Limo and chauffeur service across Nova Scotia

The Maritime gateway

Nova Scotia books chauffeurs for a capital that is the Atlantic region's business and medical centre, for an airport thirty-five kilometres out that every transfer has to bridge, for a cruise season that lands a ship a day from May to October, and for the wine valley, the fishing villages and the Cabot Trail that visitors come for. Halifax and its airport have their own pages; Dartmouth, Bedford, Sydney, Truro, Wolfville, Lunenburg, Yarmouth and every other address in the province price on the same engine to the same standard. This page is the rest of the map: the airports, the 100-series highways, the corridors, the Atlantic weather, the sectors, the occasions and the provincial rules.

The airports

Halifax Stanfield International at Enfield - thirty-five kilometres from downtown, forty minutes on a clear day - is the region's gateway and has its own guide; Sydney handles Cape Breton's flights and the Cabot Trail's visitors; Yarmouth's seasonal service and the Maine ferry serve the south-west. Every one is on the airports page and on the engine.

The 100-series highways and the corridors

The 102 from Halifax north to Truro and the 104 - the Trans-Canada - east to New Glasgow, Antigonish and the Canso Causeway onto Cape Breton; the 103 south-west along the South Shore to Lunenburg, Bridgewater and Yarmouth; the 101 north-west to Windsor, Wolfville and the Annapolis Valley; the 118 to Dartmouth and the Cobequid Pass toll on the 104 toward New Brunswick. The city-to-city service prices each as a fixed fare with the return built in.

Figures are approximate; the engine prices the exact address. The Cobequid Pass and the Confederation Bridge tolls are added at cost where the route uses them.

The Atlantic weather

Nova Scotia's winter is milder than the interior's and wetter: freezing rain rather than dry cold, a nor'easter that dumps forty centimetres and is gone by morning, fog on the 102 to the airport that stalls the arrivals rather than the roads, and a hurricane season in September that closes the causeway for an afternoon. Every vehicle in the fleet runs winter tyres, and Nova Scotia 511 is what dispatch reads before every airport run; a flight held by fog is tracked and the chauffeur re-timed without charge.

The cruise season

From May to October the Halifax Seaport's piers land a ship most days, and a cruise passenger's day - Peggy's Cove and back in three hours, Lunenburg and Mahone Bay in five, the Valley's wineries in six - is priced by the hour with the ship's all-aboard time built in and the chauffeur's return to the pier guaranteed. The Halifax page covers the piers and the hourly chauffeur page the rate; the busiest days are booked a month ahead.

The sectors that book the corporate account

The Department of National Defence and the naval dockyard, the offshore energy and the ocean-technology companies, Dalhousie and the health sciences centre, the banks' regional offices, the insurers and the credit unions, the shipbuilding contract at Irving, the universities from Acadia to St. FX and Cape Breton: the corporate account's one monthly invoice covers YHZ on Monday, the dockyard on Wednesday and the Valley client's afternoon on Friday.

The occasions

The Public Gardens and the waterfront weddings, the Valley vineyard weddings, the South Shore barn weddings, the Cape Breton ceilidh weddings; the June proms across the province's boards; the Mooseheads, the Wanderers and the Halifax Thunderbirds; the Jazz Festival, the Busker Festival, the Tattoo and Celtic Colours in October: the wedding, prom, sporting events and nights out pages cover each.

Cape Breton and the Cabot Trail

The Cabot Trail's three hundred kilometres around the Highlands is the country's most photographed drive and the city-to-city service prices it as a touring itinerary - Sydney or Halifax to Baddeck, the loop over a day or two with the chauffeur's overnight quoted, Celtic Colours in October - in an SUV with the luggage and a chauffeur who has driven the switchbacks before. The Fortress of Louisbourg, the Alexander Graham Bell museum and the Skyline trail are the day's stops.

The rules a passenger might want to know

Chauffeurs hold the province's Class 4 licence for taxis, limousines and small buses and the vehicles carry commercial passenger insurance; the Utility and Review Board and the municipalities license the operators. Winter tyres are not required by law but every vehicle in the fleet runs them. Child restraints are required by the Motor Vehicle Act until the child is nine or 145 centimetres, and the chauffeur fits the seat at no charge when it is noted at booking. The drinking age is nineteen and alcohol in a vehicle is permitted only in a licensed limousine with a partition, for passengers of age; the NSLC sets the retail rule.

What a limo costs in Nova Scotia

Fixed by the addresses and the vehicle class, shown before you book. YHZ to downtown Halifax in an Executive Sedan is the province's most-booked transfer; Peggy's Cove, the Valley and Cape Breton are fixed fares or hourly days with the return built in; the wedding and the cruise day are priced by the hour with a minimum. The Cobequid Pass and the bridge tolls are added at cost. No surge on a cruise morning, no meter, no gratuity added. The fleet page has the capacities.

Cross-border and the region

Nova Scotia has no land border with the United States; the Yarmouth ferry to Bar Harbor and the Digby ferry to Saint John are the sea links, and the cross-border service runs to Maine through New Brunswick's Calais crossing when a road trip is wanted. Moncton, Saint John, Charlottetown and Fredericton are city-to-city fixed fares, and the New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island pages cover the far ends.

Two questions Nova Scotia travellers ask the desk

How early should we leave for YHZ? Forty minutes on a clear day, an hour in fog or snow, and the chauffeur reads 511 and the airport's own status before setting the pickup. Can we see Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg on a cruise day? Yes, in six hours by the hour with the all-aboard built in; Peggy's Cove alone is three. A third, asked every June: the cruise season's peak days and the Tattoo week fill the cars a month ahead.

The Nova Scotia year, month by month

Booking notes by vehicle class in Nova Scotia

The Executive Sedan is the YHZ-to-downtown car and the Valley and South Shore corridor car; the Premium Sedan is the Barrington Street and Province House choice; the Luxury SUV is the Cape Breton and Cabot Trail vehicle and the one to book for a nor'easter month; the Executive Sprinter carries the wedding party, the cruise group, the Tattoo's cast and the Valley wine tour; the Stretch Limousine is the prom and wedding car and the only vehicle in which the province's alcohol rule permits a glass; the Minicoach is the corporate shuttle and the cruise-day vehicle for twenty. The fleet page has the capacities and the booking page prices each class against the address.

Three Nova Scotia itineraries the desk builds most often

The YHZ-to-downtown transfer in fog. Pickup at the arrivals with the flight tracked through the hold, the 102 in forty minutes on a clear day and an hour in fog, and the hotel on the waterfront - the province's most-booked transfer, one fixed fare, and the Halifax airport page covers the terminal.

The cruise-day South Shore. Pier pickup at nine with the all-aboard noted, Peggy's Cove by ten, Mahone Bay and Lunenburg by noon with the chauffeur waiting through lunch, and the pier by four - six hours by the hour, and the Halifax page has the piers.

The Cabot Trail in Celtic Colours week. Halifax or Sydney pickup, Baddeck by evening, the Trail's loop over the next day with the chauffeur stopping at the Skyline and the Highlands, the ceilidh at night, and the return - a two-day itinerary with the overnight quoted in an SUV, and the city-to-city page has the corridor.

The Nova Scotia numbers a traveller might want

Nova Scotia is home to roughly one million people, nearly half of them in the Halifax region; Halifax Stanfield handled more than four million passengers in its last full year and the Halifax Seaport landed close to two hundred cruise calls; the Cabot Trail runs two hundred and ninety-eight kilometres around the Cape Breton Highlands; and the Cobequid Pass toll on the 104 has been the province's only highway toll since 1997. Nova Scotia 511, the Halifax International Airport Authority and the Port of Halifax publish the figures.

Book a chauffeur in Nova Scotia