InMiami

I will be traveling in these three cities next September for 12 days. I plan to travel by rail between each city. How many days would you spend in each city? I enjoy architecture, history and museums. Thank you for your opinions.

wow

3

wow

Have you considered Ottawa given your interest in architecture, history & museums?

zootsi

Montreal & Toronto are much larger than Quebec City, so they should get more time. With 12 days, I would definitely include Ottawa, especially if you are interested in history and museums. I would do 3 nights in Toronto, 3 nights in Ottawa , 4 nights in Montreal, 2 nights in Quebec City.
Montreal is not a great museum city, but there is a lot to enjoy there.
Ottawa may have more museums than the other 3 combined.

JMWF

don't forget about the small places in between the cities. niagara for wine tours or to see the falls would be great in sept.

the 1000 islands would be a good pit stop for at least an afternoon between montreal and toronto,

ottawa is a good suggestion.

the laurentian mountains north of montreal have great atmosphere and restaurants,

the eastern townships south east of montreal are also georgous, you won't find a nicer drive for fall colours that between Montreal and North Hately. might be worth a night.

i personally would give canada a so so rating if i visited for 12 days and only saw cities, the best part of this country is what is in between. (coming from a guy who lives downtown toronto)

train is a decent way to get around, but a rental car between montreal and toronto might give you more flexibility to catch the smaller places.

have a great trip

Carmanah

Definitely include Ottawa. It has all the national museums and definitely one of the most impressive collections of museums out of all the other cities you're planning to visit.

InMiami

Thanks to all for your suggestions. I was originally going to fly in and out of Buffalo and rent a car for two weeks to tour this area. This flight is cheap ($280) and if I return to the car to the same location in Buffalo the rental is reasonable ($550). I could see Toronto, Kingston, Montreal and Ottawa. But, this involves a lot of driving and I don’t think I could make it all the way up to Quebec City.
If I fly into Canada the cost of the flight doubles ($560). If I pick up the car for touring in one location, and then drop it off in another, the cost doubles or even triples. Ouch! My plan is to fly into Quebec City, take a train to Montreal and then train to Toronto. The total cost of the train is about $140/person.
Would you suggest going back to my original idea of renting a car and driving from a US city?

bellini

I'd advise flying to Quebec City,spend 2-3 nghts there. On to Montreal by car (3 hours max) 2-3 nights. on to Toronto, stopping off in Prince Edward County, past Kingston for a night at one of the lovely inns. The Inn at Huff Estates winery looked great. Wander along the beach (at the Outlet/ Sandbanks); wine tasting and great meals. 3-4 nights in Toronto. We thought Toronto was great and preferred it to Montreal

InMiami

bellini...good suggestions but that would involve picking up a car in Quebec City and dropping off in Toronto, a $900 rental. How about flying into Montreal, renting a car, and returning to Montreal for the flight home? The cost of the rental decreases to $475. I could also skip Quebec city.

toedtoes

Last year, I got a flight SFO-YYZ-YOW for $260 (with taxes) round trip. I booked right after Christmas. Since you still have a lot of time, it might be worth it to wait a bit for a better price directly to Canada. If you fly into Ottawa, you can do Ottawa, Toronto, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa. Or Ottawa, Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa.

InMiami

toedtoes...where did you get that rate?

toedtoes

Directly on the AirCanada website. Right now it's showing around $500-$600 for 2007 round trip rates, but I'm guessing that between Christmas and New Years it will go down.

I've been watching it alot this fall, and you can find variable prices on flights for 2006, but for flights for 2007, all the prices go to a "default" rate ($260 for Tues-Thur, and $306 for Fri-Mon). After Christmas, I expect those to start varying and we'll see better deals.

friendlys

I would not stay in Ottawa for more than 1 night. You can go to the Museum of Civilization and then walk around downtown, maybe go inside the Parliament Hill tower. Other than that, it's not much to see. They have Mint, but if you ever been at any Mint in the States, you will be disappointed with the Ottawa one. The Art Gallery is very poor in collections. The church across the street from it has columns covered with wallpaper, it's not even marble!

There is a casino across the river, and the buffer there was pretty nice, for $17.95 during lunchhour.

nukeng

What about flying in to Ottawa, rent a car, drive up to Quebec City and Montreal, then head south to Niagara fall. Then, on the way back, spend some nights in toronto and return to Ottawa to return the car and finish off the trip?

nbujic

hi,
spend 4 days in Toronto ( use one day to visit Niagara area). Ottawa is small - no more than a day.

nbujic

one more thing :
every Sept. there is a huge Film Fest. in Toronto . Check the dates, the hotels may be busy!
nela

InMiami

OK, I have locked into flying into Quebec City and flying out of Toronto 12 nights later. How about 3 nights in Quebec City, 4 nights in Montreal and 5 nights in Toronto with a day trip to Niagra falls? I would leave Ottowa for another time.

friendlys

Quebec is 3 hours of driving from Montreal; from Montreal to Ottawa is 2 hours; from Ottawa to Toronto - 5 hours. Not to drive that long from Montreal to Toronto you could possibly leave Montreal in the evening, spend a night in Ottawa, look around quickly and then drive further to Toronto. Unless, of course you plan on taking a bus/train/plane...

friendlys

Also, you can drive from Montreal to Toronto via Kingston and stay in Kingston for a night. It's a cute little town on the Lake Ontario.