canada drive trip
 

will be in Niagara Falls on June 18 and 19. after 2 days in NF would like to do a little driving to interesting places in Canada but have ruled out Toronto due to gay and lesbian week at that time.
Anyone have any other good suggestions as where to go in about 6 hour drive time?
Thanks gandb7

Fort Erie which is south of NF across from Buffalo NY might be of interest if you're a history buff. You might also want to take a look at the Welland Canal locks which allow large ocean vessels to pass from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. Before sending you further, however, a bit more information would be helpful... age, kids, interests?

The answer is simple - there is no "good" suggestion. There really isn't much to see in west of Toronto. Places like Fort Erie are not even worth a half hour drive. One possible idea is the wine route that runs through the Niagra escarpment. Canadian wine isn't very good, but it's something to do.

If you are into nature, you could drive up to Georgian Bay, the Bruce peninsula.

Your best bet is to bite the bullet and just head into Toronto. If you stay just outside downtown on a subway line (Holiday Inn near Yorkdale, Novatel near North York Centre, etc) , you shouldn't have any problems. 15 minutes to downtown.

How about Ottawa? We did a trip a few years ago to Niagara, then drove to Ottawa. We spent 2 days in Ottawa, which was perfect.

If you like theatre, Stratford, about an hour west of Toronto, is home to the Stratford Festival which has great theatre. One can two days of it with dining and shopping.

Wondering why you would avoid Toronto during gay and lesbian week as one can avoid the "traditional" gay and lesbian areas; or are hotels difficult to find?

On Canadian wines, there are good wines and the industry continues to mature. The signature wine is icewine, an expensive decadent dessert wine.

Gay Pride Week, or day, or weekend, or whatever, does not intrude unduly on Toronto.

Make your reservations in advance, and except for a few streets being blocked off for a parade, (which is certainly an interesting parade) you'll still find atrtactions, restaurants, clubs, book stores, shops, and more, all just waiting for you to come and visit.

Outside the city, I really like the African Lion Safari near Cambridge, and a day's drive up to Muskoka, visiting Gravenhurst and Bracebridge and Huntsville and taking a trip on the Segun steamboat ir fun.

But don't let any Toronto festivals -- Caribana, Gay Pride, Buskerfest, RibFest, Festival Caravan, the Indy car race, the Jazz Festival, The Canadian National Exhibition, scare you off. This is a big city, and can absorb all these events and still be easy enough for tourists to get around.

About Fort Erie; Relatives live about 15 minutes down river from Fort Erie, and when we go to visit them at their house, we alsoways go out for meals, to look at tourist attractions, etc., and so far we've never even driven the 15 minutes to Fort Erie.

BAK

BAK

I agree with BAK. Toronto is a very big city and an event like Gay Pride week hardly creates a ripple outside of the parade and festivities area. If those things are going to bother you then just avoid the areas concerned. That will still leave 99% of the city to see.