My Travels – by Sivamani

Canada

Our broad plan

We traveled to Canada for the first time from mid-June 2024. We spend five weeks visiting several cities and locations. These include Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, Banff & Jasper, Prince Rupert (Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bears sanctuary), Whistler, and Vancouver.

The weather was great in most places. But, there was a heat wave for a few days in Ottawa and Montreal.

We traveled from Toronto to Ottawa and then to Montreal by train (Via-rail). We took a flight from Montreal to Calgary. From Calgary we hired a car for exploring Banff and Jasper. We continued our road trip to Prince Rupert (to visit Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary). From Prince Rupert we drove to Whistler and our final destination was Vancouver.

Toronto

We spent five days in Toronto. Our first visit was CN Towers. The views from the top were great and totally worth it. We used Toronto CityPass to book the main attractions. The app is easy to use and allows for changes to the timings in some cases. We used the CityPass for booking visits to CN Towers, Casa Loma, and Royal Ontario Museum.

View from CN Towers, Toronto

We took a bus from Toronto downtown for a day trip to Niagara falls. In Niagara Falls, we visited Dufferin Island, Niagara Botanical Garden, plus Behind the Falls Tour (highly recommended).

Bus to Horse Shoe Falls
Horseshoe falls
Niagara Botanical Gardens

The other places we visited in Toronto were High Park, Queen St., The distillery historic district and St. Lawrence Market.

Toronto downtown

Ottawa

Our first activities were a guided tour of the House of Commons followed by a guided tour of the Senate. These tours were very informative. We were lucky to see an active session in the Senate. It is free for anyone to watch and no advance booking is required.

Advance booking is recommended via https://visit.parl.ca/sites/Visit/default/en_CA.

Ottawa House of Commons
Parliament Ottawa

We visited several other places. We went to the Royal Mint. We walked along the Rideau canal and saw the Rideau locks. We relaxed in Major Hills park, explored Byward Market, and visited the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Montreal

Our first visit was to the magnificent Notre Dame Basilica.

Notre_Dame Basilique Montreal

We walked to the Montreal Old Port, which is on the banks of the St. Lawrence River.

Port of Montreal, Clock Tower and St. Lawrence River

The Montreal Botanical garden, and the Biodome are also good places to visit.

Botanical Garden, Montreal
Montreal Biodome

The other key attractions we visited were Parc Jean-Drapeau and Jean Talon Market. The metro system in Montreal is quite efficient and has good connectivity.

Our next places to visit were Calgary & Banff.