Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Fun Things to do in Ontario, Canada?

My friend and I are going to Canada for the Stratford Shakespeare Festeval sometime in the next two weeks (my advisor is out of town, so that means Laura gets to go out of town ) and we were wondering if there is anything fun to do in parts of Ontario we've never been to. We've been to Niagara Falls and Toronto many, many, many times and we've also been to Windsor several times, so we were wondering if there are any other fun and interesting things to do in Ontario that aren't too far from Stratford.

Do any Canadians have any ideas?

Thanks!

Laura

You could visit the vineyards at the Niagara region. They are very near Niagara-on-the-Lake. Ontario wines are pretty good. In particular, Inniskillin icewines have won numerous international awards. But if you've been to the Falls many times, then you've probably visited them before.

--meclone2--

I have a great idea! You could come visit me!!!!! I live about 1/2 hour away from Stratford.

My email is sirenegold@yahoo.com If you're interested, let's take this to private email.

Irene
(mini FoLC festival, hint, hint!!)

I should make a couple of suggestions, also. There's the St. Jacob's farmers market - lots of Amish and Mennonite vendors, lots of unique items and then the town of St. Jacob itself is also great for shopping. It's just north of Waterloo, or to the northeast of Stratford - about a 45 min to 50 min drive from downtown Stratford.

There are a couple of waterparks/mini-golf/arcade game type places in Kitchener.

There's lots of shopping in Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge - for more details, email me.

In Brantford, along with various monuments to Alexander Graham Bell and his first long-distance telephone call, there's a well-run casino if you're interested in gambling. (Wendy, John, Doug and I know it well!)

Laura, I know that you're very interested in science and health. It might be possible to visit the University of Waterloo, or McMaster University in Hamilton - McMaster is well-known for medicine.

Hope this helps.

Irene
who's sure that there's a lot more touristy type things to do in this area, but as she is not a tourist, can't think of them for the life of her!

Edit to add more: There's the African Lion Safari near Cambridge - do not take your vehicle through the preserves; take the bus tour instead. Also, in Cambridge, there's Wings of Paradise, a butterfly conservatory. In Toronto, there's a world class zoo, and also a fantastic science centre.

Thanks, meclone2 and Irene . I have been to a few of the wineries in the Niagara region, but it was either as a child too young to drink or too late in the day and none were open. That's a great idea . And, Irene, I'll email you probably tomorrow after I talk to my friend. We don't have the day we are going yet.

- Laura

Laura, you would have to choose a time just when John and I have started on our trip, wouldn't you?! - why not see how many you can encounter in just one trip? If you head north from Stratford, you'll end up at Lake Huron (and Goderich is a very pretty little town on the shore of the lake). Or go south and get to Lake Erie; we liked Port Stanley, which is a very pretty and very small town with a shop selling the best cheesecake we have ever eaten. And then, of course, north-east to Toronto or towards Niagara and you'll encounter Lake Ontario. Ontario, by the way, gets even more beautiful further up, towards Ottawa: the Thousand Islands area is unbelievably wonderful.

If you're into big cities, Toronto is great. I see you know the city well, but just in case anyone else is interested... Apart from it being on the shores of Lake Ontario (and the islands are lovely; you can take boat tours or a simple trip out to Centre Island, where you can hire bikes), the city itself is buzzing with life. There's the CN Tower, the Eaton Centre, and you have to see the pedestrian walkway under the ground (the PATH). It's amazing. Public transport in Toronto is also very cheap: $2.25 per journey wherever you go - you can get transfers from subway to bus and so on; just ask. You also get a discount on travel if you buy 10 tokens at one time. Oh, and at some of the outlying subway stations there's free park-and-ride. You can just leave your car there. See here and here for public transport information.


Anyway, that's probably more than enough! Wherever you go, have a terrific time!


Wendy

Well, don't know many places around Ontario in general, but I know a few places in Toronto: there's the CN Tower and the SkyDome stadium downtown, the zoo, like Irene said, which really is huge - I've been there two or three times and I still don't think I've seen everything. There's also the Ontario Science Centre, which is a really awesome place. There's also Paramount Canada's Wonderland, in Maple, which is right outside of Toronto, if you're into amusement parks.

And, of course, I'd love to meet up with you if we get the chance.

Julie

Maybe another time . I might come again during Fall Break -- we go to Toronto or Chicago all the time -- actually my roommate was just in the Niagara area last weekend for her boyfriend's friend's wedding. It's only a 4-5 hour drive from Cleveland . (since I don't fly, it's the only place I travel to.) If they ever make that ferry across Lake Erie from Cleveland, it would only be about 3 hours from Cleveland to Ontario. So Ontario is our favorite get away, tied with Chicago which is 6 hours away from Cleveland. I've been to both more times than I can count . I do miss Eaton Center in Toronto, though -- that is our favorite mall *ever*.

Yes, they are. We might stop there before Stratford because we are probably going to have to go through Buffalo from Cleveland to get to Stratford . My sorority actually had their formal dance in Niagara Falls my Junior year -- in the rotating restaurant that looks over the falls. It was supposed to be magical. But, unfortunately, it was so foggy, we couldn't even see out the window . We were kind of mad that we had to drive for 4 hours to a formal dance, and we didn't even get to see the falls. :rolleyes: At least we got to go to the casino afterwards! (I had just turned 20 and was actually legal in Canada -- actually, I was legal in Canada the year before after I had turned 19, but they thought our Ohio IDs were fake and they denied us at the door!)


Actually, if you look out the window from the third floor of our apartment, you can just about see Lake Erie . From the top of the hill on campus, you can see it. Or if you drive the 5 minutes into downtown Cleveland, you can also get to Lake Erie . However, I have never experienced Lake Erie from the Canadian side, so we might actually take the Ferry from Sandusky Ohio to Peele Island to Canada. That is pretty far out of our way, though. But I've never been to any of the Lake Erie Islands.

Reason alone to go to Port Stanley .

I think this time we are going to be avioding Toronto -- we were just there over winter break last year and we might be going back in October. I love the suggestions of other things to do in Ontario, though . I don't like to do the whole tourist thing, so I love to hear what people who actually live there do. Like we never go to Chicago without our friend Josh who lives there because he takes us all kinds of fun places he goes with his friends rather than the major touristy things.

Yes! It is! I've been there (as well as Skydome (saw a game there last year and a few times when Jacobs Field was sold out to see the Indians in the '90's) several times. (I'm a science nerd, what can you say. I highly recommend it!

We're not going all the way up to Toronto this time, but maybe this fall .

Again, thanks so much for your suggestions. I am getting really excited. My roommate just called from work (yeah we work 1 floor away from each other and she has to call me :rolleyes: and she said she just booked our room for next weekend ).

- Laura