From Buffalo, NY to East Hamilton, Ontario? (New York, Union: home, live in)

[aliru108]

Hi! I am planning a surprise trip to visit my cousin who is having a baby in mid-September but I don't have a lot of money .
I live in Virginia and checking for airfare rates, it would be over $750 round trip, so I've been trying to find a cheaper route.
I found that if I travel to Buffalo, NY it would be less than $200 a round trip, but I don't know how to go from there without spending a lot of money. Can you help me figure this out??!!
Thanks in advance for any help!!

[laldm]

Hamilton is about halfway between Buffalo and Toronto, and overall about a 2 hour bus ride from Buffalo. You would take either Greyhound or Greyhound Canada (they're different - check both Greyhound.com | Home and Greyhound.ca | Home since they have some different trips shown). It looks like it would be about $20-25. It looks like your best bet would be to take the bus from Buffalo to either Grimsby or Burlington, which are 10-20 miles from Hamilton, since Hamilton isn't on the main Greyhound route between Buffalo and Toronto. Grimsby might be closer to the eastern part of Hamilton. Perhaps you could take a local bus from Grimsby or Burlington to where you need to go in Hamilton? Sorry, I'm not knowledgeable on the bus routes around there...

An alternative would be Amtrak train, which you could take from downtown Buffalo (Exchange Street station) to Grimsby or Aldershot (cities close to Hamilton - Amtrak doesn't have a stop in Hamilton either), but that takes longer and costs more (like $50-60). The train name is the Maple Leaf. Maple Leaf - the Train from Toronto, Canada to New York City through Niagara Falls | Amtrak

(Megabus has no stops between Buffalo and Toronto, so it isn't an option)

To get from Buffalo Airport to its main bus station (the "Metropolitan Transportation Center"), which serves Greyhound, or its downtown train station, you could either take a cab ($$$) or take the city bus. The bus you would need is #24 Genesee, or if you're coming during the day on weekdays, you could take #204 Airport Express. The bus fare is $2 for the #24 or $2.50 for the #204. Here's the schedule for the 24: http://metro.nfta.com/Routes/ttpdf/24.pdf and for the 204: http://metro.nfta.com/Routes/ttpdf/204.pdf

Whatever you do, make sure you bring your passport with you for the border. They are super strict about things like that nowadays.

[Amerinuck]

If you could make it to Niagara Falls, Ontario you could take a GO bus from there to downtown Hamilton for 20 bucks. From there you could hop on a local bus for a couple bucks and get to East Hamilton no problem.

GOTransit.com - Home Page

[BuffaloTransplant]

Air Canada goes from Washington DC to Toronto for under $300 each way. From Toronto to Hamilton, you could bus. Amtrak goes from Union Station to Toronto for about $160 each way. (Force of habit; I go beyond the location to Toronto).

You need to do some checking. If you want speed, it is airlines. If you don't mind the ride and want to read or work, take the train

[aliru108]

Thanks a lot for all of your suggestions! What I will do is to take a service called Air Train to the Grimsby Go Station, and from there take a Bus to Hamilton!
My trip is around the corner, so getting help from people like you encouraged me to make this trip happen, thanks again!

[BuffaloTransplant]

Enjoy the trip!