fedemma

We are 5

Father, mother and 3 adolescent sons.

We will rent a car and drive around Canada. Don't worry about the car trips, no problem for us.

This is the itinerary, should we change something? This is for August.

20. Arriving - Toronto

21. Toronto 21

22. Toronto 22

23. Toronto - Kingston 23

24. Kingston - Thousand Islands - Montreal 24

25. Montreal 25

26. Montreal 26

27. Montreal - Quebec - 27

28. Quebec 28

29. Quebec 29

30. Quebec - Ottawa 30

31. Ottawa 31

1. Ottawa - Alqonquin Park - 1

2. Algonquin Park - Toronto - Leaving

Another park recommendation?

THANKS!

Daniel_Williams

Hi fedemma,

Seems like an ok itinerary to me, hitting some of the major highlights of this part of Canada. Don't wait too long to make reservations.

Just a heads-up: Driving & parking in the cities can be a headache (Toronto and Montreal I'd say are about on par with Boston or San Francisco in this regard). You might consider not having a car the whole trip & just renting the car for when you're out of the cities or for day trips.

Have fun whatever you decide! Daniel

snowgirls

Just note that you are leaving On Sept 2nd and historically, traffic will be a zoo as its first day back to school. Give yourself way more time to reach Pearson than you think you need. And not much open on Sept 1st as its Labour day, a stat holiday here.

fedemma

Thanks! any tips in between cities? places to see? visit?

I don't really know whast to do about 1000 thousand islands, how that works, is it ok just visiting the place for a few hours? should we stay in kingston or not?

Thanks

Daniel_Williams

Kingston is charming and played an important role in Canadian history. I'd certainly recommend a night there. Queen's Campus is lovely & the waterfront quite attractive. There are quite a few good dining options in Kingston (love the brunch at Pan Chancho). Kingston is a nice place to split the trip between Toronto & Montreal, as well as a base if you want to say, do a ferry in the Thousands Islands region.

ron

There really is no point in doing the 1000 Islands unless you take one of the cruises through the islands. The best would be the 5 hour cruise that includes Boldt Castle. http://www.ganboatline.com/BoldtCastleStopover.asp
If you don`t want to do that, just keep driving.

Since you haven`t told us where you are from or what your interests are, it is hard to comment on the general itinerary.
You seem to be much more interested in cities than in Canadian natural beauty, so I assume you are not from overseas.

garyt22

When you're in Toronto I would consider a side trip to Niagara Falls,... take the boys on the whirlpool jet boats, Maid of the Mist, Cave of the Winds and have a look at Niagara Falls...

fedemma

Thanks a lot to everyone!

I will consider the options.

We are from Argentina. We do wanna enjoy the natural beauty but we also like cities haha.

Thanks!

More tips would be ok tho haha

colduphere

Do you have a place in Algonquin Park reserved? I am guessing you are staying in a cabin somewhere? As snowgirls mentioned there will be very heavy traffic that weekend.

fedemma

What do you think of changing it to not going to Algonquin but going to some smaller parks like Gatineau near Ottawa and Jacques-Cartier near Quebec.

What do you think?

colduphere

We live in Ottawa. We just returned from camping in Algonquin. So we like both places.

I assume you are not bringing camping equipment. so you need to rent a cabin or rent camping equipment which seems like a lot of work for one night. Let me research a couple of places. I will post again tomorrow.

NorthwestMale

Is Niagara Falls included in the early itinerary??

fedemma

Thanks colduphere!

NorthwestMale, we will probably go, not sure. In Argentina we have Iguazu Falls and we are not too intrigued by Niagara Falls, only my mom wants to go, so given the fact that is close to Toronto we will maybe take a day to go there.

laverendrye

Iguazu Falls is much more impressive than Niagara. With only two days in Toronto, I would skip Niagara.

Your overall itinerary looks good to me and there is little I would change.

My condolences for La Albiceleste.

colduphere

I hesitate to convince you to miss Algonquin Park but I am afraid you will see the highway, some lakes near the highway and not much more. Another poster has mentioned:

http://www.killarneylodge.com/algonquin-park/

which would be a possibility. But it still sounds like a lot of work to me as the traffic on September 1 will be awful, and perhaps even September 2 on the way to Toronto. But you said not to worry about that.

On your way between Toronto and Montreal (near the 1000 Islands) is Charleston Lake. We camp there every year:

http://www.ontarioparks.com/park/charlestonlake

You could go there for the day and hike, swim, rent a canoe etc. It may be a bit crowded but so would anywhere you will see in Algonquin. You could visit Charleston on your way to Montreal or on your way back to Toronto. It is not far off the main highway so you will not be driving a long way to see it.

Another option would be to spend the day and perhaps a night at Lac Phillipe, which is just north of Ottawa:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac_Phillipe

Last question - I assume you have purchased your plane tickets? If not you could fly to Quebec City and fly home from Toronto (or the other way around), saving you some driving.

snowgirls

Here is another thought. You could cut out Quebec city and within 2 hours be in the Laurentian Mountains. north of Montreal.I have stayed many times there at Tremblant Resort. Fabulous stuff there for all ages in summer.http://www.tremblant.ca/activities-a...ies/index.aspx

From there, pop down to Ottawa as planned.

eliztravels2

We love Charleston Lake park as well but it will probably be fully booked for the long weekend, Aug. 29-Sept 1. However, you can always visit the park for the day, rent a canoe, have a picnic and swim and go for a hike. However, the traffic back to Toronto will be horrendous. We tried come back once on the holiday Monday, thinking that leaving early in the morning we would miss the worst of the traffic. No such luck: traffic was bumper to bumper hours out of Toronto, and took us most of the day even though we got off the highway onto less travelled routes.

If you can, I suggest you rethink your itinerary and do the Toronto part of your trip at the end. That way you will be handy to the airport .

snowgirls

I agree with Elizravels2, being in Toronto at the end of your trip gives you a fighting chance to get to the airport on time. There is a national fair going on up to Sept 1st and the city is great on weekends.http://theex.co.http://www.torontosu...-for-two-years
Its bad in "regular" times but really bad now

fedemma

Well, I changed it to this:

20. Arriving - Toronto - Kingston - Montreal

21. Montreal

22. Montreal

23. Montreal

24. Montreal - Quebec

25. Quebec

26. Quebec

27. Quebec - Ottawa

28. Ottawa

29. Ottawa

30. Ottawa - Toronto

31. Toronto

1. Toronto

2. Toronto - Leaving

What do you think?

snowgirls

Its a good plan. In Toronto, because it has a special "tourist designation: you will even be able to go to a big indoor mall downtown if you are there on Sept 1st:
http://www.torontoeatoncentre.com/en...Hours.asp.This is not the case elsewhere on that day.
Between Montreal and Quebec city is :http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Attraction...rd-Quebec.html for nature and hikes or just a lunch? Enjoy the trip.