Advise ,15 days vacation in Toronto, with family. For sightseeing taxi/rail will be economical or rent a car.?

Question

We will be in month of July for 15 days,
I am looking out for cheaper mode of transportation for moving around the city with my family . I dont know , will using public transportation ( like rail / bus & taxi) will be a better deal or hiring a car .

Answer 1

I would suggest buying weekly subway passes for each of your family members. As long as you are not leaving downtown Toronto, not only is every major landmark within 50 ft of the rail (ie, rom, cn tower), but other tourist areas are within a 15 minute walk (such as China Town).

In the end, anywhere else you want to go outside of downtown is a short bus or train away.

If you rent a car, you will be forced to drive in Toronto traffic (it is brutal), pay for gas (at $.90 a litre on average these days), and even pay for parking EVERYWHERE you go. It isn't worth it.

Answer 2

A lot depends on where you are staying (with friends, hotel in town, motel out of town, etc). If you are within walking distance of the GO train or other public transit, you may simply want to buy a weekly pass for the transit system and ride it around town to all the tourist sites.

However, Toronto is a rather large city that is spread out along the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Getting to some areas may be more difficult than others. For example, while visiting the area, you are likely to want to go see Niagara Falls, or the St. Laurence Seaway boat locks system. getting there by taxi is expensive, by shuttlebus is okay but again costly for a family. In this case, renting a car may be the way to go.

I like what another person said about renting a car for part of the trip. Keep in mind that you will get a better rate by renting the car for a week at a time rather than if you need it for 3-4 days over that 15 day period. Plan the trip accordingly.

Answer 3

I say public transportation all the way. It's efficient, cheap, and easy.

I say cheap, I mean you can get passes and such, which you can compare to renting a car, and paying for parking everywhere, and parking isn't cheap. Also you can get just about anywhere.

I was just in the city this past weekend and we used the transit system to get around, the subway is actually sort of fun, you get to see the locals and such too, and there's lots of tourists that use it. Also, we had to take a taxi a couple of times, both times not that far, but it was far cheaper than the city I live in.

Also our pass that we got for sunday allows 1 adult and 6 kids on, or 2 adults and 4 kids, or 2 adults for like the whole day, so I know they have some good ones.

And I must add, we went to the CN tower restaurant and it was very nice, also the CN tower glass floor section is very creepy ack!

Answer 4

To save money, I'd use public transit for half the trip, and rent a car for the other half. You can see most in-city attractions quite easily via the TTC's subways and busses. But to get outside the city, your best bet is a car. You can take inter-city busses to Niagara Falls and Muskoka etc., but with a family it will be super expensive. (like $35 each person, each way to Muskoka = $280 for four people ... vs. $30-$40 a day for a car.)

You could spend the entire 15 days in Toronto-proper, but after about 6-7 you might run out of things to see.

Answer 5

The public transportation in Canada is fabulous...go for the weekly passes which cover metro and bus routes!

Answer 6

Also there are tours to other parts of the city as day passes to niagara falls