EXPLORE FOUR FUN CITIES IN FRIENDLY, NEIGHBORING CANADA

CANADA—It’s fun to take a “foreign” vacation, where customs and culture are different—and where even the currency seems strange. At the same time, it is reassuring to know that your “foreign” vacation is to neighboring Canada, where people are friendly and share a common border with the United States and a common lifestyle with Americans.

Visiting four classic Canadian cities—and seeing a lot of the country in between—provides a unique and memorable vacation. It is offered by Maxxim Vacations, one of Canada’s most respected travel companies. For more than 30 years, Maxxim has offered high-quality travel packages at rock-bottom prices.

 Your vacation begins with a flight to Toronto, one of North America’s most exciting and welcoming cities. In addition to a world-class array of restaurants, shops, museums and galleries, Toronto offers peerless theater. In fact, the provincial capital rates among the world’s top three cities for theater going (along with London and New York).

Heading eastward via rental car, you’ll spend time at Gananoque, cruising the famous “1,000 Islands” scattered in the St. Lawrence River on shimmering waters so beautiful that Aboriginals named it “Garden of the Great Spirit.”  Boat trips among the islands are major attractions, as is Fort Henry at nearby Kingston. This restored 1850s British fort stages military drills by colorfully attired re-enactors.

Together, the Rideau Canal, Fort Henry and the Kingston Fortifications were recently designated a World Heritage Site—the first in the province of Ontario and only the 14^th in all of Canada.

Then, it’s off to Ottawa, Canada’s capital, which, like its British counterpart, offers visitors the pageantry of the “Changing of the Guard” ceremony and a gallery at the House of Commons where spectators can listen in on heated and often entertaining debates. It also offers cruises on the historic Rideau Canal, the oldest continuously operating 19^th-century canal in North America.

Ottawa’s “Changing of the Guard” is a military tradition dating back to the 19th century. Held on Parliament Hill, it features more than 100 scarlet-coated soldiers wearing traditional British-style tall black bearskin hats. The ceremony features color guard, marching band and precision marching drills. Canada’s neo-Gothic Parliament Buildings with their distinctive green, copper-clad roofs occupy a bluff overlooking the Ottawa River.

Along with pretty scenery, Ottawa offers an array of cultural attractions, such as the National Arts Centre with its programs of world-class dance, theater and opera. The stunning National Gallery houses the world’s most extensive collection of Canadian art as well as European, Asian and American masterpieces. Providing an element of excitement is hot-air ballooning, sightseeing flights in a seaplane from downtown Ottawa, and rafting on the foamy rapids of the Ottawa River, one of Canada’s top rafting rivers.

As the world’s second largest French-speaking metropolis, Montréal is an enticing alternative to a trip to Paris, a short flight away from many American gateway cities via daily nonstop Air Canada service. It is a city of romantic sidewalk cafés, stylish European-flavored shops, acclaimed restaurants, moody nightclubs and vibrant jazz venues. You’ll also find world-class galleries, museums and theaters, as well as an elegant casino and, of course, irrepressible joie de vivre.

Included in your package is the “Montréal Museum Pass,” providing access to 32 major museums and attractions along with public transit. Also included is a Montréal dinner cruise.

Québec City, the only walled city on the continent north of Mexico, also is reminiscent of the mother country. Hire a horse-drawn caleche for a tres romantique jaunt. Explore narrow streets flanked by historic churches and houses built in the style of “New France,” with thick stone walls, dormer windows, wooden doors and shutters and bright tin roofs.

Or simply stroll the Grande-Allée, lined with restaurants and lively bistros and dubbed the “Champ-Élysées of Québec City.” As the oldest French-speaking city in North America, Québec embodies four centuries of rich heritage and also is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its many historical landmarks.

An eight-night package provides two nights each in Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal and Québec City (arriving in Toronto and departing from Québec City).  A six-night package omits Québec City and provides departure from Montréal.

Priced from US$1,549 per person (based on double occupancy), “Classic Cities” package is a six-night self-drive vacation that includes round-trip airfare from Chicago, six nights accommodations and a six-day midsize car rental with unlimited mileage.  Also included is a Toronto City[Back to Press Releases Main]