Our flight with British Airways was faultless, service impeccable and even the food and wine was good, but we were travelling business class so is what one would expect.

Although I have been to Toronto many times I was happy to be back. I had not visited the Niagara on the Lake area, which is also famous for its Ice wine and which I was looking forward to learning more ! From Toronto Airport we took the Niagara bus which took us directly to The Pillar and Post Hotel at Niagara on the Lake. The Niagara bus is one of a series of buses that take you all over Ontario from the airport. Bigger than a mini bus they are ideal to take small numbers of people all over the province.

As this was April and still quite cold, it was nice to have such a warm welcome, with a log fire burning in reception and fires in the rooms. The Pillar and Post was originally a canning factory in the 1890’s and exemplifies an old world charm that is hard to beat, now Ontario’s only 5 star country inn. Together with its sister hotels The Prince of Wales; a fine Victorian building built in 1864 and The Queens Landing; a Georgian style mansion, they make up 'The Vintage Hotels Group'. If visiting Niagara on the Lake I would definitely recommend one of these beautiful properties. A good alternative to staying at Niagara Falls with quaint shops and buildings and not a fast food eatery in sight, quite opposite to Niagara Falls itself which is 15 minutes away. Very popular in summer because of the annual Bernard Shaw festival held in the area.

Niagara Falls are spectacular, both the American and Canadian Horseshoe Falls but the town is very touristy. If staying at Niagara Falls then stay in a hotel in the ‘Falls View’ area and make sure you book a room with a falls view as it the views are stunning. Its quite amazing to wake up in the morning with a view of the Canadian Falls from your window. We visited several hotels in the area but a first choice has to be the Sheraton, if for nothing else a view of the falls from their windows. The Falls in April are still heavily iced up and because of this we could only visit the higher catacombs, the lower ones closed, and the Maid in the Mist had not yet started. We took a helicopter tour over The Falls, which is well worth the expense.
Away from the main town of Niagara we visited Great Wolf Lodge, the only Canadian indoor water park resort we were told. Based on the great outdoors the hotel had moving models of wolves, bears, chipmunks and other animals to be found in the Canadian countryside. Rooms were also themed and aimed at different family sizes, a great choice for families all year round but especially the winter.

Ice Wine is a specialty of the Niagara region, grapes are picked in winter when the temperature drops below -8 degrees, picked and immediately pressed, quite a different viticulture to other wines. The yield is not as high but is does make a superb dessert wine - its difficult to get in the UK but well worth trying. If you want to know more give me a call.

After Niagara we travelled to Toronto and the Delta Chelsea Hotel, situated in the heart of downtown Toronto. The Delta Chelsea is the largest Hotel in Toronto and has several restaurants and bars plus swimming pool and fitness centre. Whilst in Toronto we visited the Royal Ontario Museum, Casa Loma, the St Lawrence Market and Distillery District area and had dinner at the CN Tower. Toronto does have a lot to see whatever time the year.

At the end of the tour we took the bus back to the airport for our return flight to Heathrow. As it was a night flight British Airways invited us to have dinner in the club lounge before we boarded the flight, that way we could have uninterrupted sleep until our arrival back in the UK.

Canada as a whole is a fantastic destination with so much to see and do at any season.
But one area I will definitely want to go back to and see more is Niagara on the Lake, and I know where I will stay.