Where to fly in to Canada with 10 days pre cruise

[speedinbk]

We will be taking a cruise Oct 9th out of Quebec and can fly into any city in Canada (probably Toronto to go to Niagra falls) 10 days early. We have never been to Canada and would like to know where you suggest we go? Knowing what you do, what would be your itinerary? I'm fine with big cities and scenic views and would like a mixture of both.  I don't mind renting a car or taking train travel which would you suggest. We would fly in on a Tuesday September 29th with the cruise leaving on Friday the October 9th. Thanks in advance for all those that reply, I look forward to your suggestions.  

Edited February 23, 2020 by speedinbk

[martincath]

Actually, I'd fly to Buffalo (cheaper) and do Niagara Falls first by rental car, dropping it off in Toronto (3 days in the city); then all-train travel to Ottawa (2 days), Montreal (3 days) before finally getting to Quebec City (2 days) for the cruise. Depending what kind of stuff you like to see in cities, you will want a different amount of time - Ottawa for example, being the capital, punches way above it's population size in galleries/museums as all the 'national...' whatever types are here, as well as parliament which has a very interesting tour. If you want to get out into the countryside, a car is a necessity - but I'd do a couple of one-day rentals each in Montreal & Quebec City then stick to on-foot touring or maybe HOHOs for urban centres and the train for intra-city travel, it's just nice.

 

If the cruise starts with an overnight, as many do, remember you'll have that time when you're trying to decide how much to allocate to each city. Honestly, rather than rely on any opinions here - including my own - I'd hit up Tripadvisor to see which cities you feel have the most stuff YOU want to do in each before deciding how much time to allocate!

 

[Named-Tawny]

Are you on the NCL Gem?  I'll see you there, if so!

If I had 10 days to see Canada, and I'd never been before, this is probably what I'd do...

Start in Vancouver.  2 days there to explore and enjoy the Left Coast.

Take the Canadian train (Via Rail) to Toronto (3.5 days, leave at night, get into Toronto in the morning).  It's AMAZING. Basically like being on a land cruise.  The food is fantastic, and the scenery is unbeatable.
3 days in Toronto, rent a car, enjoy the city, and make a day trip to Niagara (you don't need to spend more than a day there, MAAAAYBE an overnight)

Train/fly to Quebec (if you'd doin the train, do business class, and the drinks trolley never stops).

 

 

[BarbinMich]

On 2/23/2020 at 3:41 PM, speedinbk said:

We will be taking a cruise Oct 9th out of Quebec and can fly into any city in Canada (probably Toronto to go to Niagra falls) 10 days early. We have never been to Canada and would like to know where you suggest we go? Knowing what you do, what would be your itinerary? I'm fine with big cities and scenic views and would like a mixture of both.  I don't mind renting a car or taking train travel which would you suggest. We would fly in on a Tuesday September 29th with the cruise leaving on Friday the October 9th. Thanks in advance for all those that reply, I look forward to your suggestions.  

What cruise line and itinerary will you be doing?  The suggestion mentioned above by Named-Tawny would certainly be a comprehensive view of Canada, coast-to-coast.  That said, it could be pretty boring riding the train through the "prairie" provinces of eastern Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and most of Ontario away from the Great Lakes.  My mother-in-law was from Sask. so we have made numerous auto trips out there from the Detroit MI area.  The furthest we went was Jasper Natl Park, which is north of Banff Natl Park (been there several times) in Alberta.  Really love Banff, Jasper less so.  FWIW the scenery in the US south of Sask and Manitoba is similarly flat and not very interesting.  That's why it's called "flyover country" <g>.  I think your time would be better spent in eastern Canada flying into Toronto spending some time there, then driving around the west end of Lake Ontario to visit Niagara Falls, then returning to Toronto and heading east on Canada 401 which will take you Kingston, which is an interesting place and close to the Thousand Islands in the western end of the St. Lawrence River.  You could then head to Montreal, another large and interesting French/English-speaking city.  From there you can drive to Quebec City.