My husband and I, both in mid 60's, are planing a trip to Canada this June. We live in South Florida and we aren't sure if we should take a tour or wing it. I've taken tours to Europe before on Collette and it was perfect, but we have 9-10 days and are on a so/so budget. We need a Hotel with A/C, that may cost more, but he has allergies. Wanted to go to Montreal, Quebec,Toronto and the countryside if possible. Any info would be helpful.

I'm afraid you need to be a little more specific.
Does your husband have allergies to air conditioning?
We want to help, but what interests you?
Taking in all three cities and a loop through the countryside is possibly ambitious in 9/10 days.

Sorry, my husband needs A/C because of his allergies. We would love to see wildlife (Puffins, Whales etc) also. Could do 11-12 days if budget permits. Thanks for the early response.

OK.
St John's Newfoundland, the source of Puffin watching boat tours, is 1,300 miles East of Toronto. Victoria British Columbia, the major source of Orca watching boat tours is 2,100 miles West of Toronto. See where I am getting at?

I see what you mean about it being too far apart to do it all. I guess we'd have to pick an area that suits us for animal sightings. Now you can really help us.

Your best bet for animal/bird sightings in Canada that combines whales and puffins does sound like Newfoundland. But that could take up all of your 9 days as it does not combine very easily with Toronto, Montreal et al.You could, if budget is not a huge problem, possibly combine NL with Quebec City which is charming, but no whales or puffins there!

By flying in and out of St. John's and staying in the city and then doing tours from there, you should assure yourself of AC (The Fairmont, Holiday Inn, Delta ...which you won't be guaranteed outside of St. John's (well, its hit and miss in B&B's and the smaller inns and motels, it doesn't get that hot in NL in June).

Get on the website for NL tourism and you will find all kinds of tours...Gatheralls and Cape St. Mary's remain my faves, but that was a while ago now.

Your mention of puffins and whales also brought Newfoundland to mind, as most of the North American population of puffins can be found summering in Newfoundland. and whales abount off its coasts.

However, with the time available to you it would be difficult to work in Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec as well as Newfoundland. If you do want to go, you might combine Newfoundland with a visit to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

However, you can certainly combine a visit to Quebec City with whale watching. For most of the summer there is a large number and variety of whales at the mouth of the Saguenay River, about a 2-3 hour drive down river from Quebec. The town of Tadoussac is the centre for whale watching expeditions, and as well as the Atlantic varieties of humpbacks, minke, fin and even blue whales, there is a local population of belugas there.

The Charlevoix region of Quebec, which lies between Quebec City and Tadoussac is very scenic with lots of interesting towns and villages along the way. You would certainly have no trouble finding accommodation with air conditioning, which you might have in Newfoundland outside of the larger cities and towns (it's not really necessary there).

Hi almaruth60,

You can certainly combine a trip to Quebec City with a visit to the confluence of the St-Lawrence and Saguenay rivers for whale watching. From the www.bonjourquebec.com website: "Québec is one of the few places in the world where you can see such a wide variety of large sea mammals (13 species in all)." There are also many places along the St-Lawrence that are good for bird watching.

Depending on when in June you go, I would say the odds are 50/50 that you'll be using the heat in your room before the a/c.

To see a puffin--on any given workday in downtown Montreal, even in the frigid weather we have just endured, there will be large groups outside office buildings puffin'!

JQ

It's harder to see wild animals in Canada than it is in some parts of the usa.

You might think about how important wildlife is, compared to seing cities very different from the USA.

If wildlife becomes the focus, either Newfoundland or, clear across the country, The Rocky Mountains and the coast of British Columbia.

Whales are on both coasts -- you'll probably see mountain goats and elk in western Canada.

Advantage to the west are two big cities -- Calgary, which is DEnver-like, and Vancouver, which is Seattle-like.

There's nowhere in North America that resembles Newfoundland's biggest city, St. John's (with the apostrophe s, in contrast to St. John, which is in New Brunswick)

But if you're willing to give up most animals, a circle from Toronto to Montreal to Quebec City and back through Ottawa and what we call Muskoka to Toronto, with a side trip to Niagara Falls, gets you a lot of beautiful scenery, including the St. Lawrence River and the Laurentian Mountains. (low, but pretty)

That circle is 1500 miles, give or take, and certainly different from south Florida in a million ways.

BAK

Almaruth: you didn't mention moose,but they are fascinating and if you do go to NL in June, you will see moose.

In fact, the trick might be NOT seeing one up too close! Colleagues and I drove from St. John's to Cornerbrook starting about 4 pm on a June evening a couple of years ago and saw 5 moose/vehicular accidents over the next 11 hours. Moral: the wildlife in NL is amazing, but stick to daylight drives!

Ok I live in Toronto and I can assure YOU, that we have wilife! We may not have whales and puffins in Lake Ontario but my cottage just a couple of hours north of the city we have moose, beaver, black beavers, red fox, flying squirrels, red tailed hawks, river otter, deer, wolf.. shall I go on??
If you enjoy whales, go by the St. Lawrence in Quebec where you will see Belugas.

OPPs I meant Black bears, not black beavers, although they may appear that way wet... LOL