15 Days in Canada - Quebec and Ontário region
 

Hello everyone.
Me and my wife are planing a trip to canada in September. We are arriving and leaving from Montreal (can´t change this). We like to travel on a budget, but we do not spare money on attractions, only with meal, accomodation and transportation. We love beautifull cities, wilderness and wonderful landscape. I am an amateur photographer, and i am interested in street photography and landscape.

I made this itinerary, and i was wondering if it sounds OK to you guys. I am trying to balance the amount of trip with the destinations we are heading to, because we wan´t to see the most we can but we don´t want to spend a lot of time travelling and just passing by a lot of destinations.
I wanted to visit a nice park, but i think the Jaques - Cartier is way to far to visit.
I checked out Gananoque in the thousand lake region, it seens to be a lovely little town, so i was wondering if it would be nice to stop by.
Also, if possible, we would like to see some nice mountains (of course not as nice as the rockies) in a place where i could do some nice night photography of the sky. The thing is, to do this i would have to skip Gananoque and probably stay fewer days in one of the cities.

Could you guys help me out? Is my itinerary ok?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH! We really appreciate your help!




DATE DAY CITY TRANSPORTATION
06-Sep 1 LEAVE BRAZIL (02:30 AM)
07-Sep 2 ARRIVE MONTREAL (00:40 AM)
08-Sep 3 MONTREAL
09-Sep 4 MONTREAL
10-Sep 5 MONTREAL - OTTAWA GET CAR
11-Sep 6 OTTAWA
12-Sep 7 OTTAWA
13-Sep 8 OTTAWA - GANANOQUE
14-Sep 9 GANANOQUE - TORONTO
15-Sep 10 TORONTO RETURN CAR
16-Sep 11 TORONTO
17-Sep 12 TORONTO - FALLS - TORONTO
18-Sep 13 TORONTO - QUEBEC PLANE
19-Sep 14 QUEBEC
20-Sep 15 QUEBEC - OTTAWA TRAIN
21-Sep 16 LEAVE CANADA :´( (9:53 AM)
22-Sep 17 ARRIVE BRAZIL (00:00 AM)

You are zig/zagging and should consider changing the order to:

Montreal first for a few days

Then Quebec city for a few days

Then Quebec to toronto via air with a few days in toronto/Niagara Falls with rental car

Drive to Ottawa/ Gananoque for a few days to complete trip...

That gives you many extra days of sightseeing and eliminates a long train trip plus a ton of driving... good luck

I forgot... Ottawa to Montreal... to catch plane

thats the new itinerary, there was a mistake in the last one

DATE DAY CITY TRANSPORTATION
06-Sep 1 LEAVE BRAZIL 02:30 AM
07-Sep 2 ARRIVE MONTREAL 00:40 AM
08-Sep 3 MONTREAL
09-Sep 4 MONTREAL
10-Sep 5 MONTREAL - OTTAWA GET CAR
11-Sep 6 OTTAWA
12-Sep 7 OTTAWA -GANANOQUE
13-Sep 8 GANANOQUE - TORONTO
14-Sep 9 TORONTO RETURN CAR
15-Sep 10 TORONTO
16-Sep 11 TORONTO - FALLS - TORONTO
17-Sep 12 TORONTO - QUEBEC PLANE
18-Sep 13 QUEBEC
19-Sep 14 QUEBEC
20-Sep 15 QUEBEC - MONTREAL TRAIN
21-Sep 16 LEAVE CANADA :´( 9:53 AM
22-Sep 17 ARRIVE BRAZIL 00:00

Garyt22, i choose to go to ottawa first because otherwise i would be in toronto in the middle of the film festival, and i was told that the city get really crowded in that time of the year. do you think its worth it to change the order?

You are spending a lot of extra money and time to avoid a festival that doesn't really paralyze Toronto like you may think it does...

But your new itinerary is OK except I would keep the car and drive right from Ottawa to Niagara on September 13 and stay overnight and return the car after a full day in the Falls...

Central Toronto hotels will be busy for the film festival but you should be able to make reservations now. Just don't expect discounted prices. Other activities will be normal, even the many restaurants that are not on the festival circuit. Although it's unfortunate you can't do a multi-cities airport route, your second itinerary should give you a good time to enjoy this part of the country.

One avenue a lot of people are using more and more in TO is short term rentals. There are tons of resources here: http://www.kijiji.ca/h-gta-greater-toronto-area/1700272

It's a nice way to be more comfortable than in a hotel!

Hope this helps!

Thank you all guys!!!
One last question, where is the best place to visit some wineries? should i spend one night at niagara on the lake to do that (and spend one less in quebec or in montreal?

I would use one of my Ottawa Days and switch it to Niagara... the Vineyards are 20 minutes from the Falls so you can stay in either area... Niagara on the Lake is charming but can be pricier than a room at the Falls, especially after September 1st...

There is a drivable Wine Trail so you can mix your sightseeing of the falls with some wine tasting nearby...

Garyt22, is it possible to drink and then drive the trail? wouldn´t it be better to get a tour or something?

The wineries offer tasting samples that are not enough to intoxicate... there are however several tour options from limo, bus, and bike tours... we did biking with

www.niagaraworldwinetours.com

I was thinking about going to the saguenay fjord. This would cost me a day in toronto (so i would stay one more day in quebec). Is it possible to do it in a day? or do i need to stay overnight somewhere? is it worth it?

If you want to visit some wineries and are not set on the stop in Gananoque you may consider stopping in Prince Edward County. Some beautiful inns (Merrill Inn and maybe by that time the Devonshire Drake will be open) and great wineries (Norman Hardie) there plus Sandbanks park for the beach on Lake Ontario:

http://prince-edward-county.com/