Travelling to Canada
 

My husband and I are driving from New York to Canada in June. We will have two weeks and want to make the most of it. We thought about the train, but will probably rent a car. We live in Miami and want scenery, wildlife and nice places to eat and stay. Would like ideas on an itinerary.

From east to west, Canada is more than 3,000 miles wide, which makes it wider than the USA. Just which part do you intend on visiting?? Montreal, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, or the Canadian Rockies, which are about 3000 miles from New York City. <BR> <BR>It is not like you were visiting Rhode Island.

I think that as you will arriving from NY, I would just do the east coast on this trip. Definitely Toronto, Niagara Falls, visit the Kitchener/Waterloo area and see the Mennonites and their craft work, Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa. I don't think you'd have the time to do PEI and Nova Scotia. <BR>I personally would just stick with one side of the country. <BR> <BR>Anne in Australia

Anne, good suggestions. However, the east coast is PEI and Nova Scotia...the parts you discussed would be called central Canada. I agree, Lucie needs to pick a part of the country that she wants to visit, and Ontario and Quebec are most convenient from NY.

Thanks Island Girl about the area definitions. Here in Australia, any place east of my home town in Perth in Western Australia is termed as being on the east coast! I automatically use the same definitions when I travel. I must stop that!!!! <BR> <BR>Anne in Australia

Vermont! Wow the possibilities there are endless. Stowe, VT-go to the Ben & Jerrys Ice Cream Factory for a tour, stay at the historic Green Mountain Inn or the Trapp Family Lodge (The Sound of Music). <BR>Canada: Montreal and Quebec City are both awesome but very different. Montreal is a big cosmopolitan city. Quebec City is a smaller romantic quaint European small city. Here you should stay in the old part of the city.

Hi Lucie, <BR> You've got a lot of options and it depends whether or not you want to take your time or see a lot of sights. It seems from your post that you would prefer nature over cities, so here are few ideas: <BR> <BR> You could travel through Maine to the East Coast of Canada. I haven't been to Maine, but hear it is very beautiful. From Maine you can take a ferry to Canada. The Gaspe Peninsula, located at the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence is supposed to very nice. I haven't done this trip, so I'm not sure of how long travelling will take. Good bets for the region include Cabot's Trail in Nova Scotia, PEI and Halifax. I'm sure there are many others, but I'm not so familiar with this area. <BR> Heading toward Quebec, there is the Charelvoix region which is 150 km east of Quebec City. It is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. There is wonderful hotel there called La Pinsonniere overlooking the St. Lawrence River, which is a Relais & Chateuax which means wonderful accomdations and food. You can check them out at relaischateux.com. <BR> <BR> Montreal and Quebec City are very nice cities to explore. I agree with Eric's assessment of the cities - they both have a lot to offer. If you want to get back to nature, less than two hours north of each city are resort areas where you can do hiking and watersports. There are very nice hotels in these areas as well. <BR> <BR> Further east, you have the Toronto area. North of Toronto are the Muskokas which are very nice outdoorsy places. Equidistant between Toronto and Ottawa is Algonquin Park which really gets you into nature. There are very few places to stay inside the Park. Last fall, I stayed at the Arrowhon Pines which I recommend. It is set on its own private lake where you can canoe, kayak, hike or just laze about. In the morning, you can hear the loons and if you're lucky get close to one while you're canoeing. The meals are included in the rates and are excellent. <BR> <BR> Also, VIA Rail, Canada's passenger rail line offers sightseeing vacation packages. They have one that travels from Montreal to the Gaspe and vice versa. It doesn't take too long and might be worth looking into. You can also check out Yahoo.com under Canada for more info about areas you are interested. Also, you might want to invest in the Michelin Green Guide - I think they have one for Eastern Canada. I've used them before and I find them highly reliable. They also give you suggested intineraries and time frams for accomplishing them. And you can mix and match your itineraries to suit your interests.