Going to take VIA in July, Vancouver to Quebec. Im a Canadian

Phone poster, ignore obvious typos

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>>1229820
>suggestions or advice on the VIA
What do you mean?

Maybe you made a mistake in the order but Montreal should be in between Ottawa and Quebec. If you can when travelling Ottawa-Montreal take the northern path, the one through Gatineau and the province of Quebec instead of travelling through Ontario, it's prettier in my opinion.

First of all don't expect much from Niagara, apart from the Falls and maybe walking down the main street you'll realize it's a really shitty town (its not a city). For Toronto I haven't visited much but downtown was pretty cool if you enjoy shopping.

For Ottawa I would recommend the By Market, which is an obvious classic. ''Oh So Good Desserts'', among others make amazing cakes which I would recommend to go eat too. Other than that, visit the Parliament, maybe not the inside, but the court where it is located is pretty beautiful, especially during June. One underrated thing I like to do is visit the embassies, which are all located in one neighborhood. The embassies of France, USA and surprisingly Kuwait are very impressive buildings. War Museum in Ottawa and Civilization Museum across the river in French-speaking Gatineau are my two favorites (with information in English, don't worry). The Alexandra bridge should be crossed by foot, with an amazing view of the Parliament Hill.

In Montreal, I'd recommend first of all to buy a metro pass, the network spans pretty much everywhere you need to go, and is very clean for a big city. A walk on top of the Mont-Royal is kinda mandatory, but keep in mind its a pretty small mountain. Mille de la Gauchetière is the tallest building in the city, but the view is better on Mont-Royal, however it's the main hub for trains I think, and has an interior ice ring, which can be fun to go too. For restaurants I'd say to avoid ''La Banquise'', there are lines going all the way down the street to get a table and, well, it's just poutine in the end. Same goes for Schwartz. I'll follow in another post

>>1229820
>>1229837
If you absolutely want Quebec poutine I'd say go with ''Chez Claudette'' for a shorter waiting time and an amazing poutine. If you're looking for nightclubs you have some choices, however I'm no expert. NCG, Café Campus, Rouge Bar, Foufs are usually what my friends go to. IMO unless you're a complete fan of rollercoasters skip La Ronde, but you might want to take a walk on the Île-Notre-Dame and Île-Sainte-Hélène.

Quebec City is my favorite among the three I described. Service in English might be harder but still possible. Of course visit the Vieux-Québec (avoid tourist shops), just sightsee. Le Cochon Dingue has amazing coffees and desserts. La Citadelle de Québec is the main military base and is a must IMO, especially if you can attend the guard change. Château Frontenac is also a classic.

>>1229837
As someone who recently went to Montreal/Quebec City/Ottawa,I wouldn't expect too much from Ottawa, either. The stuff you mentioned is good, but besides that there's not much at all.
The museums of Civilization and War will have new exhibit halls by July 1st of this year, which is an added bonus.

However, the ByWard Market area was completely disappointing when I was there and full of homeless people constantly getting into fights...maybe it's different during summer?

Montreal and Quebec City are both great cities, and I would highly recommend them. It's easy to spend 3 -5 days in Montreal, and 2 days in Quebec City (more if you like nature)...but some people might just spend one and be fine there.

OP, you should probably plan on Niagara Falls as a day trip, with a return to Toronto before the night is over unless you have night plans there for some reason.

If you are interested in hostels, I would also definitely recommend looking at the hostels that Hostelling International owns to see if it's worth joining to use them.
I used their hostels in Montreal, Quebec City, and Ottawa...the jail hostel in Ottawa is really cool and unique, plus they have small (private room) jail cells for reasonable prices.
They also offer a discount on Greyhound fares, which for a route such as Ottawa -> Montreal would probably be cheaper than the VIA ticket.

>>1229820
>Jasper to *some central Canadian city there to break up the rail ride*

kind of stuck with saskatoon or winnipeg as they're the only two cities on the route
winnipeg gets more of the trip out of the way

do you know how you're buying tickets? I know via does a 7 pack of tickets

thinking I might try something similar and get the 60 day pass, do vancouver-halifax and a couple of the out of the way runs like jasper-prince rupert and winnipeg-churchill, kind of like the transiberian without the whole being in russia thing

>>1229837
Order is how it would be geographically, I was pretty out of it when I typed the OP.

I have a friend in the navy and he's recommend pretty much all the military things in that area, war museum and bases. I have 3 weeks total and a little of a week is devoted to the trek across.

Poutine and clubs I don't care so much about, Unless Niagara and Toronto's downtown streets/shopping are anything more amazing than Europe or Vancouver than I can pass on them pretty easy. Mostly whenever I do travel I kind of just walk around, go to museums, fail at language practicing, drink coffee and larp like it's not 2017.

>>1229849
Wasn't Niagara important in 1812 or something, is nothing of significance there? Besides the falls I don't even plan on spending an entire day there.

.If you are interested in hostels, I would also definitely recommend looking at the hostels that Hostelling International owns to see if it's worth joining to use them.
I used their hostels in Montreal, Quebec City, and Ottawa...the jail hostel in Ottawa is really cool and unique, plus they have small (private room) jail cells for reasonable prices.
They also offer a discount on Greyhound fares, which for a route such as Ottawa -> Montreal would probably be cheaper than the VIA ticket.
This sounds like good advice, I don't mind a greyhound over short distances.

>>1229869
Website, as far as I know you have to schedule in your stops like you would a flight. That's why I'm thinking stopping twice so I don't have 4 days straight on the train. Does anyone know how economy class is? Am I going to kill my back?

Saskatoon or Winnipeg, which is less shit?

>>1229820
>2019
>still buying tickets
Why not just hop on the train before it starts going fast?

>>1229886
I dont think you cam do that

Mtl fag here, don't forget to check out the jean talon market. It's a terrific place to drop by in the summer

Hey OP (and anyone else interested), you should try to get this pass if you haven't already seen it:
http://www.viarail.ca/en/150-pass

>>1230207
>http://www.viarail.ca/en/150-pass
OP here.
The first leg of my trip is the July 28th to Jasper but then I continue on through August for the rest of my 3 weeks off.

How would that work?

I think it's cool that that's an option for the 150th anniversary.

>>1230232
Eh, it doesn't really matter anyways.
The Twitter account said they were selling unlimited passes and quickly changed that number to 1,876 once the site started getting BLACKED from all the requests.

>>1230263
So what your saying is it'll be sold out anyway.

At least I can be safe in the knowledge that August might be a slow month if July is super packed.

>>1230276
Yeah, I guess so.

You should get a national parks pass (they're free this year) if you don't already have one.
http://www.commandesparcs-parksorders.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=22953&urlLangId=-1&productId=524528

>>1230289
>>1230289
>>1230289
Is there a point to that thing?

Could I not visit national parks if I didn't?

>>1230207
It's over now