Toronto Travel Forum

I want to visit USa with my family in June / July.

1. What is the best time to visit ?

2. What are the close by attrcations and also in Toronto ?

3. What is the best way to reach Toronto from Chicago ?

4. What is the cheapest way to visit my dream location vacouver ?

5. How to get around in Toronto / Ontario ?

Here are a couple of suggestions based upon your questions:

1) Best time to visit? - It appears you are going to be in the Chicago area. Chances are June would be a better month to visit Chicago as it won't have gotten as hot or humid as it can get in July. Since Toronto is farther north then Chicago it is usually a bit cooler then Chicago. I have been in Toronto in July and August and the weather was very pleasant both times.

2) Close attractions? - What type of attractions are you looking for. Museums, for kids, sporting events. Respond back with a little more information and we will be able to help you better.

3) Best way Chicago to Toronto - Fastest way is to go by plane. There is a new service out of Chicago which may have some cheaper airfares. Let me know if you need more information on them. The other way is to drive. It is about an 8 hour drive by car.

4) Vancouver - Where is your starting point? If you are coming out of Chicago it would be best to fly into Seattle, rent a car and take a 3 hour drive to Vancouver.

5) How to Get Around in Toronto - Once you are in Toronto you probably won't need a car. They have a fairly good bus and subway system to take you to most of the sites you may want to see within the city.

i agree with Rick above.

1. What is the best time to visit ?

july, august

2. What are the close by attrcations and also in Toronto ?

CN tower, casa loma, niagara falls, 1000 islands, georgian bay cruises, african lion safari.

3. What is the best way to reach Toronto from Chicago ?

we have used 3 modes - air, greyhound, our own car. for time reason, taking a flight is the best.

4. What is the cheapest way to visit my dream location vacouver ?

i would think train, because airline tickets can be expensive.

5. How to get around in Toronto / Ontario ?

local buses, subway, electric cars, GO transit system.

i hope this helps.

Toronto & area has plenty to see and do and any time in June or July will be great weather wise. To go to Vancouver BC, you could drive - but with your family in tow, give yourself a week & a half. Bus is the cheapest and fastest overland route but you'll all be guite grungy and tired by the time you arrive. The train is quite good but leaving from Toronto, you will arrive in Vancouver 5 days later.
If flying, it would be wise to fly out of the US as suggested and fly to Seattle. Flight prices within Canada are out of whack and you'll save a lot flying in the US. Seattle is only about 110 miles from Vancouver BC (under 200 km) with good roads so it won't take you 3 hours unless the border is backed up. Vancouver, is a beautiful city and while the skies are grey and wet all winter long, in July you can count on sunshine and temperatures in the mid 20 degree range. Not hot and humid like Toronto & Chigago.

Thanks a alot for the advice. Kindly also let me know what are the tourist attractions around toronto like Ottawa and Montreal. Are they worth visitsing ? How much time will it take to reach there ? Are there more cosmopolitin cities around ? We are intersted in general sightseeing mostly outdoors. Dont want to visit museuems etc.

Can you tell me how much will it cost to vists and what time will it take by bus or train to Montreal, Ottawa and other such cities around Toronto ?

This will really help plan our trip better.

i will recommend going to montreal (6-7 hours drive from toronto), have a view of the city from Mount Royal and then head towards north to Mount-Tremblant. the first is free of cost and the 2nd is great touristic destination. Mount-Tremblant national park is worth hiking into. besides, there are many other outdoorsy attractions. its difficut to give all the details here. you will find details on my VT page on Mount-Tremblant (including Mount royal in montreal).

on the way to ottawa / montreal, there are many lakeshore cities like kingston, where you can board a ferry and have a wonderful world renouned tour of 1000 islands, including St Lawrence islands national park.

Toronto has nice weather from june till august and sometimes september. Although we do have humidity in the summer months but if you don't mind the heat it's quite bearable.
Within Toronto there is the CN tower, casa loma, the new ROM and AGO (worth at least walking by), harbourfront, the islands, as well as numerous outdoor spots including Royal Botantical gardens, the Beach, and markets (Kensington, St. Lawrence). Near toronto there is Niagara Falls (1 1/2hr drive), scenic towns such as stratford. Kingston is not really worth a visit if you're on a time crunch, although they do have Sandbanks Provincial Park which is a giant beach :D Ottawa is about a 4 hour drive and montreal is about 5-6. If you have the time you should go there but the train to both these places is rarely on time because of delays due to sharing the tracks with freight trains.
The cheapest way to get to Toronto I think is flying with Porter airlines. They are a charter airline that operates out of the island airport and have direct flights to some major US cities including Chicago. Tickets are fairly cheap, alhtough I don't know how much flight taxes are now-a-days.
Vancouver is on the other side of Canada, so any way you choose it will not be that cheap. Flying is definitely your best option unless you want to spend a week in a car, or a couple of days on a train.
Within toronto there is a pretty good transit system or buses, streetcars and the subway. That should get you anywhere aroudn the city. Anywhere further I would suggest renting a car.