We are spending the last few days of our #CreativElenaRTW round the world trip with our non-school-age children at the home of some very dear friends in Canada.
My husband, our two children and I have now been travelling for over three months. For the finale of our journey across the globe, we accept an invitation to visit Natalie, Sean and their two sons, who live practically halfway between Toronto and the world-famous Niagara Falls. In their lovely Canadian manner, they invite us into their home: a full house, lots of Lego and fun family outings are on the agenda. The kids (both Canadian and Austrian) just love it!
Arriving at Toronto Airport with my parents: Our luggage just gets more (and bigger) ..!
Fun days ahead in the Toronto area with dear friends Natalie, Sean and their kids.
Toronto highlights in a day (with kids in tow).
From the house of our friends, who live about an hour southwest of Toronto, we take our rental car and drive to the nearest Park & Ride, “commuter style”.
When visiting Canada’s largest city, it is definitely advisable to use public transport (at least if, like us, you are staying outside the immediate city area). GO Transit takes us directly to Toronto’s Union Station in the heart of the city, and even offers free Wi-Fi on the trains.
Free WiFi might already be standard in many places; less common (yet perhaps) is an advertisement to use AI for Toronto travel planning.
Arriving at Toronto Union Station.
As soon as we step out onto the street, it’s easy to find our bearings. Not by looking at a map or our phones, but by looking up! Toronto’s most famous building, the CN Tower (Canadian National Tower), is impossible to miss. We are magically drawn towards it: only I have been to the top before, everyone else wants to follow suit now.
360-degree panorama of Toronto from the CN Tower, including a view of Lake Ontario, which is so large that it looks like an ocean. Admission tickets to the tower are good value for money we think, what with all the information and services provided.
Down below, at the Roundhouse Park you can check out some really old trains! There’s a playground nearby, too.
On this beautiful June day and after visiting the CN Tower, we are drawn to Toronto Harbourfront. There we have a light lunch before taking the ferry to Centre Island.
As I’ve been to Toronto before, here are some more travel tips on downtown Toronto and the VIA Rail train journey I once took from here:
- #SeeTorontoNow: Where to stay & what to do on a first visit in Toronto.
- Food-Touring Toronto: St. Lawrence Market, #KensingtonKrawl & Evergreen Brickworks
- #VIARail Train Travelling Across Eastern Canada: Exploring The Corridor from Toronto to Montréal.
Centre Island: Amusement Park and Skyline views of Toronto.
You can easily reach Centre Island by regular ferry, but also by the much faster water taxi (some of which have funny names like The Pirate Taxi and actually look like little pirate ships, too).
On Centre Island, which offers great views back to the Toronto skyline, we first head for Centreville Amusement Park. We aren’t particularly impressed with their value for money; instead, we suggest continuing on to the Franklin Children’s Garden playground and Centre Island Beach and/or renting a bike there to explore the island.
There’s some lovely skyline views to be had even from the ferry crossing near downtown Toronto.
Centreville Amusement Park, albeit lovely, is quite expensive we find.
Lazing around on Island Beach: The kids are busy at the playground, and in just a moment, we’ll have ice cream everyone.
Near Hamilton: Escarpment Trail & Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum.
For the weekend, we ask Natalie and her family to show us their favourite spots south of Toronto. Sean and Hudson are thrilled and decide that they definitely want to show us the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum! There are flight simulators, interesting tours of cockpits and even the opportunity to book a sightseeing flight in a historic fighter plane!
A little later, we enjoy a short hike on the Escarpment Trail with great views over Lake Ontario and up to Toronto.
South of Toronto, the horizon is almost too flat to bear for us after spending so many weeks in the Canadian Rocky Mountains!
Dusty, a little plane straight out of Cars, has also found a home at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum!
Family Diner at Symposium Cafe Restaurant Waterdown!
For breakfast, we just have to go to Tim Hortons – says Natalie, proud Canadian!
Tips for visiting the world-famous Niagara Falls.
Like Banff in the Rocky Mountains, Niagara Falls is one of the most visited tourist destinations in Canada. This is reflected in the local infrastructure, which is designed for mass tourism and can transport incredible numbers of passengers to the world-famous falls every 20 minutes by boat. To be on the safe side, we book a time slot with Hornblower Cruises, which assigns us a specific time in the day for the short boat trip to Niagara Falls.
On the day of our visit in mid-June, it is still relatively quiet in the late morning (three hours later, it is more than packed!). We park our rental car in one of the large visitor car parks relatively close to the boat ramp: To get there, we have to walk along terribly kitschy streets lined with amusement parks, casinos and rides of all kinds! It’s a shame that Niagara doesn’t really do justice to the natural wonder of its mighty waterfalls: gambling centres and the like tend to put us off rather than entice us to linger afterwards.
The Niagara Falls themselves are definitely worth a visit. Many years ago, I even had the chance to fly over Niagara Falls in a helicopter! Even or especially with (small) children, it’s just so impressive to be there.
We’re about to set off: even the children are given thin rain ponchos for the trip to Niagara Falls. We don’t get soaking wet, but we do get sprayed by the masses of water as the ship approaches!
Niagara Falls seen from the south (the north already lies in the United States).
The photo is misleading: as we leave Niagara Falls, tens of thousands of people are walking alongside us – visiting the falls is a real mass phenomenon at certain times of the year.
Niagara-on-the-Lake and surroundings: Wineries and where to go with families.
About half an hour’s drive away, on the southwestern shore of the huge Lake Ontario, we reach Niagara-on-the-Lake with its pretty houses, its (mostly very wealthy) residents and charming wineries. While the children enjoy themselves on the lake shore and at the playground, we visit Two Sisters Vineyard and marvel at the size of the wineries here!
Niagara-on-the-Lake: Peace and quiet after the mighty roar of the nearby Falls.
Two Sisters Vineyard combines art, food and wine in perfect unison.
Vineland Estates Winery is another gem to visit, just south of Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Most wineries also welcome families.
If you prefer beer or cider, head to the excellent “Niagara Cider Company”!
If you would like to know more about each of the destinations of our #CreativElenaRTW family trip around the world, I can recommend the following articles on my travel blog.
They may trigger acute wanderlust, but they are certainly very useful for planning and inspiring a long-distance trip with (small) children
- Perth with kids: Family travel tips in Western Australia
- Near Perth, Western Australia: Exploring Mandurah, Gingin & Pinnacles Desert
- Roadtrip in East Coast Australia: Travel Tips from Brisbane to Byron Bay.
- Campervan Travel in New Zealand: South Island Highlights for families.
- Campervan Travel in New Zealand: North Island Highlights for families.
- Taking the family to Hawaii: Travel tips with kids in Oahu.
- Taking the family to Hawaii: Travel tips with kids in Big Island.
- Roadtrip USA: Travel tips from Grand Canyon to Monument Valley and Santa Fe.
- Vancouver & Whistler in Western Canada: Travel tips for families.
- Exploring Western Canada by RV: 10 top destination picks for families.