Excursions for Bar Harbor and Saint John New Brunswick

[Take10WithTricia]

My husband and I are cruising alone this fall. Anyone have any feedback on the excursions offered to Bar Harbor or Saint John? Since we are leaving our kids at home, we are not limited to an "easy" excursion. We are interested in the kayaking ones and/or hiking...prefer to be out in nature. We love a good brewery, but can easily do that at home and even with the kids - ha! Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[clten]

We did a whale watching tour one year. The excursion (from St Johns) took us by bus down to St. Andrews. We had a little time to walk around the town (cute town) and then the cruise was fabulous. We had to have seen 15-20 whales out in the bay. Maybe not as active as you were looking for, but plenty of nature.

 

[nj disney family]

At Saint John, we went to the Bay of Fundy to see the reversing tides. We went out on a little speed boat, that was fun and wet. There are a few companies that do kayak rentals/tours.

 

[Bruce DCL Fan]

we had a delightful lunch at the Saint John's Ale House two years ago, right on the wharf. Lots of local craft. they also led us to a small brewery where we loaded up on samples. It was quite quiet until the Carnival boat docked. They must have dropped the bus off-became quite the party. I'll try to remember the name of the brewery.

 

[hnthomps]

I spend a lot of time on mount desert island, where Bar Harbor is the "big city" so while I don't know anything about the specific excursions offered, I would say:
-Acadia is an amazing national park, if you do one thing on the island it should be to see Acadia
-There are (seasonally) free shuttles from the towns to the park, if you are an active/hiking type, just take the shuttle to one of the (many) mountains. Probably I'd recommend hiking Penobscot or Sargent and ending up at Jordan Pond house for lunch or tea. If a bus is more your speed, anything that does Park Loop Road / Thunder Hole is fine.
-(Jordan Pond house is an amazing location, but a couple years ago the gov't outsourced the food from the locals who had run it forever, and the quality of the foot - now run by a megacorp- has gone waaay down while the cost has continued to go up. So, honestly, the food will be overpriced, but you cannot beat the view if you sit outside. Sitting inside is...fine? But you'll get a better lobster roll almost literally anywhere else on the island)
-If they go out to Cranberry /Isleford, that is always fun.
-Cadillac Mountain is "the first place the sun touches in the morning" (....check locals facts and they'll know you come from away). It's beautiful at sunrise, but can be crowded mid-day
-Somes Sound is "the only natural fjord outside of Norway" (...I'm told) and one of the most beautiful places in the world. If there's any boat trips up and down the sound, that is always great.
-I'm sure they have some sort of "join a lobster man and see how it works" and probably that would be cool.
-I just re-read that you are interested in hiking. There's a ton of great and beautiful hiking in Acadia. You don't need an excursion, the maps are pretty clear if you are experienced. Cell service can be spotty on parts of hikes, but I've never done a hike that was out of range the entire time. Jordan Cliffs is awesome, but there are nesting falcons, so sometimes it's off limits (and there are iron rungs on this one, it's ... steep).

The shuttle is the Island Explorer: http://www.exploreacadia.com/index.htm

 

[Take10WithTricia]

We did a whale watching tour one year. The excursion (from St Johns) took us by bus down to St. Andrews. We had a little time to walk around the town (cute town) and then the cruise was fabulous. We had to have seen 15-20 whales out in the bay. Maybe not as active as you were looking for, but plenty of nature.

THANKS!!

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

When we were in St John's we rented a car and did the area on our own. Avis is two blocks from the pier. Headed up to the Morello Round tower - total jewel. Very worth the while. We did the market and it was...ok? The gelato there was good. The downtown area is cute, the reversing falls were ok.

We stayed at Acadia for a week but spent more than a few days in 'Bah Haboh'. The downtown area is neat. Lots of good shops and good food to be had. I remember an ice cream shop that was very good.

 

[Emmagic7]

I work in Saint John, and live just outside the city.
As far as hiking and nature: There is Rockwood park(large park in the city, lake, trails) the Irving Nature Park(trails and on the ocean), just outside the city there is St.Martins which has the Fundy Trail(on the ocean, trails).
There is the reversing Falls which is in the city.
There are a lot of great places to eat uptown Saint John. Lots of little pubs. The city market has some good food and souvenirs. There is Moosehead brewery in the city, which I believe is the beer used in the cheddar cheese soup in the Canada pavilion in Epcot.
https://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/recipes/canada-soup.htmThere is Timber top adventures in the city where you zipline around in the trees.
St.Andrews is a nice little town outside of Saint John with good whale watching.
Depending on how much time you have: A little over an hour outside the city is Fundy National Park. Lots of great trails, beautiful scenery. The Hopewell rocks is a little past Fundy park, beautiful rock formations and is popular to kayak at high tide.
The people in the city are friendly so don’t be shy to ask for directions or suggestions
I hope you have nice weather and enjoy your visit!!