Thinking of Canada

[JoS]

Originally Posted by FloridaNuts93

It was actually 1st November 2002 - our first visit with the kids - they were well impressed! 😀

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Right. We have been every year since 2008 and varied weather but no snow! Thank goodness ... although I can see why the kids might like it.

[amy56]

We literally arrived back yesterday from a 6 night break (2 nights at the Sheraton at the Falls in Niagara & 4 nights in the Sheraton Centre Toronto).

Our opinion might vary slightly from others as its partly based on the enjoyment of our children (aged 14 and 10), but they (and us) actually preferred Niagara to Toronto.

Whilst I agree the Clifton Hill area (right next to the Sheraton) is tacky - it was very clean and we actually enjoyed the contrast from the natural beauty of the falls, and our boys loved playing crazy golf there during the day and there is a brand new speedway track too. Its rowdy in the evening, but then we were in our room by 10pm watching the fireworks - but its actually quite a chilled out, quiet place during the morning (both days we dropped in to a really nice Tim Hortons for breakfast).

We loved our one full day there and went on the first Hornblower cruise of the day, beside the falls (the Canadian version of the Maid in the Mist - as that now only sails from the US side), and we also did the journey behind the falls walking tour that takes you behind and beside the horseshoe falls.

Our real highlight was walking across the Rainbow bridge into the US for lunch (had to go through passport control both ways and get our passports stamped both ends!) - the US side isn't half as nice as the Canadian side, but how often do you get to say that you walked from Canada to the US for lunch and then walked back!

We would thoroughly recommend booking a deluxe view room at the Sheraton - having seen the position of virtually all of the other hotels (further up by the Horseshoe falls),I genuinely think the Sheraton must offer the best views of the falls - as you have a head on view of the American Falls and a clear sideways view of the Horseshoe Falls - and as we had hot weather, there was an extraordinary amount of mist coming off the HF, and I suspect those hotels that were almost on top of those falls, probably only saw mist most of the time?

We too enjoyed our detour to Niagara on the lake on our drive back to Toronto - although the boys felt it was quite dull!

It was also the first holiday that I decided I wasn't going to pre-plan and just 'go with the flow' - So I don't know if that effected our experience of Toronto, but as neither of my boys really like museums or castles (we didn't bother with Casa Loma), we just didn't feel there was much to do there and what we did do was so very expensive (think CN Tower, Aquarium and an Escape Room).

We also found eating out very expensive and not a great deal of choice (either burgers or expensive places that seemed to be filled with business diners) - but that again might of been due to a lack of planning, as on the last day we seemed to finally get our bearings and found more places, and realised that once we knew our way around a bit better - things that had seemed miles away on the first couple of days, all of a sudden seemed to be nearby & I think the first two nights we chose the wrong direction to walk and ended up more in the financial area with 'the suits' and their fine dining!

We still love the Canadian people and didn't hate our trip at all - We would just would be prepared next time for how expensive it all seemed to be,

[neilhd]

You picked the right hotel We loved the view from our room there.

We drove in, did everything (boat, views, behind the falls etc) that day, and then went to Niagara on the lake in the next morning (with a pitstop at the Outlets on the way).

Also worth visiting is the Rapids which is about 2-3 miles away (we walked it - didn't realise it's quite that far!) which is a boardwalk along the river where the rapids are. Really enjoyed that.

Could have done another day doing the "tacky" stuff but didn't have the time and it's not the reason for going!

There's an Outback Steakhouse behind the hotel. Avoid it - was expensive compared to Florida and not as good.

[amarooney]

We are in Toronto now. Went down to Niagara for the day. The town as others have said is a bit tacky but the falls themselves and the area nearby make up for all of that. Shopping wise there is a large mall about 10km out of town on the way to Toronto. Its not cheap two coffees and two cakes cost 28 CAD and irritatingly like the US they add tax on to prices.