We recently took a summer family vacation to Canada. Did you know it’s a different country? It is! You even need passports. We had a great time in Toronto and Niagara Falls, so I’m giving our readers the full itinerary with brief comments about each item. That should make planning your next summer vacation easier (unless you don’t want to go to Canada, in which case it might make your planning more difficult).

In Toronto, where we vacationed with my sister’s family, we had children ages 4, 6, and 8. In Niagara, it was just my wife and son, 8. We went in mid-August. First stop, Toronto, about a nine-hour drive for us. We made great time driving until we hit the QEW heading into Toronto. Apparently there’s always traffic on the QEW. It turns out that Toronto is a city, a pretty big one. There are enough attractions to make for a busy three-day vacation with the kids.

Toronto:

Hotel: The Delta Chelsea is close enough to the subway to get you where you want to go, and close enough to walk to some major attractions. My wife got our rooms through Travelocity for only a little more than $100 a night. Parking was another $27 a night. Our son liked the indoor pool’s corkscrew slide. The hotel’s quick-service restaurant wasn’t inexpensive, but in a major city, that’s probably true of most places you’d stay on vacation. At least the food was pretty good and there were choices. We had breakfast every day at the hotel for about $22 for the three of us. You can easily spend more there. The underground parking lot is a labyrinth with low ceilings, but overall I’d recommend the hotel. There’s a family fun center by the pool, with a ping pong table, a nightly movie, and other activities. We didn’t use it much, but it’s there.

Day One, Wednesday: We drove all day, crossed the border into Canada, drove some more and arrived at hotel. Had late dinner at hotel (the chicken teriyaki was good) after checking in. We went swimming at 10:00 after dinner (pool was open till 11:00, but slide closed at 10:00).

Day Two, Thursday: My sister’s family wasn’t arriving until the afternoon, so after breakfast we took the subway to the Royal Ontario Museum, known as the ROM. It’s Canada’s biggest or best (or both) natural history museum. The dinosaur skeletons are excellent. Our son also liked the bat cave, on the same floor. We spent most of our time on that floor. There were other displays of interest on other floors, and we checked out the armor and some old furniture for a few minutes, but for us a couple of hours at the museum was enough. 

We had lunch outside the museum. The street vendors have jumbo hot dogs, sausages, veggie dogs, and chicken dogs, which they cook up over flame grills. During lunch we encountered our first homeless person in Toronto. 

In the afternoon my sister’s family arrived and we headed to the CN Tower. We walked there from the hotel. It was a long walk for my nephew, only 4. You could take a subway if the kids are young or you don’t feel like walking around a city. The CN Tower is a must. It’s very tall. Like really, seriously tall. The observation deck has a glass-floor section that the kids loved and the outside observatory was windy enough to send their baseball caps flying and make everyone laugh. Amazing views of the city and the water.

After the long walk back to the hotel the kids all swam. The slide had closed at 10:00 the night before and my son was itching to try it out. Then we had dinner at the Pickle Barrel restaurant near the Delta Chelsea. Everyone enjoyed it.

Day Three, Friday: The Ontario Science Centre (they spell words weird in Canada) was having a Harry Potter Exhibition, with artifacts from the movies. My son and wife read the entire series together, so this was a big attraction. My sister’s kids haven’t read the books, and there is a separate fee for the special exhibition, so they checked out the other sections of the centre while we looked at magic wands and then we met up and the kids had fun looking at the various sciency stuff and doing the hands-on activities. Lunch was at the centre.

We relaxed back at the hotel for a little while and for dinner drove to Toronto’s Medieval Times, a restaurant/show that the kids really liked. While we ate (with our hands, since apparently people didn’t have silverware back then, though they apparently did have Sweet & Low and credit cards), knights competed in skill contests, horses danced, and people fought with swords. Our section’s knight was the champion. The food was fine and the kids had a blast and we got great pictures of them posing with the performers after the show. I enjoyed the local Steam Whistle pilsner. (Note: There are no kids’ meals — everyone is served the same dinner).

Day Four, Saturday: We spent most of the day at Ontario Place. By public transportation, the trip took an hour (subway to streetcar) each way. It’s probably a 15-minute drive. I suggest driving unless you’ve always wanted to ride on a streetcar. It’s a waterside amusement park. The kids had fun with the bumper boats, the atom blaster, the H2O climbing structure, flume ride, and the IMAX movie. There was a breeze off the water. The adults enjoyed the views and being outside by the water. Lunch was typical amusement park fare. Note that you should pay for the all-day pass. Most of the attractions worth doing require it.

After the hour commute back we went straight to the Duke of Somerset and had dinner. My wife had the lobster caesar salad and since we were at a pub, I had the chicken pot pie. My sister liked Rickard’s Red with her meal.

Day Five, Sunday: We checked out of the hotel and packed up our cars, which we left in the hotel parking lot while we walked around a big underground mall near our hotel called the Eaton Centre. My brother-in-law wanted to look for shoes and since my sister’s family had already been to Niagara to start off their trip and we were first heading there that day, we said our goodbyes, went to a souvenir shop to buy Toronto magnets and T-shirts, grabbed an expensive slice of pizza, and then left for Niagara. The QEW wasn’t bad. We were in Niagara in under two hours.

Niagara Falls:

Hotel: The Courtyard Marriot was a good choice for us. We debated before the trip between staying within walking distance of the falls and the tourist attractions, or having a view of the falls. We went with walking distance and convenience, figuring that we were not going to be spending lots of time in the hotel and the extra money for a hotel with a view was not worth it. Other families we knew who had gone for the hotel with a view had regretted having to walk so far every day. The room we had was a little funky, with a jacuzzi tub and sink jutting out into the room. The plumbing was loud. Flushing a toilet in the middle of the night is to be avoided if possible, and the first morning the next room’s shower woke us up. With all that said, the hotel was relaxing, we made use of the indoor pool and arcade, and while we paid more for the hotel here than we did in Toronto, breakfast buffet was included for two of the days and we got a $45 voucher for the TGI Fridays next door and tickets to use the Skywheel and go to a magic show. The package was worth it and after the first morning no one showered as early next door and we had no trouble sleeping. Hotel parking was much easier than it had been in Toronto and was $10 a day.

Day Five, Sunday: After checking in, we walked a block to Clifton Hill, which is a boardwalk-style tourist area crammed with haunted houses, mini-golf, and other attractions for kids. We decided that we’d just do a few of the things on Clifton Hill, spread out over a couple of days, because you can easily spend lots of money on crap you can do almost anywhere. We’d rather spend lots of money on cool stuff you can only do at Niagara Falls.

At the bottom of Clifton Hill, about two blocks, are the waterfalls. The American falls are across the way, and the horseshoe falls are down to the right, about a 20-minute walk, though you can see them from where we stood. We bought an Adventure Pass, which includes tickets for Maid of the Mist, Journey Behind the Falls, Whitewater Walk, Niagara’s Fury, and two days of using the “people mover.” That’s a bus that services the Niagara Falls tourist area. You can make reservations for Journey Behind the Falls and Niagara Fury at the welcome centers located at major attractions, but not for Maid of the Mist.

The line for Maid of the Mist was short, so we did that first. This is a must. They give everyone plastic ponchos and the boat gets as close as it can to the falls. It goes from a mist to a downpour. The views are spectacular. About halfway through I realized that a waterproof camera would come in handy on a trip like this. But there was plenty of time to take pictures while we approached and left the horseshoe falls. Standing on a boat in the middle of the horseshoe listening to the roar of the water is the essential Niagara experience. There is an ever-present rainbow in the mist.

We then made a reservation for the next available Journey Behind the Falls and walked 20 minutes to the horseshoe falls from the Maid of the Mist landing. We should have used the people mover. Journey Behind the Falls takes you down an elevator and lets you out in tunnels behind the falls. Since they had provided ponchos for this attraction as well, and all we’d seen so far were two portals that kept us safely behind a gate behind the falls, my son was wondering how come we weren’t getting wet. Getting wet was part of the fun for him. Then we went down the long path to an exposed deck right next to the horseshoe falls. That was wet enough for him. We were pelted by wind-driven rain and he took his hood off and danced around. Journey Behind the Falls is worth experiencing.

We were famished at this point, had put off dinner to squeeze in the two attractions, so we ate fast food at Table Rock, the tourist center at the horseshoe falls, where Journey Behind the Falls and Niagara’s Fury are located. It was not the best meal of our vacation. Overall, the food in Niagara was not very good, with the exception of our hotel’s breakfast buffet, which was fine. But we didn’t spring for expensive restaurants while in Niagara.

We took the people mover back to the base of Clifton Hill, walked back to the hotel and rested for a while. On Sunday nights there are fireworks over the falls, so at 10:00 we were back at the bottom of Clifton Hill to see them. My son liked them, but I wasn’t impressed. The mist from the falls combined with the smoke from the fireworks thickened into a dark cloud. Half of the time the fireworks were swallowed by the smoke. But the place was mobbed by people watching fireworks, so this is an attraction that lots of people choose to see. Our local 4th of July fireworks show is far superior, but that’s only once a year — I think there are fireworks at the falls twice a week.

Day Six, Monday: We slept late, but not too late, because we didn’t want to miss the breakfast buffet, which ended at 9:30. Sunday had been a long day. Then we made reservations for 2:30 for a Whirlpool Jet ride, and drove to Whitewater Walk. This is an excellent activity. It’s a relaxing walk on a deck that goes along the raging river. You can take great pictures of the gorge and just hang out as long as you want watching and listening to the rushing water.

From here we drove to the jetboat. You have to get there early to fill out a release waiver and to catch a shuttle bus to the dock. The Whirlpool Jet is a vacation highlight. We won’t soon forget crashing through class five rapids and getting soaked — I mean really drenched. Our son was delighted. Kids under six can’t go, and kids of any age aren’t permitted in the first four rows of the boat. We were in row five and water repeatedly landed on our heads (that’s me above the first “O” in “Pool” below — the company has a photographer in the gorge taking shots of each boat, which you can buy). I recommend sitting as close to the front as possible. Row five or closer should get you good and wet. (Note: Wear a bathing suit and even bring goggles for the kids if you want. You will get that wet. They provide you with SCUBA booties so your shoes don’t get ruined. At times there are several inches of water inside the boat. And bring towels to leave on the dock. My wife is the only one on our boat who did this and our son was able to dry off before the shuttle bus ride back to the car.)

We had skipped lunch, so were hungry and headed to an early dinner after drying off and changing clothes following the jetboat ride. We used our $45 hotel voucher for TGI Fridays next to our hotel, and were surprised that the menu did not resemble the one we were used to from the U.S. (it was much smaller) and that the prices were very high. They must get lots of customers through hotel vouchers and have jacked up their prices accordingly. I didn’t recall ever seeing a simple chicken dinner priced at $27 at TGIF.

After dinner we swam in the hotel pool and rested. At some point we played air hockey in the tiny hotel arcade.

At 8:00 we went to the magic show that was included with our hotel. Greg Frewin does a full Vegas-style illusion act at the Greg Frewin Theatre, complete with tigers, birds, and disappearing women. How did he do that, anyway? It was a block from our hotel and was a nice change of pace from all the running around and getting soaked the first two days. Frewin is entertaining and funny.

Day Seven, Tuesday: I read negative reviews online about Marineland, but we decided to give it a try. Some of the complaints seemed silly, like people who didn’t like the food (which was only just as bad as what you find in other amusement parks) and others who objected to all the walking and “wasted space” (it is a big park and we were lucky to be there on a day that wasn’t terribly hot, but we enjoyed walking the grounds and not being in a park crammed with people hawking crap and trying to get you to waste your money to win a stuffed animal, like in many amusement parks). It is an expensive attraction, but so were many of the attractions we visited. Niagara is a tourist destination. You’re going to spend a lot of money nearly every day on something. Our three tickets at Marineland cost less than the jetboat ride. The jetboat ride lasted 45 minutes, and we spent 5 hours at Marineland. It was worth the money.

My son got splashed by a killer whale (it was hard to get a good view unless you stood close to the tank, since there aren’t bleachers, but he was right up front when the whale splashed the crowd with its tail). The sea lions and dolphins entertained us in a show. My son loved feeding the fish — you can buy feed and the fish come to the surface to eat. What we weren’t expecting was to feed bears. Yes, bears. There are more than a dozen black bears and you can feed them. They seem to eat the same corn pop cereal balls that the fish eat. They sell them next to the bear pit and let you feed the bears. At our local zoo there’s one bear and half the time you can’t see it because it’s sleeping or hiding. These bears were just below the people, looking up and waiting for food to be thrown to them. Marineland doesn’t have tons of rides, but it does have at least two outstanding ones. Dragon Mountain is a long steel coaster with four loops (one with a twist) and the Sky Screamer shoots you up at tremendous speed and drops you down. You have to walk a steep hill to get to the Sky Screamer, but it’s worth it.

We spent the evening at Clifton Hill. Dinner was at Boston Pizza, where I had the blandest spaghetti bolognese I have ever tasted. Any store-bought jar of sauce over pasta would have had more flavor. We rode the Skywheel, a ferris wheel with a view of the falls, which was included in our hotel package. We played glow in the dark Galaxy Mini-Golf. (We had also done a Clifton Hill haunted house attraction one of the earlier days).

Day Eight, Wednesday: We only had two days of breakfast included with our hotel, so we ate at Denny’s across the street. Then we packed and loaded up the car and walked over to Clifton Hill. We took the people mover to Table Rock and saw Niagara’s Fury. It’s a 360-degree movie with special effects and water effects, about the creation of the falls. It’s included in the adventure package and we wanted to head back to the horseshoe falls anyway to take more pictures, but it doesn’t require a separate trip. The movie was 20 minutes long and then we tried to take pictures.

It was our first rain in Canada. But it was raining only by the horseshoe falls. It wasn’t just mist. There seemed to be a localized cloud above the horseshoe area and there were periods of steady rain and wind. We had another fast food lunch at the tourist center. The Burger Town staff couldn’t seem to keep a decent supply of ketchup available. We did get some pictures and then rode back to the base of Clifton Hill. The rain stayed at Table Rock. 

My son and I did a last attraction at Clifton Hill — Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum — while my wife shopped for souvenirs closer to the hotel, where it was less expensive. We could have spent a lot more time in the museum looking at oddities and reading about strangeness, but we had a long drive ahead of us, so I tried to get us through as quickly as I could. 

We left Niagara at 4:00 p.m. and discovered that U.S. customs/border agents are not as friendly as their Canadian counterparts (but we were lucky, because we knew people who had two-hour delays at the border because of traffic, and we were through in a few minutes). We were home at midnight.

Some last notes and tips:

• Bring a waterproof camera if you have one
• Everything is pretty expensive in both Toronto and Niagara, but look online for coupons to places like Medieval Times — sometimes you can get a better deal by buying tickets on the Internet than at the attraction
• We brought bottled water and kept it in our hotel fridge, which saved us money
• A lot of people smoked cigarettes in Toronto and maybe even more in Niagara — there were tourists from all over the world, and I guess more of them smoke than I usually see in the U.S. these days
• Taxes in Canada are high — everything costs more than you think it will
• In Toronto, and a few times in Niagara, our cell phones were roaming — adjust your phone settings so you won’t pay for expensive texts, etc.
• If you can get your wife to plan the whole vacation, like mine did, that makes it a lot easier

Photos taken by Scott Stein (except of the Whirlpool Jet)

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