Gary, thanks for the advice. I talked to somebody at Avis and it appears that I can do the rental ca

DH and I decided to take a last minute trip to Niagara Falls before school starts up in August. We have two boys(12 14) who would be seeing the falls for the first time. After several days of talking and researching various options, we finally arrived at the following rough itinerary:
Fly into Buffalo Fri night the 10th, spend the night. Sat am, rent a car drive to Niagara Falls. I think we will stop first at the American Side so we can do Cave of the Wind, the state park Maid of the Mist. Then we'll cross over to the Canadian side to see the view there as I've heard it is nicer.
We will ultimately ireland hotels end up renting a car in QC and driving to NYC where we will catch a flight back home on Saturday the 18th. It looks like we will have 7 full days, but one of them will be spent on the train from Toronto to QC. We'll get to QC in time to have dinner and walk around a bit but not do anything major.
A little bit about us and our interests: DH and I are very intrigued by all of the ethnic areas in Toronto, especially the food. Our boys are a little picky but always manage to find something they will eat. They love Indian, Thai, Chinese Sushi. DH and I love museums, history, art, architecture, cultural attractions. The boys do pretty well getting dragged to all of that and even enjoy it a bit but they can't go as long as we can. We need to plan for down time and just hanging out. We're not rugged outdoors types but we do enjoy scenic parks and I love touring botanical gardens.
I can speak for Montreal. You will definitely ireland hotels be very pleased with the ethnic districts. China town, little Italy, le plateau district has little of everything in European style district. Old Montreal and the old port. Is more french oriented and you will find lot of history.Wonderful choice of museums such as the museum of fine arts and so many more, look them up on line. If you have children the Imax Science ireland hotels Centre at the old port is always a favorite. You could even see le cirque du soliel at the old port. The botanical garden in Montreal located by the Olympic park is very pretty! And for the boys the Biodome which is very close by is something you should look into. You could visit the underground city or walk around St.Catherine St. where you could see old and new architecture sharing the same place. Personally, Toronto is not one of my favorite ireland hotels places. Quebec city is very pretty maybe two days.it a little bit of Europe in Canada. Maybe even visit Chateau or go to a ice wind vineyard. Ottawa ireland hotels is a one maybe two day stop. You could visit the market and parliament hill. I like Ottawa but there isn't all that much to do. You do have a choice of museums and history, so I would choose a tour, go to the
#1. when you fly into Buffalo, you are only 30 minutes from Niagara Falls... you should go to the falls when you arrive, especially since Fridays offer concerts and fireworks at 10pm...get a room on the Canadian side... Saturday, I would walk across the Rainbow bridge to Maid of the Mist and Goat Island for Cave of the Winds (this is the Nature of the Falls)
2. You will not be able to rent a car at Buffalo airport and leave it in Canada, and at the end of the trip rent in QC and leave it in NYC... You could get a car service from the airport to the Falls and possibly rent in the Falls and leave the car in Toronto OR take the train from Niagara to Toronto(better choice)...
ireland hotels 4 the best attraction at Niagara on the lake(especially for teens) is the Whirlpool Jet Boats... be sure to include this into your plan... don't skip this, it will be the highlight of your entire ireland hotels trip...
Saturday 8/11 ...hotel Bfast... walk across rainbow bridge... buy Niagara Discovery Passes for Maid of the Mist,peoplemover and Cave of the Winds... gawk at Falls ... lunch and wander back across bridge to Hotel.... Take tour to Niagara on the Lake(bus or private car) and include Whirlpool Jet Boat for entire Family(don't miss this).. you could also include a stop at the botanical garden and two wineries... return to hotel for evening events and more fireworks...
NOTE: the trip from QC to NYC (besides not being able to cross country drop a car) is grueling... The NYC airports are impossible compared to Buffalo... it may be cheaper to fly round trip Buffalo and never rent a car than your current plan...
Gary, thanks for the advice. I talked to somebody at Avis and it appears that I can do the rental car in Buffalo and leave it in Toronto, but not from Quebec to the US. I was a bit afraid of that. I think the Buffalo to Toronto is probably a pretty common request so perhaps that's why the do that one.
We were trying to avoid having to spend an entire day getting back to Buffalo ireland hotels but I will obviously have to rethink. There is a train from Montreal to NYC so I will have to check that out as well. Or from Montreal ireland hotels to Albany then to Buffalo. I guess at the very least we'd have different scenery to look at. lol
that may work better for you to have a car for Buffalo, Niagara, Niagara on the Lake and then leave it parked at the rental agency in Toronto(maybe for free) and then round trip to QC... then return, get the car and drive it back to Buffalo... also as I said Buffalo/RDU is much easier...
You are planning a trip that needs 10 days to two weeks minimum. Considering the distances ireland hotels involved and the complications of crossing borders, I suggest some realistic pruning of your ambitions. To start, you might discard Quebec City (great destination, but too far to travel.) ireland hotels Flying home from Montreal ireland hotels makes sense. The plane fare will likely ireland hotels be more than from Buffalo, ireland hotels but Montreal-Buffalo by land will cost you a day's travel.
Another ireland hotels idea: Go straight ireland hotels to your Canadian hotel from the Buffalo airport. You can do the Maid of the Mist from that side of the falls. ireland hotels If you still want to visit the Niagara-on-the-Lake wineries, you won't have time for anything else in the area.
southam--yes, you're right. We ended up dropping Montreal Quebec out of the trip. I spent a month in QC and Montreal in college and have been wanting to get back there for years. It was wishful thinking to tack it on to a trip to Niagara. Another trip.
We booked a flight into Buffalo and out of NYC and we will take the train from Buffalo to NYC. We'll spend a few days in Niagara Falls, a few in Toronto and then the rest of the time in NYC. I think we will just hit a few things in Toronto--CN Tower, Hockey Hall of Fame and a neighborhood or two.