Our early October cruise ends with 2 days in Quebec. We 4 active seniors are now thinking about continuing on to Niagara Falls (bucket list!) and flying back home to LA from Toronto or Buffalo.
The train costs the same as a flight and takes 9 hrs. Then we still have to get a car to get to the Falls. The flight is only 2 hours but the drive should be pretty for mid October--but 11 hours without stops. Some concern for weather--too early for snow?
If we drive is it better to go via Syracuse or just stay in Canada all the way? Is it actually cheaper to fly home from Buffalo rather than Toronto? I looked on Kayak but it looks to be the same when bundled with other flights. We plan to stay on Canada side at the Falls--heard it is more scenic. Is is easy to get to Buffalo from there? Any help and hints will be greatly appreciated!

You can take the GO Transit from Toronto to Niagara Falls ON.
http://www.gotransit.com/publicroot/....aspx?table=12
You do not have to rent a car to get to Niagara Falls.
You can take the Amtrak Maple Leaf to Buffalo (Depew) which is quite close to the Buffalo airport.
Many Canadians come to Buffalo to fly cheaper to their destinations.

Do you really have to hurry?

There's lots to see between Quebec City and Montreal. And between Montreal and Ottawa. And between Ottawa and Toronto. And even on the way to Niagara Falls.

So, a car would be a good idea.

But if there is not time, fly to Toronto, rent a car because there are four of you, and go to Niagara Falls.

As for Buffalo; there can be problems dropping off a Canadian car int eh USA; there are cabs that will take you from Niagara Falls On to Buffalo after you drop the car, Buffalo has not much to see so just go to the airport.

As for airfares -- it probably is a lot less expensive to fly from Buffalo, and that might be worth the extra effort.

BAK

It's a long drive from Quebec City to Niagara Falls, as you have noticed. Some of it would be quite scenic, especially in October, but a lot of it is just a whole lot of nothing (I used to live in the middle of that nothing) along highway 401. There's not likely to be snow in mid-October.

If you decide to drive, I would suggest you break it up into two legs. Depending on your driving skill and confidence level, getting through Montreal can be challenging. After that is a long stretch, followed by Toronto. Assuming you leave QC in the morning, you'd hit Toronto right at rush hour and you'll be driving directly into the sun (something that a lot of people don't think of, but it tires me out) after already driving for 8 hours. If it was me, I'd stop somewhere east of Toronto, like Pickering or Oshawa, and complete the rest of the trip the following morning. If you decide to take a couple days to complete the trip, I'm sure we can help you with things to see along the way.

The train would be fairly scenic, but it's also a long ride.

If you decide to fly to Toronto, you can either rent a car or take Go Transit to get to Niagara Falls, as mentioned by a post above. Go Transit would be a bus from the airport to Union Station, a train to Burlington, and another bus to Niagara Falls. Driving from Toronto to Niagara Falls is fairly straightforward and not that difficult.

For the flight to LA:

A very brief perusal of Expedia.ca shows nonstop flights from Pearson International in Toronto to LAX on a weekday in October at $378(Cdn), with a flight duration of 5 hours, 17 minutes.

Flights from Buffalo to LAX start at $181(Cdn), but there are no nonstop flights shown. That $181 flight takes you back to Boston first, with a total time of 9hrs. For another $23, you can stop in New York instead, taking a total of 7hrs, 48 minutes.

If you decide to fly from Buffalo and you rented a car, leave the car in Niagara Falls, Ontario and take a shuttle to the Buffalo airport.

AK

When we did this trip, we took the section from Montreal to Toronto on the Overnight train with a sleeper... after breakfast in Toronto, we reboarded the train to Niagara... it saved an entire night and was similar to a hotel rate... I slept like a baby on the train...

from Quebec city to Montreal, we took a bus...

Hi, grankath,
If you book now, you can get great fares to fly from Quebec City(YQB) to Toronto(YYZ) on Westjet and Air Canada.
I just did a random search for 4 people YQB/YYZ for Oct 1, 2013 on Westjet. There are 4 seats left for $100 each!!!

Then from Toronto airport you can get Niagara Airbus (Google them for more info)or some such airport shuttle/taxi service to take you to Niagara Falls, Canada. Then fly out of Buffalo to go home to LA.(cab from NF, Canada to Buffalo airport)

Just a reminder that Canadian Thanksgiving is Monday, October 14, 2013 so any time around that weekend will be busy and expensive. But you said you will be travelling "early Oct" so you may be back in LA by mid-October!

OB1

Thanks everyone for all the great info!! Our plans are still a bit "up in the air" but now with this info we can make a final decision. I want to fly but DH wants the train. Absolutely did not know about Oct 14 being a holiday--that's when we will be in Niagara so we must make reservations very soon.