Tell me good things in Ontario. Will be in Huntsville, Ottawa, Bruce Peninsula and Toronto. Travelling solo and will have a car so intend to do a lot of day trips from those places.
I like things like food, coffee, beer, trail running, and little gig venues
Stayed on a lake near Huntsville yeeeeears ago so only remember that the scenery was stunning. Visited Ottawa on the same trip and finding it very dull, outside of the actual Mounties in proper uniform in front of the Parliament building.
Toronto is a great city though, lots of good places to eat and drink around Queen Street West, and Bellwood’s Brewery by the park. We stayed at the Drake after our wedding and loved it, lots of personality. At the other end of downtown there’s the Distillery District which is also good for food and shopping.
I’d recommend a trip to Niagara-by-the-Lake, very cute, Stars Hollowish town, close to the falls which are also obviously worth seeing.
Thanks. I’d had a look at running the trail from Niagara-on-the-Lake to the falls which looks a banger. Got Argonauts and Rays tickets too to do some proper sportsing. Annoyingly no Toronto FC game while I’m there to complete the set
What time of year are you going? Skating on the river in Ottawa is nice in winter. It’s not the most interesting of cities Bit there’s some cool architecture in places. Can’t remember much about the place though.
July-August
Less skating then, then. Only other things I can remember were that they had weird booze shops that were like Screwfix and the I saw violin virtuoso, Vadim Repin in some nice concert hall, so pretty specific to February 2006 type stuff. Hope you have a great time, regardless.
Thanks. Think with Ottawa I’ll mainly be using it as a base to go to nice nature places in the day then just head back for a drink and food and bed, so not too worried about it being a bit of a dull city.
Toronto’s ace spent an evening getting absolutely hammered at Sneaky Dee’s and there was some alright bars down College Street. Should have spent more time in Toronto than Quebec. The town of Niagra Falls is basically Blackpool, Niagra On the Lake was really nice though.
Oh and don’t get a pre packaged tour of Niagra Falls do it yourself the one thing we had a tour company sort out and it was fucking shit.
Hello. I go to Muskoka all the time. Hunstville is where my father in law lives.
You got kids?
Muskoka Brewery is good, and if you want a drive Parry Sound has the Trestle Brewery too. Very good place.
Gravenhurts has a cool steam ship that still runs, but in Glasgow. Really neat. And a good boat museum. Quite good. Rosseau also has a good set up, nice wee village. I like port carling, it has a liquor store that has boat parking ha.
There are beaches too, if you want good swimming. Kirby beach in Bracebridge is good, as it their downtown area. Walkable downtown in Canada, actually exists.
As for further south I am woefully ill prepared.
On a side not I am going to be there from mid July to August!
Amazing thanks. And I’ll be in Huntsville 29th July to 2nd August I think
www.ndygigs.info
good place to check for gigs in Toronto
Porchetta is the best fried chicken sandwich I’ve had in my life (and I’ve had my fair share). They have two stores in Toronto.
Bahn Mi Boys is also class
As is Maker Pizza
In honour of Canada Day I got around to finishing my Ottawa writeup…
My favourite pub – The Manx https://www.manxpub.com/ on Elgin St. Like hanging out in your friend’s basement. But thankfully no TVs, most pubs downtown are too much like sports bars for my taste.
Favourite art gallery/café/pub – Art House https://www.thearthousecafe.ca/ Mismatched vintage furniture, good music and a relaxed atmosphere. On Somerset St. just up from Chinatown.
Favourite restaurant – Chez Lucien https://chez-lucien.weeblyte.com/ in the Byward market. “The market” as the neighbourhood is known may have gone downhill quite a bit (especially post-trucker occupation) but Chez Lucien is still a haven for me and Ms. Marty whenever we’re in town. I always order the same thing: the Lucien burger with the escargot appetiser. Good beer list too.
Otherwise I’m not an expert on the restaurant scene, there are loads of places that come and go, many of which cater to the well-off diplomat crowd. One that makes all the top lists that I’ve actually been to is North and Navy https://northandnavy.com/ (modern Italian), which gets bonus points because it’s in the house where my Dad’s childhood friend Jack Mahoney lived.
Best cheap eats: Shawarma. It’s everywhere, it’s filling, it’s good.
Favourite neighbourhood – Hintonburg (centred on Wellington St. west of downtown). Good places there are The Third, Hintonburg Public House, Tooth and Nail Brewery https://toothandnailbeer.com/ , Beyond the Pale brewery. Not too far away is the Parkdale market (produce) across the street from which is the Carleton Tavern that is a bit of an acquired taste but has loads of downmarket 80s Canadian charm.
It’s also worth venturing across the river to Hull (Quebec), you should notice things are different immediately. The good stuff there is a bit spread out and somewhat disrupted by the massive complex of government offices in the middle of everything. La Pataterie Hulloise https://www.lapatateriehulloise.com/ is the business for all your poutine needs. I’ve never been, but my brother raves about this place: https://www.astoriabistrobotanique.com/ (vegan). I have been here, good for wine and tapas-y stuff https://www.soifbaravin.ca/. Good coffee at https://cloudforestcoffee.ca/ .
Being the capital the big tourist draw is the collection of national museums.
Not sure if you’re an art wanker, but the National Art Gallery https://www.gallery.ca/ is worth it just for the building alone. It’s free Thursdays from 5-8. They’ve made a real effort to bulk up their First Nations art collection in recent years which is probably the highlight, although I’m still a sucker for the Group of Seven (artists) - Wikipedia.
https://www.historymuseum.ca/ is fine, more good First Nations stuff, but may be better for kids.
One place I’ve never been that I’m hopefully rectifying this year is the https://diefenbunker.ca/en/ which was built in the 60s for the government to hide in during a nuclear attack. It’s about a 30 minute drive from downtown, really only accessible if you still are renting a car.
For me one of the best things in the city is the huge network of cycle paths, on both sides of the river, so renting a bike is recommended if at all interested. These paths go deep into Gatineau park which I mentioned on the other thread as being good for hiking/trail running as well (183 km of trails overall).
Anyway, that’s all I can think of today but let me know if you need any more info.
This is awesome thanks. Seen there’s a load of breweries (conspiracy theory, whiprsnapr, mill Street, beyond the Pale, spark). Any of them or any others worth prioritising or avoiding? Will definitely take the bike rental suggestion too
Hadn’t heard of the first 2 but they are way out in Bell’s Corners which is deep suburbia. Spark looks good, may check it out myself this year, right in Chinatown so central. Mill Street I’d probably skip, it’s a relatively large brewery with less interesting beer. Beyond the Pale is your classic brewery taproom in a light industrial space and I like their beer. But Tooth & Nail is probably my favourite.
There are also a bunch on the Quebec side, À la dérive is one I’ve wanted to check out and is in a lovely spot on the river that you could easily cycle to. Brasserie du Bas Canada seems to get rave reviews but not as easy to get to.
Kinda shocked by the lukewarm Ottawa opinions. Not explored much yet but really like the architecture and bars round Elgin street & Chinatown. At the Manx atm which is a great reco @JoJoMarty
Seems a cool city
The other great tip I got was Limberlost Park. Free parking, great trails, swimmable lakes and pretty quiet. Lovely bit of world
Ended up at Pour Boy last night. Great spot
