Fun in Canada (neighbourhoods, school, college)

[AButler2005]

Hello all!

I am from Houston, Tx and am moving to Erie, Pa in July. This will be my first time living in the north and my first opportunity to visit Canada.

I am a broke college student and do not have the money to do it all. Do you have any suggestions on what the best things to do and see are?

[Robynator]

It really depends on where in Canada you plan to go. Your question is very, very vague - about as vague as me asking "what's cool to see in the USA?" The answers can be as diverse as "Go to Wyoming!" or "Go to New York City!" - but you're only going to stick to one region at one time, right? And you can only tackle so much.

So narrow down where exactly in Canada you plan to go - how you plan to get there, how do you plan to travel around, when you're going, for how long, etc. Canada's larger than the USA and just like the USA varies depending on region, Canada also varies greatly depending on region.

Most importantly - what are your interests when you go travelling?

Your answers to these questions will help people give you helpful advice. Are you a city person? An outdoors person? Somebody into good food? Live music? Beaches? Mountains? Deserts? Wineries? Cosmopolitan cities? Rural small towns? Remote lakes? Tacky touristy sites? History? Yada yada yada...

Also keep in mind, no one place in Canada will give you an overall picture of Canada. Canada, I emphasize, is a very regional country - different types of scenery, landscapes, weather patterns, temperatures, types of cities, attractions, etc - depending on where you go. Just like the USA... if I go to Wyoming, my idea of the USA is going to be quite different than if you plopped me down in New York City.

[AButler2005]

Thank you for the advice, and I apologize for being so vague.

I actually have no particular region in mind. Everything I know about Canada comes from books and the internet rather than from Canadians themselves, which is why I came here.

I am interested in everything. My mode of transportation will depend on where I decide to go. Time is not a factor because I will be in Erie for more than a month before school begins...

so money is really the only object.

Since I can only afford to take this trip one time, I would like to see what Canadians love most about Canada.

[mikeyyc]

Two words;

Tim Horton's

[Robynator]

Originally Posted by AButler2005

Since I can only afford to take this trip one time, I would like to see what Canadians love most about Canada.

The first thing to learn is that Canadians love where they live, regardless of where they live. So people like myself, living in Vancouver, will suggest you go to Vancouver and the west coast.

People living in Alberta will tell you to go to the Rockies.

People in Toronto? They love their big city - they'll tell you to go to Toronto and Niagara Falls.

Montrealers will suggest you visit Montreal.

People living on the east coast will tell you...

... well, you get the picture.

My suggestion?

Spend 2 weeks and visit one region, then fly somewhere else and spend another 2 weeks in a completely different other region. That's all you have time for if you have one month.

The region with Canada's largest or historic cities don't necessarily provide you with the most spectacular scenery. Likewise, the areas with the most spectacular scenery don't provide you with the largest or historic cities.

Since you're basing yourself in Erie, I'd say fly out to Vancouver, take the ferry over to Vancouver Island (2-3 hours), tour Vancouver Island for 5 days (go to the Pacific Rim National Park and Tofino - lush old growth rainforests, crazy waves on the Pacific, beautiful beaches), spend 5 hours travelling back to Vancouver.

Spend 2-3 days in Vancouver, head up to Whistler for the day (take the gondola up to the top of mountain), head back to Vancouver then head inland to the semi-arid Okanagan Valley (5-6 hour drive east). Tour some wineries (There are 70 there), visit the desert, go jetskiiing on the lakes, and taste the fresh fruit (lots of peach/plum/apple orchards), then head over to Banff National Park and Jasper National Park (a 6-7 hour drive east) in the Rockies. You can easily devote one week to the Rockies.

After the Rockies drive 2 hours east to Calgary - visit the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller (2 hours outside of Calgary), then fly out of Calgary to Toronto.

I've never been to Toronto, but geographically the area is about the same as Ohio and Pennsylvania along the Great Lakes. It's not about the scenery in Toronto - it's about the different ethnic neighbourhoods, the music scene, and such. It's basically Canada's corporate headquarters.

After Toronto, go to the biggest tourist trap in Canada, Niagara Falls, snap your photos, then scram. Get to Ottawa (6 hours? less? more?) which is full of Canada's best museums. Ottawa's a sleepy city... but lots of museums, so if you like impressive large museums, spend a night or two there. Then head to Montreal.

Montreal's historic and cosmopolitan. It's a party city and a festival city. Go for the nightlife and the atmosphere of the city streets. The architecture in Montreal's beautiful and unique to North America. The people in Montreal are bilingual. All the places I've been writing about before are essentially English speaking parts of Canada. The province of Quebec is really Canada's only true French speaking province, but even if you don't know French, it won't hinder you in Montreal. Montreal is like a weird mix of New York, Boston, and Paris. I love it. Spend 3 nights in Montreal.

From Montreal you can drive 3 hours east to Quebec City. Like Ottawa, Quebec City is small and sleepy, but it's even more French and even more historic. It's a small, quaint, beautiful historic city. Spend a night here. Then get back to Erie however you can. Might be best to just fly out of Montreal.

That's it.

That's what I'd do.

[LRUA]

Being in Erie, PA ...you're only about 100 miles from the border Buffalo,NY/Ft. Erie,Ontario....I would cross the border at the Peace Bridge or even better would be farther north at the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls .....Niagara Falls area has alot of attractions ....and in the summer is very crowded with tourists ........drive another 100 miles and you can check out Toronto ...the largest city in Canada with almost 6 million population (metro) ...again lots of things to see and do ....CN tower.... world class Zoo ....Science Center ...etc ...

[shipm8]

You would be doing yourself an injustice if you missed out on the beauty of Canada's eastern provinces, Prince Edward Island's miles of sandy beaches, their church suppers featuring fresh lobster. Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island and it's Cabot Trail. Newfoundland's rugged coastline dotted with quaint little fishing villages, Gros Morne National park and hospitality unsurpassed.

[Cornerguy1]

AButler2005,

As you can see from the variety of activities and areas suggested in the above responses, it simply isn't possible to see Canada in a month; it's just too big.

You've mentioned you're doing the starving student thing, so look at your finances and choose the area you can afford to get to. The rest will still be there when your bank account rebounds.

[edk]

A Canadian is said to be someone who likes to go out and paint the town grey.

But, after over thirty years in Canada, I don't believe that.

[f1000]

there's absolutely no city in America that resembles Montreal, so that's a great place. Other suggestions would be Toronto (but it'll be relatively quite similar in many ways to Chicago)- which is by far Canada's most prominent & largest region.
Vancouver is an excellent place to visit, it is also very distinct with strong Pacific Rim influences that has elements of San Francisco with a setting like Seattle.
You're from Texas? Going to Canada for you will be a different culture. People say Calgary is like Houston, Dallas, etc. I've been to both & to me, Alberta is very different from Texas. It'll be hard for you to find chicken fried steak I'd think