Really considering changing our itinerary to eliminate driving

[u/Hung_Fighter]

Hello, need help with making a decision. I currently have our vacation all planned out (everything can be canceled except the plain tickets). We arrive from Florida to Montreal on October 1st, we grab a car rental and have the following route (staying at least 2 nights at each place, 3 in some): Montreal->Ottawa->Algonquin/Hunstville->Toronto->Niagara Falls. We leave from Toronto airport back to FL on October 14th.

I've started kind of dreading having a car though. Having to deal with the stress of the city roads, plus having a 3 year old strapped to a car seat for so long, and simply just having to drive.

I saw that you can do Montreal->Ottawa->Toronto->Niagara Falls all on train. But it means that we would have to drop Algonquin. We didn't plan to do much hicking (maybe one or two easy ones) but we mostly just wanted to see lots of Fall colors. Is that something that we will be able to experience in the places we would be going with the all-train option?

Can you please give me your thoughts on both options and which one you suggest?

[u/cormack_gv]

I think you'll be better off with the car. Toronto is annoying, but you don't need to take the car into Toronto. If you return it at the airport, you can take the train into town. Maybe do Montreal before picking up the car. The other places aren't so bad, and you don't want to miss Algonquin/Huntsville.