FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - One week trip to Toronto, Niagara falls, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City - Advice
Old May 19, 2019, 11:12 am
  #8  
nolens volans
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Iqaluit
Programs: Programs? I don't need no stinking programs
Posts: 1,194
Do you have to start and end in Toronto? I’m guessing you’ve probably already booked flights etc, but it would really have given you a better “doing things” vs “driving” ratio if you’d flown into Toronto and then returned from Montreal or Ottawa instead of having to drive all the way back to Toronto.

I strongly second the suggestions to forget about Quebec City - too far to fit into this itinerary.

The 401 from Toronto to Montreal is a mind-numbingly boring 5-6h drive. As pointed out, the alternatives (the old Highway 2 closer to the lake, or Highway 7 further north) take much longer. But if you’re interested in seeing things along the way and are willing to make a longer, slower drive of it, it might be worth taking HW2 from Toronto about as far as Belleville or Kingston, possibly staying overnight somewhere in Prince Edward County or Kingston just to break up all the driving. It's not especially scenic beyond a general "being out in the countryside" kind of way, but there are some cute little towns along that part of the route - better than the truck stops along the 401, if the weather is nice and you’re not in a hurry. Prince Edward County has a number of wineries and apparently some good restaurants (a lot of urbanites have summer houses there). There is less to see between Kingston and Montreal so you might as well just stick to the 401 for that part.

As for Lake Ontario itself, you can see it from Toronto, and in my experience it looks pretty much the same wherever else you’re viewing it from (big, flat, damp).
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