Ontario Hotels

Mark Brader wrote:

> In that case if you want to go to the Georgian Bay area, you should
> go there directly from Niagara Falls, probably taking highway 6 from
> Hamilton. Spend a night up there somewhere, although I have no idea
> of specific places to suggest.

We frequently travel from Niagara to Collingwood. The fastest route by
far is to go over to Hwy. 410 to the end, jog over to Airport Rd. and
follow it all the way up to where it hooks onto Hwy.26.
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Hello,

Looking for a bit more advice from you now. I've been looking for
accommodation and couldn't really find anything of honeymoon standard
for the second leg of my journey up towards Georgian Bay and through
Algonquin; it was all B&B campsites and cheap motels from what I could
find. I started to look a bit further afield and came accross a few
good looking places in Coboconk, next to Balsam Lake. The ones I'm
particularly interested in are The Saucy Willow Inn and Eganridge Inn.
I'd like to run the idea by you people of driving up from Niagara-on-
the-lake to Coboconk, 3 1/2 hours approx journey time, making a day of
it and stopping off in 2 or 3 places along the way. We would then stay
3 nights in Coboconk to give us 2 full days. The first day we would do
a circular trip taking in Lake Simcoe, the Southern tip of Georgian
Bay and Lake Muskoka / Gravenhurst. The second day we would go to the
southern part of Algonquin park (are there any nice places to visit
that far south or do you really need to get in to the heart of the
park?). After our third night in Coboconk we will spend a day
travelling over to Ottawa for the next leg of our journey.

Itenary so far:

Arrive Sun 19:00
Stay in Niagara-on-the-lake Sun/Mon/Tue, visiting St Catherines, Lake
Ontario, Niagara Falls and generally relaxing.
Tue, drive to Coboconk taking in a few places on the way.
Stay in Coboconk Tue/Wed/Thu, visit Georgian Bay etc on Wed, Visit
Algonquin on Thu.
Fri, drive to Ottawa taking in a few places on the way.
Stay in/around Ottawa Fri/Sat possible Sun aswell.

Any comments on this.
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On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 07:59:04 -0800 (PST), Lee
<leemeadowcroft.RemoveThis@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Jan 25, 3:41=A0pm, nespammez....RemoveThis@antispam.net (Bill) wrote:

>> Three days in Ottawa is about 2 more than I would want to spend there,
>> but that's just personal preference.
>
>Any particular reasons for that?? Guessing there's something you don't
>like about Ottawa.

Ottawa has a couple of nice museums, but otherwise it's a dull
government town. Montreal is much livelier, with way better bars and
restaurants. I would be bored silly by the third day of being in
Ottawa. I'd spend more time in Montreal and less in Ottawa. But
again, that's a purely personal view.
 >> Stay informed about: Ontario Hotels 

> I have not been to Coboconk so I can't over any advice there, other than
> it being a long way out of your way and causing a consider amount of back
> tracking. There are lots of nice hotels in the Collingwood area.  The Blue
> Mountain Inn is a nice place right at the bottom of the "mountain" . You
> can catch a lift to the top of the hill and look out over Georgian Bay. It
> is primariily a ski resort that has been evolving into t year round resort
> facilty. You can make day trips from there up the Bruce peninsual or
> around to the other side of the bay, though you can go that way on your
> way to Algonquin.
>
> There is not a heck of a lot to see and do in the north end of Algonquin
> Park. It is a wildernes park. If you want to get into the interior you
> will need a canoe.  There is a visitors centre/ museum  on Hwy. 60 in the
> south end. There is a portage store on Canoe Lake and a small store at the
> Lake of Two Rivers campground., a logging museum and an arts centre. Other
> than that, it is just hiking trails and campgrounds. It is beautiful
> country, great for hiking and canoe tripping.

The main advantage of Coboconk is that it has a more central location
and gives us the opportunity to stay 3 nights in the same place whilst
offering what it terms 'luxury' accommodation. I hadn't looked at
accommodation in Collingwood because it feels a bit too far West; this
part of the journey is to take in some of the Country on route from
Niagara to Ottawa and it's quite a drive from Collingwood to Ottawa;
google tells me that journey is 6 1/2 hours. At the moment I'm
limiting journeys to about 3 1/2 hours a day, slightly more on the odd
1 or 2 days but only when were visiting a number of places in the same
day and driving up to about 1 1/2 hours at a time. Like you say there
are some fantastic places to stay but I'm not quite sure how I can fit
an overnight stay or two in that location.
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Lee wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Looking for a bit more advice from you now. I've been looking for
> accommodation and couldn't really find anything of honeymoon standard
> for the second leg of my journey up towards Georgian Bay and through
> Algonquin; it was all B&B campsites and cheap motels from what I could
> find. I started to look a bit further afield and came accross a few
> good looking places in Coboconk, next to Balsam Lake. The ones I'm
> particularly interested in are The Saucy Willow Inn and Eganridge Inn.
> I'd like to run the idea by you people of driving up from Niagara-on-
> the-lake to Coboconk, 3 1/2 hours approx journey time, making a day of
> it and stopping off in 2 or 3 places along the way. We would then stay
> 3 nights in Coboconk to give us 2 full days. The first day we would do
> a circular trip taking in Lake Simcoe, the Southern tip of Georgian
> Bay and Lake Muskoka / Gravenhurst. The second day we would go to the
> southern part of Algonquin park (are there any nice places to visit
> that far south or do you really need to get in to the heart of the
> park?). After our third night in Coboconk we will spend a day
> travelling over to Ottawa for the next leg of our journey.
>

I have not been to Coboconk so I can't over any advice there, other than
it being a long way out of your way and causing a consider amount of back
tracking. There are lots of nice hotels in the Collingwood area. The Blue
Mountain Inn is a nice place right at the bottom of the "mountain" . You
can catch a lift to the top of the hill and look out over Georgian Bay. It
is primariily a ski resort that has been evolving into t year round resort
facilty. You can make day trips from there up the Bruce peninsual or
around to the other side of the bay, though you can go that way on your
way to Algonquin.

There is not a heck of a lot to see and do in the north end of Algonquin
Park. It is a wildernes park. If you want to get into the interior you
will need a canoe. There is a visitors centre/ museum on Hwy. 60 in the
south end. There is a portage store on Canoe Lake and a small store at the
Lake of Two Rivers campground., a logging museum and an arts centre. Other
than that, it is just hiking trails and campgrounds. It is beautiful
country, great for hiking and canoe tripping.



>
> Itenary so far:
>
> Arrive Sun 19:00
> Stay in Niagara-on-the-lake Sun/Mon/Tue, visiting St Catherines, Lake
> Ontario, Niagara Falls and generally relaxing.
> Tue, drive to Coboconk taking in a few places on the way.
> Stay in Coboconk Tue/Wed/Thu, visit Georgian Bay etc on Wed, Visit
> Algonquin on Thu.
> Fri, drive to Ottawa taking in a few places on the way.
> Stay in/around Ottawa Fri/Sat possible Sun aswell.
>
> Any comments on this.
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In article <4d67f405-0810-4d91-a824-25afaa4a034c DeleteThis @m34g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,
Lee <leemeadowcroft DeleteThis @gmail.com> wrote:
>I've started to finalise my route as follows, haven't decided on
>places to stay yet because I need to decide on my budget:
>
>Sun - Arrive 17:00
>Sun/Mon - Toronto
>Tue/Wed - Niagara Falls
>Wed - Nr Toronto
>Thu - Nr Algonquin

There are three plausible routes to Algonquin Park from Toronto.

The quickest and most direct route, going up 400 and 11 via Barrie and
Huntsville is also, unfortunately, the least scenic and the most traffic-prone
until you get onto highway 60 in Huntsville.

When I visit Algonquin Park from Toronto, I usually make a loop of the two
alternate routes. They are longer and slower, but much, much more scenic.

The route to the *west* end of Algonquin is to take highway 35 north from
Lindsay, passing through Minden. There are several ways to get to Lindsay
from Toronto.

The route to the *east* end of Algonquin is to take 401/115 to Peterborough,
and then take 28 through Bancroft and 127 north of Maynooth.

From the description of the kinds of places you're considering settling in in
Canada, Lindsay and particularly Peterborough fit the bill. The route to the
east gate then lets you see Peterborough, and it's also pretty straightforward
as the trip to Peterborough is all on freeways.

Doubling back on your route through Algonquin won't be an issue--you get to
see the great scenery twice!

From Algonquin, the obvious route, highway 60 to Renfrew, is also the scenic
route, so no issues there. In early September there will be lots of motels
with vacancies in Barry's Bay, Killaloe, Eganville, etc.

You could also consider camping in Algonquin for a real Canadian summer
experience (minus blackflies and maybe pretty mosquito-free too). You can rent
equipment, for example from Mountan Equipment Co-Op (mec.ca). My favourite
campsites are closed after Labour Day, but quite a few campgrounds are still
open and they shouldn't be particularly crowded Thursday night.

I have often made a day-trip to Algonquin, driving up one of the alternate
routes and down the other, with several hours' hiking in Algonquin. That's
a pretty long day, though. You will want to start early so you see the
countryside; plus deer and wildlife on the roads can be an issue after dark.
 >> Stay informed about: Ontario Hotels 

In article <dce8cd21-b3a7-4c50-80ee-9c6d4a87386c RemoveThis @s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com>,
John Kane <jrkrideau RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote:

>When traveling from Ottawa to Toronto the normal route seems to be
>Hwy 417 to Hwy 401. A different route that adds very little to time
>but which is much more scenic is Hwy 7 to Perth, Ontario, ( good place
>for lunch) then County Road 10 m through the Village of Westport
>( another good place for lunch) to Kingston and take the 401 from
>there.

You mean 416 to 401; 417 will land you in Montreal.

The Perth/Westport route is probably the most scenic, but there are a few places
where the proper place to turn is a little obscure.

If the goal is to get from Ottawa to Kingston, highway 15 through Smiths Falls
is pretty scenic and has fewer confusing turns.

If the goal is to get from Ottawa to Toronto, highway 7 and then 37 south
through Tweed is the shortest, and may be the fastest--the 401/416 route is a
good 80 km longer.
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Lee wrote:

> > There is not a heck of a lot to see and do in the north end of Algonquin
> > Park. It is a wildernes park. If you want to get into the interior you
> > will need a canoe. There is a visitors centre/ museum on Hwy. 60 in the
> > south end. There is a portage store on Canoe Lake and a small store at the
> > Lake of Two Rivers campground., a logging museum and an arts centre. Other
> > than that, it is just hiking trails and campgrounds. It is beautiful
> > country, great for hiking and canoe tripping.
>
> The main advantage of Coboconk is that it has a more central location
> and gives us the opportunity to stay 3 nights in the same place whilst
> offering what it terms 'luxury' accommodation. I hadn't looked at
> accommodation in Collingwood because it feels a bit too far West;

I thought that you wanted to see Georgian Bay, and Collingwood is at the south
end of it and probably has the widest selection of accomodation. Another
possiblilty is Midlan, not so far off teh route to Algonquin. If you want
luxury accomodation youmigh try Deerhurst in Huntsville. You could spend a day
touring around over to the northwestern part of Georgian Bay, whic is quite
scenic.


> ; this
> part of the journey is to take in some of the Country on route from
> Niagara to Ottawa and it's quite a drive from Collingwood to Ottawa;
> google tells me that journey is 6 1/2 hours. At the moment I'm
> limiting journeys to about 3 1/2 hours a day, slightly more on the odd
> 1 or 2 days but only when were visiting a number of places in the same
> day and driving up to about 1 1/2 hours at a time. Like you say there
> are some fantastic places to stay but I'm not quite sure how I can fit
> an overnight stay or two in that location.

BTW... somone else provided a caution about deer along the highways. A bigger
concern is moose. They are a lot bigger and darker, so hard to see at night, and
crashing into one can be fatal to you as well as to the moose.
 >> Stay informed about: Ontario Hotels 

> I thought that you wanted to see Georgian Bay, and Collingwood is at the south
> end of it and probably has the widest selection of accomodation.  Another
> possiblilty is Midlan, not so far off teh route to Algonquin.   If you want
> luxury accomodation youmigh try Deerhurst in Huntsville.  You could spend a day
> touring around over to the northwestern part of  Georgian Bay, whic is quite
> scenic.

It's just difficult finding a compromise between places to stay,
places to visit and journey lengths. I was thinking we might visit
Midland from Coboconk if we stay there and at least we will see
Georgian Bay. From speaking to a friend who has been to the region, he
says to make the most of the Georgian Bay area you need to travel up
the West of it and accross Manitoulin Island; that would be way off
target for this trip but maybe next time. Deerhurst looks quite nice
in Huntsville. I've sent an enquiry to two nice places in Coboconk and
if I get some positive feedback then I'm likely to choose one of
those.

> BTW... somone else provided a caution about deer along the highways. A bigger
> concern is moose. They are a lot bigger and darker, so hard to see at night, and
> crashing into one can be fatal to you as well as to the moose.

Lol, it's not quite the same but there is an area in the south of
England called the New Forest that we drive through occasionaly, wild
horses have free reign in the Forest and if they don't want to get out
of your way you have to wait. Other than that, the closet I have come
to animals in the road was a stray cow that was charging down a main
road about 5 minutes from my house, luckily it was heading away from
me rather than towards. What sort of temprement do the deer/moose have
over there? If you keep at a reasonable distance do they keep
themselves to themselves?
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On 1/28/2008 11:30 AM Bill did the "neutron dance", then made these
writings:
> On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 07:59:04 -0800 (PST), Lee
> <leemeadowcroft DeleteThis @gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>> On Jan 25, 3:41=A0pm, nespammez... DeleteThis @antispam.net (Bill) wrote:
>>
>
>
>>> Three days in Ottawa is about 2 more than I would want to spend there,
>>> but that's just personal preference.
>>>
>> Any particular reasons for that?? Guessing there's something you don't
>> like about Ottawa.
>>
>
> Ottawa has a couple of nice museums, but otherwise it's a dull
> government town. Montreal is much livelier, with way better bars and
> restaurants. I would be bored silly by the third day of being in
> Ottawa. I'd spend more time in Montreal and less in Ottawa. But
> again, that's a purely personal view.
>
The question on my mind is which town has better poutine?

--
________
To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951
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Lee wrote:

> Lol, it's not quite the same but there is an area in the south of
> England called the New Forest that we drive through occasionaly, wild
> horses have free reign in the Forest and if they don't want to get out
> of your way you have to wait. Other than that, the closet I have come
> to animals in the road was a stray cow that was charging down a main
> road about 5 minutes from my house, luckily it was heading away from
> me rather than towards. What sort of temprement do the deer/moose have
> over there? If you keep at a reasonable distance do they keep
> themselves to themselves?

Deer are timid creatures. Back in the 50s and 60s there were lots of deer in Algonquin
and they used to come out to the side of the highway where people would feed them.
It was common to 30 or more deer on a drive through the park.. Since that time the
deer have moved out of the park and there are more moose. I have been going up there
for a week every August for the last 35 years and spend an entire summer in the park
and in all that time I have seen only one deer.

Deer are generally timid, skitterish creatures. The park rangers discourage feeding
them and they tend to avoid humans. Moose, on the other hand, can be quite
intimidating. They may stand their ground and they can be dangerous. There is an
expression... stunned like a deer in the headlights. If you come across on the road it
may be momentarily stunned but will soon scoot out of the way. The problem is that
they rarely travel alone, and it you see one deer on the road slow down, because of it
runs away, several more may suddenly appear and follow it. A moose OTOH, is likely to
stand its ground.

Then there is the Scotsman, who seeing his first moose in Canada said "Ach. if that's
a moose, I'd hate to see a rat"
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> Then there is the Scotsman, who seeing his first moose in Canada said "Ach.. if that's
> a moose, I'd hate to see a rat"  

lol, very good.

I decided to go ahead and book the (strangely named) Saucy Willow Inn
at Coboconk. We will stay there three nights on the 3rd, 4th & 5th
September. Next is to plan a route cross-country from Coboconk towards
Ottawa and to find a nice play to stay either in or near Ottawa. I've
looked at the Lord Elgin that has been suggested above and that is
currently on my short list but I need some others to compare. I don't
mind staying half an hour outside of the city, preferably on the West
or South side. If anyone has suggestions of a pleasant route that is
not hugely off track then I would like to hear about it, same goes for
places to visit on the way. I've found a couple of nice places in
Perth, what is that area like?

As I'm thinking about possioble future areas to live I've being doing
a satallite tour of the Ottawa region on Google and looking through
loads of photos on TrekEarth. There are some areas to the south of the
city that look quite nice, such as Manotick, Stittsville and Kanata.
Are these nice places or I have just come accross good pictures of bad
areas?

Keep the advice coming, we are very grateful to hear from you
knowledgable people

p.s. I've just reported about 10 stupid spam posts that had pushed
mine to the bottom of the page. Does anyone else bother reporting
these people or am I wasting my time?
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On Jan 30, 6:53 pm, etre....DeleteThis@europa.algorithmics.com (Ed Treijs) wrote:
> In article <78428b09-b3b2-4cf7-bae5-9233ec749....DeleteThis@1g2000hsl.googlegroups.com>,
>
> Lee  <leemeadowcr....DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote:
> >I decided to go ahead and book the (strangely named) Saucy Willow Inn
> >at Coboconk. We will stay there three nights on the 3rd, 4th & 5th
> >September. Next is to plan a route cross-country from Coboconk towards
> >Ottawa
>
> There are three possible routes.
>
> You can go up highway 35 to highway 60, drive east through Algonquin Park,
> follow 60 through the small Canadian shield towns to Renfrew, and then
> southeast to Ottawa via 17/417.  Longest route but you also get to see
> Algonquin Park.
>
> You could make your way down to highway 7, which runs all the way to Ottawa
> and is pretty scenic between about Marmora and Tweed. You could use this route
> to check out Lindsay and Peterborough, although this will slow you down.  (You
> could avoid Lindsay and Peterborough by driving through Fenelon Falls and
> Bobcaygeon, but getting down to 7 from around Buckhorn will take some
> navigation.)
>
> Or you can go to Buckhorn as above, and then take highway 28 up to Bancroft
> and follow 28/41/132 to Renfrew, then to Ottawa via 17/417.
>
> The simplest and most scenic route is the 35/60/17 combination, but it's also
> a full day's drive.
>
> The southern route via 7 lets you look at Lindsay (sometimes aka Kawartha
> Lakes) and Peterborough, and in eastern Ontario Tweed (a nice mid-size town)
> and Carleton Place (larger, largely commuter town).
>
> All three routes spend quite a bit of time in Candian shield country.
>
> >and to find a nice play to stay either in or near Ottawa. I've
> >looked at the Lord Elgin that has been suggested above and that is
> >currently on my short list but I need some others to compare. I don't
> >mind staying half an hour outside of the city, preferably on the West
> >or South side. If anyone has suggestions of a pleasant route that is
> >not hugely off track then I would like to hear about it, same goes for
> >places to visit on the way. I've found a couple of nice places in
> >Perth, what is that area like?
>
> Perth is a nice historic town.  It's a considerable drive from Ottawa, though;
> count on at least a hour one-way.
>
> There are historic towns along the Rideau River/canal system where I'm sure
> you can get a very nice hotel or B&B.  I haven't lived in Ottawa for years, so
> maybe someone else can make better suggestions, or search on "Rideau canal".
> Merrickville is supposed to be very nice.
> For example, look athttp://www.rideau-info.com/canal/accom-inns.html
>
> Kanata is a ready-made suburb, I imagine kind of like Milton Keynes. I wouldn't
> stay there for vacation (and I don't think it's an interesting place to live,
> either).  Stittsville has obviously grown into a bedroom town; you may care
> to live there, but it isn't a vacation destination. I'd stick to Ottawa or the
> Rideau towns.

Many thanks for your comments on the routes and on the towns in
Ottawa.

I have just come accross what looks like a fantastic place to stay!
The Gasthaus Switzerland Inn (http://
www.gasthausswitzerlandinn.com/) , in downtown Ottawa. It looks to
have a great central location and a honeymoon suite to die for.
Anybody come accross this place before? It's not cheap, $800 for three
nights, but I've kind of given up on my budget and accepted that you
only have a honeymoon once. We're not talking way over budget, we have
the money so why not make the most of it. So far we're spending about
$900 for the first three nights, $450 for the second three nights,
that one I mentioned above is $800 and we will then look for a
relatively cheap place to stay on the North Coast of Lake Ontario for
2 nights before heading to Toronto for our final 2 nights.
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