Hilton HHonors - 1-day YYZ stopover with trip to Niagra: Where to stay?

We're squeezing a <24h stopover in at YYZ to show the children Niagra falls in mid-August. Arrive at YYZ 2pm, depart for NYC 12.30pm next day. I guess we need to leave some time for US Immigration, so reasonably early arrival back to YYZ.

This seems to open up a whole world of stay possibilites along the route:

Down in Niagra to enjoy the late evening and shoot back to YYZ next day.
Somewhere around Hamilton to split the return drive.
At a YYZ property to make the morning relaxing.


I have no idea what the traffic situation is that might make some of these a risky choice, so your thoughts on which approach you'd take and specific properties to let 2A+2C get a decent night's rest would be welcome.

We're squeezing a <24h stopover in at YYZ to show the children Niagra falls in mid-August. Arrive at YYZ 2pm, depart for NYC 12.30pm next day. I guess we need to leave some time for US Immigration, so reasonably early arrival back to YYZ.

This seems to open up a whole world of stay possibilites along the route:

Down in Niagra to enjoy the late evening and shoot back to YYZ next day.
Somewhere around Hamilton to split the return drive.
At a YYZ property to make the morning relaxing.


I have no idea what the traffic situation is that might make some of these a risky choice, so your thoughts on which approach you'd take and specific properties to let 2A+2C get a decent night's rest would be welcome.
Have you been to Niagara before? If not, I think just being there for the evening may be anticlimatic. So they illumunite the falls with colored searchlights. It still nothing like seeing the falls with rainbows on a sunny-enough day in the afternoon from the Canadian side, or in the morning from the US side. But even if the weather is good, it might be over by the time you get there (the falls lose the sun long before sunset, so there is no actual sunset on the falls, at least this time of year), and you don't have enough time in the morning to walk to the US side after breakfast, walk around to various viewpoints (and most of them could have rainbows in the mist by mid-morning) and yet walk back, check out of your hotel, and get back to YYZ in time.

So given your time situation, I'd suggest staying much closer to Toronto. Toronto itself is a cool city, and I'd think a better destination for the short time that you have.

If you are going to stay in Niagara after all:

I'd say the Embassy Suites Fallsview if you can get a room on the falls side high up enough. There's no matching the view I had from floor 40 of the horsehoe falls (though I had to be up close to the window to see that much of an angle down). It's the closest hotel to any of the falls (I don't just mean closed Hilton family, I mean closest period!). But the downside: You have to walk a few big blocks parallel to the falls before you can turn right to go downhill to a place where you can access the walkway right along the river. Between 9 am and I think 9 pm, you can take a lift right below the Embassy Suites as a shortcut, but it costs $2.50 per person in each direction, so for a family you're paying a lot to drastically shorten a walk.

The Hilton is only a block or two closer walking (and is therefore a block or two further away from the lift), and doesn't have as great a view, but still has a good view.

Both of these are expensive on either points or money. There are Hilton family hotels further away from the falls with no view that can be cheaper, but you'll waste a lot of time getting around from those.


... But I'm sort of confused about your post (because of contradtictory-sounding things in different parts of the post). Are you saying you're visiting Niagara no matter what (but possibly returning to Tornoto or Hamilton the same night)? I don't see the sense in that at all, especially since the incoming plane might be late, etc. Or are you thinking about not going to Niagara and staying in the Toronto area instead? Please clarify, as that will help us give you better suggestions. Thanks.

Oh, and please explain how far away and in what direction you're coming from? Ie, will you be jet-lagged as you arrive (if so, in which direction) or not?

DO not stay at the Embassy Suites Fallsview. It is an overpriced dump. Breakfast buffet is a zoo. Staff is constantly trolling for tips. Rooms are worn. It is a dark, dreadful place.

Down in Niagra to enjoy the late evening and shoot back to YYZ next day.
Somewhere around Hamilton to split the return drive.
At a YYZ property to make the morning relaxing.
[/LIST]

I have no idea what the traffic situation is that might make some of these a risky choice, so your thoughts on which approach you'd take and specific properties to let 2A+2C get a decent night's rest would be welcome.

So here's a couple quick things:

Traffic from YYZ to Niagara falls at 3-30PM (when you are likely to leave the airport) won't be great (though not as bad as at 5PM) You will be about 2 hours (maybe a bit more) to get all the way there I would estimate, more the closer to 5PM you get. On the way back you'll also be in traffic until about 9AM once you near Burlington. The bad traffic starts around 7AM and gets worse until 9AM but then starts backing off.

So were I in your shoes I'd shoot down to Niagara falls and depart late at night (10:30 or so) and just have a late night into the hotel near the Airport (about 1 3/4 hours trip at that time of night), and do a long lie until 9:00, and head over to the airport for about 10:30.

I have not stayed in any of the airport hotels in YYZ though I've been to the Sheraton there which was nice (I live west of the airport). I have driven by the Hilton many times it seems very nice, it's quite new and RIGHT beside the airport; parking is $16 though you may want to return the rental and simply take the shuttle after dropping your luggage at the hotel depending how price sensitive you are.

Is it too late to make this an open jaw plane ticket, into YYZ and flying out of BUF? It would save you the drive back to YYZ.

I agree that you should drive to Niagara and see the falls. No need to go over to the US side as the Canadian side is much nicer. There are plenty of places to eat and Clifton Street is the main drag tourist area. There is a large ferris wheel (think London Eye) that can give nice views.

I would return to YYZ and stay there for the night. Have a nice afternoon and evening at Niagara and head back to YYZ whenever you are ready. Sleep late and make it easy on yourself to catch your flight.

The falls are great to see and you can do the Behind the Falls tour and Maid of the Mist boat. Stay till after dark and see them at night lit up. Depending on the day they will often have a firework show set to music. Classic tourist stuff that is fun.

DO not stay at the Embassy Suites Fallsview. It is an overpriced dump. Breakfast buffet is a zoo. Staff is constantly trolling for tips. Rooms are worn. It is a dark, dreadful place.
My room was very nice, not at all worn! I never saw anyone trolling for tips. And the breakfast buffet, while busy, was far from a zoo if you went early enough, and as a bus they let you sit in parts of the Keg with a view of the falls! (And they gave me a card upon checkin advising me that the first hour of breakfast it's light, the second hour it's ok, and later in the morning it's a zoo. So while it may be a zoo if you go too late, you can avoid it being a zoo if you get up to watch the sunrise on the falls!)

It's overpriced on cash, but 51k for a guaranteed fallsview room and 58k for a guaranteed upper fallsview room doesn't seem so bad to me, when 50k is the standard cityview room rate. One of the places where premium rooms are actually a nice surprise!

I'm not saying you didn't experience what you experienced, I'm just saying this seems at worst a "blind men and the elephant" kind of hotel, where everyone seems to come away with a different impression for whatever reason.

Btw, my stay was just a couple weeks ago. How long ago was yours? So perhaps your impression is older and mine is newer?

The falls are great to see and you can do the Behind the Falls tour and Maid of the Mist boat. Stay till after dark and see them at night lit up. Depending on the day they will often have a firework show set to music. Classic tourist stuff that is fun.
IMHO (and not just mine) Journey Behind The Falls is the least worth the money of the paid attractions. You get three tunnels, two of which you're standing in front of dark falling water because the water is so thick you can't tell there's daylight behind it and thus you can't tell it apart from any other falling water, natural or artificial, anywhere in the world. What's the big deal in that? The third tunnel does take you to a lookout, but it's not that great a lookout (ugly rocks in front of you), and only one position for lookout. And you get wet. But if you want to get wet, you get wet on Maid of the Mist too, but from that you see multiple falls at water level, not just one of them, and each of them from various perspectives. So a much better "attraction", and IMHO makes Journey Behind the Falls a superfluous waste of money. (Not only that, you can get stuck in a long wait to go down the stairs or a long wait for the elevator up at Journey Behind the Falls, not something you need to add to a hectic one-afternoon schedule.

I would rather recommend, if you're staying only on the Canadian side (which is all the OP has time for unforunately), to pair Maid of the Mist with a ride up the Skylon Tower (under $12 with a $2 off coupon which is readily available everywhere, including in droves a few steps down the hill from the Skylon Tower itself, in discount books), especially if you're not staying in Niagara for the night and thus won't have a high-up view from your hotel room in the morning.

The fireworks shows are on Friday and Sunday nights only. But in mid-August they will be well after 9 pm (they have to wait until it's really dark, and in mid-August the sun still sets quite late there), so depending on jet lag that could mean a quite late arrival back in Toronto if that's where you're staying.

The night lighting of the falls also doesn't have its full effect until sometime well after it gets completely dark (and thus again well after 9 pm). It starts before it gets completely dark, but it looks quite feeble then compared to how it looks at its maximum later (which is what you think of it looking like from photographs).

Is it too late to make this an open jaw plane ticket, into YYZ and flying out of BUF? It would save you the drive back to YYZ.

Now that's a fine idea. However it probably is too late, since this is an airline points redemption and nothing left in the appropriate classes.

I agree that you should drive to Niagara and see the falls...

I would return to YYZ and stay there for the night...

The falls are great to see and you can do the Behind the Falls tour and Maid of the Mist boat. Stay till after dark and see them at night lit up.

MMP's post was a handy one to snip to summarise where you've steered us towards, but thanks to everyone for their thoughts.

We know it'll be a tight schedule, but it isn't often we're in the area so we'll grab what we can. I'll look at pre-booking MotM and wheel, we'll find some dinner. After all it isn't often that we get together to do...Classic tourist stuff that is fun. :D

Just have to choose a YYZ property now :confused:!

So here's a couple quick things:

Traffic from YYZ to Niagara falls at 3-30PM (when you are likely to leave the airport) won't be great (though not as bad as at 5PM) You will be about 2 hours (maybe a bit more) to get all the way there I would estimate, more the closer to 5PM you get. On the way back you'll also be in traffic until about 9AM once you near Burlington. The bad traffic starts around 7AM and gets worse until 9AM but then starts backing off.

So were I in your shoes I'd shoot down to Niagara falls and depart late at night (10:30 or so) and just have a late night into the hotel near the Airport (about 1 3/4 hours trip at that time of night), and do a long lie until 9:00, and head over to the airport for about 10:30.

I have not stayed in any of the airport hotels in YYZ though I've been to the Sheraton there which was nice (I live west of the airport). I have driven by the Hilton many times it seems very nice, it's quite new and RIGHT beside the airport; parking is $16 though you may want to return the rental and simply take the shuttle after dropping your luggage at the hotel depending how price sensitive you are.

i hope you get it right

MMP's post was a handy one to snip to summarise where you've steered us towards, but thanks to everyone for their thoughts.

We know it'll be a tight schedule, but it isn't often we're in the area so we'll grab what we can. I'll look at pre-booking MotM and wheel, we'll find some dinner. After all it isn't often that we get together to do... :D

Just have to choose a YYZ property now :confused:!

The Behind the Falls is touristy. It's not for everyone as has been shown in a previous post. Many kids like the idea of seeing behind a waterfall. So see if it is something to do. You can buy a combo ticket that might be a good deal. http://www.niagaraparks.com/plan/buy-tickets-packages.html it will depend on if you have time (or want) to do it all. So check closing times for the stuff.

The Skylon is a good thing. You can have a great view on a clear day, but you might get the same view from the Wheel. I would pick one or the other.

I own a house 15 minutes to the Falls on the American side. I have done most tourist things at least twice and some more. Your time will be limited so it really just depends on what you and your kids like to do.

Clifton Hill is a mecca of tourist traps. But it's done very well so you might find the kids are drawn to cheesy tourist over natures majesty...LOL happens to us all.

My room was very nice, not at all worn! I never saw anyone trolling for tips.

I'm glad you had a better experience than we did. In addition to what I posted above, we had peeling wallpaper and moldy grout.

As far as tips go, did you see the tip jars at each check-in counter? (Interestingly, only US dollars were in the jars, which I took as trying to take advantage of Americans who are unfamiliar with tipping customs in a "foreign country.") Tip baskets in the shuttle?



It's overpriced on cash, but 51k for a guaranteed fallsview room and 58k for a guaranteed upper fallsview room doesn't seem so bad to me, when 50k is the standard cityview room rate. One of the places where premium rooms are actually a nice surprise!

We had a premium room and boy were surprised!:eek: We paid cash and yes it was overpriced.


I'm not saying you didn't experience what you experienced, I'm just saying this seems at worst a "blind men and the elephant" kind of hotel, where everyone seems to come away with a different impression for whatever reason.

Again, I'm glad you were satisfied. ^ But most of the "blind men" on FT tend to agree with me. Just hop over to the HH forum and you will see that your stay appears to be the exception.

Btw, my stay was just a couple weeks ago. How long ago was yours? So perhaps your impression is older and mine is newer? [/QUOTE]

My stay was in late May, so I doubt they pulled off a total renovation in a week or two.;)

Things to consider:

You'll be arriving at YYZ at 2 PM if your flight is on time. Since I don't know if your flight is arriving directly from LHR, or perhaps from your stopover elsewhere in Canada, you may have to clear Canada Customs and Immigration, and there will be other overseas flights in around that time, and the lineups for Canada Customs and Immigration may be quite long. Then off to pick up your luggage and the rental car, so add at least over one hour for your departure from the airport to NF. You and your family may be tired, and you're looking at a drive of two hours in rush-hour traffic for at least the first hour, to get to the Falls.

Have you checked to see how late the Maid of the Mist departs, so as not to miss the last excursion? Will you leave time for dinner at the Falls, and checkin at a hotel there before the Maid trip, or if not, do you just want to stand at the walkway along the edge of the Falls and watch the lights after dark? While I agree that the sight of NF is well worth the visit, do you think that you'll be able to do such a quick trip after an arriving flight followed by getting out of YYZ for the drive to NF, and then overnighting halfway back to YYZ (Hamilton) or all all the way back to the airport the same night?

If your flight is very late, then you'd be putting any car rental/NF excursion/hotel reservations in NF at risk, so while I don't mean to put you off your trip there, as I think it's definately worth a visit with your family, still I hope you're prepared for a very long day and night in any case.

For hotels in NF, I'd recommend the Hilton Fallsview (my choice) or the Embassy Suites (best view overlooking the Falls, but varied opinions at to the room quality and upgrades). Search FT for threads on both hotels for recent comments, and other's similar quick trip requests both in this Hilton forum and the Canada forum on FT.

Any chance you'd have more time to visit NF on your return trip to if it's coming back through YYZ? That way you wouldn't have such a rushed intinerary.

Good luck, and I hope you can make it to the Falls.

bj-21.

Things to consider:

[Snipped many useful thoughts]

Good luck, and I hope you can make it to the Falls.

bj-21.

Thanks BJ-21, all good points. I really appreciate you putting yourself in our shoes to think of the pitfalls.

Luckily we're flying in from YVR, so that should help keep things on schedule and we'll be on roughly the right TZ mentally and physically if we get a bit of snooze on the plane too. We'll probably split to do bags and car, so will optimise a bit there as well.

We know this is tight, but I think Niagara, Iguazu, etc are wonderful sights and sensations. It's our first family trip to North America, not sure when we'll do another one, and squeezing it in still seems like the right thing to do. The children are old enough to survive it: just hope wife and I are young enough :eek:!

Our onward journey from EWR is back to Blighty, so no chance to make a more relaxed visit on the return :(.

Thanks for the hotel tips. It's all coming together ^.

I was there in June, stayed at the Doubletree and high floors (15+) get a view of the break over the falls but not much else. But, it is not a bad walk down to the falls. Just ask the desk the best walk route. You have to go around the tower. There is a path straight down the hill through the woods that is interesting but no lighting and it is a bit creepy.

What to do? My most enjoyable activity is a leisurely walk from about the Rainbow Bridge to the Table Rock area and back. It is flat ground and the view changes more than you might think as you walk it. Slow and easy it takes about an hour if you stop to take pictures and enjoy the different views.

The worst thing about it is the walk back up the hill. It can be very aerobic depending on physical condition. I like the walk by the casino up to the Hilton, turn right back to the Doubletree. Just do not select the Doubletree for a good view from the room. It is often a few bucks cheaper that either the Hilton or the Embassy.

Thanks BJ-21, all good points. I really appreciate you putting yourself in our shoes to think of the pitfalls.

Luckily we're flying in from YVR, so that should help keep things on schedule and we'll be on roughly the right TZ mentally and physically if we get a bit of snooze on the plane too. We'll probably split to do bags and car, so will optimise a bit there as well.

We know this is tight, but I think Niagara, Iguazu, etc are wonderful sights and sensations. It's our first family trip to North America, not sure when we'll do another one, and squeezing it in still seems like the right thing to do. The children are old enough to survive it: just hope wife and I are young enough :eek:!

Our onward journey from EWR is back to Blighty, so no chance to make a more relaxed visit on the return :(.

Thanks for the hotel tips. It's all coming together ^.

Sounds like you're really determined to get to NF, and I applaud your efforts to enjoy the trip. Have a look at this thread for some driving directions from the airport to the Falls, so as to get there as safely and quickly as possible.
Link: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/canada/1357688-help-filling-gaps.html

Enjoy the Falls.

bj-21.

As far as tips go, did you see the tip jars at each check-in counter? (Interestingly, only US dollars were in the jars, which I took as trying to take advantage of Americans who are unfamiliar with tipping customs in a "foreign country.") Tip baskets in the shuttle?

I went to the check-in counter several times, and never noticed them. I didn't take any shuttle (I drove from BUF and was staying at a different hotel every night).


We had a premium room and boy were surprised!:eek: We paid cash and yes it was overpriced.

Again, I'm glad you were satisfied. ^ But most of the "blind men" on FT tend to agree with me. Just hop over to the HH forum and you will see that your stay appears to be the exception.

My stay was in late May, so I doubt they pulled off a total renovation in a week or two.;)
By "blind men and the elephant", I meant that I presume that part of the hotel is the way you found it and another part is the way I found it.

And btw we are already in the HH forum! :) But I presume you mean this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilton-hhonors/313520-embassy-suites-hotel-niagara-falls-fallsview.html

In fact, I posted much more about my stay there, and included several questions for you, aiming to see if we could figure out why my experience on several things was different than yours. Let's try to continue the discussion of the ES Niagara there please. Thanks.

If you are making the drive back to the YYZ airport to stay the night, the Doubletree is a decent property with an EL and an indoor water park if your kids still have energy the next morning before heading to the airport. My family enjoyed our stay there last spring.:)

Depending how tired you are, and how late in the evening it may be, I'd consider driving all the way back to the airport rather then staying overnight in Hamilton. Here's why....coming back up towards TO later in the evening during the week, the traffic shouldn't be too bad all the way in to the airport. That way, if you are at an airport hotel, you can sleep slightly later in the morning and return your rental car then and you'll be at the airport. If you stay in Hamilton overnight, that's about 25/30 miles from YYZ, and you'll have to start out much earlier to get to the airport and check in for your 12:30 flight, but you'll be inbound along with the heavy rush hour traffic headed towards the TO/Mississauga area, and any delays on the way might mess up your getting to the airport in time to return your rental car and make your flight.

Of course that makes for a very long day after your quick visit to NF, and it depends how worn out you and your family may be, but if you're up to it, I'd go all the way back to the airport if you can find your way back to it at night, so you could sleep a bit later, rather then fight the morning rush hour traffic back to YYZ. The only caution I would give is not to try driving all the way back to YYZ late at night if you're really tired, as it's better to get some rest and start out for the airport a bit earlier and in daylight.

Hope you can do all you've got planned. Good luck! And get a GOOD DETAILED map to get to the Falls, and then BACK to the airport via the QEW eastbound to Oakville, then the 403 to the 401 near YYZ.

When you're finally back home in the UK and rested from your trip, let us know how it all went.

bj-21.

I got a groupon in my email today for the Hilton if it's helpful; not sure if the dates work. If you go to groupon and look for Niagara falls it should show up.

If you are making the drive back to the YYZ airport to stay the night, the Doubletree is a decent property with an EL and an indoor water park if your kids still have energy the next morning before heading to the airport. My family enjoyed our stay there last spring.:)

Thanks. Sounds great so I just booked that one.

Now if I can convince the children that the water park is actually Niagara Falls then the day will get much easier :D.

Hope you can do all you've got planned. Good luck! And get a GOOD DETAILED map to get to the Falls, and then BACK to the airport via the QEW eastbound to Oakville, then the 403 to the 401 near YYZ.

YYZ-NF-YYZ on the arrival day is confirmed. I'm loading my UK sat-nav up with North America maps, so hopefully that'll do so me of the hard work. Is there a recommended publisher of good Canada national/province/city maps? I know the usability and quality varies over here :eek:.

When you're finally back home in the UK and rested from your trip, let us know how it all went.

I'd be happy to.

Thanks. Sounds great so I just booked that one.

Now if I can convince the children that the water park is actually Niagara Falls then the day will get much easier :D.

Shouldn't be too hard if you don't let them sleep on the flight over:D

Well it all turned out fine :D.

YVR-YYZ was on time, pickup of bags and car went efficiently, my UK Tom Tom sat-nav with US maps in it was all set and we arrived at Niagara at 4.03pm.

We actually didn't stay for long and my wife (who's been there before) just took a couple of hours of chill time. Meanwhile I took the children up to the main town where we looked around, went on the ferris wheel, ate some fast food, and bought souvenirs. In some ways it was cheesily nostalgic for me as the setup of things greatly reminded me of the tail-end heydey of the UK seaside resorts like Blackpool in the 1970's! I enjoyed it more than my memories of the US side ~23-years ago

Weather was good and we saw rainbows on the falls and I personally found the side-walk distance view of the sunlit water going over the edge of the rocks so you could see through it to be quite spectacular. No-one wanted to spend time and money on boats or under-the-Falls tours - so we didn't :eek:.

Drive back to YYZ was also pretty uneventful. We did hit some major roadworks on the outskirts of the city, so dived off hard-left and trusted the Tom Tom to get us to the Doubletree at YYZ. It did :p.

Some dissapointment with the hotel as the room was a bit compact for the two queen beds, had that 'refurbished, but we didn't do the bathtub' kind of feel and (major downer!) the twin-slide pool closed at 8.30pm (just about as we arrived) and wasn't open in the mornings like I'd assumed it would be. IIRC correctly it was a 4pm opening. But it was fine for a one night stay for four very tired people. My son and I made it to the lounge for the comped breakfast. Rather too busy up there to enjoy it. Certainly wouldn't want to be trying to share an early morning catch up with a colleague, but would expect to be able squeeze myself into a corner. Nice spread of food though.

But the Chinese restaurant in the mini-mall that adjoins the property provided a nice filling meal for us all to round out the day. This restaurant (and presumably some of the others: it's a pretty good selection) have the plus/minus of not being hotel facilites - you get arguably better experience but can't charge to room.

We probably won't be anywhere close to Niagara again for quite some time so I'm pleased we went, but if we had to squeeze anything of the itinerary we had when advising others this would be the one to drop.

Many thanks to all for your inputs and advice.