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#11
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Ontario Hotels
On Jan 22, 9:48*pm, (Ed Treijs) wrote:
In article , Lee wrote: For your planning convenience, note that the first Monday in September (this year, Sep. 1) is a holiday and therefore a busy travel day. For your searching convenience, note that Niagara has three A's, like Canada. Thanks for the advice. Is it only the 1st Sep that's a holiday i.e. everyone back to work/school on the 2nd? In which case I will arrive 31st, stay in Toronto 1st and 2nd and drive to Niagara Falls on 3rd. That's sensible. *There's plenty to do in Toronto on the Labour Day weekend, and holiday traffic will be bad. Saturday mornings you may be interested in visiting St. Lawrence Market to see the fresh fruits and vegetables available from local sources. *Peaches, plums, grapes, carrots, beets, blueberries, etc. *However, on Sunday it's an antiques market. I recommend that you visit the Canadian National Exhibition. The Air Show is on during Labour Day weekend and if you have an interest in this sort of thing, it's basically included with your CNE admission. Make sure you visit the CN tower in the afternoon, so you see the view by day and then by night. Where abouts do you live? Toronto itself or on the outskirts? We're actually having our honeymoon there as a bit of a reconnaissance because we hope to emigrate to Canada in a few years. We're actually keen on Ottawa and are thinking somewhere between there and Toronto. We'd like to see some of the smaller towns as well as the big cities during our visit. I'd appreciate it if you could tell me a bit about the place. Peterborough and Kingston are the biggest cities between Toronto and Ottawa. Peterborough has a lot of manufacturing and a university, while Kingston is more of a government plus university town. *Smaller cities include Belleville and Trenton. *There are plenty of smaller towns that were settled back in the 1800s which time has mostly forgot, but I'm not sure that you would want to settle in the more isolated ones. Belleville and Trenton are somewhat bilingual, Kingston less so, and Peterborough almost not at all as far as I have noticed. A lot of the countryside between Toronto and Ottawa is on the rocky, swampy Canadian Shield. Some of it is rolling glacial topography of moraines and drumlins. Plus there's the Lake Ontario shoreline which has a lot of small towns and cities strung along it. *Almost all date from pioneer days, some back to the United Empire Loyalists in the late 1700s. Note that the strip between Toronto and Ottawa is 400 km long and 50-60 km so that's a lot of territory. *Your reconnaissance will be pretty preliminary. Thanks for your post, very informative. I appreciate my first visit will be very preliminary but you have to start somewhere. We'd like to see some of the major cities and get a feel for the country during our first visit (traditions and culture, beauty, the people and that sort of thing) and whilst driving between places we will stop off and have a look at some of the smaller places and take in some of the countryside. Just that corridor between Toronto and Ottawa, maybe stretching to Montreal, is not much smaller than the UK (and a lot less populated!). |
#12
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Ontario Hotels
I've started to finalise my route as follows, haven't decided on
places to stay yet because I need to decide on my budget: Sun - Arrive 17:00 Sun/Mon - Toronto Tue/Wed - Niagara Falls Wed - Nr Toronto Thu - Nr Algonquin Fri/Sat/Sun - Ottawa Mon/Tue - Montreal Wed- Nr Kingston Thu - Nr Belleville / Prince Edward Fri - Toronto (Meal booked at 360 restaurant) Sat - Depart 19:00 Any thoughts on this? |
#13
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Ontario Hotels
Lee wrote:
I've started to finalise my route as follows, haven't decided on places to stay yet because I need to decide on my budget: Sun - Arrive 17:00 Sun/Mon - Toronto Tue/Wed - Niagara Falls Wed - Nr Toronto Thu - Nr Algonquin Fri/Sat/Sun - Ottawa Mon/Tue - Montreal Wed- Nr Kingston Thu - Nr Belleville / Prince Edward Fri - Toronto (Meal booked at 360 restaurant) Sat - Depart 19:00 Any thoughts on this? Just a few thoughts. Niagara Falls is about 1 1/2 drive from Toronto. Rather than spending 3/4 of an hour to get to a downtown hotel, getting settled, unpacking and then having to pack again, go directly to Niagara Falls and get the travel out of the way. That gives you a travel free day in Niagara and saves the hassles of checking into one more hotel. I am not sure of the advantages of visiting Kingston and Belleville, but there is an interesting air force museum in Trenton. There are some nice resorts in Algonquin, but they tend to be quite expensive. You migh consider grabbing a hotel in Huntsville, which is about 25 miles from the park. It is beautiful in Algonquin in September, so long as it is not raining. If the weather turns foul you might want to scrub that leg, though the drive up from Orillia on is quite scenic. Just as a suggestion,. you might find it interesting to swing over by Midland and see Ste. Marie Among the Huron. Montreal is a nice city and one of the most economical cities to visit because there are lots of good deals on hotels and you can get great meals for very reasonable prices. All in all, it seems like a lot of driving over a short period.of time. If you spend extra time in Montreal or Toronto you can skip Kingston and Belleville. Perhaps you could just get an early start and stop at those spots along the way. It is a 5-6 hour drive from Montreal to Toronto. |
#14
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Ontario Hotels
Dave Smith wrote:
Lee wrote: I've started to finalise my route as follows, haven't decided on places to stay yet because I need to decide on my budget: Sun - Arrive 17:00 Sun/Mon - Toronto Tue/Wed - Niagara Falls Wed - Nr Toronto Thu - Nr Algonquin Fri/Sat/Sun - Ottawa Mon/Tue - Montreal Wed- Nr Kingston Thu - Nr Belleville / Prince Edward Fri - Toronto (Meal booked at 360 restaurant) Sat - Depart 19:00 Any thoughts on this? Just a few thoughts. Niagara Falls is about 1 1/2 drive from Toronto. Rather than spending 3/4 of an hour to get to a downtown hotel, getting settled, unpacking and then having to pack again, go directly to Niagara Falls and get the travel out of the way. That gives you a travel free day in Niagara and saves the hassles of checking into one more hotel. I am not sure of the advantages of visiting Kingston and Belleville, but there is an interesting air force museum in Trenton. There are some nice resorts in Algonquin, but they tend to be quite expensive. You migh consider grabbing a hotel in Huntsville, which is about 25 miles from the park. It is beautiful in Algonquin in September, so long as it is not raining. If the weather turns foul you might want to scrub that leg, though the drive up from Orillia on is quite scenic. Just as a suggestion,. you might find it interesting to swing over by Midland and see Ste. Marie Among the Huron. Montreal is a nice city and one of the most economical cities to visit because there are lots of good deals on hotels and you can get great meals for very reasonable prices. All in all, it seems like a lot of driving over a short period.of time. If you spend extra time in Montreal or Toronto you can skip Kingston and Belleville. Perhaps you could just get an early start and stop at those spots along the way. It is a 5-6 hour drive from Montreal to Toronto. I was going to say much the same things Dave has said - good advice. The only problem might be that Niagara Falls may be very booked up on Sunday as it is the holiday weekend - better check that if you decide to go there first. -- =========================== Sawyer Nicknames http://sawyer.xtreemhost.com/ Seinfeld Trivia, Lists, and Scripts http://seinfeld.xtreemhost.com/ =========================== |
#15
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Ontario Hotels
"TheNewsGuy(Mike)" wrote:
Sun - Arrive 17:00 Sun/Mon - Toronto Tue/Wed - Niagara Falls Wed - Nr Toronto Thu - Nr Algonquin Fri/Sat/Sun - Ottawa Mon/Tue - Montreal Wed- Nr Kingston Thu - Nr Belleville / Prince Edward Fri - Toronto (Meal booked at 360 restaurant) Sat - Depart 19:00 Any thoughts on this? Just a few thoughts. Niagara Falls is about 1 1/2 drive from Toronto. Rather than spending 3/4 of an hour to get to a downtown hotel, getting settled, unpacking and then having to pack again, go directly to Niagara Falls and get the travel out of the way. That gives you a travel free day in Niagara and saves the hassles of checking into one more hotel. I am not sure of the advantages of visiting Kingston and Belleville, but there is an interesting air force museum in Trenton. There are some nice resorts in Algonquin, but they tend to be quite expensive. You migh consider grabbing a hotel in Huntsville, which is about 25 miles from the park. It is beautiful in Algonquin in September, so long as it is not raining. If the weather turns foul you might want to scrub that leg, though the drive up from Orillia on is quite scenic. Just as a suggestion,. you might find it interesting to swing over by Midland and see Ste. Marie Among the Huron. Montreal is a nice city and one of the most economical cities to visit because there are lots of good deals on hotels and you can get great meals for very reasonable prices. All in all, it seems like a lot of driving over a short period.of time. If you spend extra time in Montreal or Toronto you can skip Kingston and Belleville. Perhaps you could just get an early start and stop at those spots along the way. It is a 5-6 hour drive from Montreal to Toronto. I was going to say much the same things Dave has said - good advice. The only problem might be that Niagara Falls may be very booked up on Sunday as it is the holiday weekend - better check that if you decide to go there first. That's true, and he he makes a reservation now it should not be a problem. Tourism has been down in Niagara Falls lately because of the low American dollar, and in September they start getting a lot of tour groups from Europe. I might suggest the Best Western in Jordan. It is right on the lack, and only about 20 minutes from the falls. My aunt and uncle stayed there last year when they came up from Florida and we met them there for dinner. It's a nice place and has a pretty good restaurant. It is also close to a number of nice restaurants and wineries. |
#16
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Ontario Hotels
"TheNewsGuy(Mike)" schrieb
I was going to say much the same things Dave has said - good advice. The only problem might be that Niagara Falls may be very booked up on Sunday as it is the holiday weekend - better check that if you decide to go there first. I'd look for accomodation a bit farther away from Niagara Falls: The town itself is quite ugly. Niagara-On-The-Lake (might be booked up too, of course) is really pretty, St. Catherines, Thorold, Welland... should have more than enough Hotels and Motels, and there are many smaller places with lots of B&Bs to choose from, surrounded by Vinyards. The falls are always just a short drive away. Jochen from Germany |
#17
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Ontario Hotels
Thanks for all the excellent tips so far, it's starting to come
together. I will take on board your comments and have another look at my route tonight when I get home. I'm trying to make it a circular trip so I see a bit more of the open road. Initially I had Toronto- Niagara-Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto but it was far too linear. Adding in Algonquin and Belleville gives me a bit more variety, not too sure about Kingston, think I might drop that in favour of somewhere else. We plan to stop of during the journeys and see a few other places en route anyway. Thanks again for the advice and keep the places to stay and places to visit coming. |
#18
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Ontario Hotels
Lee wrote:
Thanks for all the excellent tips so far, it's starting to come together. I will take on board your comments and have another look at my route tonight when I get home. I'm trying to make it a circular trip so I see a bit more of the open road. Initially I had Toronto- Niagara-Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto but it was far too linear. Adding in Algonquin and Belleville gives me a bit more variety, not too sure about Kingston, think I might drop that in favour of somewhere else. We plan to stop of during the journeys and see a few other places en route anyway. Thanks again for the advice and keep the places to stay and places to visit coming. Since you were talking about emigrating to the Toronto area you might want to reconsider the Montreal visit. Don't get me wrong. It is a nice city, and as I mentioned before, a very affordable city for tourists. Unless you speak French your career options are limited, so the time it would take to go there will detract from the time spent in southern . Going up through Muskoka and Algonquin will give you the opportunity to see what it has to offer, but only as vacation material. Employment opportunities up there are limited. |
#19
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Ontario Hotels
On Jan 24, 11:00 am, Lee wrote:
Thanks for all the excellent tips so far, it's starting to come together. I will take on board your comments and have another look at my route tonight when I get home. I'm trying to make it a circular trip so I see a bit more of the open road. Initially I had Toronto-Niagara-Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto but it was far too linear. Adding in Algonquin and Belleville gives me a bit more variety, not too sure about Kingston, think I might drop that in favour of somewhere else. We plan to stop of during the journeys and see a few other places en route anyway. Thanks again for the advice and keep the places to stay and places to visit coming. It depends on what you're looking for but if you're also scouting for a possible place to live I'd recommend visiting Kingston rather than Bellville. Nothing against Belleville but Kingston at ~ 115k population is quite a bit bigger than Belleville and is likely to offer better employment opportunities. It also is a nice lake side city. (This is Lake Ontario ie a good-sized freshwater lake.) Both cities offer quick access to the country and to Lake Ontario if you're interested in sailing. From the health services point of view Kingston has a medical school and tertiary care hospital which may or may not be usefull to your wife. When traveling from Ottawa to Toronto the normal route seems to be Hwy 417 to Hwy 401. A different route that adds very little to time but which is much more scenic is Hwy 7 to Perth, Ontario, ( good place for lunch) then County Road 10 m through the Village of Westport ( another good place for lunch) to Kingston and take the 401 from there. As places to stay in Kingston, I'd recommend checking out some of the "bed and breakfast' places. The Secret Garden, the Rosemont or the Hochalaga are all more like small luxury hotels than what I'd call a bed and breakfast. The three mentioned are in the centre of town, allowing easy access (walking distance in many cases) to restaurants, tourist places etc. The hotels are just hotels - boring albeit perhaps a bit cheaper? For a bit of a change Kingston is about a 20 minutes by free ferry from Wolfe Island which offers a reportedly quite good hotel (The General Wolfe) in the village (population perhaps 300?) about 100m from the ferry or you might want to try a rural bed and breakfast at the Bayfield Bay Bed and Breakfast Inn on the other sidte of the island. http://www.bbcanada.com/8368.html . It might be a nice opportunity to get into a quite rural atmosphere. For Ottawa, I'd second the Lord Elgin recommendation but also suggest that you might want to have a look at some of the hotels in Gatineau (Hull), just across the river from Ottawa. The Four Points on Laurier St is good. I am not sure but prices might be a bit better and the location is just about as good though a slightly longer walk( extra 10 minutes perhaps?) to the Parliament Buildings and the better Ottawa restaurants but closer to riverside parks and the Museum of Civilization. However the Four Points is also close to some good local restaurants. I recommend Le Tartuffe just around the corner from the Four Points. John Kane, Kingston ON Canada |
#20
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Ontario Hotels
Lee Meadowcroft:
I've started to finalise my route as follows, haven't decided on places to stay yet because I need to decide on my budget: Sun - Arrive 17:00 Sun/Mon - Toronto Tue/Wed - Niagara Falls Wed - Nr Toronto Thu - ... Dave Smith: Just a few thoughts. Niagara Falls is about 1 1/2 drive from Toronto. Rather than spending 3/4 of an hour to get to a downtown hotel, getting settled, unpacking and then having to pack again, go directly to Niagara Falls and get the travel out of the way. Agreed, if you're flying into Toronto and renting a car immediately on arrival rather than later. At the airport you're already on the west side of the city (it's just outside the western city limit, in Mississauga), so you can get to the Niagara region without driving through Toronto. Leaving the airport, take highway 427 south about 2 km to highway 401; then 401 west about 6 km to highway 403, which also goes west. After about 20 km, highway 403 merges onto the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), which is signed British-style with destination cities instead of the normal way with directions. At this point you are on the QEW to Hamilton, which then curves around the end of Lake Ontario and becomes the QEW to Niagara Falls. At some point highway 403 splits off again, but now you ignore it and stay on the QEW. If Niagara Falls is your destination, highway 420 is the usual exit. (An alternate route from the airport is to stay on 427 south to the QEW, but in my experience there tends to be more traffic that way.) These are all freeways with 100 km/h speed limits and traffic usually a bit above that. There are also back roads with lower speed limits that will provide scenic alternatives with lighter traffic, when they aren't going through cities and towns. You might want to try one of those routes on the way back, although they can be trickier to navigate. -- Mark Brader, Toronto "People say I'm a skeptic -- but I find that hard to believe." My text in this article is in the public domain. |
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