BootsnAll Travel Community

Some friends and I will be taking a roadtrip on our motorcycles through lower Ontario ( driving from Detroit - Niagara Falls). We don't plan on staying on the major roads. What are some interesting sites and things to see in the area? We might go to Toronto for a day but not sure what the area has to offer. Any suggestions will be appreciates. We should be in Canada from July 11 - 14 of somewhere close to those dates. Thanks

I grew up in that region and you'd think I'd have an answer for you.

Oddly enough, I can't think of much.

The Niagra region has a few wineries and nice parks. The area around the falls are super touristy, but it's an okay area to wander around for an afternoon or evening.

The problem with driving up to Toronto is that it's so heavily populated from Hamilton to Toronto that you'd have to drive several extra hours just to go around it all. Along the way there's really not much worth stopping for.

I've been away for the last 5 years, so maybe someone else can be more helpful than I've been.

Well, Toronto's got the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto Zoo, Ontario Science Centre, lots of theatres, the Blue Jays, etc. And Markus is right, there isn't a whole lot of touristy activities between Hamilton and Toronto. Royal Botannical Gardens and African Lion Safari perhaps.

Going from Detroit-Niagara, though. Not sure you'll find too much beyond farms if you go straight there. If you go north along Lake Huron there's all kinds of nice summer towns, provincial parks, etc. I go camping at the Pinery Provincial Park, near Grand Bend, every year, and it's a fantastic place to see.

Following along Lake Erie there's also some nice towns to visit. If you're into motorcycles you might want to stop by Port Dover, every Friday the 13th there's a huge motorcycle rally there. HUGE. Turkey Point's got a fun bar at the hotel there during the summer, there's a provincial park near there that you could stay in too.

Once you get into Niagara region (Niagara-on-the-Lake) there's plenty of wineries, if you're into that sort of thing take a wine tour. Niagara Falls is very, very touristy, it's kinda fun to wander around there for a while.

Thanks for the advice guys. My buddies gf is into the wine thing so we might have to stop at a winery or 2. I thought there would be more to see between Windsor and Niagara. We are mostly looking for scenic riding so I think we are going to ride 3 along the lake as far as we can. Any nice little lakeside resorts we should plan to see?

I think we might forget about Toronto and look for other things to see. I'm really not excited about overly populated areas and heavy traffic on an air cooled bike.

Thanks again for the advice and if you think of anything else send it my way.

You'd think I'd know this better seeing as how I live an hour from N.F. and maybe 3 hours from Detroit, but I can't think of any 'must see' places. If you follow the lake, using the back roads the ride'll be nice, and pretty much any small town on the lake is likely to have a summer crowd on vacations, but other than that there's not tons to see. I just like going to the beach every now and then.