Oh, Canada!

I can't say enough good things about our neighbors to the North. Summer 2025 (I'm late, I've been busy!) was our second Canadian road trip, with pit stops in Syracuse on the way up and Binghamton on the way back. If you're not traveling with two sentigenerians, you can definitely do the drive in one day from the NYC area, and if you have an enhanced NYS drivers license, you don't even need your passport. 

Eleven days of Canadian friendliness in three areas: Ottawa, Toronto, and Niagara Falls. Personally, I would've skipped the Falls and gone back to Montreal - but you have to make concessions on family trips, so the Falls it was. 

Canadian trips are fiscally beneficial for Americans given the favorable exchange rate; however, even if it wasn't I wouldn't hesitate going back to visit our friendly Canadian neighbors. 

We started in Ottawa. People thought we were crazy for spending four nights there, but I thought there was more touristy things to do in Ottawa than in Toronto. Ottawa is quite accessible for those with limited mobility, of course with exceptions. For example, if you want to go down to the Rideau Canal, you either have to traverse dozens of uneven and, at times, steep steps or walk pretty far out of the way for a step-free entrance. 

We stayed at The Lord Elgin Hotel, which is centrally located in the government section with a front row seat to the changing of the guards. The staff and accommodations were great. There wasn't anything we didn't like about Ottawa. We visited the Canadian War Museum, Notre Dame Cathedral, ByWard Market, and Canadian Museum of History (technically in Quebec). We also did a Rideau Canal tour, as well as a River and Bus tour. We managed to do a lot in the three full days and one half day we spent there; but had to leave some things out, particularly the House of Commons tour and the National Gallery of Canada.

One last thing about The Lord Elgin Hotel staff. My mom left something behind in the room and didn't realize until we were halfway to Toronto. The staff arranged to have the item delivered to our Niagara Falls hotel; but a delay in shipment pickup meant it was one day late to Niagara. The Lord Elgin GM reached out to me and assured me that they would have the item returned back to them in Ottawa, so they could ship it to us in the States. And, they did just that. It took about a month given customs and all, but they got the item back to my mom as promised and at no charge. Top rate hotel and staff.

As a tourist, I preferred Ottawa; but as a city dweller I see the appeal of Toronto - I could easily live there. I had one goal in Toronto and that was to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame. It was the first thing we did on our first full day there and it did not disappoint. A pleasant surprise was Little Canada, which is a miniature walk-through display of the entire country. It offered an interesting way to get an overview of each province's highlights. We also did a bus tour and visited St. Lawrence Market, Medieval Times, and Casa Loma, an actual castle in the middle of the city. Pro Tip: If going to Medieval Times and you have a car, drive there. There's plenty of parking. We took an Uber and on the trip back, I got a message from Uber asking if I was okay because we were headed in the opposite direction of my requested destination. The driver was lost and nearly got into an accident trying to get onto the correct road. 

My brother and his family went to a Yankees game one night, so I took my parents to Cherry St BBQ. This place is a tiny, tiny restaurant near the water in this out-of-way place (maybe akin to Red Hook in Brooklyn). The line was long and they ran out of most of their menu as I was waiting on it (which only affected my dad); but it was the best food of the trip. So good!

Toronto is a walker's paradise with distinct city sections. For this reason, maybe it's not ideal for those with limited mobility, but my parents managed via Uber and Lyft. We stayed at the Omni King Edward Hotel, which was one of the best hotel experiences. The hotel is modern, with a large lobby that has many seating options for guests to just hang out and a very helpful staff. The rooms are spacious and well appointed, although my mom didn't like that their bathroom was split into two rooms on opposite sides: one was a water closet and the other had the shower (both had sinks!). The other rooms had a typical bathroom setup. Bonus: Tim Hortons was across the street, so we could get our daily fix of their iced vanilla coffee. 

The view of the Falls from the Canadian side is spectacular, but once you've seen it, you've seen it. For those who like the water, there are other things to do - that's just not me. We stayed at the DoubleTree Fallsview Resort; my parents room had a view of the Falls so we were able to see the light show each night. The rooms were a bit dated, but the beds were fine. The highlight of this part of the trip was the drive to Niagara-on-the-Lake. It's a super cute town with lots mom & pop shops.  

Just one note about all three hotels: the bathrooms lack safety features. Unless you ask for a wheelchair accessible room, which we don't need, there are no safety bars in the shower/tub area. This is unfortunate because someone who needs safety bars could be taking a wheelchair accessible room away from a wheelchair user. We purchased a portable safety bar, but it only worked in the Toronto hotel because of the subway tiles in the other hotels (too small to accommodate the suction cups on the bar).