A fun fact about me and my partner is that we met in New York: the first stop on a three-week road trip across Southern USA, run by Trek America. The chances of us meeting were almost infinitely small, and every day I thank my lucky stars that we both just happened to book on to that same trip departing on the same day. Seven years(!) later, we decided to celebrate the anniversary of our providential meeting by returning to the same continent for another road trip… this time just the two of us, exploring a country that we’d never been to before but that was high up both of our bucket lists: Canada.
The original plan was to hire a campervan and re-live our Australian adventure (sans outback breakdown and eye parasite). However, the cost to hire a campervan at the peak time we were going worked out more expensive than just hiring a car and staying in hotels! So, that’s what we did. (The flashpacker life quite literally chose us.)
Over the course of two weeks, we ticked off as many major cities as we could across Eastern Canada, stopping at the following places along the way.
Montreal
Where we stayed:
We landed in Montreal fairly late at night, so it was already dark when we checked into our first accommodation: a serviced apartment chain called Sonder. It was very reasonably priced, so we weren’t really expecting anything too fancy. But when we rode the elevator up to the penthouse floor and opened the door to this view… it quite literally took our breath away.
The apartment was absolutely beautiful and the views were to die for. Getting to watch the city lights of an evening and the sun rise in the morning was one of the best things about our whole trip.
Highlights:
1) We were told that, when in Montreal, you need to try their bagels. Happy to take any kind of local food recommendations, that’s exactly what we did.
2) One of the first orders of business after arriving in Canada was to determine whether Tim Hortons truly is Canada’s Favourite Coffee™. The jury’s still out on that one.
3) We paid for the cheapest rental car and instead got handed the keys to a Tesla. This was how we got around the country and I think probably Nick’s highlight of the whole trip. I have to admit that it was a very cool car. So cool that we’re really having to re-consider the cost benefit of the rental saving now that Nick feels compelled to buy one for himself…
Kingston
Where we stayed:
A few weeks after booking a nice-looking hotel for our stay in Kingston, I Googled its name to add the address to our itinerary. This was something I considered to be a harmless enough internet search… before being unceremoniously met with a full page of articles about “the most haunted hotel in Canada”. How I managed to miss this at the time of booking, I have absolutely no idea. Too late now – I’d already handed my credit card details over to Madame Leota at the Haunted Mansion!
Naturally, I read every single one of the stories until I was suitably freaked out. This is quite an impressive feat when considering the fact that I like to think of myself a staunch rationalist and, like all staunch rationalists, I don’t actually believe in ghosts. However, as a staunch rationalist also in possession of an anxiety disorder and an over-active imagination, I wasn’t about to let something as silly as facts get in the way of a good, old fashioned panic.
The day of the stay finally arrived and, believe me when I say, this hotel could only have looked more haunted if it was sat on top of an Indian burial ground, or in the middle of a cemetery in the Magic Kingdom. Don’t believe me? See for yourself:
*Ghost may or may not have been added in post for visualisation purposes
I’m not going to say the name of the hotel, because I’d hate for anyone reading this to not go there because of this post. It was actually a really nice place to stay. The staff were so lovely and helpful; the complimentary breakfast provided every morning was so delicious and could be enjoyed from the most beautiful wrap-around porch that was great for squirrel watching; it was in perfect walking distance of anywhere we wanted to go, and all for the low, low price of two nights with very-little-to-no sleep. Plus, the woman they paid to sit in the armchair and sing us nursery rhymes every night was excellent! Swings and roundabouts.
Highlights:
1) You can’t go to Canada without trying poutine, and Kingston was where we tried our first plates. For saying that cheesy chips and gravy is one of the five main food groups for people living in the north of England, we were surprised to find that neither of us were fans of this national delicacy – but when in Rome.
2) One of my favourite things that we did in Canada was spending the morning paddle boarding on Lake Ontario. However, as my only previous experience of paddle boarding was on the still, blue, warm and crystal-clear waters of Fiji, I was dismayed to learn that I’m not actually as naturally talented at paddle boarding as I was previously led to believe.
3) On our last night in Kingston, we went on a 1,000 Islands sunset dinner cruise. The cruise took us to see some of the islands and told us about their history. We were then served dinner and champagne whilst the sun set around us and a live band played.
Being the only pre-planned stop on our trip that I’d never heard of (and dreading the haunted house experience), I wasn’t expecting too much from Kingston. But it was absolutely beautiful with quaint small-town vibes and loads to do – it turned out to be one of my favourite places that we visited and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone planning their own Eastern Canada road trip.
Toronto
Where we stayed:
Whilst we were in Toronto, we stayed at a B&B called The Jane, and I can honestly say that it was the nicest B&B I have ever stayed at in all my life. Located in a very fancy upper-class suburb on a mansion lined street, The Jane was immaculately and tastefully decorated throughout, with a huge living room, dining room and garden area for guests to enjoy. The bed was one of the comfiest things I’ve ever slept in (still kicking myself that I forgot to check the labels on the linen before we left…) and the room was kitted out with everything anyone could ever need, including a TV with pre-logged-in Netflix; a fancy coffee station and a walk-in waterfall shower with designer toiletries. Again, for saying it was very reasonably priced, it wasn’t what we were expecting at all, and we were very pleasantly surprised.
But the best thing about staying at The Jane was the people we met there. The B&B is run by the eponymous Jane and her husband, Steve, who were the loveliest and most personable hosts I have ever encountered. They lay the most delicious breakfast spread out for us to come downstairs to each morning (including home-baked banana and walnut loaf!), which we would enjoy sat around the dining room table, chatting to the other guests who were staying there. We met a range of extremely interesting and chatty Americans during our stay, and Steve would also sit to eat with us, giving us advice about what we should do during our time in Toronto. After meeting and talking to Jane at breakfast one morning, she sent me on my way with a handwritten list of the best places to go shopping. I can’t recommend The Jane enough to anyone planning a trip to Toronto.
Highlights:
1) After arriving in Toronto, we wasted no time in walking down to the city to commence ticking off some of the top tourist attractions, starting with the CN Tower:
2) And the Toronto sign:
3) On our second day, we headed to the Distillery District, where we sat outside and ate pizza in the sun whilst a live musician serenaded us. It was very cool there, with lots of shops and restaurants, and we returned later in the evening to have dinner at a seafood restaurant recommended to us by Steve called Pure Spirits. It was delicious!
4) Nick and I are both huge Disney nerds, so when we saw adverts for an Immersive Disney Animation event on our drive into Toronto, it was the first thing we booked after setting our bags down in the B&B. Upon arrival, it was definitely geared more towards children than we’d originally anticipated, but it was still a lot of fun.
5) Some people might think it’s weird that I’m including a bookshop on the list of my favourite things that I did whilst on holiday, and to those people I say: A) Indigo is so much more than a bookshop, and B) go write your own list!
Indigo was everything I love all rolled into one. Books, stationery, homeware, lifestyle, candles, reading socks, things shaped like pumpkins… I want it? They had it! One even had a Starbucks right slap bang in the middle of it. Yes, I am a basic white girl. And on behalf of all other basic white girls living on this side of the Atlantic, I say, let’s start a petition to bring Indigo to England! (And only partly because I still have FOMO over not buying the below mug…)
Niagara on the Lake
The departing piece of advice we were left with by Steve, Jane and the array of new American friends we had made was this: if you’re going to Niagara Falls, you have to stop at Niagara on the Lake! They told us that Niagara on the Lake was much nicer than Niagara Falls: quainter, with nicer shops, restaurants and vineyards to enjoy. Having no reason not to trust the word of the locals, we set off on the detour.
Unfortunately, this detour coincided with a public holiday in Canada, and by the time we finally made it through the heavy traffic to Niagara on the Lake, we arrived to find it absolutely rammed full of people – detracting from its enjoyability greatly. I also think that North Americans get much more excited by “quaint towns” than us English, jaded as we are by quaint towns on every corner of our millennia year old country. (If you’ll excuse the massive sweeping generalisation…)
We stopped and had lunch (accompanied by a delicious glass of white wine from a local vineyard for me!) before heading back on the road and on to Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls
Where we stayed:
Being the closest hotel to Niagara Falls, The Marriott Fallsview was the most expensive hotel we have ever paid to stay in. But we took a bit of a YOLO mentality towards it because, really, how many times in your life are you ever going to visit Niagara Falls?
We booked a Superior Fallsview suite, which gave us the most breath taking views of Niagara Falls right from the comfort of our hotel room.
Getting to wake up to those views of a morning, and watch the light show from our room of an evening, was honestly one of the most amazing and memorable experiences. Did our two nights there end up costing nearly as much as our mortgage? Maybe... Would I make the same decision if given the chance again? Absolutely.
Highlights:
1) It goes without saying that the biggest highlight of our time in Niagara Falls was seeing the falls themselves. They were honestly spectacular, and the light show they did every night (accompanied by fireworks!) was magical to watch.
2) On our first night in Niagara, we wanted to make the most of the view from our hotel room, so we decided to do perhaps the most white-trash thing anyone has ever done and get takeout from Margaritaville. I’m a big fan of the song It’s 5 O’clock Somewhere by Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffet, but had never actually been in a Margaritaville before, so that was exciting! Whilst we waited for our food, we sat at the bar, drank frozen margaritas and pretended we were in a country song.
3) You can’t go to Niagara Falls without going on the Maid of the Mist: the boat that takes you all the way up to the falls themselves. However, having now been on it, I have to say that I do find the name slightly misleading, and would recommend that they perhaps consider a rebrand to ‘The Maid of Getting Absolutely Piss Wet Through’. Not as catchy, I’ll admit, but a lot more honest. I’ll leave it with you. (How Jim and Pam got married on there, I’ll never know!)
Trenton
When planning our road trip, we planned one “surprise day” for which we had no accommodation booked, to allow a bit of room for spontaneity whilst we were there. The idea was that we could stop somewhere that caught our eye on the way to Ottawa from Niagara Falls without being tied down to a particular destination. Little did we know that all of our road trips would consist of 99% motorways, and the chances of a cute little town just happening to catch our eyes en route was astronomically small. This is how we ended up spending a night at the Holiday Inn in Trenton: the exact half-way point (for those wondering) between Niagara Falls and Ottawa.
Where we stayed:
The Holiday Inn.
Highlights:
1) The Holiday Inn was a short walk from a diner that sold cocktails for $3!
2) When watching TV in bed that night, an 80s episode of a Canadian teen drama series called Degrassi High came on. It was the strangest thing I had ever seen and I spent the remainder of my days in Canada watching it whenever I got a chance – new guilty pleasure unlocked.
3) The breakfast was surprisingly delicious. Build your own McDonald’s breakfast + unlimited waffles and maple syrup, accompanied by percolated coffee with cream and sugar? Yes, please! (NB: My arteries would like to point out that they personally contested this point making it on to the list.)
Ottawa
Where we stayed:
We were back in another Sonder for our stay in Ottawa. It wasn’t as nice as the first Sonder we stayed in (but that would have been very hard to beat!) It was a perfectly nice place to base ourselves for our final few days in Canada, and I’d definitely recommend the Sonder chain to anyone considering a stay there.
Highlights:
1) We spent our first night in Ottawa at the International Fireworks Festival. The event celebrated different international countries through firework displays, with South Africa being the focus on the night we were there. The fireworks and musical accompaniment were very impressive and taking them in whilst sat on a hill, eating street food and drinking wine from a can was a very memorable way to start our stay in Ottawa.
2) It was lucky that we visited the fireworks festival on the day that we did, because the following day our plans were scuppered by one of the biggest thunderstorms I have ever experienced. We hunkered down in our apartment with tea, books and Degrassi High, before eventually deciding to venture out in search of poutine – which we ate in the shop, looking very much like drowned rats.
3) When the rain finally subsided, we tried to continue with the day we originally had planned. This included a visit to a rooftop bar at the Andaz which, unsurprisingly, was closed. However, we still had great panoramic views of the city from their indoor seating area, where we watched the sunset over Ottawa as we drank our drinks.
4) The next day was our final day in Canada. We decided to end our holiday on a relaxing note by taking a short road trip to Quebec to visit the Nordik Spa-Nature – the largest spa in North America! We had a very lovely and tranquil day there.
5) After arriving back from the spa, we walked back into the centre (stopping for dinner at the most delicious vegan restaurant on the way!) to watch the light show on Parliament Hill. It was very impressive and the most perfect end to our time in Canada.
From Ottawa, we circled back to Montreal to catch our flight home.
The above itinerary was very city focused and, if we were to go back to Canada again, I’d definitely want to explore the western side to (hopefully) get more of the stereotypical Canadian experience we were hoping for (i.e. bears, moose and nature). However, I am really happy that we go to tick off and experience some really iconic places on our bucket list during our trip.
Now that we’re fully settled in our not-so-new house, 2024 is going to be a big travelling year for us. We already have four trips in the planning stages, including one very exciting and special one towards the end of the year. Watch this space, eh!
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