Help with Canada planning - Toronto, Niagara & Where else?

[Orlandoaddict]

Originally Posted by Jake71

What an excellent thread, thanks OP for asking. We are headed to Toronto on 1 September for 2 weeks. We've been before and have family there so will be spending some time with them, but we've been looking for things for the 2 of us to do when not with family. I did wonder about a trip to other cities, and it sounds as if that is completely doable. My uncle also talks about the Blue Mountain Village, he goes there for weekends with friends often so we might incorporate that. I'm going to have a read through the trip reports and see what I can find. We've no accommodation booked so far, we're finding it expensive for a condo in the city. I'm going to check out Airnb tonight.

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I must admit I'm struggling a bit with getting a plan together! As a family we are really looking forward to Toronto and Niagara Falls but are now wondering if the other options are all a bit too 'outdoor adventures' for us :arm: We like the idea of relaxing somewhere near a lake/forest for a couple of days but aren't really in to outdoor sports and are now worried that theres not enough for us to do. Panic!

[tonymc]

For Jackie, we paid £100/night all in for our 2 bed condo, which we thought was quite good compared to the proce of hotels.

Originally Posted by Orlandoaddict

I must admit I'm struggling a bit with getting a plan together! As a family we are really looking forward to Toronto and Niagara Falls but are now wondering if the other options are all a bit too 'outdoor adventures' for us :arm: We like the idea of relaxing somewhere near a lake/forest for a couple of days but aren't really in to outdoor sports and are now worried that theres not enough for us to do. Panic!

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We found Prince Edward Country a real gem. Most of the towns looked as if they could have been plucked form the New Forest they were that picturesque. We stayed at a B&B just outside Picton (Nine Gables), where we had the whole of the top floor (2 beds + lounge) to ourselves, with freshly cooked breakfast each morning.

The owner also had a pass for the beach at Sandbanks which was superb - we actually felt like rank amateurs with our loaned chairs, when everyone else seemed to have brought the full monty with them for a beach day! It was very relaxing few days and well worth the detour from the main road between Toronto and Ottawa.

[Melbatb]

The best week of our trip to Quebec last year was the week at the lake - and I don't particularly like water! We were in the middle of nowhere and just enjoy the downtime!

[Jake71]

Thanks Tony, as we only need one bedroom the condos were looking at are slightly less but same ballpark. We've got a bit of time so will keep looking.

[hexagon]

Ottawa is really nice, the war museum is really good, as is the changing of the guard type ceremony. The houses are parliament tour is really good too, the library is the most spectacular thing you will ever see.
As is Algonquin park.
Niagara Falls has lots of stuff to do, lots of people say it's tacky but it's not well one street is but the rest is really nice and has lots to see.
We went two summers ago, the link is in my signature.

[sophiepop]

We are in the first stages of planning something like in for 2017. We have a distant cousin who lives in Muskoka and she has offered us her house, so we are going to use that as our base

[Jake71]

Well we found a condo last night, depost paid in the Queen's bay area looking over the lake. A good price for 14 nights and it has parking which is excellent as we'll have a hire car. Not sure what our plans will be for doing stuff, we did Niagra Falls the last time and the CN Tower, baseball game, soccer game, Canada's Wonderland. I'm hopeful we will find enough to fill our 14 days though. I'm really excited now that we have flights, car and accommodation all booked.

[Rossalino]

You sound a bit like us - I like to plan but we took advantage of the cheap flights to Toronto in July when the schools break up and booked on a whim one evening in case the prices went up! We also have 2 teenagers - a 15 and a 16 year old.

Like you, we don't really do hiking etc. although DS does like to be quite active (once we get him out of bed in the morning) and when we first booked the flights I did then worry in case there wasn't much to do and I hadn't looked into distances between places etc.

Anyway, our plan is a follows:

First 3 nights in Toronto - we did initially book a hotel but thanks to another Dibber suggesting an apartment, we changed it and now have a 2 bed apartment right near the CN Tower for less than the hotel. We plan on going to the islands, having dinner at the CN Tower, doing a segway tour around the distillery district, probably a baseball match on the Friday night and no doubt a bit of shopping! We're then going to pick up a car and drive to the Blue Mountain Resort where we've booked an apartment for 3 nights. We'll do a few activities there, including the Xtreme Hummer tour which looks good and there are beaches nearby and I also noticed that the annual Elvis festival is on in nearby Collingwood while we're there which could be fun

We're then driving back to Vaughan to a hotel for 3 nights and spending a day at Canada's Wonderland and a day at the Canadian Open tennis tournament.

Next we're driving to Watkins Glen in NY state and staying at the Watkins Glen Hotel for 3 nights which looks lovely - hopefully we'll be able to relax a bit, maybe do a boat trip and if DS is too bored there is go-karting nearby.

We're then driving back to Niagara-on-the-lake and doing the Whirlpool jetboat ride before going on to our hotel in Niagara Falls for 2 nights. Once we get there we're going to drop the car off and then get the Airbus back to the airport.

Hope I haven't bored you too much but as you've got children of a similar age, it might help a bit.

Happy planning!

[hexagon]

Originally Posted by Rossalino

You sound a bit like us - I like to plan but we took advantage of the cheap flights to Toronto in July when the schools break up and booked on a whim one evening in case the prices went up! We also have 2 teenagers - a 15 and a 16 year old.

Like you, we don't really do hiking etc. although DS does like to be quite active (once we get him out of bed in the morning) and when we first booked the flights I did then worry in case there wasn't much to do and I hadn't looked into distances between places etc.

Anyway, our plan is a follows:

First 3 nights in Toronto - we did initially book a hotel but thanks to another Dibber suggesting an apartment, we changed it and now have a 2 bed apartment right near the CN Tower for less than the hotel. We plan on going to the islands, having dinner at the CN Tower, doing a segway tour around the distillery district, probably a baseball match on the Friday night and no doubt a bit of shopping! We're then going to pick up a car and drive to the Blue Mountain Resort where we've booked an apartment for 3 nights. We'll do a few activities there, including the Xtreme Hummer tour which looks good and there are beaches nearby and I also noticed that the annual Elvis festival is on in nearby Collingwood while we're there which could be fun

We're then driving back to Vaughan to a hotel for 3 nights and spending a day at Canada's Wonderland and a day at the Canadian Open tennis tournament.

Next we're driving to Watkins Glen in NY state and staying at the Watkins Glen Hotel for 3 nights which looks lovely - hopefully we'll be able to relax a bit, maybe do a boat trip and if DS is too bored there is go-karting nearby.

We're then driving back to Niagara-on-the-lake and doing the Whirlpool jetboat ride before going on to our hotel in Niagara Falls for 2 nights. Once we get there we're going to drop the car off and then get the Airbus back to the airport.

Hope I haven't bored you too much but as you've got children of a similar age, it might help a bit.

Happy planning!

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The whirl pool jet boat ride is really really good. I recommend keeping the sleeves on the poncho down it does get a bit cold once you are wet. And you will never be so wet in your life, think the universal water rides times 5 or 10. It's ridiculously fun though.

[neilhd]

We also bought the cheap Canada flights on whim. We're turning it into a Canada/USA road trip.

First 2 nights in Toronto, then pick up a car and drive to Niagara Falls. A night in Niagara then the next day cross over to the USA and drive to Scranton, PA. There's nothing much to see there that I'm aware of but it's a good place to stop over, as the next day we drive into New York City. 3 nights there, then head North again. After that the plan is still a bit woolly, but it might involve a night in either Albany or Saratoga Springs (the real one, not the Disney one!), then up to Montreal for a night, then a night in Ottawa (I've got a friend there I've not seen for years), then back to Toronto for another night and then home.

We're taking a 10-yr old (our own, we're not borrowing one). Should be interesting!