Peggy's Cove, Halifax

[rocks]

Hi!

My husband, good friend & I will be on a Sept N.E. cruise and would like to rent a car and drive to Peggy's Cove.

We have never been there before & would appreciate any & all tips about doing this. Where to rent a car, is it an easy drive, how long will it take to get there, any recommendations for lunch on the way back, ect.

THANKS in advance! :)

Pat

[rsquare]

We rented a car from Enterprise, in Scotia Square, a downtown shopping mall about 15 minutes from the docks. They picked us up at Pier 22 and drove us to Scotia Square, and took us back when we turned in the car. My recollection was that the rental ran about C$85 with CDW.

 

Peggy's Cove is about an hour and a half drive on highway 333, reached from Highway 3 (St. Margaret's Bay Road) in Halifax. This road is not particularly scenic until it gets near Peggy's Cove, when it runs closer to the shore of St. Margaret's Bay. When you finish at Peggy's Cove, there is a memorial to Swissair flight 111 which went down just off Peggy's Cove. As someone who has frequently flown the Atlantic, I found visiting it a moving experience.

 

If you stay on 333 it will eventually take you through or near a number of fishing villages to Highway 3 at Tantallon. You can turn right and return to Halifax, or continue a little further and pick up 103, a limited-access freeway back to Halifax. What we did is to turn left on 3 and follow it through to Chester, a moderately picturesque resort village where we had an excellent lunch at the Fo'c'sl Tavern on the corner of Pleasant and Queen Street. We had planned to push on to Mahone Bay and possibly Lunenberg, but we spent too much time at Peggy's Cove and the Swissair Memorial, so we backtracked and picked up an entrance to 103 and headed back to downtown Halifax.

 

Perhaps an earlier start and more discipline about time spent at each location might have permitted the full planned itinerary, but we had a very enjoyable day, and reached Peggy's Cove before most of the tour busses. We had a threatening sky but no rain, and I got some very atmospheric pictures of the lighthouse and the village.

 

[rocks]

Hi Bob!

THANKS for all the info! Exactly what I was looking for.

Did you rent a car at any of the other ports you went to on your NE cruise? Any other recommendations on other ports?

I LOVE your photo! I'm a camera nut and am SO looking forward to this cruise for that reason.

THANKS again for all the info! :D

Pat

PS: Do you have your photos posted on a site? Would love to see the others you took if you do.

[markmid]

We rented a car from Avis on October 5. They picked us up and we drove to Peggy's Cove and drove a similar route to rsquare. We returned and walked from the Avis dealer back to the pier and back to the ship. We really enjoyed renting a car and going at our own pace. Our total bill was $53.25US. See some of our pics in the Halifax folder at:

http://mbmerritt.zenfolio.com/ne_canada_cruise

We also rented a car at Sydney and drove the Old Cabot Trail.

[rocks]

Your photos are AWESOME!!! THANKS SO much for posting the link!

I'm going on a Caribbean cruise in March, but looking at your photos has me all excited about our Sept. cruise.

I really want to do the car rental thing on our own & it is sounding like it isn't too hard. Did you find it easy to rent/drive in Sydney too?

We have been on the Maasdam a bunch of times & have always enjoyed the ship. Hope you did too.

THANKS again! :)

Pat

[rsquare]

Hi Bob!

THANKS for all the info! Exactly what I was looking for.

Did you rent a car at any of the other ports you went to on your NE cruise? Any other recommendations on other ports?

I LOVE your photo! I'm a camera nut and am SO looking forward to this cruise for that reason.

THANKS again for all the info! :D

Pat

PS: Do you have your photos posted on a site? Would love to see the others you took if you do.

 

We rented a car in Charlottetown, I think from Hertz (the other couple with whom we travelled made that arrangement); they delivered to dockside and we left it there with the keys locked inside. We sort of circumnavigated the center part of the island on what was then called the Blue Heron Route. The Province does a really good road map with several tourist routes marked out, but our route shows under two different names on two different maps and I don't know which one is more current. There are tons of lighthouses on PEI if you stay near the shores, particularly the North Shore.

 

We had a car reserved in Sydney, but Enterprise could not fulfill, due to some overdue cars, so we wound up taking a cab tour to the Alexander Graham Bell Museum at Baddeck (fascinating), and walked to some nearby 18th century restored houses when we returned. And we rented a car from, I think Avis at Bar Harbor airport to go inland to Ellsworth, Maine in pouring-down rain (only bad weather of the cruise). We got picked up at the ship, but it is a good 20-30 minute drive from dockside to airport and I don't think that there are any closer rental places.

 

Thanks for your kind words about the photos; this was the maiden voyage for my new Pentax DSLR. There are some photos from this cruise at http://picasaweb.google.com/GailRuth1/MaasdamCruise#

[rocks]

OH MY...I SOOOOOOO enjoyed looking at all of your photos! They are GREAT! I think my favorite is the one with the yellow tulips looking onto Montreal...or the lighthouses... too hard to decide as they are ALL really GREAT!

Now I'm sure we will rent a car. I'm kind of the nervous type to drive in new places (I work for State Farm & take accident reports all the time) and then there is the worry about something happening & not making it back to the ship in time. But I remember that most of the ports are small towns rather then big cities. The time I was in Sydney I was alone & took off walking with my camera. I remember stopping at an intersection and looking to see which way I wanted to go. I noticed a car stopped & thought they were waiting for a green light. When I decided which way I wanted to go the car was still there; as I looked to cross the street I noticed that there wasn't any light...that car was just waiting for me to cross! I couldn't believe it! The kindness of the people has always been one of the best parts of that cruise. And of course the scenery.

THANKS again for sharing your photos and info! :)

Pat

[markmid]

Your photos are AWESOME!!! THANKS SO much for posting the link!

I'm going on a Caribbean cruise in March, but looking at your photos has me all excited about our Sept. cruise.

I really want to do the car rental thing on our own & it is sounding like it isn't too hard. Did you find it easy to rent/drive in Sydney too?

We have been on the Maasdam a bunch of times & have always enjoyed the ship. Hope you did too.

THANKS again! :)

Pat

We had no problems driving in either Sydney or Halifax. The rental car personnel were very helpful to suggest routes and estimate time. We always plan to be back early and do the things near the port last so that if we have a problem we can adjust.

[wiskt]

[:D] HERE's a TIP: If you go to Peggy's Cove, BRING YOUR PASSPORT!. The lighthouse is actually a post office as well and if you ask them, they will stamp your passport for you with a unique shaped PEGGY's COVE LIGHTHOUSE stamp. :) It was a nice little FREE souvinier. You can also mail postcards directly from there.

[downeaster70]

Regretfullly the Post Office is closed due to a mould problem, however you can get a passport stamped at the SouWester Gift Shop with no charge