Five nights in one downtown hotel, a city of markets and neighbourhoods, and one long escorted day at the most famous waterfall on earth — including the boat that takes you into it.
FromUS$1,320per person, twin share — five nights’ hotel, Ontario tax included, the Niagara day with the boat, and three more tickets. Compare the three hotel tiers
Fly in and out of Toronto Pearson (YYZ). The UP Express platform is inside Terminal 1 — follow the signs, no shuttle to arrange. Billy Bishop (YTZ) on the islands takes some domestic and US flights and is a ten-minute walk plus a 90-second ferry from downtown, which is the shortest airport transfer in North America.
Confirmation
Book at least 14 days before departure. The Niagara coach has fixed capacity and sells out through summer. We confirm within 24 hours and hold your dates.
Toronto is a grid with a good subway and three days of it are yours. The one escorted day is Niagara, because it is 130 km each way and a coach with a guide beats a hire car and a car park. We buy the version of that tour that includes the boat, rather than the cheaper one where it is an optional extra: the boat is the part people actually remember.
The trip at a glance
Toronto
Days 1–2 · 5 nights
01
Arrival
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Arrival in Toronto AT LEISURE
Arrive at Toronto Pearson. The transfer is not included and does not need to be: the UP Express runs to Union Station in 25 minutes for about C$12.
Check in and rest. Most flights from Asia and Australia arrive via the US west coast and land in the afternoon.
Evening at the Distillery District — Victorian industrial brick, pedestrian-only, and once the largest distillery in the British Empire.
Tomorrow starts at the museum. Both of tomorrow’s tickets are already bought.
02
The city
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The ROM & the Hockey Hall of Fame TICKETS INCLUDED
The Royal Ontario Museum at opening, ticket included. Canada’s largest, with a shattered-glass extension bolted onto a 1914 building that the city still argues about.
Two to three hours is enough: dinosaurs, the Chinese temple art, and the bat cave.
South to the Hockey Hall of Fame, ticket included — the actual Stanley Cup, in a former bank hall under a stained-glass dome. You are allowed to touch it.
It is the best-rated ticket in this whole itinerary, and not only among Canadians.
Nobody is guiding you today. Both tickets are booked and paid. Tomorrow is the escorted day and it starts early.
In your price today — go at your own pace
Royal Ontario Museum
Hockey Hall of Fame
Niagara
Day 3 · escorted, about 10 hours
03
Niagara
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Niagara Falls & the Boat GUIDED
Pick-up downtown, then 130 km south to Niagara Falls with your guide for the day.
Six hundred thousand gallons a second over a 57-metre drop. The Canadian side has the Horseshoe and the view; you are on the right side of the river.
The boat ride into the mist is included — not an optional extra, as it is on the cheaper version of this tour. You will get wet. That is the point.
Then Niagara-on-the-Lake: a preserved 19th-century town at the river mouth, surrounded by vineyards, and the stop that turns the falls from a photograph into a day.
Back in Toronto in the evening. Allow the full day — about ten hours door to door.
The boat runs roughly April to November. Outside that the falls are still running, often half frozen and arguably better, but the boat is dry-docked and we price the tour without it.
In your price today — with your guide
Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake & the boat into the mist
Islands & Markets
Days 4–6 · back in the city
04
Harbour
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The Islands & the Markets TICKETS INCLUDED
Morning cruise of the harbour and the Toronto Islands, ticket included. Fifteen minutes offshore and the postcard view of the skyline looking back.
Lunch at St Lawrence Market — a market hall since 1803. Order the peameal bacon on a bun; it is the city’s dish and it costs less than a coffee.
Afternoon in Kensington Market, which is not a hall but a few streets of Victorian houses turned into food shops and record stores. Chinatown begins at its eastern edge.
Nobody is guiding you today either. The cruise is booked; the markets are just streets, and better for it.
In your price today — go at your own pace
Toronto Harbour & Islands cruise
Add to this day — approximate gate prices
Toronto Islands ferryAbout C$9 returnIf you would rather land and walk than cruise past. Centre Island has the beaches, Ward's has the cottages.
Art Gallery of OntarioAbout C$30A Frank Gehry rebuild of his own childhood gallery, with the largest Group of Seven collection anywhere.
A Blue Jays gameFrom about C$25Book aheadAt the Rogers Centre, ten minutes from most downtown hotels. Baseball, April to September, and the roof shuts if it rains.
We can book any of these with your tour. Tell us which you want when you confirm and the tickets travel with your documents.
05
Free day
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Your Own Toronto AT LEISURE
Nothing is booked. The CN Tower is the obvious one — 553 metres, the tallest free-standing structure on earth for 32 years, and a glass floor on the main deck.
It is not in your price and that is deliberate: about C$45–58 for the deck, and near C$225 if you want to walk around the outside on a harness.
Casa Loma instead, about C$40 — a Gothic folly built by a financier who went broke and lost it, with stables and tunnels underneath.
Or the Art Gallery of Ontario, or a Blue Jays game at the Rogers Centre if the calendar lines up. See the menu below.
Add to this day — approximate gate prices
CN Tower, main deckAbout C$45–58Deliberately not in your price so you can choose your slot and your weather. The glass floor is on the main deck.
EdgeWalk on the CN TowerAbout C$225Book aheadHarnessed, hands-free, on a ledge outside the pod at 356 metres. Seasonal, and it books out.
Casa LomaAbout C$40A Gothic Revival folly with stables and tunnels, built by a financier who then lost it to his creditors.
We can book any of these with your tour. Tell us which you want when you confirm and the tickets travel with your documents.
06
Departure
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St Lawrence, then Home AT LEISURE
Breakfast at St Lawrence Market if your flight allows. It opens at seven on weekdays and closes Mondays.
Union Station for the UP Express — 25 minutes to Pearson. Worth five minutes for the 1927 ceiling on your way through.
Allow three hours at Pearson. US-bound flights clear American customs in Toronto, which takes far longer than a domestic departure.
Bags can stay at the hotel after check-out; every tier here will hold them.
Your Hotels
One hotel for all five nights, downtown, so the subway, Union Station and the Niagara pick-up are all walkable. Toronto is not a cheap hotel city in May — the trip is identical in November for materially less. Every tier below includes Ontario tax, which is quoted separately almost everywhere else and adds nineteen per cent.
Comfort · 4★
Financial District or downtown core, on the subwaySolid full-service hotels a few minutes from Union Station — the DoubleTree alone carries over four thousand reviews. Rooms are a fair size and everything on this itinerary is walkable or one subway stop away.
Deluxe · upper 4★
Harbourfront or the Entertainment DistrictBigger rooms, a proper lobby and usually a pool. The Radisson Blu looks over the harbour and the Riu Plaza sits in the middle of the theatre district.
Luxury · 5★
The names, and in one case a lakefront estate of its ownHotel X on the lake, the Ritz-Carlton or the SoHo in the Entertainment District. Note we have deliberately excluded the cheaper '5-star suites' operators — they are condo lettings with a handful of reviews, not hotels.
You will know exactly where you are staying before you pay a balance. We name the property in your confirmation, in writing, as soon as the room is held — and if it is ever unavailable for your dates we substitute at the same tier or better, never below it.
Restaurants worth trying
No meals are in the price on this trip, so all of them are yours to choose. Here is where we would eat. We do not arrange any of these and you would pay for them yourself. They are simply places we rate, near where the trip goes. Tick any you like and they appear on the map.
Suggested, not included. Opening hours and prices are theirs, not ours — and a place that is busy at eight will be busy whether or not you booked through us.
Tour Price
All prices are per person, twin share, in US dollars — the figure below is what you pay us. It covers five nights’ hotel, Ontario tax, the escorted Niagara day including the boat, and three more tickets. Travelling alone is possible; the single supplement covers sole use of the room and its tax.
Hotel tier
Per person, twin share
Single supplement
Comfort — 4★ downtown, twin share
from US$1,320
+US$805
Deluxe — upper 4★, twin share
from US$1,620
+US$1,025
Luxury — 5★, twin share
from US$2,075
+US$1,370
Included
5 nights’ accommodation in the downtown Toronto hotel tier you choose · Ontario HST and the Toronto Municipal Accommodation Tax, which are quoted separately almost everywhere else · the full-day escorted Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake tour, with the boat ride into the mist · Royal Ontario Museum · Hockey Hall of Fame · the Toronto Harbour and Islands cruise
Not included
Flights, excluded on every tour so the advertised price does not move with the airfare · Airport transfers — the UP Express is about C$12 and 25 minutes · The CN Tower, roughly C$45–58, deliberately left to you · City transit, about C$3.35 a ride · Meals · Casa Loma and the AGO on the free day · Travel insurance · Tips, 15–20% in restaurants
How the flexi tour works. Choose any departure date and a hotel tier → we confirm availability and the exact price within 24 hours → pay a deposit to hold it → your final documents and vouchers arrive by email a week before you fly. There is no group to join and no fixed departure day.
Seasonal pricing. These are May rates, and May is expensive in Toronto. November to March runs materially cheaper and the falls do not close — half-frozen Niagara is a better photograph than summer Niagara, and the crowds are gone. The one thing winter loses is the boat, which is dry-docked roughly December to March; ask us and we will price the tour without it. July and August are dearer again and the coach sells out.
Budget separately for: Allow US$80–130 a day per person beyond the price above. Lunch at a market is US$12, dinner US$35–65 before drinks. Add the CN Tower at about C$50, transit at C$3.35 a ride, and Casa Loma at C$40 if you want them. Sales tax is added at the till, not shown on the shelf, and tipping runs 15–20%.
Start your booking
Tell us who you are and when you want to go.
We’ll reply within a business day with the price and what’s available.
A deposit holds it, and comes back in full if we can’t get your dates.
✓
That is with us
If you do not hear from us, email
info@dltravel.net and we will pick it up.