Eastern Canada Itinerary
 

Hello, a few of us are looking to travel to Eastern Canada this upcoming year and was wondering if we could have some help putting together an itinerary. We are wanting to hit up: Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and perhaps Quebec City. We are thinking about 2 weeks for the entire trip.

I know some of us are wanting to rent a car in each city but I wanted some advice in terms of getting from place to place. Some people have told me to take the train, some people in our group want to drive from place to place. A few people were also interested in a short excursion down towards the United States but with 2 weeks I'm thinking we only really have time to visit hopefully the four places above really well.

Any advice would be much appreciated, as well as any good places/neighborhoods to stay in each city as well as things to do. We are relatively laid back with some older individuals joining us so probably no major partying nights but generally fun and exciting things to do would be great. Thanks so much!

Renting a car in each city seems to get the priorities reversed. Particularly in Montreal and Toronto, driving around will drive you crazy because of the traffic and parking hassles. Public transit is the way to go, especially in the two cities with subways. The old walled section of Quebec also has dismal parking and is served by buses and much of it is easily walkable. Using rentals between the cities is more practical but you have chosen the one area of Canada well served by trains and highway buses.
All these cities promote themselves with websites for your research. Hotel prices are variable, rising for such events as conventions and festivals. Take care when shopping that your prospects are relatively central, especially Quebec City where a cluster of lodgings is on the far west of the city and inconvenient.
This is a quibble, but Canadians view "Eastern" as meaning the Atlantic provinces, far enough apart to have their own time zone.