Sydney NS - traveling to Fortress Louisbourg

Does anyone know if there are taxis at the cruise terminal that will take you to the Fortress and then is there a taxi stand at the Fortress that you can grab a taxi to take you back to the cruise terminal?

Hi: I hope you will have a good visit to Cape Breton. The consensus for Sydney seems to be that it is best to rent a car to visit Louisbourg. You can get there earlier than the bus, stay later and avoid forced shopping/bathroom breaks. Be sure to eat in one of the authentic 1744 taverns or restaurants at the fortress.

There is a search feature on CruiseCritic. I went back to the port of call - Canada page and put in the words "Sydney taxi Louisbourg" and found the following. To do a search look to the right of the blue bar near the top of the page.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1178616

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1246870

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1432392

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1288586

Thanks, I think I'll see if anyone wants to share a car with us.

We took the ship's tour and it worked out well. That said I would suggest a rental car so that you can have more time than our excursion allowed. Louisbourg was great and I would have like another hour or so to better enjoy it. DMaugle

We took the ship's tour and it worked out well. That said I would suggest a rental car so that you can have more time than our excursion allowed. Louisbourg was great and I would have like another hour or so to better enjoy it. DMaugle

Is this the tour with a walking tour and then time on your own? We want to see Lousibourg, and that's the only tour operating there. We're in Sydney all day, so I don't know why they make the Louisbourg tour so short. I think it's a 45-min walking tour and then some time on your own. Does that sound like your tour?

The problem for us is that we'll be there after mid-Oct, so the re-enactors won't be there and I gather that not everything is open. Was your tour during full-operating season or the off season?

Anything you can tell me about the tour would be appreciated!

If you are going after Oct. 15 you may want to leave Louisbourg for your nest trip and go to plan B:

Rent a car and take the scenic drive to Baddeck and on to Iona. If you look for the search feature when you are back on the Canada page and put in those two places you will get lots of information.

3rdgencunarder- We were there in full season with a full contingent of enactors. We had about a half hour of guided touring/walking and then we were turned loose for an hour or so. It really wasn't enough time for our group whih included teens and seniors. I wish we had rented a car but such is life. I suspect we'll be back, it really was that nice a place. DMaugle

Thanks for the information. We've heard so many wonderful things about Louisbourg that DH and I have talked about going back on a land trip when it's fully open. So many of the ports on our cruise have interesting places that won't be open while we're there. I'm beginning to regret the booking. Scenery will be lovely, but we enjoy museum visits, especially living history museums like Louisbourg.

DH says it doesn't matter because if our luck continues as it has in the past, we won't go to Sydney anyhow. We've been "weathered" out of that stop twice in the past. :(

I guess I need to do some more research...

We used City Wide Taxi in Sydney. Met us as we exited the ship with sign. Kent was our driver. He was excellent. His van held 7 people; he took us to Louisbourg waited and then took us back to the ship. He even stopped twice so we could get coffee from Tim Hortons. I highly recommend him. We spoke directly to him before the trip.

We were on a Princess cruise which arrived at 1:00 pm. You can imagine the mad dash to get off. While there are taxis available all were gone by the time we got out. But, Kent was there waiting for us.

The cost for the taxi and admission was less that the ship's tour and we able to stay longer at the fort.

Hope this helps

You are right 3rdGenCunarder, you will have to come back. However the scenery should be wonderful so that is what to concentrate on.