Cabot Trail Bus Tour for Cruise Excursion

Cape Breton Island, Canada

Great choice

5+ bookings last month.

4 to 7 hours (approx.)
Pickup offered
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

Why travelers loved this

4.0

· Luzette_P ·

Oct 2025

We were in a van holding 12 passengers. Nice small group. Our guide Tom, was a native and knew the area and the traffic and best routes. He often pulled over for us for photo opportunities and he was terrific. We got back to the ship with time to spare. Pretty scenery with fall colors.

· John_P ·

Oct 2025

Absolutely gorgeous, peak foliage. Had a fantastic time with a great guide who was a native to the island, he gave us some great details and a very interesting history of the island.

Explore our promoted experiences

Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

Hiking Trail at Louisbourg Lighthouse Scenic Coastal Views Tour

from $96

Cabot Trail: a Smartphone Audio Driving Tour

Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

4.4

(118)

Cabot Trail: a Smartphone Audio Driving Tour

from $9

Per group

Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

Mini Cabot Scenic Drive and Bell Museum Experience

from $125

Viator earns higher commissions on experiences featured here

Overview

What's Included

Air-conditioned vehicle
admission fees
Guide In-person: English

Lunch

Lunch is not included, but we will stop at restaurants during the tour and you can purchase your own meals if you wish.

Meeting and Pickup

You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup

Pickup point

Port of Sydney, N.S.
90 Esplanade, Sydney, NS B1P 1A4, Canada

Pickup details

Our vehicles will be parked at the port and our drivers and tour guides will hold a sign of Bannockburn Tours waiting for our clients. The tour wont be started until we collect all of the confirmed passengers or 30 mins after the actual docking time. So we would be appreciated if you can get off the ship as soon as you can so that you wont miss the tour. And we will make sure that our vehicles will be back on time (around 1 hour ahead of the sailing time) so that our clients have no problem to catch up the ship.

Meeting point

Port of Sydney, N.S.
90 Esplanade, Sydney, NS B1P 1A4, Canada

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Arranged start time

Confirm time with the local provider in advance of your experience.

08/31/2025 - 04/08/2027
Monday - Sunday : 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Itinerary

Cabot Trail

6 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Service animals allowed

Near public transportation
Infant seats available
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 14 travelers

Supplied by

Frequently Asked Question (1)

Q:What is the return time for cruise passengers on the Cabot Trail Bus Tour for Cruise Excursion?

A:The tour schedule is flexible as this is specially designed for the passengers coming from cruise ships. The tour won't start until all confirmed clients are collected or 30 mins later than the docking time. You are retuned to the ship at least 1 hour prior to sailing time.

Aug 2023

The answers provided are based on answers previously given by the tour provider to customers’ questions.

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Featured review

Gena_L

This small group tour along the Cabot Trail was spectacular! Our guide and driver Bob was AMAZING! He was so knowledgeable of all of the history around the area and had many interesting stories to tell us along our drive. He knew the best places to stop along the way to get great pictures of the beautiful colorful trees! He even had a great cafe for us to stop and get sandwiches and treats for lunch. He also took us to see lobster traps and boats in the harbor. He explained how the traps worked as well. I highly recommend Bannock Tours for this excursion.

Reviews

4.0

based on 138 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Made the best of the situation and we were just fine!

Kathy_C, Nov 2025

There weren't a lot of options for this area so we felt lucky to find a "small group tour" that was only suppose to be 14 people. Due to a broken down bus, our tour was combined with another one so we ended up on one big full bus tour. The scenery was spectacular and the guide was great (when you could hear him) but getting over 40 senior citizens off and on a bus at each stop took a lot of time. They did buy us a "free" ice cream cone for the inconvenience which was a nice gesture but I really was looking forward to a more intimate tour where the conversation can be heard more easily. The other snafu is that since it was an all day tour, they typically stop at this cute little place for lunch but given the situation, this cute little place got 40 people dropped off instead of 14 so they weren't prepared with enough food so we kind of just got what was left by the end of the line. Luckily, the food wasn't the important part....our tour wasn't cancelled and we still got to see beautiful Sydney, Nova Scotia with all of the fall colors!

Captain Bob and The Cabot Trail

Sherie_Y, Oct 2025

It was one of the most amazing excursion. Our driver/guide BOB was a local from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, his experience was unmatched! He was so lively and informative. He knew all the back roads so that we were never in competition with other tours, nor stuck in traffic. It was our luck that the cruise line was booked up on this popular excursion. So I had to research to find which outside tour would offer the same excursion (The Cabot Trail). It turned out that it was better priced than the other tour companies. The views he lead us to breath taking. I can tell you in the future we will be using Viator in the future. They were punctual picking us up and dropping us off.

View the beautiful Cabot Trail with Bob!

Lisa_L, Oct 2025

This was a wonderful tour of the beautiful Cabot Trail. The fall color was spectacular, even on a cloudy day. The Atlantic coastline is impressive. Our guide/driver, Bob, was absolutely wonderful. Having been born and raised on Cape Breton he knew so much information about the area. He was very congenial, and also a very good driver. He made sure we stayed on time to get back to our cruise ship - allowing for road construction delays along the way.

Beautiful fall colors

Glenn_T, Oct 2025

Experienced driver and tour guide who showed and talked to us about all the sights and foliage along the way.

Spectacular Colors to See

Gena_L, Oct 2025

The sites were absolutely...

Bonnema_K, Oct 2025

The sites were absolutely stunning! A must do in fall! Tom was an awesome tour guide and knew all the right spots to stop!

Cabot Trail with Bob

Patricia_B, Oct 2025

Fantastic guide (Bob) who drove our small group through spectacular scenery and shared his vast and interesting knowledge of the area and it’s history.

Color

John_P, Oct 2025

Absolutely gorgeous, peak foliage. Had a fantastic time with a great guide who was a native to the island, he gave us some great details and a very interesting history of the island.

Great Scenic Views

Wanda_C, Oct 2025

We drove a long winding road which had beautiful scenic fall vistas. It was Canada's Thanksgiving. The driver was funny, and he was a local. We were not able to take the ferry because of the long wait. So we missed that experience. The driver made lots of stops for pics and bathroom breaks. We had 1 food stop, and ate in van as we moved forward. Overall, I had fun with people on the van.

Kind of Boring

Darren_T, Oct 2025

To be honest, the experience left a bit to be desired. The majority of the tour involved long stretches of driving on the bus down the highway, with the scenery looking mostly the same throughout the journey. It felt quite repetitive and lacked the excitement I was hoping for. Additionally, the tour was quite lengthy, but the lunch arrangements seemed like an afterthought. We stopped at a quaint restaurant, which had great potential, but unfortunately, we had to get our food to go because we spent so much time driving down the same highway. Being hungry and eating on the go in a bus full of 30+ people is not my idea of an enjoyable vacation activity. Moreover, the stop at a Celtic College didn't add much value to the overall experience and seemed a little strange. In summary, while this trip wasn't entirely bad, it also wasn't great. I would not recommend it to others and believe there might be better options available

Cabot trail bus tour

John_B, Oct 2025

Easy to locate provider. Comforts bus, driver really did well slowing down for bumps in the road. It is quite a long day. Wish it was a loop and not just out and back on the same route. Good tour.

Cabot Trail excursion.

Perry, Oct 2025

15 passenger van we were in was very hard to get in and out of. A high top van would have been much better. We also couldn’t hear the driver very well as he was doing a little narration during the excursion.

Beautiful Fall Views

Sheena_J, Oct 2025

Beautiful views of the Fall. Larger number of people than usual on the tour, as one bus had broken down, but that didn't really cause a problem. Lots of toilet stops but long queues, but an hour and 15 minutes for lunch. However, there was only a gondola here, and nowhere to walk. As we didn't want lunch, it was a long time to sit and wait for the coach. Driver and tour guide were brilliant.

Amazing

Victoria_C, Oct 2025

It Was a very good experience. I would definitely recommend this tour and ride it again! Our tour guide Bob was amazing.

Small group, great guide

Luzette_P, Oct 2025

Highly recommended - beautiful and interesting tour

Andrew_M, Oct 2025

We had a great tour. We lucked out with weather and we got an upgrade to a private tour so there was just 6 of us in a Mercedes sprinter. Bob was our guide and he was fantastic. He knew the area well and made sure we saw some beautiful country and learned a bit about Cape Breton and the area. We did not see the entire Cabot Trail but what we saw was spectacular. The leaf color was really popping, and seeing it against the coastal views was really great. Bob got us back over an hour before the ships departure and made sure we were aware of timing and what we would be seeing and how long everything would take. Would do this again in a heartbeat - and we hope Bob is still doing tours when we come back!

Not great

rae, Oct 2025

The fall colors were stunning but the tour itself was not very informative or interesting. Stopped at a horrible place for lunch. My recommendation would be to rent a car yourself.

We were a group of 8...

Maria_N, Oct 2025

We were a group of 8 friends. It’s nice to have the van just for us. Tom, our driver and tour guide, made the day very enjoyable as he took us to many places on the Cabot trail and gave us lots of information about Cape Breton. He also brought us on time back to our cruise ship.

Bo knows the Cabot Trail....

John_R, Oct 2025

Bo knows the Cabot Trail. Very knowledgeable and beautiful scenery. The owner even bought everyone ice cream. Just a drive in the countryside though so a bit boring.

Beware of weather

Janis_P, Sep 2025

Check weather ahead of time If the weather is going to be raining or foggy cancel roads can be hazardous. With the fog you saw nothing which is not our tour guide’s fault.

Nice excursion

Deanna_D, Sep 2025

This tour was good, but due to the extreme drought, we didn’t see much color. Our guide was local and very knowledgeable! They allowed multiple picture taking and washroom breaks and a place for lunch or a gondola ride up the mountain. We were back on our ship with an hour to spare before all aboard.

Just OK

Lynne_W, Sep 2025

Bob was a good tour leader in that he explained the history behind the region and had interesting stories to tell us. We liked the drive but some things could definitely be improved to make this tour better. The main thing missing was time management. We weren’t told how long we have at each stop until asked. And we had at least one completely unnecessary and long stop (at a chicken restaurant) that was not our lunch stop and occurred shortly after a bathroom break at a school. We expected to see more of the Cabot Trail. We only saw about 1/4 of it — and NOT the most scenic points. That is what disappointed me the most. The bus didn’t have wifi and struggled to keep up with traffic. To improve this tour, the operator should invest in a newer vehicle, eliminate the chicken restaurant stop, keep a timely schedule with shorter stops so we could see more of the Cabot Trail.

This was a great...

James_W, Sep 2025

This was a great excursion on the Cabot Trail. Our driver and guide were both knowledgeable and courteous. The guide shared many stories that helped us to understand the history of the region and information about what it’s like to live in Nova Scotia today.

The guide was...

Betty_H, Sep 2025

The guide was informative. But our bus was very old and very, very bumpy. We saw other really nice, smaller buses from the same company. The bus was too big to take the cable ferry. We did not find out about that until we arrived at the ferry. That added an hour back-and-forth extra to go around.

Beautiful!

Janice_H, Sep 2025

Joe was wonderful! Beautiful sights! Our bus was too big to go on the ferry which wasted a bit of time. Something that should be sorted out ahead of time. Otherwise great!

Tour of Cabot Trail

Robert_O, Sep 2025

This was a great day. Our guide Bob was very knowledgeable about the area and shared many interesting stories on our tour. Highly recommended

Walter and Susan Fawcett

Walter_F, Sep 2025

Bob, our tour guide was excellent in all respects. He was energetic, caring knowledgeable and made the tour interesting to everyone. Bannackbaum, the tour operator was excellent. We had a friend cruising with us that was also booked on this tour. He did not show within the timeframe for departure and Rick, the tour owner called him as did I to no avail. They even held the tour for ten minutes trying to locate him, but had to leave due to tour length and sip sailing time.

The bus was old and...

Cindy_H, Sep 2025

The bus was old and rickety. The tour guide was pleasant but really did not offer a good history of the area other than this is our new road and that type of thing. The big bust for us was that the bus was too long to get over the loading ramp onto the ferry which resulted in well over an hour of lost time in its self due to back tracking. The company should have known this as there were only 14 in our group and we did not require a large bus that would not clear the entry to the ferry. We made two restroom/ food stops and when we arrived at the first one Clucky Duck there was already a large bus there and there were only TWO UNISEX bathrooms and a very small area to pick out a pastry which took a very long time and we were past our allotted time there. The second stop was a place with both a restaurant and ice cream parlor which was closed and we got to pick something to eat from the grocery store with only ONE small kind of dirty bathroom! I think our narration and the planning for this excursion were not very well thought out nor planned as they should have been been. The good news was after all that we did not miss our cruise ship. I would not recommend this to anyone.

Very long day to only...

Shari_C, Sep 2025

Very long day to only have a stop at a grab and go lunch place should coordinate with a restaurant to do a better lunch. Joe, our driver did not speak enough and give us the history of the area. He spoke somewhat, but there were long periods of times where there was silence

Loved this excursion!

Cindy_D, Sep 2025

We absolutely loved this excursion. There were only four of us with our guide so it was like a private tour. Our guide, Bob, was wonderful. He shared so much information and stopped at such beautiful places. I’m so glad that we chose this over the cruise line excursion. I would give Bob 10 stars if I could!!