Sydney, N.S...car rental?...would you go west or east

[kruzin']

:)We have never been to Sydney and have made arrangements to rent a car there..however, I am torn between (1) heading west and drive part of the Cabot Trail..(2) drive to Baddeck....(3) drive south to Louisbourgh...has any1 rented a car and done any of these drives? I will probably never be back to this part of the world and I am truly confused.. Our ship will be in port from 9-6 in late September...thanks

[Embracedbylife]

Baddeck is actually at the start/end of the Cabot Trail. It is about an hour at least from Sydney. I would rent the car, head towards Baddeck, head up the cabot trail for about a couple hours to get a good feel for it, and then turn around and head back down the way you came back to Baddeck. Ingonish is a place on the trail that is about 2 hours up. http://www.ingonish.cabottrail.com/ You would want to head up the trail East towards ingonish. Don't go past Ingonish though becuase if you hit traffic you will take too long to head back down!

 

Also, when driving your car back down the trail, keep it in 2nd gear so you don't burn out your breaks LOL.

 

Then when you come back you can stop in Baddeck at the end of the trail for lunch and then drive about an hour back to Sydney, giving yourself plenty of time.

[kruzin']

:)thanks for your prompt response...I am busy playing with viamichelin.com for routes to these places you mentioned..how does Sydney to Ingonish r/t sound with stops in Englishtown, St Anns and Indian Brook?....P.S. I see you are doing the Baltic. We did that cruise and it was great .If I can help let know.....I loved the link to Ingonish you listed below..+ I was born in Scotland..need I say more? I Baddeck really worth a stop of this r/t itinerrary I mentioned??,,

Baddeck is actually at the start/end of the Cabot Trail. It is about an hour at least from Sydney. I would rent the car, head towards Baddeck, head up the cabot trail for about a couple hours to get a good feel for it, and then turn around and head back down the way you came back to Baddeck. Ingonish is a place on the trail that is about 2 hours up. http://www.ingonish.cabottrail.com/ You would want to head up the trail East towards ingonish. Don't go past Ingonish though becuase if you hit traffic you will take too long to head back down!

 

Also, when driving your car back down the trail, keep it in 2nd gear so you don't burn out your breaks LOL.

 

Then when you come back you can stop in Baddeck at the end of the trail for lunch and then drive about an hour back to Sydney, giving yourself plenty of time.

[Embracedbylife]

I'm not too sure about Englishtown. I think I'd leave it and Baddeck until the drive back to Sydney to give yourself more time on the trail. Baddeck is nice, but nothing like driving up the trail and the views from there! Time is better spent on the trail, and giving yourself plenty of time back down as you go slower down than up the trail. When I say down, it really is literally downhill most of the way back, so you'll be going very slow. I guess just keep an eye on your clock and you'll be tempted to keep going up and around the trail, but you'll want to turn around and head back down sooner than later, giving yourself time. The view coming back down is different than going up becuase you are seeing things like looking from behind, so you'll love it! I can't say for sure you'll get all the way to Ingonish, but see how your time goes. It's been many years since i've driven the trail. I'm from Nova Scotia originally so i grew up there and remember taking a nice few hours drive up the route you are going and it was nice even just for a few hours.

 

St. Ann's, Indian Brook and others are all places you'll see on the way. Englishtown is a little off course, and you can catch the trail from there but you need to take a ferry accross the water. Better leaving Englishtown for the afterwards if you can, as you also want to have plenty of gas heading up/back down the trail. You can definetly get more gas in Baddeck after coming down.

 

Another good site is: http://www.cabottrail.travel/

 

I'm also very excited about my Baltic cruise! What were the highlights of yours or "must sees"?

[kruzin']

:)..thanks again..we did enjoy the Baltic with St Petersburg being the highlight of the cruise...We too did a private tour for 2days but with a company called Alla..take extra camera sd cards, batteries, and delete photos from the cards when you get home..Tallin is a port you can do on your own..walk on the cobbled streets up to the church that overlooks the town and the port (truly quaint) on the way down you can take a stroll thru the town square..This port was a nice break from the other port intensive stops...lots of amber for sale in Tallin but costly..Copenhagen was nice..we took a bus to town and at the tourist info cnter we picked up a walking tour given by a man dressed as Hans Christian Anderson..it lasted an hour and was E15,,Tivoli Gdns was across the street and the Hard Rock Cafe was on the next block..the port and boat rides are available too..this too was a nice slow port...Helsinki we did on a Sunday so very quiet and everything was closed..the other ports we did not go to...

I'm not too sure about Englishtown. I think I'd leave it and Baddeck until the drive back to Sydney to give yourself more time on the trail. Baddeck is nice, but nothing like driving up the trail and the views from there! Time is better spent on the trail, and giving yourself plenty of time back down as you go slower down than up the trail. When I say down, it really is literally downhill most of the way back, so you'll be going very slow. I guess just keep an eye on your clock and you'll be tempted to keep going up and around the trail, but you'll want to turn around and head back down sooner than later, giving yourself time. The view coming back down is different than going up becuase you are seeing things like looking from behind, so you'll love it! I can't say for sure you'll get all the way to Ingonish, but see how your time goes. It's been many years since i've driven the trail. I'm from Nova Scotia originally so i grew up there and remember taking a nice few hours drive up the route you are going and it was nice even just for a few hours.

 

St. Ann's, Indian Brook and others are all places you'll see on the way. Englishtown is a little off course, and you can catch the trail from there but you need to take a ferry accross the water. Better leaving Englishtown for the afterwards if you can, as you also want to have plenty of gas heading up/back down the trail. You can definetly get more gas in Baddeck after coming down.

 

Another good site is: http://www.cabottrail.travel/

 

I'm also very excited about my Baltic cruise! What were the highlights of yours or "must sees"?

[Embracedbylife]

Thanks for the info too! This is good to know. I hadn't read anything on Tallin yet so I think i'll just play that by ear and do on my own :)

 

I think you'll have a nice time in NOva Scotia. Where are your ports of call? Do you get to go to Newfoundland??