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I just found that I have the opportunity to go to Montreal, Ottowa, and Toronto for a week in September. I live in Colorado and this will be my first visit to Canada. Due to the nature of the trip, I'll be in those cities MWF working and will have TR to drive. This should give me a decent number of hours to take advantage of the trip to be a tourist. I also have the opportunity to stay over a weekend, which means Montreal or Toronto. So... What should I do, see? This may be my only time visiting the area and I really have to prioritize. Thanks!
I just found that I have the opportunity to go to Montreal, Ottowa, and Toronto for a week in September. I live in Colorado and this will be my first visit to Canada. Due to the nature of the trip, I'll be in those cities MWF working and will have TR to drive. This should give me a decent number of hours to take advantage of the trip to be a tourist. I also have the opportunity to stay over a weekend, which means Montreal or Toronto. So... What should I do, see? This may be my only time visiting the area and I really have to prioritize. Thanks!
Before I can help you out, tell me what kinds of things you like to do in the city. What kind of sightseeing do you enjoy? Do you like fine dining? Do you go to bars and/or clubs? What kind of music do you like and would you like to see a live show? Do you like art galleries and museums? Do you enjoy exploring urban neighbourhoods? Give me more information about your preferences and what you're looking to do and I'll do my best to help you out.
In the mean time, check out my post in the the thread entitled 'Toronto for 1 day' for a few suggestions. The thread is right here in the Toronto forum.
Thanks for the clarification request. I like to see nature (like unique forests), museums (something I can't specifically find similar nearer to me), live shows (again, stuff I can't find touring in Colorado), sports (no NHL in Sept...), company tours, historical locations, music evnts (like Austin City Limits), outdoor walking/shopping (I'm thinking like Pearl St in Boulder), etc.
I don't think I'll have time to explore, so I will need rather pointed, specific visits. I'm not too interested in bars and clubs or fine dining, but if you tell me I need to try a specific food while I'm in the area, I'm game.
Okay, give me some time to think and check out my post in that other thread I mentioned for some preliminary suggestions in the mean time.
There are tons of things to do in this city (regardless of what some posters may say), so it's really just a matter of narrowing it down, not trying to think of what there is to do in the first place.
I appreciate your help. Please keep in mind I'm open to other areas besides just Toronto and a 2 hour drive is nothing to us out here in the West. I'll read your other posts too.
Well, two options for day-trips are Niagara-on-the-Lake, which is a beautiful small town that tourists love to visit. It has the world-famous Shaw festival, so try and get tickets to a play if you can, and is close to the Falls. I haven't been since I was a kid, so I don't know to many of the attractions off-hand, but Google it and you'll learn a lot.
My personal favourite day-trip is Prince Edward County and Sandbanks Provincial Park. Prince Edward County is a fairly large peninsula that juts out into Lake Ontario and has some of the finest soil in Southern Ontario. As a result, there are lots of farms and vineyards, lots of roadside vendors selling fresh fruit and veggies. It really is beautiful countryside, but the star attraction is Sandbanks Provincial Park. Sandbanks has two main attractions, located a short drive away from each other. The first are the sand banks after which the park is named. They are definitely worth checking out, and you will be amazed at their size. They are so large that there are many spots where you can't see the lake at all, and if you didn't know it was right there, you would think you were walking in the middle of a desert.
The main attraction at Sandbanks is the beach. It's a short drive from the actual sandbanks (which are also part of a beach, but not the good one), and is one of my favourite beaches in the world. It is a huge stretch of white sand, with a sand bar that extends a couple hundred meters into the lake, making the water very shallow, with a gentle slope. This means that the shallow waters are heated by the sun all summer so that, by the time July roles around, swimming there is like swimming in a warm bath. It's just awesome. If you're in Toronto in early September when the weather is still hot, a trip to the beach at Sandbanks is definitely feasible.
If you're coming in late September when the water starts to cool and swimming isn't as attractive, but you still want to take a day-trip out into the countryside, the Bruce Trail is an excellent option. The Trail is hundreds of kilometres long, and comes within 45 minutes of Toronto. It traverses all kinds of ecosystems and the portion of the trail near Toronto will give you an excellent sense of the deciduous forest that can be found in the southern portion of Southern Ontario (the further north you go, the more evergreen trees you will encounter until eventually you hit fringes of the Canadian Shield near Bancroft, and the beginnings of the Boreal Forest). The trail is beautiful, and I'm pretty sure it crosses Rattlesnake Point, which is a giant cliff that makes up part of the Niagara Escarpment and provides stunning views of the countryside below, including the Golden Horseshoe, and on a clear day, even Toronto's skyline. The Bruce Trail is worth checking out any time of year.
Finally, in the summer harried urban dwellers of the GTA have a long tradition of heading "up north" to the lake-studded, evergreen-blanketed region of Ontario we call "Cottage Country." I'd tell you to head up there and see what it's all about, but it's not really a good choice for a day trip. Typically, two or three nights is necessary for a decent camping trip, or for renting a cottage on one of the hundreds of crystal-clear lakes in one of several distinct regions (Haliburton, the Kawarthas, Muskoka, and the area around Bancroft are some of the more popular). Maybe next time. But I will tell you that going up north is part of what it means to be from Toronto - it's one of our fondest traditions, and almost anyone you speak to in the Toronto area will have been camping or cottaging up north at least once.
I'll post some suggestions for what you can do in the city when I have some more time.
I just found that I have the opportunity to go to Montreal, Ottowa, and Toronto for a week in September. I live in Colorado and this will be my first visit to Canada. Due to the nature of the trip, I'll be in those cities MWF working and will have TR to drive. This should give me a decent number of hours to take advantage of the trip to be a tourist. I also have the opportunity to stay over a weekend, which means Montreal or Toronto. So... What should I do, see? This may be my only time visiting the area and I really have to prioritize. Thanks!
Keep in mind TOkidd is a maniacally obessed with promoting his city...
Most seasoned visitors will tell you you should probably grant the lion's share of your visit to the Montreal/Ottawa/Quebec city areas. More practical for one, and I think this trifecta of cities will really take you to the heart of Canadian culture.
Don't get me wrong, Toronto is an awesome city but seeing as you're a business person I'm assuming you're already quite familiar with the skyscraper-laden downtown areas typical of most North American cities. It's a unique city, but in a subtle way... whereas other Canadian cities like Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa & Quebec have more obviously unique traits.
One thing is for certain, you'll feel a lot more displaced if you visit the french parts of Canada - you'll feel ''elsewhere''. Numerous visitors have mentioned to me how fascinated they were by the intertwining of French, English and American cultures that occurs between the Canadian capital Ottawa (65% english, 40% bilingual), the former Canadian capital Montreal (65% french, 75% bilingual) and the provincial capital Quebec City (95% french, 35% bilingual).
The language duality really does stand out as a truly Canadian cultural trait, so I think if you're interested in discovering something new and unfamiliar it would be wise to explore the Ottawa-Montreal-Quebec areas - they're the closest major Canadian cities to one another and each has played a critical role in Canadian history.
If you do in fact find the time to discover all four of the above-mentioned cities, then it would be a shame not to experience Niagara falls first-hand (an hour from Toronto) while you're at it. It's a cheesy experience, but definitely an impressive sight.
Provided you're in the mood for travelling, I would advise against staying put in one city during your stay
If that is however what you choose to do... make it Montreal
Last edited by LEFTIMAGE; 04-29-2013 at 02:41 AM..
Thanks for the clarification request. I like to see nature (like unique forests), museums (something I can't specifically find similar nearer to me), live shows (again, stuff I can't find touring in Colorado), sports (no NHL in Sept...), company tours, historical locations, music evnts (like Austin City Limits), outdoor walking/shopping (I'm thinking like Pearl St in Boulder), etc.
I don't think I'll have time to explore, so I will need rather pointed, specific visits. I'm not too interested in bars and clubs or fine dining, but if you tell me I need to try a specific food while I'm in the area, I'm game.
Except for nature like unique forests, Toronto seems like the best overall fit for your interests. Niagara Falls is also close to Toronto for a natural wonder.
Keep in mind TOkidd is a maniacally obessed with promoting his city...
Do you know what "maniacally" and "obsessed" even mean?
If by promoting my city you mean that I talk about Toronto here, in a forum dedicated to discussions about Toronto, and give advice to people looking to visit, I guess I do. What else would I do in the Toronto forum? Tell posters who ask about visiting the city to go to Quebec instead because the language and culture are so much more interesting there? I certainly don't go into the Montreal forum and tell people there that Toronto is better because of x, y, and z, which is basically what you just did.
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