Nova Scotia via Maine to Niagara Falls

My husband and I are planning to be in Nova Scotia for few days in mid-October and would like to catch the ferry to either Bar Harbour or Yarmouth depending on the day and rent a car to drive across to Niagara Falls. We have allowed 3 days is this feasible? ? Any suggestions for the route to best see the Fall foliage?

Nova Scotia via Maine to Niagara Falls

I%26#39;m not sure whether the 3 days you mention is for getting there (Niagara Falls) or for the round trip. If the former, then yes it is feasbile; if the latter, no. The problem, other than simply the distance, is that from the east coast in this region, there are no direct, rapid, east-west routes.

Getting to Niagara Falls via Bar Harbor is by no means a direct route.

You might want to consider the ferry from Digby, NS to St. John, NB. That would put you in position to visit Maine (via Calais), explore the Fundy shore of New Brunswick, or head north to pick up one of the routes along the St. Lawrence.

Nova Scotia via Maine to Niagara Falls

I don%26#39;t understand the question. You say ';the ferry to either Bar Harbor or Yarmouth';. The ferry runs between Bar Harbor, Maine and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Or maybe you meant from Yarmouth to either Bar Harbor or Potland. Driving to New Hampshire would be somewhat easier from Portland.

Driving from Bar Harbor to Niagara Falls or from anywhere in Nova Scotia to Niagara Falls would be a long, grueling drive. You would have to traverse the entire width of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York State.

If it%26#39;s fall foliage you are interested in, I%26#39;d stay in the Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont area.

I would agree with what has been said about the drive from either Bar Harbor or Portland to Niagara Falls. I would guess at about 10 to 12 hours or so of driving from Portland to Niagara Falls, not including stops for meals, etc.Add 3 or 4 hoours to that if driving from Bar Harbor. And you will be driving through and past so many attractive places that you could be visiting instead.

If your trip must include Niagara Falls, you might look into a flight from Portland to Buffalo, NY, which is about 35 minutes from the Falls. You would need to rent a car when you geet there. I am pretty sure there will not be any direct flights to Buffalo, but you may find an airline that will get you there with connections, and which may not be too expensive.

Actually, another route occurred to me. You could take the train, Amtrak, from Portland to Boston. The train is called the Down Easter. Then you could fly from Boston to Buffalo, probably a direct flight. But you will still invest the better par of a day between the checking in, waiting, traveling, and basic getting around, getting your rental car, driving to Buffalo, etc.

Thank you for the information so far. I did make a mistake, of course the ferry goes from Yarmouth to either Bar Harbour or Portland depending on the day of the week in October. We would like to see the Fall foliage and Niagara Falls; covered bridges in Vermont are also an attraction. I am trying not to backtrack too much nor spend a lot of time in airport terminals. Trains are good but only seem to run between major cities. We are taking the Downeaster from Boston to Portland on our way to Nova Scotia.

We are Australians who have not been to the US/Canada before and so are trying to see as much as possible in the 6 weeks we have.

I pretty much guessed that from you ';Sydney'; address. It might help if we knew how much of the six weeks you were apportioning to New England versus the rest of the continent. Or is this one of the things upon which you are trying to decide?

Sydney - 6 weeks to see the continent puts this in a whole different context. What else are you trying to see? How big is your agenda? And how do you plan to travel - car, plane, train, bus? We can probably help with some of that planning.

Also, if you can say how much time you have to spend touring New England and New York State, we could probably suggest some routes and stops to see some of what you are looking for. In fact, we could probably fill your entire 6 weeks in New England.

We are only touching the highlights in the North-West ( San Francisco, Seattle),Victoria, Vancouver, train across the Rockies 6 days in New York, 3 in Boston, via Maine to Nova Scotia for 3 days then across northern New England to Niagara Falls and into Canada and home via San Francisco with a side trip to Yosemite. We know the distances are vast - but then so is Australia. The focus of the trip is Canada. Hopefully, we wil later have a chance to see the southern US.

It seems like we have gotten a bit off the topic here and your original question has not been answered. Let me try to suggest a route for you from Nova Scotia to Niagara Falls.

I would chose to take the ferry from Yarmouth to Portland. From Portland head north and west on Highway 302. That will take you through a pretty lake district and very directly to New Hampshire. You%26#39;ll enter New Hampshire in the North Conway area. Take highwy 112 which is the Kancamagus Highway and goes directly over the mountains. The fall foliage, if it%26#39;s a good year, should be spectacular here. Stay on 112 all the way across the state of New Hampshire and into Vermont.

In Vermont you can follow 302 again and then zig zag until you get to Highway 17. That will take you across the Green Mountains. You should be able to do some research and find a covered bridge or two in this area. Cross into New York State at the bottom of Lake Champlain on Highway 17. Zig zag a little bit again, go a tad south, and get on Highway 28 through the Adirondack mountains, heading west the whole way. Fall foliage there should be wonderful. It%26#39;s a large, wooded, hilly region with very few people.

When Highway 28 runs out, you can wend your way over to the southern shore of Lake Ontario and follow that right to Niagara Falls. The Canadian side of the falls is quite lovely with formal gardens. And don%26#39;t miss following the river gorge to the north and stopping in the little Canadian town of Niagara-on-the-Lake.

I don%26#39;t have a real good idea of how long this would take you. But I think two longish days on the road after the ferry might get you to Niagara Falls.

Also be aware that if you happen to hit the weekend that is the peak of fall foliage, you might have trouble finding a place to stay in Vermont and New Hampshire. New York City and Boston tends to empty out to go see the foliage if it is a good year. As long as you stop early or call ahead to where you think you might be at 6 or 7 p.m., you should be able to find some place to stay. Some years it happens that there are so many tourists on the road at peak foliage that the churches open their doors so people who haven%26#39;t planned ahead have a place to sleep.

Bonniemaev%26#39;s route is definitely the scenic route. It might take you 2 or 3 weeks...just kidding! It is definitely the slow route. Seriously, you should be able to push through it in 2 days, or more comfortably in 3, 4 would be better. But 2 - 3 days should be pretty reasonable. You will be driving through some very rural territory. Lodging will be somewhat sparse, a scattering of small motels and B%26amp;Bs. You may pass through some small cities with larger places and maybe even some chain hotels.

As for covered bridges, I know that the NH Visitors website visitnh.gov will have info on all the covered bridges in the state. I would expect that you will find similar info at the Vermont tourism website. You might also find some books on covered bridges. You might want to go to Amazon.com and search for books on covered bridges in New England. If oyu find specific bridges that you want to see, you can chart your own route to connect to all of them. Once you decide to take the time for a route like Bonniemaev describes, all winding back road routes are up for grabs.

By the way, the most direct and quickest route from Portland, just for comparison sake: I-95 south to Portsmouth, NH to Rte 16 to Rte 4 to COncord. In Concord, you will take I-93 south to I-89 north to Rte 9 west to Keene. Stay on Rte 9 into Vermont at Brattleboro and across the state to and through Bennington. As you cross from VT to NY, Rte 9 becomes Rte 7, which will take you to Albany, NY. There you would take the NY State Thruway all the way to Buffalo, and then follow the roads to Niagara Falls. This route would probably be about 10 - 12 hours of driving. The stretch through NH and VT is very scenic, and there are all kinds of short off route detours that you could take to see covered bridges and some beautiful New England towns. You could spend a day or two exploring this area, and when you feel it is time to get to the Falls, you are close enough to the Interstate to be able to make up the time easily.

But truly, there are various routes through ME, NH, VT and NY, and each one has its own attributes. Get lost and have some fun, and know where the nearest highway is.

Thank you to all who have responded this has been enormously helpful

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