4 Days: Toronto and Ontario Trips

Four days lets you settle into one Toronto hotel and just rotate destinations, wine country and waterfalls, then a second falls day, then a full day of Grand River adventure, then a Shakespeare festival to close it out. One base the whole trip means no time lost to checking in and out.

Book these before you go

Day Focus Rough cost
1 Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake wine tasting CAD 34 GO+WEGO round trip + Niagara Parks pass
2 Hamilton’s Webster’s Falls and Tews Falls CAD 8-11 GO one-way + local transport to the gorge
3 Elora Gorge tubing, the village of Elora CAD 21.50 registration or 55.50 with gear rental
4 Stratford Festival matinee, Avon River walk Festival ticket price varies by production

Day 1: Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake

Morning

  • Depart early, 1.5-2 hours by car via the QEW, or about 2-2.5 hours by GO train plus the local WEGO bus. The train-and-bus combo runs from roughly 34 CAD round trip, kids 12 and under free on GO.
  • Niagara Falls, Canadian side, for the full Horseshoe Falls view; book a boat tour or Journey Behind the Falls ahead if you want the up-close version.

Afternoon

  • Niagara-on-the-Lake, about 25 km up the parkway, best done with a car or a booked wine tour that includes transport. Over 35 wineries sit inside the town.
  • One or two tastings, not four; this town is built for a slow afternoon.

Evening

  • Back to Toronto by car or your tour’s return leg.
  • Dinner downtown to close out day one.

Accommodation

  • A hotel near Union Station or with quick Gardiner Expressway access; you’ll keep this base for all four days.

Tips and Insights

  • Book Niagara Parks passes and any wine tour transport ahead of summer weekends; both sell out.

Day 2: Hamilton’s Waterfalls

Morning

  • GO train from Union Station to West Harbour, hourly, roughly 70-80 minutes, 8-11 CAD one-way. You’ll still need a car, cab, or rideshare for the final stretch to the gorge itself.
  • Webster’s Falls, a 30-meter crest and the wider, more photogenic of Hamilton’s two big falls, inside the Spencer Gorge Conservation Area in Dundas.

Afternoon

  • Tews Falls, three minutes from Webster’s and actually taller at 41 meters, taller than Niagara Falls’ own drop measured straight down.
  • Lunch in Dundas, a small historic town beside the gorge with enough cafes for a proper break.

Evening

  • Back in Toronto by early evening.
  • A lighter dinner tonight; save the big meal for later in the trip.

Accommodation

  • Same base at your Union Station-area hotel.

Tips and Insights

  • Book Spencer Gorge parking online ahead of a summer weekend; the conservation authority caps daily vehicle numbers and turns cars away once full.

Day 3: Elora Gorge

Morning

  • Car-only day, roughly two hours west via Guelph; no direct transit reaches Elora.
  • The gorge itself, free to walk, dramatic limestone walls cut by the Grand River, worth an hour of exploring before you get in the water.

Afternoon

  • Tubing the Grand River through the gorge runs late June through early September, about 21.50 CAD for registration alone or around 55.50 CAD with full gear rental. Tickets are online-only, no walk-up sales, so book a few days out.
  • The village of Elora, a restored 19th-century mill town with a genuinely striking converted-mill hotel on the riverbank, is worth a slow wander regardless.

Evening

  • Drive back to Toronto, roughly two hours; a quiet dinner once you’re back downtown.

Accommodation

  • Same base at your Union Station-area hotel.

Tips and Insights

  • This is your longest single drive of the trip; treat it as a full day, not a quick stop on the way to somewhere else.
  • Pack a change of clothes if you’re tubing; you will get wet.

Day 4: Stratford

Morning

  • About two hours by car or a direct bus from Toronto. Stratford is a small city that punches way above its size thanks to the internationally recognized Stratford Festival, running April through October.
  • A riverside walk along the Avon River before your show; the swans here are a genuine local point of pride.

Afternoon

  • A matinee performance if the schedule allows, Shakespeare alongside contemporary productions, all staged at a genuinely high level.
  • Browse the town’s independent shops and galleries between the show and dinner.

Evening

  • A proper sit-down dinner in town; Stratford’s restaurant scene is better than its population would suggest.
  • Drive or bus back to Toronto to close out the trip, or catch an evening performance instead and head back after.

Accommodation

  • Wrap up back at your Toronto base, or stay a night in Stratford itself if you booked an evening show and don’t want a late drive.

Tips and Insights

  • Book Stratford Festival tickets well ahead; popular productions sell out weeks in advance.
  • Four days covers four genuinely distinct trips without ever feeling rushed, wine and falls, a second falls day, a river adventure, then theatre.

Getting Around

  • Days one and two run fine on GO Transit alone; days three and four both benefit from having a car, though Stratford is reachable by direct bus if you’d rather not drive the whole trip.

Additional Tips

  • Rent a car starting day three if you didn’t need one for the Niagara or Hamilton legs; no reason to pay for parking downtown on days you don’t need wheels.
  • Pack for a genuine range of activities this trip, wine tasting, waterfall hiking, river tubing, and a night at the theatre all call for different outfits.
  • For the city itself, see the Toronto city guide ; this itinerary deliberately skips the downtown checklist in favor of what’s beyond it.
  • Want a fifth day? The 5-day itinerary adds Georgian Bay and Blue Mountain to this same run.