Where to Stay
Cabot Trail Writers Festival 2012
There are lots of places to stay in our community. However, it can be a little hard to find them. We're not going to list all the places you can stay, because we're not sure we know about all of them, and the last thing we want to do is leave someone off our list. Instead, we're going to give you a few pointers for making sure you're looking at a place that really is nearby, when you find one on the Internet or at your travel agent's.
Here is a small selection of links that list local accommodation. If anyone knows of other useful, general links, do let us know! We won't put up links that point directly to your accommodation, but a good listings site is welcome.
The little spotting map from Google shows the range that we think will be a reasonable drive from our venues. Click on the map to see a larger version on which you can pick out the names of places that are within the range. We've had a look, and the map is pretty accurate.
Useful Links
- capebretonisland.com/tripplanner
- www.bbcanada.com/nova_scotia/cape_breton_island/cabot_trail
(Cape North will be too far, but the other places listed here are all within 45 minutes of our venue. We note that the location maps on this site are not reliable.) - cabottrail.travel/stannsbay/accommodations.cfm
(Note that the "Maven Gypsy" is the new name of the former "Goodwill House"; several other properties have duplicate entries in this list.) - www.gaeliccollege.edu
The Gaelic College offers modest, student-style (quad/single/double) accommodation for the budget-conscious, and is very close to our venues . Contact Gail at the Gaelic College: 902.295.3411 or
Place Names
The first thing to know is that our community has lots of little communities strung out along the Cabot Trail. Most of those little places won't be shown unless you really know how to look for them, in Internet searches and phone books and such (yes, it's sometimes pretty confusing for us, too). However, all is not lost. The part of the Cabot Trail that is reasonably close to our festival site runs around St Ann's Bay, and you will find the entire area referred to as St Ann's Bay or just St Ann's. So, that's the first place you can try looking for.
Other community names that you might search as well, and that are within minutes to a half hour's drive of the festival, include:
- Englishtown
- Goose Cove
- Indian Brook
- Jersey Cove
- Little River
- North River/North River Bridge
- North Shore
- River Bennett
- St Ann's/North Gut
- South Haven
- Tarbot/West Tarbot/Tarbotvale
Depending on how far you are willing to drive, you can add community names like:
- Baddeck
- Birch Plain
- Breton Cove
- French River
- Nyanza
- Skir Dhu
- Wreck Cove
to your search. These places are within 45 minutes of the festival site in most driving conditions.
One last thing to check, if you're wondering whether a place you've found is near enough, is the postal code. You can be reasonably sure you'll be within that 45-minute range if you stick to B0C 1H0 and B0E 1B0.
A word of caution: lots of places around here rent by the week, so be sure there's no misunderstanding when it comes time to reserve. Of course, if you round up a few friends…
