For the first time in my life, I am traveling to Canada with my hubby and daughter. She is just 2 years old, but exceptionally calm and loves going to places. There is so much excitement and confusion. Hubby asked me to plan everything and I can't be more happy. I am thinking about starting from Toronto, then Vancouver, Montreal, Quebec City, Niagara, Ottawa among many other. A 3 day 4 night train journey from Toronto to Vancouver is also included in the plans as a friend told me that the journey in 'The Canadian' shouldn't be excluded.
I am looking for advice and suggestion on places I should visit (mostly close to nature places like national parks rather than museums and all), food varieties, travel options, where to stay and everything else.
We are landing in Toronto, where my friend is living and she is already looking to reserve accommodation in a furnished apartment rental named Mac Suites near downtown area ( http://www.macsuites.ca/downtown/skydome-city/ ). I am looking for accomodation options in Vancouver and Montreal on the Internet. Any advice on this and any other suggestions will be really helpful and we'll be really thankful.
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How long are you going for? That's a big itinerary in a big country. I would probably take out Vancouver all together and just do Ontario/Quebec. Vancouver is beautiful but the west coast of Canada is an entirely separate desintstion vacation IMO. Vancouver is very far from Toronto and the back and forth would be exhausting, especially with a toddler.
If you're really set on seeing it all, I would fly to Vancouver, take the train to Toronto, do Ontario/Quebec and fly back home from out of a Montreal or Toronto.
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@Charm54: totally agree. That list of cities is super spread out and there would be many many hours spent just travelling between them! It sounds exhausting!
I would either stay on the west coast entirely and do Vancouver, Banff, etc or just do Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City. If you really wanted you could add Ottawa in after Toronto but that is still a lot of moving around!
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@richa: How long is your trip overall? Your itinerary is like going from L.A. to NYC in the united states---super ambitious and a lot of ground to cover. But possible if you have like...a month.
We go to the Toronto area a lot because my husband's whole family lives there. We've also taken trips to Montreal, Edmonton, and Ottowa. We're going again this summer to Quebec and seeing Quebec city and then traveling a few more hours east to Tadoussac to go whale watching.
Happy to give you some suggestions if I know your time frame.
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@Anagram: ha, I was just writing that that itinerary is like going to LA and NYC in the same trip.ambitous, to say the least.
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I think we need more details to help, but I agree that unless you're here for a month that itinerary is too ambitious. Canada is big. Niagara is one day but Toronto, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver all need a few days each, plus in terms of driving distance you're looking at approximately:
Toronto - Niagara: 2 hours
Toronto - Ottawa: 4 hours (opposite direction from Niagara)
Ottawa - Montreal: 2 hours
Montreal - Quebec : 3 hoursFor just the cities you've listed, not including Vancouver and the west coast, you'll probably need at least 10 days to get a good sense of the place. Then you're talking about "many others", plus your 4 day train trip, touring Vancouver....this is an odyssey.
I'm also confused as to why you're saying you want to see National parks and outdoors stuff but giving a big list of cities.
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Agree with others as this is a huge trip. I've lived here my whole life and haven't seen all of Canada yet! The only way it would be doable would be: fly to Montreal. Do Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa, personally I would skip Niagra, and fly from Ottawa to Toronto rather than make the boring 5 hour drive (45 min flight). Then do the train to Vancouver. I think you could do Ontario in 5 days, then 4 day trip out west, then 4-5 days in BC. Vancouver and surrounding areas are amazing so I would leave lots of time there.
Key points to see:
Montreal-biodome, old Montreal
Ottawa-parliament hill, national gallery, museum of nature
Toronto-queen street shopping, CN tower
Vancouver-whale watching, Granville island, drive to whistler, suspension bridges, grouse mountain.As for parks, Algonquin, Bon Echo....there's tonnes! But all are 2-3 hour drives from major cities. I think you need to decide what you want to see: big cities/tourist stuff, do you really want to travel across the country on a train with a 2 yr old, or more of s nature visit. If nature, I would just do Vancouver and BC. If big cities, I would do Ontario.
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Thanks a lot for the replies. We have 18 days with us and want to celebrate hubby's big bonus day. If covering all these places is a big task, we'll cut some of them off. May be skipping Ottawa and Montreal? The train trip is just for one side and I have heard This rail route is really good. The return will be on flight. If it's not worth it, we may skip it, and will travel places near Toronto.
We'll be giving preference to places close to nature than city stuff if we need to choose between places.
Just checked Algonquin on the Internet and it looks beautiful and I think we'll definitely try to go there. Visiting Niagara Falls from Canada side was a long time dream and we really don't prefer skipping it. -
You may want to look at the cost of the cross country train as I believe its very expensive. I have never looked at prices but have definitely heard from others looking into it how shocked they were at the cost (and $$$ definitely more than flying). As for cities, if i were to drop one it would be Ottawa. Its one of those cities you could do in a day or two and really pass up if you are pressed for time. Its the least exciting of the ones you have mentioned. Montreal and Quebec city are wonderful, very European feeling and Toronto is a must do (but I am from there so I am biased), its got tons of sights to see, its clean and lots of delicious and authentic international cuisines. I have never been to Banff but I have heard its phenomenal and very picturesque and natural. Vancouver is also great, and whistler is worth the side trip as well. Have an amazing time, Canada is such a beautiful country so you really can't go wrong
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I think I'd you're wanting to do national parks I'd skip Ontario and stay West. You don't have enough time to do half the things on your list.
Also I'm pretty sure MacSuites is only for monthly rentals.
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