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2025 Tour code: AR-QNPE-25
About the tour
Your tour begins in French-speaking Quebec City, where the European influence of this historic city full of cobblestone streets awaits. You'll receive a guided tour to visit the city's most famous sights, then a free afternoon to explore the cosmopolitan city on your own.
Next, travel through New Brunswick and into Nova Scotia with first-class accommodations onboard VIA Rail's Ocean. When you arrive in Halifax, you have time to explore the area's museums, galleries, and restaurants. The next day takes you to the maritime areas of Nova Scotia including time to explore the charm of these seaside towns on your own.
Next, it's time for a road trip to Cape Breton, where you can visit Alexander Graham Park and might even spot a bald eagle! You'll have an entire day free to explore this island. Spend your time driving scenic routes and visiting historic sites and museums at your leisure.
Then make the lovely drive to the uniquely beautiful Prince Edward Island, the smallest of Canada's provinces. This land has miles of sandy beaches, stunning cliffs, a welcoming community, and some of the best seafood around. After your two-night stay in Prince Edward Island, you'll take a scenic ferryboat ride back to Halifax, where you'll have the remainder of the day to explore more of the area.
This itinerary is also available from Halifax to Quebec City based on your travel preference.
Highlights
What’s included
Itinerary
Quebec City is the start of your 10-day rail-drive adventure. Upon arrival, today, check into your hotel and then hit the town. Stroll the streets and visit the city's many shops and boutiques, all just steps away from your hotel. Overnight in Quebec City.
Additional information
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Reviews
4.4 / 5 · 35 reviews
PABLO MIGUEL MARTINEZ
Submitted 12 Oct 2024
So much splendor to see: Québec City’s history and architecture (only marred by huge throngs disgorged by two cruise ships docked on the river—and this was in the shoulder season!), Halifax’s food and art scenes (but again, thousands of cruise-ship passengers in the downtown area), and the tranquil natural beauty of Cape Breton, which is spectacular (no cruise ships!). PEI is stunning, but expect heavily-trafficked streets in Charlottetown (Victoria is an utterly charming town on the Island’s south shore, a great getaway).
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CRISTOPHER WILLIAM MCREYNOLDS
Submitted 18 Sep 2024
The itinerary was very good with very enjoyable destinations (Halifax, Cape Breton, Charlottetown) and first-rate accommodations. But there were long drives between destinations, leaving us with only one full day in each. If we were to do it again, we would add another day in each place. However, we felt that Vacations By Rail provided very little value-added during our trip. Given that they pride themselves on "going that extra mile and making sure that every detail is handled with care", we found them lacking in a number of areas: -- Upon checking into the Frontenac at the beginning of the tour, there was not a welcome package acknowledging that we were part of a VBR tour. A list of tips or highlights for each destination, compiled based on the experiences of previous travelers would have been very helpful and appreciated. -- The sleeping accommodations on the train were VERY cramped, despite what the diagrams of floor plans in prior brochures seemed to suggest. There should have been a strong recommendation that we check our bags for that portion of the trip-- it would have saved us an uncomfortable night. -- Between the checkout time for the Frontenac (noon) and departure of the train to Halifax from the Sainte-Foy station (10pm), there were 10 hours to occupy "on our own". Perhaps the city tour, or some other pre-arranged activity, could have been booked in that window. The Sainte-Foy station was pretty spartan, and relatively isolated from the rest of the Quebec City so it did not pay to get there early for the train. -- We were given the wrong address for meeting the Harbor Tour in Halifax, but several friendly locals redirected us in time to join the tour. -- As we said, it would have been really nice to be greeted upon check-in at each destination with a VBR brochure or other communication highlighting things which previous travelers had enjoyed. It can't be that much $ and energy to produce those and would help bolster the image of VBR with not only your clients, but also with the hotels where they are booked. In this age of the internet it's easy to see what we'd have to pay in personally booking the same itinerary ourselves-- hotels, train trip, rental car, tours-- at the same time of the year. The total, even without applying any discounts that VBR might have enjoyed, was quite a bit less than the total price of the trip that we had paid to VBR. True, they came up with the original itinerary, but we would rethink booking another trip with them. Thinking back on the whole process, there was much more communication and energy displayed by VBR in getting our booking than after they had secured it.
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ROBERT FILLION
Submitted 12 Sep 2024
Well organized and supported us when an issue arose with a hotel .
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WILLIAM JULES GOODMAN
Submitted 29 Aug 2024
It was a wonderful trip. The hotels were nice and the service at the hotels was very good, and the cities were wonderful as well. However, the train trip from Quebec City to Halifax was 23 hours, several hours longer than we were told, and the cabin in the train was very small for two people. However, the food and service on the train was good. Also Baddeck was not a city with a lot to do so it would have been better to drive directly from Halifax to Charlottetown and spend an additional day on Prince Edward Island.
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Nancy Kress
Submitted 14 Aug 2024
The tour was well organized and had us in places we had never been. The overnight train ride from Quebec to Halifax was a comfortable and entertaining experience across New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Accommodations were first class and we had no issue checking into any of our rooms. It was a delight to stay in La Chateau Frontenac in Quebec and the Westin Nova Scotian was delightfully convenient to the train station in Halifax. The Dodge Charger you arranged for us as a rental car for six days was a fun treat! We went places and saw sights we had never experienced. All thumbs up!
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Constance Holden
Submitted 04 Oct 2023
This was our second VBR Canadian trip and both have been excellent and modestly-priced. The hotels were interesting. Enjoyed having a car and finding our own eateries and activities. Discovered that it is possible to customize a trip. We added a day to each of the stops and were glad that we did. Staff was always available and responsive.
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