Toronto + Ontario in 6 Days
Six Days, and a Sixth Region Nobody Else Puts on the Itinerary
This is the 5-day plan (Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Hamilton/Elora, Stratford, Prince Edward County) with a sixth day added for Blue Mountain and Georgian Bay, the region most Toronto guides skip entirely because it doesn’t fit a downtown week.
| Day | Focus | Car needed |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niagara Falls | No, GO Train plus WEGO bus |
| 2 | Niagara-on-the-Lake | Yes, for the wineries |
| 3 | Hamilton’s Waterfalls and Elora Gorge | Yes, no transit reaches either |
| 4 | Stratford | No, VIA Rail or GO Train both run direct |
| 5 | Prince Edward County | Yes, no meaningful bus or train |
| 6 | Blue Mountain and Georgian Bay | Yes, no practical train or bus |
Book these before you go
- Book a Niagara Falls tour if you’d rather skip the GO Train and WEGO bus connections.
- Check Blue Mountain stays if a full six-day loop means overnighting up north.
Day 1: Niagara Falls
Not a subway ride: budget 1.5-2 hours each way by car, or 2-2.5 hours by GO train from Union Station, since the connections make the train slower door-to-door than driving despite being direct. A GO Train plus WEGO bus bundle runs 22 CAD on weekend fares up to 34-40 CAD depending on the package, kids 12 and under ride the GO train free. The Canadian side has the better view and no passport requirement unless you cross to the American side. With a Niagara Parks pass and food, budget roughly 120-175 CAD per person.
Day 2: Niagara-on-the-Lake
About 1.5 hours by car, a separate wine town with 39 wineries. The bus into Old Town runs roughly 1h45 for 10-18 CAD, but the wineries themselves need a car, a bike, or a booked tour since they’re outside walking range. Morning in town, afternoon at two or three tastings, back before evening traffic.
Day 3: Hamilton’s Waterfalls and Elora Gorge
Hamilton is just over an hour southwest, the self-declared Waterfall Capital of the World, home to Websters Falls and Tews Falls (the tallest in the city, close in height to Niagara Falls itself), three minutes apart in Spencer Gorge Conservation Area. Elora is roughly another hour on, worth the gorge trail and mill village year-round, with seasonal tubing (June 26-September 7) running 21.50-55.50 CAD depending on rental. Split into two half-days if the full loop is too much for one day.
Day 4: Stratford
About two hours by car. VIA Rail’s single daily round trip runs Toronto at 11:15am, return from Stratford at 5:40pm, roughly 2h17 each way for 19-80 CAD, meaning a missed return train turns into an overnight. As of July 6, 2026, a direct GO Train also connects Union Station to Stratford, new enough most guides haven’t caught up. Build the day around a matinee and a walk through town.
Day 5: Prince Edward County
The County sits 2-2.5 hours each way, home to 40-plus wineries (Sandbanks Estate and Norman Hardie among the names worth knowing) and Sandbanks Provincial Park for a beach stop. Doing it as a day trip means 5 hours of driving for one afternoon of tasting, a rough trade honestly. Keep the wine list to two stops if you’re doing it as a day, or swap this day for an overnight in the County if your schedule allows it.
Day 6: Blue Mountain and Georgian Bay
About 160km northwest, 2-2.5 hours by car via Highway 26, with Blue Mountain Village at the base and Collingwood 11km further on. Summer means ziplines, mountain biking, golf, the Bruce Trail, and the 34km Georgian Trail rail-trail, with Wasaga Beach (often billed as the world’s longest freshwater beach) a short drive past Collingwood; winter swaps all of it for skiing and snowboarding. There’s no practical train or bus out here, so this is a car day regardless. One thing worth clearing up before you search for it: this isn’t the same Blue Mountains that dominate the search results, that one’s a eucalyptus range with a UNESCO listing outside Sydney. This one has a chairlift and a marina.
Do you need a car
For four of these six days, yes. Niagara Falls and Stratford both have workable transit; Niagara-on-the-Lake’s wineries, the Hamilton/Elora loop, Prince Edward County, and Blue Mountain all need a car, a bike, or a booked tour.
Before you go
The Canadian dollar is a distinct currency from the US dollar despite the shared symbol, worth double-checking the exchange rate before you budget any of this. Ontario’s 13% HST gets added at the register, not folded into the price you see. A rental car for the week will generally cost less than stacking separate guided tours for four or five of these trips, and it’s the only way to reach some of them at all.