Vaughan to Niagara Falls

Vaughan to Niagara Falls: the day trip, the wine tour and the one-way

Niagara is the trip out-of-town guests ask for and Vaughan residents make a few times a decade — for the Falls with the visiting cousins, for a winery day with friends, for a night at the casino. From Vaughan the drive is a straight run: the 427 south from Woodbridge and Kleinburg, or the 407 west from the VMC, Concord, Maple and Thornhill, to the QEW at Burlington, over the Skyway, past Hamilton, St. Catharines and the Beamsville and Jordan wine benches, and into Niagara Falls. Ninety-five minutes on a Sunday morning; two hours on a Friday afternoon in July when the QEW at Burlington is the worst road in Ontario.

The drive

The QEW is the only practical route, and its problems are known: the Burlington Skyway on a windy day, the Hamilton stretch at rush hour, the Grimsby-to-St. Catharines section on a summer weekend. The chauffeur leaves Vaughan with the day's traffic in mind and, for a day trip, takes the wineries first and the Falls at dusk so the return is against the flow. The 407 to the QEW cuts the Mississauga stretch and is inside the fare when used.

The day trip, by the hour

The classic Vaughan Niagara day is nine or ten hours in a Luxury SUV for up to six or an Executive Sprinter for up to fourteen: leave at nine, the Beamsville Bench or the Jordan wineries by ten-thirty, two or three tastings, lunch in Jordan Village or Niagara-on-the-Lake, two more estates on the Niagara Parkway, the Falls, Table Rock and the Parkway at dusk, dinner if wanted, home by nine. The chauffeur handles the parking that does not exist at the Falls on a summer Saturday, knows which estates take walk-ins and which need a booking, and is the only person in the vehicle who has not been tasting. The hourly service page explains the day rate; the Niagara Falls Tourism site is the authority on what is open.

The one-way, for a night at the Falls

A night at a Fallsview hotel — the Fallsview Casino Resort, the Marriott and Hilton Fallsview towers, the Sheraton — or in Niagara-on-the-Lake is two one-way transfers: down on Friday, back on Sunday, each a fixed fare from the reservation engine. This is always cheaper than an hourly booking that waits two days. The travel desk books the room; the chauffeur meets at the hotel drive for the return.

The casino night

Fallsview Casino Resort and Casino Niagara draw an evening booking: a Sprinter or a stretch down at five, the casino, a late dinner, home at one — or an overnight. The chauffeur waits on the hourly booking or returns for the one-way. Great Blue Heron and Woodbine are the closer casino options and are on the black car page.

Stags, stagettes and birthdays

A party bus or Sprinter for the group, a wine-tour itinerary, a dinner, the Falls at night and home — the designated-driver problem solved for twenty. The rules on the party-bus page apply: legal-age passengers may drink aboard when confirmed at booking, and the chauffeur decides where the bus can stop.

Out-of-town guests

The visiting family from Italy or Florida who must see the Falls is the most common Niagara booking from Vaughan: a Luxury SUV for the day from a Woodbridge or Kleinburg house, the Falls, a boat if the season allows, lunch, the Parkway, Niagara-on-the-Lake for an hour, home. The chauffeur is the guide the family did not have to be.

Crossing to the US side

The Rainbow Bridge is at the Falls, and a booking that continues to the US — Buffalo, the outlets, a night in Lewiston — is a cross-border trip: passports for everyone, the chauffeur's vehicle documents, and the border wait built into the plan. The Buffalo Airport route covers the border in detail.

Which vehicle

The Luxury SUV for up to six is the Niagara vehicle: comfortable for two hours, room for the wine, a proper cargo bay. The Sprinter for larger groups. The party bus for the celebration. The Executive Sedan for a couple's overnight. Not the stretch, for two hours on the QEW.

Seasons

Icewine season (January), the Niagara Wine Festival (September), the Falls' winter illumination and the summer fireworks each change what the day looks like; peach season fills the Parkway stands in August. The chauffeurs know the calendar and the Niagara Falls Tourism listings are current.

Booking Vaughan to Niagara

For the day trip: "hourly", the start address, nine or ten hours, the class, and the stops you already know in the notes. For the overnight: two one-way legs. For a group: the party bus or Sprinter by the hour.

A Niagara day, as it runs

A Kleinburg family with visiting grandparents book a Luxury SUV by the hour from 09:00. The chauffeur takes the 427 to the QEW, over the Skyway by 10:00, and to a Beamsville Bench estate at 10:30 for a tasting the grandparents can enjoy; Jordan Village for a second at 11:30 and lunch at 12:30; the Niagara Parkway south past the whirlpool to Table Rock at 14:30, where the chauffeur drops at the door and waits at a Parkway lay-by while the family sees the Falls and takes the boat; Niagara-on-the-Lake's Queen Street at 16:30 for an hour; a Parkway winery at 17:45; dinner at the Falls at 19:00 with the illumination; home by 21:30 up the QEW against the flow. Twelve and a half hours at the day rate, no parking, no driving, and the grandparents asleep by St. Catharines.

The wineries, by area

The Beamsville Bench is the first wine area off the QEW at Vineland and Beamsville — a cluster of estates on the escarpment's bench twenty minutes off the highway, with the smaller producers and the views. Jordan and Twenty Valley are next, ten minutes off the QEW at Jordan Road, with Jordan Village's restaurants for lunch. St. David's and the Niagara Parkway's estates between Queenston and Niagara-on-the-Lake are the famous names and the icewine houses, and the closest to the Falls. Niagara-on-the-Lake's own estates ring the town. The chauffeur builds a sequence that moves in one direction — Beamsville, Jordan, the Parkway, the town, the Falls — so nobody doubles back, knows which estates take walk-ins and which need a booking, and carries the cases home in the cargo bay. The Niagara Falls Tourism listings are current; the chauffeur's opinion is offered when asked.

Niagara-on-the-Lake, and the Shaw

The town twenty minutes north of the Falls is a booking in its own right: the Shaw Festival's theatres from April to December, Queen Street's shops and the Prince of Wales, the golf, the Parkway drive, and the wineries at its edge. A Thornhill couple book an Executive Sedan one-way on Friday to a bed-and-breakfast and one-way home on Sunday after a matinée; a group of eight book a Sprinter by the hour for a Shaw evening and dinner and the drive home. The chauffeur drops at the theatre door and waits at the Prince of Wales's kerb or the town's lot.

The Falls for the first-time visitor

Table Rock is the viewing point at the brink of the Horseshoe Falls with the visitor centre and the Journey Behind the Falls; the boat tour leaves from the foot of Clifton Hill; the Skylon Tower and the Fallsview strip are above; Clifton Hill is the attractions street; the Parkway runs north along the gorge to the whirlpool, the floral clock and Queenston. A chauffeur drops at Table Rock, waits at the Parkway lay-bys or the Fallsview hotel lanes, and collects at the door — the parking lots fill by eleven on a summer weekend and the walk from the far lots is the thing a chauffeur removes. Winter visitors see the illumination and, in January, the frozen mist; summer visitors see the fireworks on scheduled nights and the crowds that go with them.

Cross-border from the Falls

The Rainbow Bridge at the Falls and the Lewiston–Queenston Bridge north of the Parkway lead to Niagara Falls, New York, the outlets at Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls USA, Lewiston's restaurants and, an hour on, Buffalo. A booking that includes the US side is a cross-border trip — every passenger's passport, the chauffeur's vehicle documents, the border wait in the plan — and the Buffalo Airport route explains the crossing in detail. The duty-free is on the Canadian side before the bridge.

Niagara in winter, and the Festival of Lights

From November to February the Falls' illumination and the Winter Festival of Lights along the Parkway draw evening bookings from Vaughan — a Sprinter of twelve at four, the lights at six, dinner at the Falls, home by ten — and the QEW in a lake-effect snowfall west of Grimsby is the chauffeur's winter tyres' reason. Icewine season in January fills the Parkway estates' tasting rooms; the Niagara Falls Tourism calendar has the dates, and the engine prices the evening by the hour.

Niagara-on-the-Lake to Vaughan, one-way

The return from an overnight at the Prince of Wales or a Parkway bed-and-breakfast is a one-way fixed fare from the town to your Vaughan door; book it with the outbound and the chauffeur is at the hotel's kerb at the hour you set, or on a text if the checkout runs long.

Book Vaughan to Niagara Falls

The details

The Skyway closes to high-sided vehicles in high wind and the chauffeur takes the Eastport Drive lift bridge if it does. The Falls' parking lots fill by eleven on a summer weekend; the chauffeur drops at Table Rock and waits at the Parkway lay-bys. The Beamsville Bench estates are twenty minutes off the QEW at Vineland; Jordan Village is ten. Niagara-on-the-Lake's Queen Street has a chauffeur kerb at the Prince of Wales. And the return on a Sunday evening is fastest before four or after eight; the chauffeur will suggest which.