3 Nights in Toronto & Niagara Falls
Heads-up: we failed big time.
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Intro
As we leave Montreal & Quebec City behind us on the first leg of our Canadian adventure, we set our eyes on Canada’s largest city, Toronto!
Expect to read about our failed travel influencer debut, Niagara Falls, and exploring Toronto!
Bussin’ to Toronto
We waved goodbye to a rainy Montreal early in the morning, around 8 AM.
And off we went on our Megabus bus to Toronto.
We chose to take the bus for a few reasons. It’s better for the environment, it would “only” take us roughly 2 hours more than flying there (including transit time to and from the airport, and it was almost half the price of a plane ticket.
Guess we’ll choose sitting on our butts for the next 7 hours!
The bus ride was pretty uneventful (besides forgetting to prepare lunch and snacks for the drive), and we were happy to arrive at our destination at around 3PM.
After Mike took us on a fun little detour in the opposite direction, we eventually found our way to our Airbnb.
We have a lot to say about this Airbnb experience (and it’s not very positive) but that’s a story for another time 😅
Falling in love with Toronto
Truth be told, we didn’t have high expectations for Toronto.
Even though Mike had visited once before, he couldn’t remember a lot more than the CN Tower and the Blue Jays. Also, every online travel blog says 1-2 days is more than enough.
But, we really loved our 1,5 days here!
The whole vibe, the wide range of activities, the impressive sky-scrapers - we definitely could’ve stayed longer.
Here our some of our highlights:
Our favorite breakfast spot was Bagels on Fire. Their Montreal-style bagels are incredibly tasty and their coffee gave us the perfect kickstart to our day.
If you’re in the area, make sure to check out Graffiti Alley (it’s around the corner from Bagels on Fire). The street is filled with incredible artwork in every style imaginable.
We also took the time to visit High Park. True to our Dutch roots, we rented bikes and drove to one of the largest parks in Toronto. It was a great escape from the city's busyness and a perfect spot to relax.
For lunch, we headed to Bellwoods Brewery in one of Toronto’s trendier neighborhoods. They brew a variety of their own beers, and Mike was more than happy to try them 😉.
But hey, let’s keep up the pace! We also toured the city center, walking past iconic spots like the CN Tower, the Hockey Hall of Fame, St. Lawrence Market, and Toronto’s version of the Flatiron Building.
One of our last activities, which we wished we had more time for, was visiting the Distillery District. This old whiskey distillery has been converted into a pedestrian area filled with boutique shops and restaurants. If we ever find our way back to Toronto, we’ll definitely spend more time here.
On our last evening, we had dinner with some of Mike’s family who live near Toronto. Unfortunately, not everyone could make it, but we still had a great meal with a fantastic view of Toronto’s Inner Harbour!
The restaurant was called Amsterdam Brewhouse. And before you judge us for going somewhere from our own country, there was nothing Dutch about it 😂
After dinner, we caught the ferry to the Toronto Islands for an evening view of the skyline. We didn’t have time to explore the islands since we needed to catch the last ferry back, but it’s definitely on our list for next time!
All in all, Toronto is a fantastic city to explore. After just 1.5 days, we both wished we had planned more time to see everything it has to offer. There's so much more to do, and we can’t wait to come back and discover even more in the future!
Niagara Falls
Aka: time to see a bit of water fall from a cliff.
Just a bit :)
We rented a car from Toronto airport and drove 1.5 hours to this crazy tourist attraction (and for good reason).
For parking, we recommend navigating to Skylon Parking Area A. Some parking can be 30-40 CAD per day, but this one was only 10 CAD for 2 hours, which is more than enough time. After a short 5-minute walk from here, you can see the Falls for the first time.
And wow, that’s a lot of water!
Expect to spend around 45-60 minutes here, taking a few pictures, and cheering on the brave souls who venture to the bottom of the falls and get absolutely drenched.
We chose not to do any tours this time to save some money during our three-week Canadian trip.
Also, we have a World Trip to save up for!
In the future, we’d like to try some tours, such as helicopter rides over the falls and the "Journey Behind the Falls" tour, which takes you to the hydro station behind the Falls.
Niagara Falls is truly a natural wonder, with over 3,160 tons of water flowing over the falls every second. That’s about one million bathtubs per minute 🤯
Shooting our shot as “Travel Influencers”
Before the holiday, we set ourselves a challenge:
To try and land a collaboration with an accommodation during our Canada trip.
When one night of our plans near Toronto fell through, we saw the perfect opportunity. Let’s try to arrange an accommodation to review and take high-quality images!
Must be doable right?
Well… apparently not.
We contacted quite a few standalone properties near Niagara Falls with our pitch and portfolio, but got no response. We sent several follow-up emails emphasizing the value we could add, but still, no response.
With one day left and no accommodation, we concluded it wasn’t our time yet and needed to look for other options.
Luckily we found an amazing Airbnb for a great price in between the Falls and Toronto.
In the end, it was the perfect countryside getaway in between our busy travel schedules.
Obviously, we were very happy to score such a great Airbnb last minute, but we’re still hopeful that we can land some collaborations for our next adventures.
What do you think? Will we manage one day?
And to our fellow travel bloggers and Substack writers over here, have you managed to land any of these collaborations in the past? What are your tips for newbies in this space? We’d love to learn from your experience!
What’s next?
Despite our failed attempt at a travel collaboration, we embraced every experience and made the most of our time in these incredible places.
Have you ever been to Toronto or Niagara Falls? What was your favorite part? Let us know in the comments!
Up next, we’re flying all the way across the country to Vancouver.
Get ready for more stories and Canadian travel tips!
Until next time, happy travels 😊
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Once again, love the honesty 😌 One day we'll all look back at this blog and throw our heads back in laughter as accommodations are all begging you to come stay and write about them!
We also visited Toronto and the Niagara Falls just before covid and really loved it! We did a boat ride near the falls (with the beautiful iconic ponchos) and I was especially shocked by the thundering sound of the waterfalls, it truly added to the grandeur.
Really enjoyed reading this!
Not only do the places look amazing, but also the way the journey is described sounds authentic -something I'd definitely recommend highlighting in your upcoming pitches, too ;)