Vacation in Canada -- ideas?

[stormkeeper_lovedoris]

Does anyone have any idea on good places in Canada in which to take a vacation? I'm open to anything except the areas where you have to speak French because neither my partner nor myself can speak it.

Just to back up, I finally sat down with Doris and asked her where she wants to vacation someday. Usually I am the one coming up with vacation ideas. She's usually pretty agreeable to whatever I suggest. But I want to know where she wants to go. Basically, it seems she hasn't thought about it that much, which may be why she's always so open to my ideas. But she did mention Canada the other day (and I believe she'd mentioned it once before). She doesn't know where in Canada though. (You know, Canada's a pretty big country here...)

I'll search the web but thought I'd see if any of you have been there and have any recommendations.

Comments

[lvs2read.livejournal.com]

You aren't going to believe this, but I'm going to post this same question in my LJ in the next few weeks!

Hubs and I are heading up to Niagara Falls the end of June. Going to see it from the Canadian side, then go up through Quebec, Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto. *g* I've heard you don't want to miss old Quebec City. Very European look and feel. And the CN Tower in Toronto has been recommended to me as well.

I'll watch the replies here with interest. Have fun with Doris when you go! *hugs*

[stormkpr.livejournal.com]

Great! Please let me know how your trip goes. If we go, it'll likely be next year so I can't wait to hear how your trip will be. (I'm a plan-ahead kind of gal).

[garbagecanmusic.livejournal.com]

You could vacation in Havanna, Cuba via Canada. It's a very popular vacation spot for Canadians.

[minor-ramblings.livejournal.com]

Canada, as the Arrogant Worms say, is Really Big. As a lifelong Canadian, I've been dragged across most of it by the parental units growing up, so I can give some pointers. ;-)

What sort of things interest you and Doris? Do you like the outdoors? Do you prefer the cosmopolitan? What sort of climate would you like? Are you into adventure, or are you into shopping? (Or are you into all of the above? :P )

[stormkpr.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm....I would say that an ideal place we'd like to see would have beautiful nature, but be near a cosmopolitan city with good restaurants and theaters, and have lots of things to do (organized tours and day trips).

We're not big shoppers nor are we good at like camping or long hiking trips. An idea temperature would be somewhere in the 60 - 80 degree range.

Does that help?

And thank you for offering to assist.

[minor-ramblings.livejournal.com]

Quite a lot!

I'd say your best bet would be Vancouver, with Toronto coming in second simply because it sprawls more, and thus involves more driving time to get to see all the neat things.

Vancouver is wedged between the Pacific and the Rockies, so the city is quite compact, and very much intertwined with the local environment -- subtropical rainforest. For nature, Stanley Park is always wonderful, with the sea wall providing an excellent paved walking/cycling/roller blading trail. There are a lot of museums and the Vancouver Aquarium is not to be missed, if you like wildlife.

You can also take day trips on many ferries to go explore Vancouver Island (Victoria, BC's capital city, has the highest density of chocolate shops I have ever seen.) and there are whale watching and other nautical tours available. If you have time and you're going in the warmer months, check out the Granville Island Marketplace -- it's an experience. Food, crafts, street performers... it's generally full of win.

Toronto, as I said, places second only because it sprawls. If you want a good all-day experience, the Toronto Zoo is one of the finest in the world, with something like 3,000 different species over hundreds of acres of natural setting. They currently have two baby Sumatran tigers, too! My housemate and I went to see, and they're the cutest things ever.

The Royal Ontario Museum is another amazing place to visit in Toronto, and, like Vancouver, there are great restaurants all over the place, with a wide range of foods from all around the world.

A third alternative, if you want absolutely spectacular scenery, would be Lake Louise and Jasper, up in the Alberta rockies. While they were originally skiing centres, they've really blossomed into destinations in their own right, and they're tucked in the middle of Banff National Park. Lake Louise has some of the most gorgeous waters I've ever seen -- they're literally turquoise.

[stormkpr.livejournal.com]

This is extremely helpful! Thank you. I am saving it to a 'Canada' file I just started today!

[yubsie]

Well, there's a lot of Canada to choose from. Warm areas, snowy areas, city areas, areas full of rocks and trees and trees and rocks and water. :p

Or, as the Arrogant Worms put it...

Our mountains are very pointy
Our prairies are not
The rest is kinda bumpy
But man do we have a lot!

I've lived in several different provinces and they all have their appeal. If you're worried about French, you should probably stick to Not Quebec, but other than that...

[stormkpr.livejournal.com]

What's Toronto like? I believe I've heard good things about it.

[yubsie]

I was actually just in Toronto in November. :p It's a big city with lots of shopping, theatres, museums and of course attractions like the CN tower. My roommate and I were there to see a play, and we had fun exploring Greek town. I did the CN tower and museums thing when I went with my family, but that was about ten years ago. :p Definitely a fun place to visit, I'm looking forward to living closer to it. :p

[canadian-lakini.livejournal.com]

1) I got your message feel free to add me
2) as I am Canadian and living here - GO CANADA --- admittedly I am not a huge fan of Quebec - because my french sucks - but for lots to do and great places to stay I say Vancouver - its got a little bit of everything -

[stormkpr.livejournal.com]

1) Yay - it's great to have new friends!
2) Vancouver seems to be the place of choice from some others who've posted here too. So we may indeed visit there in '08.

Thanks. :)

[selve.livejournal.com]

I have to plug Montreal because I had a wonderful time there, and even though its official language is French, you wouldn't be at a loss as a non-French speaker. Every native I encountered was bilingual.

We may be going to Toronto this year, so I could let you know about that as well, if you haven't already made up your mind by then.

[stormkpr.livejournal.com]

You're positive Montreal wouldn't be hard for a non-French speaker? My financial advisor once mentioned that she was there, and she said that if you don't speak French "They don't try to help you at all - they expect you to speak it." It scared me away from the whole of Quebec!

And oh yes, please let me know what you think of Toronto! We'd likely go in `08, if we do go to Canada. Doris and I already have one big trip (Punta Cana) and one small one (Santa Cruz, CA) planned for this year so we'd likely not do another big one till next year. I plan ahead ridiculously far in advance.

[selve.livejournal.com]

Wow, your financial planner must've had some bad luck! We didn't experience anything like that. Maybe she visited a while ago and things have changed since then?

I plan ahead ridiculously far in advance.

It's a good idea. I find that if I don't make plans six months to a year in advance I won't get around to it. Besides, you probably get lower rates if you reserve early, I should think.

[lusciouspandora.livejournal.com]

*is biased*

You should totally come to Calgary during the Calgary Stampede. Ok, so it kind of makes it look like we're a bunch of hicks up here, but it is very fun. It's usually the first week of July, I believe.

[stormkpr.livejournal.com]

So nice to hear from you - welcome back!

A lot of folks seem to be mentioning Vancouver - what do you think of it?

[lusciouspandora.livejournal.com]

Vancouver's definitely nice to visit. I reccommend visiting Granville Island there. Definitely some neat stuff to look at.

I'm not officially back, unfortunately. Still only have the internet at work. :(

[canadian-lakini.livejournal.com]

Another point in favor of Vancouver a very very active BROWN COAT community - museums, parks, the ocean, galleries, plays, China TOwn, little india ---- and just about everything inbetween - and hey two of the cast of FF live here --- so that about says it all

[stormkpr.livejournal.com]

I don't keep up with the FF cast as much as I should. Which two live there? I know Nathan's Canadian, is he one of the two?

[canadian-lakini.livejournal.com]

Actually Kaylee (Jewel Staite) lives here - and Alan Tudyck (wash) lives here part time - and although Nathan Fillion is Canadian he is from Alberta - although he has lived here while filming -

The other thing about Vancouver is that we are getting ready for the 2010 Olympics - so they are doing a major tourist/ clean up at the moment ---