Another Atlantic Canada Driving Question

[MinnieMommy]

We are seriously considering flying out of the US instead of Halifax. It looks like prices/times will be best for us from Manchester, NH or Portland, ME.

Can anyone offer their experiences and/or preferences regarding the drive?

I used mapquest and it shows going through Calais as shorter distance but longer driving time. Going through Houlton is longer distance but shorter time.

 

[pooksma]

Go through Houlton if you can. The Calais drive is more scenic but waits at the border can be LONG. We have done both and will never do the Calais cross again. JMHO.
Milltown would also be an option for you and its usually pretty quiet.

 

[DianaNS]

Try delta out of bangor. We just booked for next august 199 cdn each return. It was so nice to have a final price of 1058 american and have it charged at 1012 cdn. That hasn't happened for a long time.
We drive from Halifax and go through Calais. We leave 5am and hit the border around 11 never any traffic! Later on in the day the traffic builds!
We stay at the four points sheraton on a park and fly package usually 129 us per night and that includes 14 nights of parking at the airport. A good deal!

 

[tribus121]

I would cross at Calais if you are traveling during the summer but i would cross at houltin if during the winter months as the interstate has much better snow removal and the road between calis and bangor is quite twisty

 

[OntFamily]

Last summer, we drove from Halifax to the US. Historically, we always crossed at Calais (I found it used to save about 30 minutes versus driving through Houlton). The road was longer is distance, but due to better roads, the drive wasn't bad.


Now with the newer highways in NB (specifically a four lane highway to Woodstock) we found it was faster to drive through Houlton. Almost the entrie distance was a four lane road.

 

[MinnieMommy]

Thanks everyone!

 

[coastgirl]

Yep, we booked SW out of Manchester for Dec. We'll be driving through Houlton, longer distance but faster roads. Bear in mind there's a stretch of NUTHIN for at least two hours after Houlton--we thought we'd grab lunch after we left Houlton, and it was a long, dry stretch... So, it was 10 hrs from New Glasgow last year, in January, to Manchester (we flew Continental that time). Manchester airport is great, small but well-served, good park and fly options, and this time we're flying for about $550. For FOUR of us. I paid almost $800 for four POINTS tickets from Halifax to Tampa. (Which we're cashing in for a different journey next summer--couldn't pass up the SW sale).

 

[Waiting]

How was the weather and roads? We are thinking of driving from Sydney to Bangor around 1st week of February.

 

[coastgirl]

How was the weather and roads? We are thinking of driving from Sydney to Bangor around 1st week of February.

In our case, dry and bare pretty much all the way. Drove down around Jan 25, back around the 8th of Feb as I recall. Not even slush.

 

[peigirl]

We drove down Houlton way in December but came back Calais way. I prefer Calais as the drive after Houlton is boring.

Hey Coastgirl, I am from New Glasgow orginally. Sure do miss Sam's pizza.

Paula