the first Monday of August).

Gas is more expensive than in the US. Fill-up before you enter Canada.
The price differnential for premium 91 octane is about CA$0.13 per litre. Recommend Shell V Power Gold (no ethanol). Other levels (Silver/Bronze) have a mix of ethanol. 93 Octane available at Sunoco.

Gas gets more expensive as you move East. Quebec is higher, so fill up before you get to the border. Gas prices for service stations located along the 401 are generally higher than those in the nearest town or city.

Quebec - Route 20 takes you east along the south shore. Faster than Route 40 on the north shore. Crossing over to the south shore in Montreal, use either the Champlain bridge or the Louis H. tunnel.

NB - New Trans Canada highway has been twinned to make passing safer and travel time has been shortened. This route may not show up in MY 2007 navigation DVD.

NS - Cape Breton offers a spectacular driving experience. Good golf courses.

PEI - Conferderation Bridge. Good golf courses.

Have a good trip.

Cheers!

:)

[GoSlow2GoFast]

Lummer535i,

Thanks for all that great info, greatly appreciated.

Cape Breton and the Cabot Trail are on the itinerary, may even brave the pull out to Meat Cove.

Right now I'm probably going to trade off time in PEI for more time in NS and Quebec / Montreal this trip. I can get to PEI in a long day of driving from where I am (about 650 miles) so I figure there's a good chance I can get back up there sometime and check it out. And I seem to have found a number of interesting stops in NS, but spread around a bit.

If I have a radar detector installed in the car (it's the permanently mounted type, not a dash unit) but am not using it, will either border crossing or highway police (if I got stopped) have a problem with that?

I've heard two fairly wide extremes on speeding in Canada. Some folks have returned back from a run to NS through Maine and said no problems at all putting on a good pace. Other things I hear and read seem to indicate speeding is tightly controlled. Where does reality lie? I have heard that some provinces are stricter than others.

Also, should I put any stock in something like this http://transcanadahighway.com/novascotia/Speedtraps.htm or are these somewhat random and dated? (I saw one page on this site that said radar detectors were legal in NS, but I'm pretty sure that's not the case, so wondering if there's any value to this info.

~gs2gf

[Lummer535i]

GoSlow2GoFast,

As far as I know, radar use is "permitted" in BC, AB and SK (western provinces). There is a sign posted about radar detectors at the NB/NS border, so you may be correct about their use in NS.

The web site is useful. The police tend to set-up in target rich locations. You get a feel for this over the years. Very similar to State Patrol.

I do not know if possession of the device is a problem. I would explain to the police if they do pull you over for speeding, that if you were using it, you would not have been pulled over.

I usually run through at 120 km/h (70 mph) in the 100 km zones and have not had a problem. Ontario has recently passed road racing laws that define 50 km over the speed limit as racing. They take away your car for a week and fine you lots of money.

More radar traps in NS than NB. I drove through from Halifax, NS through NB to Calais, ME last August and managed to average 120 km/h. I prefer night driving (less traffic) but if you want to see the country side, travel by day and enjoy the drive.

The fines for speeding vary but the general theme is, the more you exceed the posted limit, the higher the fine.

QC - Quebec Provincial Police (QPP/Surete du Quebec) patrol the provincial highways (something like State Patrol). I usually slow down on the portions of the highway where there stations are indicated. In the cities you will also have local law enforcement.

People tend to drive faster in Quebec.

I was caught speeding in my 94 325i while attending a wedding in Quebec and because I was from out of town, they took me directly to an ATM to get the cashto pay them directly (perhaps the cash did not make it back to the office).

NB/NS/PE - RCMP (federal police).

Unfortunately, a red M3 is a sharp but attention getting device. I used to drive a speed yellow 280Z but have only owned black cars since then.

Have a great trip! :)

[GoSlow2GoFast]

Road trip went great! Ended up covering just under 3600 miles in 14 days. Sounds worse than it was, we had some days at 8 hours driving, and others with little to no driving. Car ran like a champ, and no issues with the law or crossing the borders.

Without bogging this down with too much detail, here's a real rough summary of the trip:

Providence, RI to Saint John, NB

crossed into Canada at Calais, ME


Saint John, NB to outside of Halifax, NS

followed the coast a bit in NB, checked out Fundy Park, etc


Days trips to:

Annapolis Royal, NS
Lunenburg, NS
Mahone Bay, NS
Peggy's Cove, NS
Halifax, NS including the Citadel


Outside Halifax, NS to Baddeck, NS
Drove the Cabot Trail and then on to Moncton, NB
Moncton, NB to Quebec City, QC

stayed in the Frontenac, definitely the right choice
did Old Quebec, Citadel, other sites


Quebec City, QC to Montreal, QC

stayed in Old Montreal


Montreal, QC to Niagara Falls, ON

stayed in between the new casino area and the older Clifton Hills area
typical site-seeing plus a trip to Niagara on the Lake, nice town


Niagara Falls, ON to Providence, RI

the run home with a side trip to my alma mater in Troy, NY



All in all a very successful. Didn't make it to PEI, Ottawa or Toronto this trip, so have a good excuse to head back. I typically kept it around 20kph over the posted limit and never attracted any attention. Was getting about 28mpg on the highway, and averaged 26mpg for the entire trip so was satisfied with that.

Quebec City and Niagara on the Lake were high points, Nova Scotia had some great coastlines including the Cabot Trail.

http://goslow2gofast.googlepages.com/cabot.jpg

~gs2gf

[Lummer535i]

gs2gf

Looks like you had a great trip. The picture that you posted reminds me how scenic and beautiful the drive is.

Cheers!

Lummer535i