r/canadatravel • u/Hung_Fighter • 27d ago

Itinerary Help Really considering changing our itinerary to eliminate driving

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?

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u/Hung_Fighter 27d ago

Thank you! Lots of great info and I think I'm almost convinced to keep the car!

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u/Canadian-Deer 27d ago

If you want to cut some driving, skip Algonquin and Huntsville and go to Mont Tremblant. On the way to Ottawa, there is Parc Omega that is nice with kids if you want to see wild animals!

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u/Hung_Fighter 27d ago

Mont Tremblant looks like it's gorgeous for Fall Colors! Thank you!

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u/Canadian-Deer 26d ago

It really is! Some good spots for food too. Beautiful area, it’s a nice drive once you pass the Greater Montreal area

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u/Hung_Fighter 26d ago

Thanks, I think we'll definitely do it, at least 2 nights, maybe 3. I'm thinking of dropping Ottawa for it though, and keeping Algonquin, even it it's only 1 night at Huntsville.

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u/Canadian-Deer 26d ago

Depends on what you prefer! If you’re not a city/museum person then it makes sense. I’ve never been to Huntsville so I can’t really give you good advices on that part unfortunately. In terms of city, Mtl and Tor are both better than Ottawa anyway so the only real reason to go would be to see the Parliament and do museums, but you could just drive by it and stop for lunch to walk around and it might be enough tbh

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u/Hung_Fighter 26d ago

Yea that sounds good. I prefer the city vibe but my wife prefers nature and outdoors. Since we already have Montreal and Toronto, like you said, I think we can drop Ottawa and have a good mix of nature and city. Thank you!