RVing to the Island Provinces

If you can take in Quebec City. All of Quebec is great but old Quebec is great. We spent a week there on our cross country trip. Stay in the Levi campground across the river and take the ferry into the old city.

We are on our way back in US after over two months in the Canadian Maritimes. Five weeks on Newfoundland. Don't cut yourself short on time there. Fantastic scenery. Wonderful people.

Iceberg season is early June. Never any guarantees. This year there were very few.

Have been to all but Labrador. The only ferry you absolutely need is from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland. The rest can be accessed by land, including PEI which has been accessible by bridge for some time now. If you want to take ferries you can take ferries out of Bar Harbor, ME to Yarmouth, NS, from Portland, ME to PEI, and Sydney, NS to Port-aux-Basques or Argentia, NFLD. The ferry to PAB is a 7 hour crossing while the one to Argentia is 16 hours. I'd take the day sail to PAB but it all depends on where you want to be in NFLD. It will also depend on whether or not you are prone to sea sickness as they do traverse open water. In any case make a back-up plan. Our last attempt to get to Newfoundland ended in NS due to bad weather that hung around for a few days.

If you choose to drive to NB I would go up 95 to Bangor, ME, then hook over to Rt. 9 (use your GPS but I think it's 395 to 46). That will connect you with Rt. 1 and you can follow the signs to Calais. From there it's pretty much up to you as to what route to take depending on what you want to see. Calais has the amenities you will need to stock up if you need to before you cross the border.

Went there a few years back, but not Newfy or Labrador. Great trip. Drove the whole Gaspé, etc. We went in September, which was good except that some parks, RV places, etc., start to shut down after Labor Day.
Since I'm in your town I'd be happy to share a Starbuck or something and show you where we stayed, etc.

If you go to NF be sure to go during the iceberg season early June. See below.


Click For Full-Size Image.

Most people traveling to Newfoundland will take the long ferry route from North Sydney in Nova Scotia. In 2018, we took a different way, driving up Hwy 389 from Baie-Comeau in Quebec to reach Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Much of the way was unpaved, but it was not bad. Took it slowly, of course. This is truly a "lonely highway."

The road down to Blanc-Sablon was HORRIBLE in 2018. DOES ANYONE HAVE MORE RECENT INFORMATION ON LABRADOR HIGHWAY TO BLANC-SABLON? If it has not been improved then I would not want to go that way again and would take the long way back.

From Blanc-Sablon there is a short ferry to Newfoundland. We took to long ferry back to Sydney.

If you go to Labrador, I highly recommend taking the ship up to Nain and back. This is a coastal freighter that stops in all of the villages along to coast, and also takes passengers. The locals using the ship sleep in chairs, but we took one of the nice staterooms. There is plenty of time to get off the ship and check out the towns. It is interesting just to watch the unloading/loading at each stop. Every conceivable item comes in on the ship.