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(Travel) Tips for Canada in July

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by arno_ed, Feb 11, 2019.

  1. arno_ed

    arno_ed Contributing Member

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    As some of you know My wife and I travelled a lot before we got children. Soon our kids will be old enough to actually appreciate traveling (when we go they will be almost 6 and almost 8).

    We want to go at the end of July. We are planning to go to the east of Canada. Mainly Ontario and Quebec. We are planning on spending most of our time outside of cities, we want to spend most time in Algonquin, Lac st Jean, Tadoussac. We will spend a couple of days in Toronto, and we want to visit one other city. I have some questions for the clutchfans members who know this area.

    1: Which city do you suggest we spend most time Montreal, Quebec city or Ottawa?
    2: We also want to visit Parc Omega for one day. Is this worthwhile?
    3: Are we missing anything great to do with kids in this area?
    4: Are there any other helpfull tips/
     
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  2. TheRealist137

    TheRealist137 Member

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  3. s land balla

    s land balla Contributing Member

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    Wrong coast. Go to Vancouver.
     
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  4. Pole

    Pole Houston Rockets--Tilman Fertitta's latest mess.

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    I think Vancouver edges out Singapore for my city in the world, but Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City all have their own charms as well. Of the three, I like Montreal the best (even more so than Toronto). First and foremost, it's an incredible food city. I can't go there without a trip to Joe Beef.....just an absolutely awesome restaurant--though the last time I was there, it wasn't quite so famous. Schwartz's smoked meats will make you laugh at the relative inadequacy of New York deli's, and it's also a great city for banh mi. It's also a great city for walking, but depending on your children's ages, that might not be the thing for you guys. You mentioned kid friendly things to do, and although this may seem strange, one of my most memorable experiences there was seeing one night of the international fireworks competition. I "think" Argentina was representing the night we went (I seem to recall some music from Evita). Regardless, the country and the music were irrelevant. It was easily the best fireworks show I've ever seen......and by a significant margin. The weird thing is that it's hosted at some six flags park, and your tickets for the show include that whole day's admission to the park. May not be how you want to spend a day of your vacation, but obviously the kids would love it. We spent the money JUST for the fireworks (we were childless at the time), and it was money very well spent IMO.
     
  5. Pole

    Pole Houston Rockets--Tilman Fertitta's latest mess.

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  6. ThatBoyNick

    ThatBoyNick Member

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    I’d recommend back bacon, ice hockey, maple leaves, drake concert, hanging with the polite locals, and Raptors.

    Enjoy OP!
     
    #6 ThatBoyNick, Feb 11, 2019
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2019
  7. s land balla

    s land balla Contributing Member

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    There’s a chain Jamaican spot in Toronto called Ritz Carribean. Go there and order jerk chicken.
     
  8. IBTL

    IBTL Member

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    We did a canada visit. We went to toronto montreal ottawa.

    Since you are from holland you might want to get that american feel and toronto is dirty and feels like any other crappy downtown in north america. So it feels the most like usa.

    Our point was to see mainly niagara falls toronto and montreal.
    We added ottawa as an afterthought and of all the places really liked it the best. In some ways reminded me of amsterdam. Sorta more of a european feel. I would like more time in ottawa.

    We stayed in old part of montreal at a nice little almost apartment like hotel called auberge de la place royale. Right there in the mix montreal has a new orleans feel to me which makes sense.

    Sorry i missed on quebec city. Its all nice I think amsterdam is nicer but canada in july is a win on weather grin.
     
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  9. arno_ed

    arno_ed Contributing Member

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    Yeah I know that is the more popular area. However since our kids are young we do not want the extra time difference, en the extra travel time. And I have to say that looking into Québec it really seems interesting.

    Thanks Pole that seems interesting. Maybe we will check out the fire works.

    We are planning on staying little time in Toronto, maybe 2 days. We are just not big city people. I remember when we visited Malaysia we travelled on a certain day from the nice quit Borneo to Kuala Lumpur and it was hell. Big cities and us just do not match. We always spend as little time as possible there.

    That is also one of the reasons why Quebec City and Ottawa seemed interesting. Both are not that big. Thanks for your reply.
     
  10. GIGO

    GIGO Member

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  11. Eric Riley

    Eric Riley Contributing Member

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    Here's another vote for going to Vancouver instead. Beautiful city. Good food. Perfect weather in the summer.
     
  12. mtbrays

    mtbrays Contributing Member
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    Montreal is a really lovely city. The old town is great for exploring with kids, but it may not "charm" you as much as it does Americans since it feels very European. I really enjoyed the downtown art museum (it was also free), but Montreal's neighborhoods are what impressed me the most. Le Plateau and Little Italy were awesome to explore, duck in for a quick snack and glass of wine and browse cool shops. Finally, Mount Royal park is great for hiking during the day and there were plenty of kids around when we visited.

    The food is also pretty good. I'm not a big poutine fan, but I imagine kids would enjoy it. The bagels in Montreal, especially at St. Viateur, were delicious.
     
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  13. arno_ed

    arno_ed Contributing Member

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    Thanks it sounds interesting. FOr now I expect that Québec City will be our choice. Have you also been there?

    I have looked at both places. The advantage of Vancouver seems to be the Rocky mountains. Which do look amazing. Or are there more advantages of going to Vancouver over going to quebec?

    An advantage of going to the French area is that it seems like it will be less crowded. It seems like a nice relax trip for our children.
     
  14. mtbrays

    mtbrays Contributing Member
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    I have not, unfortunately. We only had time for Montreal when we visited, but I've heard Quebec City is lovely.
     
  15. arno_ed

    arno_ed Contributing Member

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    I am also going to look into western canada. So what are the tips for the Vancouver area?
    Vancouver island and Jasper look great.
     
  16. Pole

    Pole Houston Rockets--Tilman Fertitta's latest mess.

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    Vancouver Island is really nice. Victoria really has a British feel, and Bouchart gardens are lovely. Further up the Pacific facing coast is Tofino and Ucluelet.....kind of bohemian surfer towns with a wild "angry sea" type coast. You'll find millions of sand dollars walking up and down the beach. If you go up the inside passage from Victoria, there's a few quaint towns and some larger draws like Nanaimo. It's super cool to see the salmon come up the river during the spawn, but that doesn't happen during high summer.

    Vancouver is just an awesome city, and your kids would LOVE all the activities around the Capilano suspension bridge. It's totally outdoorsey, and you can easily burn a day there. The wife and I sometimes like to take a ferry to Gibsons just to hang out and eat oysters and drink a few cold ones, but our kid is weird (and by weird, I mean AWESOME!) in that he can do that with us and manage to enjoy himself. Speaking of ferries, going around to visit the Gulf Islands is also pretty awesome. It's just a beautiful area. You also have Whistler that you can visit, and although it's a ski area, there's lots of summer activities (and it's cheaper than during the ski season)

    The Jasper National park area is pretty gorgeous too, but as someone whose driven from Vancouver up to Jasper, I don't really recommend it. It's a pretty drive, but it's LONG. If you want to see Jasper, I'd recommend flying into Calgary. Especially if you can get there towards the middle of July......then you could catch the tail end of Stampede. Then to get to Jasper, you drive through Banff, Lake Louise and the Columbia icefields. The icefields are so vast that a drop of snow could melt there, and end up flowing down a river to any of not one, not two, but three different oceans. As for Banff and Lake Louise......just google some of the pics. It's an incredibly gorgeous area, and it's really difficult to not see elk, moose, and black and grizzly bears that time of year. Heck, just go to the high school soccer fields in Canmore at dusk, and herds of elk are almost always there. I miss it there.
     
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  17. Pole

    Pole Houston Rockets--Tilman Fertitta's latest mess.

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    re-reading that, I sound like such an American using the word "awesome," but Western Canada is really awe inspiring.

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