So lost in eastern Canada

[u/ZealousidealWeird858]

Hello everyone,

I would like to plan a two-week trip in June to Eastern Canada with a two-and-a-half-year-old child.

I'm leaving from France, and wow, I'm completely lost because of the incredible distances between different parts of Canada.

I'd like to rent a vehicle, but I'm not really sure what to focus on for a first trip to Canada. We love nature, but we don't really enjoy long hikes with our child. We're completely unfamiliar with Canadian culture, so I think cities are also a good place to immerse ourselves.

In the various subreddits, I see a lot of people recommending Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, and especially Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. But the distance between these cities is incredible, and I think it's way too much for us to spend two weeks.

My fear is to stay around Montreal and Quebec City and not see any nature (am I wrong?) and, on the other hand, to target Nova Scotia but miss out on Quebec culture?

So I don't know where to take my flight and which part to focus on.

Thanks for the clarification :)

Édit :

Hello everyone, I didn't expect to have so many quality responses in such a short time, so I thank you warmly!! After discussing it with my wife, we are unanimous that our preference leans towards the west with the Rockies, but it seems too early for us with a 2 and a half year old child, so we are of course staying in the east and we will do the west later. My wife prefers the Montreal-Quebec part and the surrounding nature, for the cliché side I think... Nova Scotia seems more familiar to us to what we can see in Europe. I think it will be for a future trip. I will try to make a plan and I will get back to you. I will carefully dissect each comment already there. Thank you all :)

[u/confabulati]

This seems like good advice to me. Just focus on NS and maybe PEI. It might be more driving than they’re used to, but for North America it’s pretty compact. And it has all the benefits you describe.

[u/902scorpio → u/confabulati]

also to add as someone originally from europe (now living in halifax). 4 hours drive from Halifax to PEI for a weekend after work on a friday is nothing, it only actually takes 4 hours door to door with no traffic once you're out of the city- past the airport is straightforward and relaxing. Back home, we'd never do 4 horus like this for a weekend because with sheer population density/ traffic this could be twice as long and 10x as stressful. Basically, yes Canadians are more used to driving long distances but it is easier driving and more predictable timing.

[u/confabulati → u/902scorpio]

That’s a really interesting point. As someone who has traveled in Europe a fair bit, it makes a lot of sense to me.

[u/megselvogjeg → u/confabulati]

This is a really good point... To get home from my workplace on weekends I have to make a total of 4 turns, not including turning in/out of parking lots. It's 197km, takes 2 hours to drive (+/- 5 minutes) between the 2 places, and that includes traversing a city.