Ontario Hotels

We like to live close (commuting distance maybe?) to a city but we
enjoy the outdoors. To give an example, we currently live 15 miles (30
minutes drive) outside of Manchester, UK but we are only 5 minutes
drive from the countryside. We take holidays every year in the Lake
District which is very picturesc and on The Isle of Wight which has
beautiful beaches and countryside.

So we're looking for somewhere with a population of tens to hundreds
of thousands and not millions. We're a young family so would like a
nice place to bring up children. We quite like the idea of ottawa with
it being a bilingual city.

I'm a Structural Engineer and my wife-to-be is a student midwife.
We'll both be fully qualified by the time we look to emigrate.
Obvioulsy we need to be in a location where we have no problem getting
employment.

As for our honeymoon later this year. We want to get a good feel for
the place, we've read lots about it but it's never the same as
visiting a place. We would like to visit the major cities and see the
sights but at the same time we would like to get out of the cities and
see how we like the more rural areas. This isn't a house hunting visit
or anything like that, although she would like to think of it that
way. I'm sure between now and actually moving there we will have made
a number of visits but this visit will hopefully narrow down our
search for our ideal family home.

Mark Brader wrote:

> Lee Meadowcroft:
> >> I've started to finalise my route as follows, haven't decided on
> >> places to stay yet because I need to decide on my budget:
> >>
> >> Sun - Arrive 17:00
> >> Sun/Mon - Toronto
> >> Tue/Wed - Niagara Falls
> >> Wed - Nr Toronto
> >> Thu - ...
>
> Dave Smith:
> > Just a few thoughts. Niagara Falls is about 1 1/2 drive from Toronto.
> > Rather than spending 3/4 of an hour to get to a downtown hotel, getting
> > settled, unpacking and then having to pack again, go directly to
> > Niagara Falls and get the travel out of the way.
>
> Agreed, if you're flying into Toronto and renting a car immediately on
> arrival rather than later. At the airport you're already on the west side
> of the city (it's just outside the western city limit, in Mississauga),
> so you can get to the Niagara region without driving through Toronto.
> Leaving the airport, take highway 427 south about 2 km to highway 401;
> then 401 west about 6 km to highway 403, which also goes west.
>
> After about 20 km, highway 403 merges onto the Queen Elizabeth Way
> (QEW), which is signed British-style with destination cities instead
> of the normal way with directions. At this point you are on the QEW to
> Hamilton, which then curves around the end of Lake Ontario and becomes
> the QEW to Niagara Falls. At some point highway 403 splits off again,
> but now you ignore it and stay on the QEW. If Niagara Falls is your
> destination, highway 420 is the usual exit.
>
> (An alternate route from the airport is to stay on 427 south to the QEW,
> but in my experience there tends to be more traffic that way.)

Personally, I would stick to the alternate. The OP is arriving at 5 pm on a
Sunday night and traffic will be light. It is one less highway exit to look
for in a new place and, for soem reason, some people seem to have trouble
finding 403. I don't, but I know a few people who do.

It is worth noting that 403 joins onto the QEW at Oakville and then starts up
again in Burlington so you have to be sure to follow the QEW when it curves to
the left.

Mark Brader wrote:

> In that case if you want to go to the Georgian Bay area, you should
> go there directly from Niagara Falls, probably taking highway 6 from
> Hamilton. Spend a night up there somewhere, although I have no idea
> of specific places to suggest.

We frequently travel from Niagara to Collingwood. The fastest route by
far is to go over to Hwy. 410 to the end, jog over to Airport Rd. and
follow it all the way up to where it hooks onto Hwy.26.

Thanks again for all your advice so far. We are now planning our final
accommodation in Toronto and with the hundreds if not thousands of
places it is probably the most difficult of choices so far.

With your help we have now made the following reservations:

Niagara-on-the-Lake - The Charles Inn (3 Nights)
Coboconk - The Saucy Willow Inn (3 Nights)
Ottawa - Gasthaus Switzerland Inn (3 Nights)
Prince Edward County - The Devonshire Inn (2 Nights)

That leaves 2 nights in Toronto. We think we'd quite like somewhere
downtown but are open to suggestions within 30 minutes drive of
downtown. We have dinner booked at the CN Tower on the 12th and we
would like to do a walk along Toronto Islands one of the days. The
other day we could maybe do a bit of shopping and see the sights.
Having spent slightly over our budget so far we are looking for
something relatively cheap without loosing out on quality (considering
these are the final 2 nights of our honeymoon). I've seen rooms
upwards of $500/night and regularly over $300/night. I am looking for
something in the $200-250/night bracket.

Anybody have suggestions for things to see and do and places to eat
and sleep? Many Thanks.