Good afternoon everyone,

​I am currently planning a larger tour around the US and Canada for later this year, and I'm reconsidering the Toronto portion of my trip. After doing some research, I realized that the Departure Festival is taking place while I’d be in the city.

​I'm worried the festival will drive up accommodation costs and make the city feel overly crowded. My main reasons for visiting Toronto were to see Casa Loma and take a day trip to Niagara Falls.

​The rest of my Canada itinerary looks like this: Toronto → Ottawa (2 days) → Montreal (3 days) → Quebec City (3 days) → [Fly to] Vancouver (3 days) → Victoria (2 days) → Seattle → Portland.

​My Dilemma:
​Travel Time: The train from Toronto to Ottawa is quite long. I'm wondering if it’s better to skip Toronto this time and save those 4 hours.
​The Falls: I know Quebec City has Montmorency Falls. While not as massive as Niagara, they are still beautiful. I’ll also be seeing waterfalls near Portland, Oregon (like Multnomah Falls) later in the trip. Is Niagara a "must-see" compared to these, or will I get my "waterfall fix" elsewhere?
​The "Flip": Should I reverse the trip and end in Toronto instead? (This would require a short layover to get to Quebec City from Boston first).
​Extra Time: If I skip Toronto, I could either go home 4 days earlier or add those days to my other stops like Montreal or Vancouver.

​Is Niagara Falls worth the extra travel time and the higher hotel costs during a festival week? Or would you recommend putting that time into the other cities on my list?

​Thank you all so much for your help!

  • This might be the most minor event to take place in Toronto and will have no effect on prices or crowds. Don't skip Toronto. No other waterfall compares to Niagara Falls in North America.

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    Oh no worries at all thank you for that I just 900 different music acts all performing in Toronto thinking it could be super busy but I'm guessing not haha

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  • I've never heard of this. It's basically an industry conference? I guarantee you there are probably several bigger ones going on at the same time, and there will be multiple similarly sized events happening every week of the year.

    Casa Loma is kinda a mid-tier reason to visit Toronto. There are a lot of better things to see and do.

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    It's what CMW (Canadian Music Week) is now called.

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    From what I read The largest music festival in Canada boasts 900 bands in over 60 venues for five nights of music. So I thought it would be packed but maybe not?

    I wasn't sure if it was something massive like some of the festivals they have here in Australia.

    I have on my list to see distillery district, st Lawrence market, little Canada, Niagara Falls, Fort York and Casa Loma

    Thank you 😊

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    The largest music festival in Canada boasts 900 bands in over 60 venues for five nights of music

    Where did you read that? AI? I don't think that's true at all.

    Check out the CN Tower, ROM, Kensington Market/Chinatown. Take the ferry out to the islands. Catch a Jays game. All better than Casa Loma IMO :)

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    Well it doesn't even have the same dates as the official website so it doesn't seem very legit. But like I said, I've apparently suffered through it many times, living and working in downtown Toronto without even knowing it existed so I wouldn't worry.

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    Oh no worries at all thank you so much for that haha, I will just blow straight through it thank you

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