Looking for advice about Canada

vancouver, montreal, toronto
try the Poutine! haha

remember canada is HUGE. most people are not able to do both coasts in one visit.
we have such a big country.. i think people forget that!
it take nearly a week to drive across the whole country oO

Montreal would definitely be on my recommendations

Have you considered an escorted tour? booked on an "accross canada" tour with travelsphere, first time going to canada its not cheap but it does visit some of the major places and with it being escorted you dont need to worry about getting lost

I highly recommend visiting Vancouver Island on the west coast Totally beautiful. I live in Victoria, and absolutely love it. Car rental is probaby the best way to go, but I've never gone more eastern than Edmonton. I agree with another poster above though, you might have a hard time visiting both ends in one go. Also definitely try the poutine!

Victoria definately! I am from there originally and moved to Calgary about 3 years ago.

February may not be the best month to visit, but I guess it depends on what you plan on doing and where you plan on visiting. I'm from Toronto, but I love BC and would also suggest visiting Eastern Canada (esp Nova Scotia and Newfoundland - not necessarily as a place to live, but they're beautiful to visit, although perhaps more so in the summer).

As far as flights go, the cheapest I have found between the UK and Toronto was Air Transat since they have charters. (However, their flights tend to be extremely squishy. It's definitely a no-frills airline - but if you're looking for cheap, it will get you there.)

vancouver, montreal, toronto
try the Poutine!
[/quote

Toronto is wonderful! Great shopping, museums, restaurants, and the best people ever! I've wanted to move there for a few years now. And Poutine is incredible!!!

Thanks everybody!

We're planning on coming for two weeks in February next year - time to really get a feel for the cold!!

On the provisional list is:

Fly to Montreal
Rent a car and drive to Ottawa
Drive to Toronto
Fly to Vancouver and maybe then Victoria

I was tempted by the escorted tours, but I really want to get a feel for Canada as it would be day to day, rather than doing all the tourist attractions, if that makes sense?

Ok, poutine is definitely on my list!!

The ferry ride over to Vancouver Island is incredible!

You could try doing a train trip across Canada. To drive coast to coast would take you about 2 weeks, and that is driving for 8 hours a day. Canada is HUGE, as someone has mentioned, and people tend to forget that. It is very expensive and time consuming to see the whole country in one visit. We have basically every landscape you can imagine (desert, mountains, plains, glaciers, rain forest). Flights can be expensive, but if you do fly I recommend WestJet over Air Canada. Their customer service is A+, and they let still let you have 1 free checked bag. That means the inside of the plane is less crowded because everyone is not trying to carry on all their crap to avoid paying $20!

It's getting to be autumn now, so most places will be cooler but another thing to remember is the weather can be VASTLY different from coast to coast. I live in Southwestern Ontario, and it's going to be about 34C with the humidex today. However, you go to Victoria, and they don't even know what a humidex is! We were there in the middle of August and temperatures were in the low 20s. I was quite chilly, actually.

By the way, don't bother going any further south than Toronto. Trust me! All we have down here is industry and pollution.

Driving from Montreal to Ottawa to Toronto in February?! I hope you are comfortable with driving in the snow!

Honestly, that is the worst possible time to visit Canada. Even Vancouver and Victoria are ugly in February. Bleak, bleak, bleak and rain all the time. Is that the only time your schedule allows you to visit?

Ayyy?

That's "Eh?" ok? :-)

As mentioned Canada is huge. I've had family visit from the UK wanting to see Niagara Falls (Ontario), Minas Basin (Nova Scotia), Banff (Alberta), and Butchart Gardens (British Columbia), all in one week. Um, no. Because of it's size, things a rail pass, while it exists, won't be useful unless you have lots of time to chew up travelling. Decide what kind of things appeal to you and build your trip around that. For instance, if you love the outdoors (camping, hiking, etc), there's lots of that all over Canada; if your preference runs to urban entertainment like clubs, restaurants, theatre, then head for a major city like Toronto, Vancouver, or for a continental flavour try Montreal (you can get by with no French, but it helps)

It truly depends on how you like to spend your time. I've been all over Canada--if you have questions send me a message.

Re cheap flights ... keep your eyes open for seat sales.
Best time of year to visit: June July August ... depending on where you go it can be hot in July
If you prefer winter sports, then head for Quebec, BC, or Alberta in December January
Best way to get around is car rental with unlimited km package--drive on the opposite side of road to you!

I'm going to say Halifax, Toronto and Edmonton (apologies to the West Coasters but I've not gotten there yet).

As has been said, the climate across the country is diverse, Feb on the east coast is nothing like Feb on the West coast or the prairies. And each city is hugely different from the next and it's going to be hard to get a true feel, especially in the winter, for the places unless you've got a fair bit of time.

It's not a bad thought to want to get a feel for the winter, but it limits you on how much you might be able to see in the allotted time, and yeah, unless you've got good experience with driving in the snow, you might not want to rent a car.

Driving from Montreal to Ottawa to Toronto in February?! I hope you are comfortable with driving in the snow!

Honestly, that is the worst possible time to visit Canada. Even Vancouver and Victoria are ugly in February. Bleak, bleak, bleak and rain all the time. Is that the only time your schedule allows you to visit?

yeah ... if you're flying into Montreal in February, stay for couple days to see the city, then take the train to Ottawa and Toronto. Seriously, you don't want to be driving here in winter if it's your first visit. Fly to Vancouver or even better Victoria. In winter these cities experience winter as rain. Picture Edinburgh weather. The best of the two is Victoria and the island is awesome, but not in its glory in February.

In-country flights are not cheap ... if you do, try west jet

Niagara Falls is a tourist trap, but definitely worth seeing. Especially from the Canadian side. Take the Maid of the Mist boat ride to the base of the falls.

HI!

My husband is from the UK. We met while I was backpacking around Europe 11 years ago and moved here when we got married (Calgary, Alberta). We go back and forth a lot though and his family has been over many times.

First off - Why February? Are you wanting to expose yourself to the worst weather to see if you can handle it before moving here? If so, I get that. Winters have definitely been the hardest for my husband to adjust to. If you are making a winter trip though I would stick to just one area. West coast would be great if you are skiers or snowboarders. It would give you an idea of all the great winter activities that help us get through the cold spells. If you could postpone your trip till summer I would recommend an across Canada journey. My parents were both teachers so as a kid we travelled across Canada twice bt car and tent trailer. All the way to PEI and back. It would give you a great idea of all the areas in Canada, but you would need to dedicate at least a month to it to really get a feel for each place and not feel like you are rushing. There are many RV rental companies that you could rent a wee trailer or Van from for the trip and just camp along the way.

As for your questions......

Does anyone know of any great deals for flight from UK to Canada and back?
I agree with the other poster about canadianaffairs.com, we have booked through them many times. Also selloffvacations.com does flights as well and are often the same price as Canadianaffairs but their cancellation policy is better. With CanadianAffairs you have to buy their insurance to get any options for changing or cancelling. Also - depending on where you are flying from aer lingus also flies to Canada and when I priced out our trip this Christmas they were the cheapest by far.

Where are the cities you'd recommend visiting?
Everywhere. Canada is beautiful and has a lot of offer. From clam digging in PEI (my favourite thing from my last trip there) to the cafe's in old Quebec City, to the Rocky mountain hiking and Vancouver Islands beauty it really depends what you are into and if you are seriously planning to move here you'd be best to check it all out to find the best fit before committing to a move like that.

How would you recommend travelling from place to place? Internal flights? Buses? Car rentals?
I would recommend renting a van or small trailer and driving from one side to the other. Greyhound buses are available if you don't want to drive but it is a lot of time on the bus. You can also travel by train but it is not a web of train routes like in the UK there is basically one route across the country so you would miss a lot. If you had an area you wanted to skip you could do an internal flight but it is often fairly expensive.

Good luck! If you have any more questions please feel free to message me. We plan vacations for our family all the time from the UK so have done a number of different routes in the West (we haven't taken them east yet, but that is on the list).

Hey! i think your plan was perfect! Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa are all wihtin driving distance or train or even cheaper is the bus. I wouldnt knock the bus because if your looking for a cheap ride from Toronto to Montreal thats deffinetly the way to go when your in Ontario. I would use the Megabus or the Greyhound that leaves from downtown Toronto and then head to montreal and then take the train to Ottawa. I live in the arts distric of downtown Toronto and if you guys want a tour guide to show you around Toronto I'd be happy to offer my take on the city.
But like everyone said both coasts offer so much as well and are very unique. I loved BC, vancouver and Victoria because of their obviouse beauty but the East coast stole my heart.