Porter's Lake Provincial Park is less than 30 minutes from Halifax. This makes it a great spot to…read moreget away for the weekend, or for visitors to the area. We have camped at Porter's Lake several times, both in the RV sites and in the unserviced sites. The campground is located on a peninsula and an island, which is accessed by a bridge. This is a family campground, meaning there has never been any rowdy behaviour during our stays. There is a playground as well as a small beach. The park also has day-use picnic areas and a boat launch. There are water taps throughout the campground, and a comfort station with free showers, sinks, and flush toilets. The campground does not have wifi, but you can use the park's wifi at the ranger station. Each site has a picnic table and a campfire box. The 10 RV sites are set in two rows in an open area next to the lake. They are angled so each one has a view of the lake. Each site is about 50x50', grassy with level gravel pads, and has 2-way hook ups. There are some shrubs and small trees here and there, but not close enough to the pads or roads in the RV area to hit your vehicle. There is a dump station at the campground entry point. The unserviced sites are in two areas. One on a small hill on the peninsula, and the other on the island. A lot of the sites on the peninsula are good for RVs as well as tents. There are 38 sites here. Most are large. The sites are pretty open, so some have nice views, but there are a lot of small trees surrounding the sites, and, since many are staggered up the hillside, you still have a sense of privacy. There are also a few walk-in sites. The comfort station is at the top of the hill. The island's 32 sites are smaller, so more suited to tents. There are also some walk-in sites that are very private and border directly on the lake. Pretty nice to wake up to the sound of waves lapping on the water's edge. The online reservation system has pictures of each site, to help you pick one best suited to you.

I used to spend a lot of time at this park when I was a kidlet. I lived in Porters Lake and loved…read morebeing able to take trips to this great space to bike and camp. The park is a great size, with lots of places to set up camp, not to mention loads of areas to slip off of the shore and into the water. You can bring canoes and kayaks and enjoy some paddling, or else participate in land fun with bikes and balls, nets and rackets. The park changed quite a bit during hurricane Juan and now boasts more spacious sites, with new areas for RV access. There are no electrical hookups around the regular pitch areas, but if you have an RV you can get on the grid. There are toilets and showers available, as well as outhouses and taps sprinkled throughout the park. This is a great location for a city getaway. It only takes about 20/25 minutes to drive to the park from Halifax, but once you're there you'll feel miles away from town with the natural world warmly surrounding you. Make a reservation and head there in the summer - this is a lovely park that all should take advantage of!

This is a pretty good hotel to stay at. The breakfast was extremely good with plenty of options( no…read morewaffles though but that may just be me) and they cleaned tables so quickly so everything was clean. The pool was small and shared with Hampton inn but it's a nice pool. The room was large and cleanish. There were a few crumbs on the ground under the couch. For your information the reason we looked under is we moved it for the pullout couch. But that's it. The final complaint is that room service was slow. We didn't get enough towel in our room so we asked for more. We had to wait dripping in water for our towels to come so we could shower. But other than that unpleasant moment this is a good hotel

My husband and I stayed at the Homewood Suites on our recent trip to Halifax. We were happy with…read moreour stay. Our "One Bedroom Suite" had a king bed, desk and TV in the bedroom. It had a separate living room, with another TV, chair, sofa and coffee table. The living room was open concept with a small dining table for 2 and a kitchen with a full sized fridge, a dishwasher, a microwave and a mini stove with 2 elements. The bathroom was 2 rooms, one with the toilet and bathtub and the other with the sink. The suite was very spacious and served us well. Our suite was clean. Those who follow my reviews will know that even long before the Pandemic, I always wiped down all hard surfaces with Clorox wipes when I stay at hotels and I judge their cleanliness by whether the wipes remain white or are all soiled with God knows what, or grey with dirt. I am happy to report that my wipes came out clean. Staff were pleasant, but we had limited interaction with them. We only stayed two nights so did not request housekeeping. We had 4 bath towels for the 2 of us, 3 hand towels and 3 face cloths, so we did not require any additional towels. My husband's hair is super short, so with the 2 bars of soap and one bottle of shampoo, we were fine for toiletries. I had the conditioner to myself and we never use the body lotion anyway. The breakfast is buffet-style and free with your room rate. Both mornings we went down right when they opened at 6:30am and the food was hot and ready. You can bring the breakfast back to your room to eat (they just reminded us to remember to bring back the plates and cutlery, lol). There's apparently a pool and a gym, we used neither. We just took the stairs to our room on the 4th floor the entire time as our exercise, haha. The Homewood Suites might be a bit tricky to find as you can't really see it from the street. Turn when you see the Hampton Inn. The Homewood Suites is behind the Hampton Inn and they are in fact connected to one another. They share the same parking lot. We've stayed at the Hampton Inn before and the two hotels I'd say are comparable. I'm not sure if the Hampton Inn has suites as well, but when we stayed there we only got a room (no kitchen or separate living room). Honestly, we didn't use the stove, microwave nor dishwasher during our visit, but I could see it coming in handy if our stay was longer or it would be good for families with kids. We did make use of the dining room table though. It's so much nicer to eat takeout at a real table instead of at a desk or coffee table, lol. My husband, the king of hotel loyalty points and discounts, was able to get us the room for about $100 a night, but the going rate was about $275/night. Just a note that the hotel is up a steep hill from downtown Halifax. So if you will be walking around downtown Halifax and/or by the waterfront, walking back to the hotel will be a workout. Everyday will be Leg Day, lol.

BEWARE!!!!! Currently staying with my family in a queen…read moresuite for a night away before Christmas. Mega disappointed. Just want to leave and drive back home for the night. I can understand a couple issues however, there are a number of things that are pilling up to truly ruin the stay for me and my family. Firstly, the rooms are not cleaned to hotel standards beginning with the mirrors being dirty, the toilet was dirty, the grout on the tile is black and dirty. I had to run to the store to get Lysol wipes to clean the toilet and surfaces before we used them. Secondly, there was no toiletries but bar soap and a shampoo and conditioner dispenser. I had to go to the front desk to ask for a shower cap and body wash. I've never experienced this at a hotel and was really put off. Especially because they did not have any body wash to offer me at the moment, but would let me know if they find any. Thirdly, the room was really outdated and old looking, full of stains on lampshades, carpet, rips in carpet, shaving cream left on walls of shower from last visitors. Rust stains in sink and the elevator floors were filthy. I was forced to check the bedsheets for bedbugs, not the way I wanted to start out my stay. Really wished I stayed in Halifax for the night at a nicer hotel for the same amount of money. Really bummed us out right before Christmas. Tomorrow we will try the breakfast but honestly I don't have much faith in the rest of our stay here. Definitely WILL NOT be back. Save your money and go somewhere clean. My skin will be crawling for weeks!!

Attractive hotel in a good location, but the infrastructure is terrible. The person who checked me…read morein barely made eye contact and did nothing to make me feel welcome. The room was generally comfortable, but the HVAC unit was very loud and inconsistently cooled/heated the room. Midweek the shower was fine, but on Saturday morning it literally squirted a tiny dribble. The fitness room has three treadmills, but two were flagged "out of order due to maintenance" for the whole time we were here. Lively pool, but hot tub barely circulates, plus we counted at least nine large spiders readily visible on the inside of the windows next to it. Although I have been a HHonors Gild member for several years now, I would not recommend this hotel. Again, it is a great location and attractive superficially, but I can't believe the Hilton/Hampton chain can be pleased with the way this place is being run and cared for.

I stayed here for a week for work; here were some observations:…read more The cons: 1. All my colleagues on lower floors were experiencing distressful noise issues throughout the stay. Apparently, the walls were paper-thin for them, and they could hear everything outside of the hotel and/or in the room next door 2. The water pressure in my room was very weak, and my shower experience wasn't optimal as a result 3. Apparently, the housekeeping was not automatically set for every day, and I had to manually make sure that it happens every day with the front desk 4. I did NOT like the design that there was no closet available in the rooms, but hangers on the wall 5. I got that this hotel was set to be the "young and hip" hostel-like experience - but no, it is still a hotel by Marriott, and the guests still pay the full price for it. The residential experience should match the price. 6. The floor in the room was perpetually dusty for some reason; I had to ask the front desk for a pair of slippers, so I wouldn't have to constantly wash my feet after walking around in bare feet. The pros: 1. The front desk was extremely helpful overall, especially Heather. E.g., the plugs in my room had the old USB B connection (which I don't think people use anymore...), but she managed to get me a USB B to USB C cable. It was amazing, and the top reason I still want to give this hotel a 4-star review. 2. The design of the room was overall very clean and comfortable. Although my colleagues had lots of issues with their rooms (too cold/ac blowing to their head while sleeping, etc), I never had these issues. 3. The complimentary coffee in the morning was very fresh and consistently good over the five days of staying at Moxy. 4. I've heard good things about the food - something I should've tried. Next time!

TLDR; Water pressure is good, but that's pretty much the only good thing. Rude and aggressive…read morebartender just flat out ruined our night and the stay. We'll definitely be submitting this incident/feedback to Marriott. First off, the room; the room had this weird bleach/cleaning agent smell to it when we came in. 6 hours after we came in, opened the window and had AC on as full as we could, and the smell is still there. And they just seem to have the AC on an extreme power saver mode or something because even though we set the AC to 65 (because of the next point), the temperature refuses to go below 68. We like to sleep a bit cool, and it's laughable that thermostat itself reads 67~68 and AC doesn't run, even while having the temps set to 65. The water pressure is great though. It's better than even some Westin hotels we've been to. Now, for the main reason why all the stars are gone: My wife and I went down to grab a drink to bring up to the room. I was carrying our dog, as we had just taken him out to relieve himself before turning in for the night. When my wife approached the bar to ask about the menu, while I stood a good distance away while holding our dog in my arms. When my wife started asking, a bartender freaked out all of a sudden and immediately and loudly stated in a hostile manner that there cannot be a dog at the bar. It was communicated in such an abrupt and aggressive manner that we have never experienced before that we were taken aback. There were no signs around as to how close to the bar we could have our dog or what areas are considered food/drinks vs living area. It was not like we were trying to sit at the bar area to have a drink while having our dog, we were merely trying to see the menu and figure out how to order, WHILE I STOOD A GOOD DISTANCE AWAY. As longtime dog owners and having traveled with our dog for years, we understand very well that there are health codes and regulations that prevent a dog from being near food area. But I was standing a good 5 feet away, and there were no indications that certain areas were food areas, as the common space of where (I can only still guess to be) food area and the living area blend in. In addition to the lack of clear delineations, the aggressive and hostile attitude that the bartender had was extremely disappointing. We have been to many Moxy locations and Marriott brand hotels, as apparent in the membership status, and I am shocked to find a worker being allowed to communicate in such a manner. It is safe to say that we do not feel welcome and feel that this particular location does NOT exhibit the welcoming and friendly attitude we've encountered in all other employees at all other Moxy and Mariott locations. Next time we are in Halifax, or any location with Moxy that we haven't been to, it's safe to say that we'll be staying at other Mariott locations, or even Homewood Suites across the street. That being said, the drinks were good though. Low ball is really great.

There is a great restaurant on the campground. Dinner Service and Breakfast. Music venue every…read morenight during season. Ocean view camping. Beach excess. The staff and chef are top. Great place to get away from the crowds. We camped in back of the playground. It was quite and more private. Full hookups. The road is a little rough coming in. Just take it slow. Deer come out at night to greet you. Check out it out and tryout gold mining You'll see what I mean when you get there. Say hello to Justine.

Bought two nights at the Ovens but left after one night because of the rude actions of the manager…read moreJane who was upset that we bought our firewood outside the camp at the local gas station and it was our mistake that we did not read the rules about fire and we had a fire going in the morning, her employee said nicely that he was going to get water to put it out and we apologized but five minutes after he left to get water she came speeding into our campsite yelling at us! Asking us if we had a bucket to put it out?! We explained that her employee was bringing water she proceeded to yell about fire wood and then speeded off. We packed up and left. I believe that there are better ways to talk to people without hostility especially in front of children!

A hostel would be better. 6/13/26 - 6/17/2026 stay. No a/c, no heat, no fan in the room. No room…read moreservice. No room cleaning.

So the airline loses my luggage one night coming in from Texas via multiple hops. I have the bag…read moretag but they literally have no idea where it went. If it appears they'll send it to my hotel. The next morning I go to the Courtyard front desk and it still isn't in. Since the AC worked on only one flight the previous day I wasn't wanting to go to work looking as I did. I ask "Do y'all have a non T-shirt back there? Even if it has the Marriott logo embroidered on it?". She goes back to look and the best I am expecting is a wait staff polo shirt. Around the corner comes Frank the GM with his personal dry cleaning of numerous dress shirts. "Pick one that fits" he says. Awesome!

We stayed at the Nova Scotia at the start and finish of a Backroads bike tour of the province…read more The staff was extremely friendly and helpful in every interaction. In a hotel that is objectively massive, they treated us like we were the only people there even though they had hundreds of guests. There were many amenities in this hotel that we did not have time to try, but we saw a lot of guests heading to the bar, restaurant or fitness center. The rooms and bathrooms were clean, quiet and comfortable, but a little bit tight and I'm average size. The location is outstanding. We walked down to the boardwalk one day and took advantage of the boat tours. Many coffee locations and restaurants are within a few blocks as well. Parking is pricy, but we used the Indigo Neo lot that is adjacent to the Westin lot and paid $54 CAD for a week.

Perfect location in downtown Halifax. Rooms are comfortable service is outstanding and the location…read morenext to the park is perfect for the grandchildren.

Cottages are nice, but very hot in the summer. Although they have ceiling fans in all rooms you can…read morebarely feel the cool wind coming from it. Would be nice if they invested in A/C. Pool is not heated! Had a nice whirlpool tub in the bathroom but takes forever to fill up. Cottage is lovely and has everything you need. Bbq on deck worked great and it cooked the food to perfection. Couch is very uncomfortable and the two chairs along side of the couch need to be tossed out and replaced with something comfortable to sit in. Will stay again, but not in summer as it is very hot to sleep in. Host is kind and friendly

The staff was very pleasant and helpful. The cottage was absolutely beautiful and very clean. It…read morewas very peaceful, which was what we were hoping for. I will definitely be returning next year.