Toronto/New York Summer 2008

Rockman

Hi-Did not have a summer hol this year as planning to do a special one next year. I plan to go to Toronto/New York for 2 weeks next summer (probably early August-but flexible). I would prefer to fly from Belfast but as I plan to book well in advance it should be possible to fly from any UK airport.

I would like to know whether it is best to fly to NY and base myself there, and just go to Toronto for a couple of days? Should I fly into and out of the same airport? Which city should I go to first? Is 2 weeks long enough? Is there anywhere else convenient that I should aim to see while I am there? Is there a company that puts together 2 centre packages like this -although this may be an expensive option?

Alot of questions I know but at this stage need to know best options for outline of the hol then I can add in detail later.

Thanks

Little_miss_neat

This is almost exactly the same as I am planning - at the same time! We are going for 3 weeks and I think I have sorted our itinery out. We have family in NY and NJ so that takes some pressure off, but basically we are hoping to fly into Newark, spend a few days with family in NJ, spend a few days on the NJ coast, then stay with family in NY, then 1 night in Central Manhattan ready to get 7.15AM train to Niagara Falls, then 2 days at the Falls, get back on train and carry on up to Toronto. 4 or 5 days in Toronto and fly home from there. To do those flights we are looking at British Airways, although we could fly another carrier down to EWR of JFK and just pick up a straight connection to London. It's not going to be a cheap holiday at that time of year but I hope it will be worth it.

I lloked at all different ways of doing the trip and decided it was better to get the Maple Leaf train from NY to NF and on to Toronto. Have got a costing of £150 for 4 of us. We were originally going to drive it but have decided to do it the relaxing way! We will have a hire car for all the family stuff at the beginning and will hand it back before our stay in Manhattan.

Am trying to sort out a reasonable hotel very close to Penn Station for the 1 night but prices are high. We have stayed at the Hotel Pennsylvania before and it wasn;t great but it is just so convenient.

I haven't too much of an idea of Toronto - have been following your other thread for that info! Have donw NY twice before so for you I guess you should plan to spend more time on that part. Maybe 1 week NY, then 2 days Niagara Falls then rest on Toronto? Were you planning NF?

Not much help really, but will be following this thread.

traveller

Hi I went to Toronto 2 years ago and NY in March this year.In all honesty I would base myself in Toronto for 2 weeks.It is a clean beautiful place with plenty to see.NY is fine for a week-I went for 10 days and felt it was long enough!
I booked flights with Zoom for Toronto and booked my hotel the delta chelsea myself-that way you pay on check out.You could always get to NY from Toronto or if you'd rather base yourself in NY you get get to Toronto from there.
By the way, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with NY,it's just that after visiting other states,NY just seemed to much like London.But that's me personally.

traveller

You both may want to go on trip adviser for Toronto ideas-I found the site invaluable.If you just want decent accomadation, the days inn seems good.The public transport system there is so efficient that you are never too far from anywhere really.And remember you get your taxes back in toronto for accomadation and stuff(not food) once you leave the country,so factor that in when costing accomadation.
NJ was the area I liked the most in march,so much cleaner than manhattan I felt.

Oscar

We did Toronto/New York this year. We flew with Globespan to Toronto, hired a car for the day to go to Niagra Falls. Then flew with Delta to NY and Aer Lingus via Dublin home to Edinburgh. 8 nights in Toronto,5 nights New York.