Toronto Accom and info wanted

balsingh

I am planning my first ever trip to Canada and intend to go to Toronto for 7 nights.

Firstly, how far is it from the AIrport to the main city. Is it inconvenient to get accomodation near the airport? Should I just stick to the city?

Also, how far away is Niagara falls? Is it worth spending a nite there?

Finally, someone told me that if you have the correct visa, you can cross over to the states. How easy is this? Where in the states do you end up once across the border?

Thanks in advance,
Bal.

zappahey

It's about an hour on the shuttle bus into town and you might as well get a hotel in town if you want to enjoy it with no transport issues.

Niagara Falls is about an hour to 90 minutes drive from Toronto. In places it's a bit like Blackpool on steroids so, if that's your thing, then spend the night. More seriously, they illuminate the falls at night time and that can be worth seeing.

You can walk across the Rainbow Bridge to the US and you'll end up in Niagara Falls, New York. Last time we crossed from Canada into the US, the visa waiver scheme worked as normal. Fill in your form, pay your money and over you go. It can get pretty busy though and I believe they're taking fingerprints now.

Oh, and since you're in Canada, it's still spelled "night"

tafin

How did your trip go and was the advice good.
I am going in April 2007 - got any new tips??
Tafin

balsingh wrote:

I am planning my first ever trip to Canada and intend to go to Toronto for 7 nights.

Firstly, how far is it from the AIrport to the main city. Is it inconvenient to get accomodation near the airport? Should I just stick to the city?

Also, how far away is Niagara falls? Is it worth spending a nite there?

Finally, someone told me that if you have the correct visa, you can cross over to the states. How easy is this? Where in the states do you end up once across the border?

Thanks in advance,
Bal.

zappahey

tafin wrote:

How did your trip go and was the advice good.
I am going in April 2007 - got any new tips??
Tafin

Eh? He only posted about an hour ago.

bangragal

Hi, If you want relatively cheap but nice (and central) accomodation, try staying in the University's halls of residence - we stayed at Victoria University a couple of summers ago and it was really good, plus breakfast was included in the price and that was fairly decent. Theres a subway close by to get to downtown Toronto.

Heres the link: http://www.vicu.utoronto.ca/English/Summer-Accommodations-at-Victoria-University.html

bangragal

Forgot to say, we went to Niagra Falls and the Falls themselves were amazing, although its easy to have enough after a couple of hours, but the town itself was a nightmare..couldn't wait to get out of there.

In general, we found there wasn't that much to do in Ontario itself and moved quickly onto Toronto which is an incredible city. Casa Loma, the CN tower and the island just off Toronto are not to be missed!

tumbleweed261

You can get a bus to the subway from the airport, which will then take you into downtown Toronto, a single TTC (subway/streetcar/bus) fare when I lived there (2005) was $2.25 CDN, and the bus and subway counted as one journey. If you buy 10 TTC tokens in a subway station the fare used to be $2.25, I think it may have gone up to $2.50 for a single now. The airport shuttle costs around $15 CDN if memory serves.

The TTC website: http://www.toronto.ca/ttc/

Enjoy - Toronto is an amazing city, there's always so much going on and I really miss it! Niagara is also awesome, don't miss the Hershey shop there...

LondonCanuck

bangragal wrote:

In general, we found there wasn't that much to do in Ontario itself and moved quickly onto Toronto which is an incredible city. Casa Loma, the CN tower and the island just off Toronto are not to be missed!

Whoah....... hold onto 'er there! :mad: Ontario has loads to do. Ontario is almost 4.5 times larger than the entire United Kingdom. You can't even see a fraction of Canada let alone an entire province in a mere seven days. :rolleyes:

Toronto is a great city but it's a city you need to know to love. Do not judge "Canada" simply on it's largest city as that's not Canada. It's just like London isn't England.

I prefer to stay at One King West. http://www.onekingwest.com . Location is good and rooms are nice. Comes to around £80/night.

Try to take in a Leafs game while you're there. http://www.mapleleafs.com/ If you want to save on money, wait until after the first period begins. :cool:

trets77

Taxi can be Expensive from airport to downtown Toronto but the hotel Shuttle for 2 people is about the same.

We stayed in Delta Chelsea in Toronto which was okay, but not spectaclar. not the cheapest but in a good location.

consider getting a city pass if you plan to vist ,most of Toronto sights ( buy at the CN tower) also Greys Bus tours do a 2 hour guided round trip of all of the city sights where you can hop off and hop back on as many times you like bus shows up same time at each site each hour . $35 for 2 people on a 3 day pass

Pickel Barrel is best place for cheap breakfasts .

Drive to Niagra is a pretty straight road and about 90 mins from airport as mentioned , car hire is pretty much inclusive of all your insurance needs only extra i was asked to pay was Personal insurance ( forget it what do you have travel insurance for ? .) and a discounted full tank of fuel which is pretty cheap.don,t worry if you have never driven a Automatic they are so easy it,s untrue.

Niagara falls are impressive , but the Novelty soons wears off. Niagara is very Touristy. take a drive out to Niagara on the lake about 15 miles down the lake side road if you want to get away from it. Crossing into the states is easy as long as you have your passport. some very Good factory outlet centers around Niagara for some bargain brand shopping.

we stayed in the Sheraton Fallsview Hotel which was excellent and great view of the Falls out of your window if you get a falls view room. 2 nights is more than adequate in Niagara IMO

balsingh

Has anyone ever flown into Toronto, did Niagara, came across to New York and then flew back from NYC? Is that a good idea??

shudd1967

Balsingh

We went in June last year and stayed in toronro at the Shearton and it was fab. It was my partners surprise 40th birthday trip and i emailed the hotel ahead and when we got there there was a good bottle of red wine, cheese, grapes and crackers waiting for us. They also accomodated our room request away from lifts and icemakers - didn't get an upgrade but hey ho - the view from the room was amazing.

We did the day trip to Niagara from the hotel which was very good. Do, if you are that way inclined do a second trip and do the jet power boat ride - it looked amazing. Nobody did trips while we were there but you could book it online and you would need to hire a car. That means you could spend more time exploring the area, Niagara on the lake was a quaint little town.

Great Eggspectations for breakfast on Yonge street - fab!