Toronto + Ontario in 7 Days
Seven Days, and the Two Regions Most Trips Never Reach
This is the 6-day plan (Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Hamilton/Elora, Stratford, Prince Edward County, Blue Mountain) plus a seventh day that finally goes north, to cottage country or a national park, depending on how much you want to commit to the drive.
| 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 |
| 7 | Muskoka or Algonquin | Muskoka: no, seasonal FlixBus; Algonquin: yes, no bus at all |
Book these before you go
- Book a Niagara Falls tour if you’d rather skip the GO Train and WEGO bus connections.
- Check Muskoka stays before you decide between a Gravenhurst day trip and an overnight up north.
Day 1: Niagara Falls
Not a subway ride: 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, plan on 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 takes roughly 1h45 for 10-18 CAD, but the wineries themselves need a car, a bike, or a booked tour, since they sit beyond walking range. Morning in town, afternoon at two or three tastings, back to Toronto before evening traffic.
Day 3: Hamilton’s Waterfalls and Elora Gorge
Hamilton, just over an hour southwest, calls itself the 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 sits roughly another hour on, worth the gorge trail and mill village year-round, with tubing running June 26 to September 7 for 21.50-55.50 CAD depending on rental. Split into two half-days if the full loop feels like too much driving in 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, so missing that train means an unplanned night away. As of July 6, 2026, Metrolinx also runs a direct GO Train from Union Station to Stratford, new enough that most trip-planning content hasn’t caught up. Build the day around a matinee and a walk through town.
Day 5: Prince Edward County
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. As a single day it’s 5 hours of driving for one afternoon of tasting, honestly a rough trade; keep the wine list to two stops if you’re doing it this way, or swap the day for an overnight if your schedule bends.
Day 6: Blue Mountain and Georgian Bay
About 160km northwest, 2-2.5 hours by car via Highway 26, Blue Mountain Village at the base and Collingwood 11km further on. Summer brings ziplines, mountain biking, golf, the Bruce Trail, and the 34km Georgian Trail, with Wasaga Beach (often billed as the world’s longest freshwater beach) a short drive past Collingwood; winter swaps it all for skiing. No practical train or bus reaches here, so it’s a car day. And to be clear before you search for it: this isn’t the Blue Mountains with the UNESCO listing outside Sydney, this one has a chairlift and a marina.
Day 7: Muskoka or Algonquin
Pick one, and pick honestly based on whether you can make it an overnight. Muskoka is about 220km north, 2.5 hours by car, covering Gravenhurst, Bracebridge, Bala, and Huntsville along the cottage lakes (Muskoka, Rosseau, Joseph) where the Muskoka chair itself originated; a seasonal FlixBus (since June 8, 2026) runs Union Station to Gravenhurst in about 2h40 from 9.98 CAD one-way, departing 9:30am and returning from Gravenhurst at 6:35pm, which makes a car-free day trip genuinely workable, though it gets you the town rather than the lake. Algonquin Provincial Park is further, about 250km and 3-4.5 hours by car via Highway 60, no bus reaches it at all, and there’s no cell service through most of the park once you’re in, so tell someone your route. Moose are commonly spotted along Highway 60 at dawn and dusk, best in May and June. A same-day round trip to Algonquin burns 6-9 hours of driving for a few hours in the park; if you can’t stay the night, take Muskoka instead.
Do you need a car
For five of these seven days, yes. Only Niagara Falls and Stratford have workable transit; everything else, including a car-free Gravenhurst day if you go that route, either needs a car or a booked tour to actually deliver what it’s known for.
Before you leave Toronto
Ontario’s 13% HST is added at the register, not built into the price shown. The Canadian dollar is a separate currency from the US dollar despite the shared symbol, so check the actual exchange rate rather than assuming parity. Across seven days covering this much ground, a rental car will very likely cost less than stacking a guided tour for each individual trip, and it’s the only way to reach Algonquin or Blue Mountain at all.