One week in Canada?

tony glenn

OK, we have about two weeks in September/October to take a BIG holiday.
I'd love to see New Orleans, my partner would love to see some part of Canada.
Is there any possibility of a compromise here? I think a week in New Orleans would be enough (from what I've read and researched) but obviously a week in Canada would only scratch the surface.
So, advice please.....could we get a reasonable taste of Canada in a week, and if so, how?
Thanks in advance for comments, advice and suggestions.

dirtyghettokid

nola is a city, so a week in nola is cool and all, but with canada it's a massive country, so really you'll just need to pick one part and visit there. you could do east coast and see halifax NS, and charlottetown PEI in a week ...or you could do toronto and niagara..montreal at a stretch (it's a bit of a drive from TO) but you'd want a lot of money and no sleep to do any more than that.

tony glenn

dirtyghettokid wrote: »

nola is a city, so a week in nola is cool and all, but with canada it's a massive country, so really you'll just need to pick one part and visit there. you could do east coast and see halifax NS, and charlottetown PEI in a week ...or you could do toronto and niagara..montreal at a stretch (it's a bit of a drive from TO) but you'd want a lot of money and no sleep to do any more than that.

Thanks for the input. Niagara is a must, is Toronto is good place to visit from there? And could we take in some of the spectacular scenery at the same time?

dirtyghettokid

tony glenn wrote: »

Thanks for the input. Niagara is a must, is Toronto is good place to visit from there? And could we take in some of the spectacular scenery at the same time?

well you'd most likely be flying into toronto. niagara is about an hour and a half to 2 hrs drive (traffic dependent)
there's the niagara escarpment which has a lot of nature trails.. but if you're thinking lakes and forests (cottage country) you have to go up north of toronto about 30 mins - 1.5hr drive.
i'm from the toronto area myself, so i'd be biased towards the city anyway

tony glenn

dirtyghettokid wrote: »

well you'd most likely be flying into toronto. niagara is about an hour and a half to 2 hrs drive (traffic dependent)
there's the niagara escarpment which has a lot of nature trails.. but if you're thinking lakes and forests (cottage country) you have to go up north of toronto about 30 mins - 1.5hr drive.
i'm from the toronto area myself, so i'd be biased towards the city anyway

Thanks for the update, your first hand knowledge is much appreciated. It looks like my comprise plan might just work! If you don't mind, I'll get back to you with a few more questions once we've completed negotiations lol. Cheers for now.

Sinfonia

I'm not a big fan of Toronto, especially for the sake of a fun visit, and Niagara is a bit... meh, really. I mean in that it takes quite a while to get there and back from Toronto, and yes, it's a huge waterfall and that's pretty amazing, but I don't know... I wasn't blown away, and the main drag of the town is horribly tacky.

Montreal is a much better spot for a visit I think, especially if you think you'll like New Orleans (which, as an aside, is one of the best and most fun cities I've ever been to - but also one of the most dangerous, do a decent bit of research before you go on that front!) Also, a full week in New Orleans is probably quite a lot - not that you won't find enough to fill the days, just that you could 'do' NOLA in a shorter time.

Other than that, the west coast is where it's at - I live in Vancouver right now, and I'm soon moving to Victoria (on Vancouver Island, an island about half the size of Ireland). The scenery around BC is really breathtaking - far more so than Niagara Falls imo! If you're here in September you should catch the last of the good weather too! It ran pretty long last year anyway, didn't get cold until early October iirc.

dirtyghettokid

tony glenn wrote: »

Thanks for the update, your first hand knowledge is much appreciated. It looks like my comprise plan might just work! If you don't mind, I'll get back to you with a few more questions once we've completed negotiations lol. Cheers for now.

no problem at all! i'm sure you'll enjoy wherever in canada you end up visiting! :cool:

tony glenn

Sinfonia wrote: »

I'm not a big fan of Toronto, especially for the sake of a fun visit, and Niagara is a bit... meh, really. I mean in that it takes quite a while to get there and back from Toronto, and yes, it's a huge waterfall and that's pretty amazing, but I don't know... I wasn't blown away, and the main drag of the town is horribly tacky.

Montreal is a much better spot for a visit I think, especially if you think you'll like New Orleans (which, as an aside, is one of the best and most fun cities I've ever been to - but also one of the most dangerous, do a decent bit of research before you go on that front!) Also, a full week in New Orleans is probably quite a lot - not that you won't find enough to fill the days, just that you could 'do' NOLA in a shorter time.

Other than that, the west coast is where it's at - I live in Vancouver right now, and I'm soon moving to Victoria (on Vancouver Island, an island about half the size of Ireland). The scenery around BC is really breathtaking - far more so than Niagara Falls imo! If you're here in September you should catch the last of the good weather too! It ran pretty long last year anyway, didn't get cold until early October iirc.

Many thanks, more info for the board meeting. When you say New Orleans is dangerous....how so?
We've done New York, Rome, Paris, Berlin, Memphis, London and Temple Bar....so far so good. We always keep our wits about us and use our common-sense. What research could we do re New Orleans safe visiting?

Sinfonia

tony glenn wrote: »

Many thanks, more info for the board meeting. When you say New Orleans is dangerous....how so?
We've done New York, Rome, Paris, Berlin, Memphis, London and Temple Bar....so far so good. We always keep our wits about us and use our common-sense. What research could we do re New Orleans safe visiting?

The thing I found is that unlike other cities where the 'bad' neighbourhoods are sort of well-known and out of your way (as long as you don't actually go towards them!), in New Orleans it's a bit all over the map, and you can easily stroll into a rough area unexpectedly.

A few examples from a two-week stint I had there a couple of years ago:
1) When I got off the bus (I had just come from Baton Rouge) at the French Quarter (where you'll likely spend most of your time), I asked the bus driver if I can walk to my hostel (away from the French Quarter), to which he replied "Well not now, 'cause it's getting dark!" I was asking if it was very far away, his answer was in terms of safety. I took that as a bad sign..! (I am an average-build male btw)

2) I got mugged about a block from a different hostel. Now you're obviously going to stand out as a target when you're standing around at night, close to a hostel and it's just you with a couple of women and there's nobody driving/walking by right then, but realistically we were in the middle of a major thoroughfare waiting for the streetcar.

3) There was a second-line parade for Mother's Day, on a Sunday afternoon in the French Quarter (I was at my hostel at the time), and all of a sudden some people started shooting; it was apparently a gang-related thing. ****ing scary though. People came back to the hostel visibly shaken.

I've been to around 15 cities in US/Canada and New Orleans was probably the only one I felt afraid in (maybe certain parts of LA too); for the most part I kept to safer areas of the cities, but New Orleans was tough to navigate in that regard.
So it's worth trying to learn where to go/where not to go before arriving. If you have access to someone who lives there that could help a lot!
Also just have your wits about you that much more, and don't make yourself a target in any way.

All of that said, it's one of the best cities I've visited in many ways, and I'd love to go back! I'd still highly recommend it as a destination, and in spite of the above, it's not like I'm saying you should be holed up in a hotel somewhere, get out there and enjoy it!

mulbot

Hey,i live in vancouver too,i wouldn't suggest coming here,after you've seen one lake you'll have seen them all,gets pretty boring very quick,also it will cost a fortune to do anything-they say that BC stands for bring cash!!!! plus the people are quite stuck up here,have inflated egos and no manners-save your money and head off to the caribbean instead

Sinfonia

mulbot wrote: »

Hey,i live in vancouver too,i wouldn't suggest coming here,after you've seen one lake you'll have seen them all,gets pretty boring very quick,also it will cost a fortune to do anything-they say that BC stands for bring cash!!!! plus the people are quite stuck up here,have inflated egos and no manners-save your money and head off to the caribbean instead

To be fair, you could say the same thing about Dublin if you wanted to.
You could probably say it about anywhere anyone was thinking of going.

Vancouver's a beautiful city, and very different from any of the cities the OP has mentioned already visiting - the mountains alone are incredible!
Come to Vancouver, walk the city, cycle the seawall around Stanley Park (better yet, cycle everywhere!) Take even a short short trip to even nearby outdoor areas - Deep Cove, Lighthouse Park, Cypress Mountain. Go a bit further to Whistler or something if you can, or take the ferry to Vancouver Island and check out Victoria. This is a beautiful part of the world, with plenty to do and plenty of lovely down-to-earth people.
The proportion of bastards and boredom and bad things is at most equal to that of any other major city.
It depends what kind of tourist you are too OP, if you want to get outdoors and see beautiful scenery and follow it up with food at decent restaurants and whatnot, go to Vancouver. If you want to sleep late and stay out late, go to Montreal (which is not to say there isn't fun to be found at night in Vancouver).

Sorry you haven't formed a good impression of the place mulbot, how long have you been here?

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

tony glenn

Sinfonia wrote: »

To be fair, you could say the same thing about Dublin if you wanted to.
You could probably say it about anywhere anyone was thinking of going.

Vancouver's a beautiful city, and very different from any of the cities the OP has mentioned already visiting - the mountains alone are incredible!
Come to Vancouver, walk the city, cycle the seawall around Stanley Park (better yet, cycle everywhere!) Take even a short short trip to even nearby outdoor areas - Deep Cove, Lighthouse Park, Cypress Mountain. Go a bit further to Whistler or something if you can, or take the ferry to Vancouver Island and check out Victoria. This is a beautiful part of the world, with plenty to do and plenty of lovely down-to-earth people.
The proportion of bastards and boredom and bad things is at most equal to that of any other major city.
It depends what kind of tourist you are too OP, if you want to get outdoors and see beautiful scenery and follow it up with food at decent restaurants and whatnot, go to Vancouver. If you want to sleep late and stay out late, go to Montreal (which is not to say there isn't fun to be found at night in Vancouver).

Sorry you haven't formed a good impression of the place mulbot, how long have you been here?

Many thanks for all the replies to date, as always Boards provides a great ' meeting place' where people can ask and answer almost any question. At the moment, we're
thinking about spending the bulk of the time around the Vancouver area, then maybe a two or three day visit to New Orleans. Now the Rockies have been mentioned....and Alberta!
Further comments welcome re those locations?

mulbot

Sinfonia wrote: »

To be fair, you could say the same thing about Dublin if you wanted to.
You could probably say it about anywhere anyone was thinking of going.

Vancouver's a beautiful city, and very different from any of the cities the OP has mentioned already visiting - the mountains alone are incredible!
Come to Vancouver, walk the city, cycle the seawall around Stanley Park (better yet, cycle everywhere!) Take even a short short trip to even nearby outdoor areas - Deep Cove, Lighthouse Park, Cypress Mountain. Go a bit further to Whistler or something if you can, or take the ferry to Vancouver Island and check out Victoria. This is a beautiful part of the world, with plenty to do and plenty of lovely down-to-earth people.
The proportion of bastards and boredom and bad things is at most equal to that of any other major city.
It depends what kind of tourist you are too OP, if you want to get outdoors and see beautiful scenery and follow it up with food at decent restaurants and whatnot, go to Vancouver. If you want to sleep late and stay out late, go to Montreal (which is not to say there isn't fun to be found at night in Vancouver).

Sorry you haven't formed a good impression of the place mulbot, how long have you been here?

I'm here about a year now,,true ,what i said could be directed to alot of places,however,in relation to Dublin,i think anyone would find the people there much friendlier in comparison to here-Obviously there are some nice places here but i'm just suggesting that with how expensive it is here etc that,in my opinion they'd be better off taking a week in the caribbean,mexico etc-

Ardillaun

If I were in New Orleans, I'd be considering lateral moves only. But if you're hell-bent on going north, the first thing to consider is time. Going to Western Canada will probably add quite a bit to your time in transit. I would favour Ottawa and Montreal myself at that time of year to see the fall colours (you would have to check for the best dates and be lucky too) as well as Parliament etc. If touristy things are what you are after, you could brave the CN Tower, Niagara on the Lake and the Falls (I am trying very hard to be fair to Toronto). Calgary? That's a long way to go for Calgary although the way the Rockies rise out of the Prairies is spectacular. If you have the time, Vancouver has the most impressive scenery of any Canadian city IMO.

A few years ago, I drove across Canada and the most impressive part for me was the Prairies, subtly changing all the time and extraordinary in scale. The Rockies excepted, this is a bumpy country rather than a mountainous one. A quick tour of southern Canadian Shield country north of Ottawa will show you what most of it looks like - conifers, bog and lakes, literally millions of lakes.

mulbot

Ardillaun wrote: »

If I were in New Orleans, I'd be considering lateral moves only. But if you're hell-bent on going north, the first thing to consider is time. Going to Western Canada will probably add quite a bit to your time in transit. I would favour Ottawa and Montreal myself at that time of year to see the fall colours (you would have to check for the best dates and be lucky too) as well as Parliament etc. If touristy things are what you are after, you could brave the CN Tower, Niagara on the Lake and the Falls. Calgary? That's a long way to go for Calgary although the way the Rockies rise out of the Prairies is spectacular. If you have the time, Vancouver has the most impressive scenery of any Canadian city IMO.

I agree,it's a nice city, and nice scenery around it,it's just i wouldn't suggest coming over all that way,