Toronto or Niagara

[oldwrinklyhands]

Looking at an Easter trip for 2024 and have found some reasonably priced deals for 10 days in and around Toronto. Have narrowed it down to a hotel by Toronto harbour or one that seems to be right by Niagara Falls. Any suggestions on what would be best? From my research it looks like there will be more to see and do whilst staying in Toronto and better for transport links. Going with DH and kids who will be 10 and 12.

We're planning staying in Toronto for a few days in the summer and a day trip to Niagara
As others have said there is more to do in Toronto

Toronto is in Canada, Niagara has Canada side & a US side.
You'll need both visitors visas if you go to the USA
I think you should look at a map

You can do Niagara by bus for the day. The fare included lunch. We actually booked a hotel and stayed overnight car hing the return bus the next day. Make sure you have your passports as you can cross the bridge for great views and even go into America

I would choose the hotel in Toronto for sure. Niagara was fun for a day to see the falls, go on the maid of the mist & visit some other attractions. But a day or 2 would be plenty there in my opinion.

I recommend the hockey hall of fame. I’m not particularly a fan but this was excellent. And then the obvious stuff like CN tower, Dundas Sq etc. I also visited Casa Loma which was cool to see, but maybe a bit boring for kids.

I really want to go back to Toronto so I can travel to see the filming location of Schitts Creek!!

Oh gosh 10 days I would do a split stay and do more than both, could easily get Ottawa and even Montreal in depending on your pace. But if it's as you describe id do Toronto and day trip to Niagara.

Just to say we flew to NY and drove to Montreal, it's only a 6 hour drive, so depending on what you want to do it would be totally doable to see some of the US as well, we were only there a week.

Niagara is Blackpool, Canada. It’s awful, except for the Falls. Niagara on the Lake is nicer, if twee.

I’d pick Toronto in a heartbeat. If you’re in Niagara, yes, you could visit Buffalo, but not much else sensibly because North America is ginormous.

Definitely plan on doing The Maid In The Mist in Niagara, it’s ace.

Niagara itself is tacky, but the surrounding area is nice. Lots of wineries and hikes.

But yes OP, not really enough to sustain you for more than a weekend. Stay in Toronto. You know you can drive to Niagara in about 90mins from downtown Toronto? Easy daytrip.

Easy to do both, we have done Toronto and Niagara Falls a couple of times, fantastic trip.

Check the Blue Jays schedule (which will
probably come out late autumn) to see if they have any home games while you’re in Toronto, it’s a great - and family friendly - experience.

Do check the forecast regularly before you go. Southern Ontario can have ice and snow in the first half of April. Definitely colder than the U.K. - average temperatures are a high of 11° and a low of 4° so take coats!

this. You do not want to be in a hotel near Niagra for 10 days.

Toronto is a lovely city and it's easy to catch the train to Niagara round Lake Ontario but if you hired a car you could drive back via Niagara on the Lake and visit a couple of the wineries as well. My friend lives in Oakville which is a Toronto suburb which is very nice but there's not much there. We drove 2 hours north to Lake Huron where they have a cabin (huge house they call a cabin) and that's lovely. There's a beach on the lake at Grand Bend. You can get to Ottawa and Montreal by train as well fairly easily - one for next time for me.
Oh, and do the zip line at Niagara. That's good fun. Book ahead.

I found Niagara to be like a Canadian Blackpool. You can easily do a day trip from Toronto, either bus or train. I really wouldn't stay overnight. You can do the boat to the falls which is great. Used to be Maid of the Mist --- but it is something else now that I can't remember.
If you want to do the walk behind the falls see if you can book in advance as it gets very busy.

Toronto at Easter can still be pretty chilly. Their spring starts later than ours.
My son lives in Toronto and I love it there. Off there again in 4 weeks 😀

Toronto. Niagara was like a concrete shit-hole when I visited 25 years ago.

We did a 4 days in Toronto, 2 nights in Niagara on the Lake and 4 nights in Algonquin national park. Was a good balance.

Niagara for one day/night and if you can stay right by the falls it's absolutely worth it. The falls are magnificent and awe inspiring and the light show at night it lovely.

We stayed in Toronto.& hired a car..we visited Niagra for a day..The falls are spectacular & we loved going out on Tye Maid of the Mist

Make sure to stop at Niagra-on-the-Lake too. A charming old town..there's a fantastic ice-cream shop there too which dc loved

We visited Toronto Island for the day which was fun too, renting a 4 wheel bike & cycling around the island

The Distillery was great, there's an amazing chocolate maker there. Highly recommended.

We, too, loved Jack Astors & ate there a lot - either in the restaurant or takeaway in the apartment. I still miss that food!

I'd love to go back again & this time I'd visit the Schitts Creek set same as a pp

We did NY and Toronto a couple of years ago, with a day tour to Niagra falls+ surrounding areas. Both husband and I really enjoyed it, plus having a guide explaining more about the area and its history helped a lot.

I would recommend picking a hotel in Toronto- there is so much more I see and discover. If I remember right, we stayed for 4 days and both of us felt it was not enough to see "it all".

There's loads to do in Torino's! You'd easily fill ten days.

Casa Loma is great. Watch the X men before you go!

we did a day trip to the Canadian side of the falls from the US a few years ago, I wouldn’t have wanted more than a day, yes it’s cool to see the falls, but a lot of it is run down/very tacky. That said, I had the best restaurant steak of my life at the Keg Steakhouse overlooking the falls, so would totally recommend that. I wouldn’t bother crossing to the American side though.

We've booked through Expedia, ended up booking 11 nights in Toronto for £3.3 which I thought wasn't too bad.

@oldwrinklyhands thank you. Expedia does seem to have the best deals!

Easter is a bit of a tricky time since weather is unpredictable at that point and some outdoor based things might not be yet open (possibly including Toronto Zoo). If you're lucky you may get to see some cherry blossom and the beginnings of spring.
The islands are definitely worth a trip out on the ferry with a park of nice view of the skyline, although the attractions there only open in May.
If you're going to see multiple things out of the big attractions - CN Tower, Casa Loma, Science Centre, Royal Ontario Museum - you can get a Citypass to cover all of them as individually they may be rather expensive.
Honestly, the Aquarium is nothing special and a bit overpriced, unless you've never seen one before.
With kids the Royal Ontario Museum is worth doing and there is also Little Canada (a kind of model village of different places in Canada with little moving trains and cars) in Toronto, which might be worth looking into.
You may just miss the beginnings of the Blue Jays baseball season, as this starts early April, but you might catch the end of the hockey season in which case you could go watch a Marlies game (not NHL, but still professional and much cheaper!) for the experience.

As a family of 4 (children are 13 and 9) we love Blackpool, so for us Niagara is just a fun place to visit. We have been for 2 nights having spent 5 days in Toronto and would do this again. Yes Niagara is tacky but there's lots to do for family's who enjoy this kind of fun. We love the maid of the mist, journey behind the falls, mooch around Niagara on the lake (has a great ice cream place). We also love the arcades and the fair, it reminds me a bit of Vegas, but kids can all join in so I feel there's more to do and see than what a few hours would give you on a day trip. We love entertainment, we like a bit (a bit) of adventure but most of all lots of flippin good fun so please consider a couple of day by the falls if this is something you and your family would like. We will be doing it all again next year also :)