Hi everyone,
I want to travel next summer with my family and visit Niagara falls, Toronto and then drive to Chicago.
Is it a good trip ?
I aprecciate good tips for "must see places" and also, budget lodging.
We are a family of 4 persons (Me, my wife and 2 kids ages 16 and 11).

Is it possible driving in one single day between Toronto and Chicago ?

Best regards

Rui Correia
(Portugal)

You could drive it Toronto to Chicago, but it would be a loooong day, maybe 9-10 hours in the car. Better to break up your trip. Here are some thoughts:

You could drive through Canada or through the US. Canada side has flat and boring farmland, several small parks on the shore of Lake Erie, and a few small cities; US side has more small industrial cities and a few parks on the shore. Neither route is very scenic, neither is awful.

You may see a big rental penalty for renting a car in Canada and dropping it off in the U.S. To avoid it, you may want to pick up the car in Niagara Falls (u.s. side) for the drive to Chicago. There are buses and such to get you from Toronto to Niagara.

Possible places to stop:

Just west of Detroit, in Dearborn MI, is one of America's best museums. The Henry Ford Museum and Deerfield Village.

Cleveland has the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and several other museums. If you like Rock and Roll, this would be the place to go.

Between Cleveland and Toledo is Cedar Point, one of America's best amusement parks (roller coasters and such). The area is supposed to be nice but I don't know much about it.

I agree with the previous post. It's about 530 miles/860km from Niagara Falls to Chicago and there isn't much to see along the way. The shortest way is through Ontario. If you drive through Pennsylvania and Ohio, it will add about 2 hours to your trip.

The museum complex near Detroit is The Henry Ford. It is composed of Greenfield Village which has historic buildings moved from their original sites such as the laboratory where Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb and phonograph and the bicycle shop where the Wright brothers created their airplane. The indoor museum has a superb auto collection which includes all the limousines used by the US Presidents. Check their site at www.hfmgv.org.

The Detroit Institute of Arts has a very good collection and murals by Mexican artist Diego Rivera. The museum is currently undergoing renovations and will not be completely finished until late 2007. For more info check www.dia.org.

Yoi might be interested in the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario just north of N. Falls. Pretty drive from the Falls.

Also an interesting place to stop might be the Welland Canal, specifically the viewing platform at lock #3.

There are many wineries around NOTL if that is of any interest.

Greenfield Village, right, in Dearborn, sorry.

There is a Deerfield Village near where I live, which is near Greenfield -- too confusing.

If you have the time to drive to Sandusky Ohio for a day, your kids (and you) will love, love, love Cedar Point! It is the Roller Coaster capital of the world. Lots of rides and entertainment! You could spend the night at the hotel on site and take a dip in Lake Erie before leaving for Chicago.http://www.cedarpoint.com/

If you drive straight from Toronto and cut through Ontario and Michigan, you can visit Holland, Michigan. Nice little town by the lake front. Wrong time for their Tulip Festival, though.

It'd be a long detour if you're going through Niagara Falls and Cleveland.

Closer to Chicago, you can see the Indiana Dunes in NW Indiana.