Hi,
I need some help. I am looking to book one of the tours above but can't decide which one. I would like to see the fall colours but this tour is quite short and with the East Coast USA & Canada, the brochure says I will see some of the fall colours as well as we will see a lot more of the USA and canada. eg Niagara falls, washington dc, new york, boston, amish country plus the major cities of eastern canada.

If you have completed either tour, can you tell me about your experience. If you did the East Coast USA and Canada tour, did you see some of the colours and towns typical of New England on your way to Canada?

Thanks!

I haven't done any of these tours, but I can tell you this from living in New England. "Leaf Peeping"- what we call looking at the fall colors- can be VERY hit or miss. Sometimes the colors come early, sometimes late. Sometimes they stay for a long period of time, other times it seems to last just a few days! This year for instance the leaves hit peak around my house (when they are the most vibrant and beautiful) in early Oct...about 2 weeks earlier than last year. Then we got a wind storm and all the leaves fell out of the trees after only about 2 days! Yes it is still beautiful if you don't experience a change in colors like New England, but if you are coming all the way from Australia to see the colors, I would recommend having more to your tour than just the leaves or you may be greatly disappointed if you get here at the wrong time. At least if you are on another type of trip where you see the sights, then you might get a little extra if you are out here when the leaves turn, too.

That is really great advice. Thanks very much, you have helped mr make my decision!!

And just to add to the confusion, here in Southern Ontario the colour peak was later than last year and lasted longer. Go figure!

Exactly when were you planning your trip for, Brownie? When the leaves turn colour, as you've read here, the vibrancy really varies from place to place, as well as the timing, due to weather fluctuations. If your tour is covering a fair bit of territory, & you're travelling in early October, you are bound to see some fantastic colours somewhere in Ontario, Quebec, or the New England States. Even though leaves may blow off after only a couple of days in one area, they may still be beautiful an hour away! Some of the areas of land between Niagara Falls & Washington, D.C. are quite hilly, & beautiful even when the colours are mostly green. Sounds like a great trip!

yup it is basically hit or miss, but any of it is bound to be pretty if you haven't seen it before. I just think if you come from a far distance you should be sure you aren't disappointed and see some sites at that time and as a bonus notice the leaves. It would be different if you were only coming from 2 hours away hahah.

brownie...
Please take in the Fall season here in New England as it is one of the prettiest times of the year. While here, be sure to visit some of the Cities and Towns along the coast of New England as they are very quaint especially along the coast of Maine and New Hampshire. The colorful trees makes the coast very pretty. If you have time, tour the City of Boston for the Historic sights for which the City is famous for. There's a lot to see in New England and we sure have many visitors from all around. Hope you can make it.

My wife and I had a great time with the �Best of Eastern Canada� from 17 to 26 September with a couple of days in Toronto both before and after our tour.

Couple of minor problems with our flight from Australia being cancelled as we were checking in (they put us on the next flight several hours later) which of course meant missing our connection out of LA to Toronto and a 5 hour wait but these sort of things happen and you don�t let them spoil your holiday.

Visited Toronto, Kingston, Ste Adele, Quebec, Montreal and Ottawa � oh and of course Niagara Falls which was great. The tour allowed ample time at Niagara Falls for the �Maid of the Mist� boat trip and sightseeing from the various vantage points. It would have been great to stop the night and see the falls under floodlights and also take the under falls walk but hey, you can�t have everything on every trip.

There was plenty of leisure time periods to do your own exploring and my legs must be 2 inches shorter from all the walking we did in Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto.

QM2 docked in Quebec while we were there (unexpected and due to the cyclones) and that of course made Quebec very crowded on that particular day.

We had mainly picked this tour for the Autumn leaves and as previous people have said it�s a bit of a hit and miss with picking the exact dates for the best colour. A week later on our trip would have been ideal as they were only coming into there best in the last 4 or 5 days of our tour. Even so there was still plenty of colour which made the scenery fantastic.

TD, food, pace and travelling companions were all excellent. All in all � a great trip.

It sounds very much like going to Holland to see the Tulips.
We went at the recommended time three years in a row while living in England some years ago - the problem was, nobody told the tulips. The first year we saw only green buds, the second year they had all finished, and the third year was absolutely spectacular!! (just as well as it was only a few months before our return to Oz) - I was beginning to think I would never see those tulips.

That's great everyone. Thank you for all of your advice. We have decided to take the Best of Eastern USA/Canada tour as we will see more places and also see the autumn colours, since we are coming from such a long way. You have all really helped!! There is a tour that leaves early Oct so we will take that one and hopefully be lucky!!

Travelling that far along the east coast at that time of year you will definitely see some colors in some places! Just don't know where See 2 birds with one stone! That's great! Enjoy!!

Hi
We are booked on the East Coast USA & Canada TT for late July/early August 2005 . Has anyone done this tour and can give us a quick run down on how it all went as a whole.
Or is there anyone else booked this tour for this year

Hi Alan & Bev, welcome to the Board.

As I mentioned above, my wife and I did the Best of Eastern Canada last September and had a great time.

While this is not the exact same tour that you are planning it does visit many of the places in the Canada part of your proposed itinery.

A more detailed report on our trip can be found under Tour Tales at "Best of Eastern Canada - Expanded Version".

HAve fun on your trip.