Toronto Airport to Niagara-on-the-Lake Hotels

How do I get from Pearson to Niagara-on-the-Lake?

Niagara-on-the-Lake's visitors come for three things — the Shaw Festival, the wineries, and the town itself — and the hotels sort themselves accordingly. White Oaks Resort & Spa is the large resort at the QEW with the tennis and the spa, ten minutes from the old town; the Vintage Hotels — the Prince of Wales on the corner of Picton and King, Queen's Landing by the marina, Pillar and Post a block from the theatre — are the town's Victorian landmarks; and the inns and bed-and-breakfasts along Queen Street and among the vineyards make up the rest. The Pearson-to-Niagara route page covers the QEW; the Niagara tour page covers the days out; this page is the hotels.

The hotels, and where the chauffeur stops

The old town's streets are narrow, one-way in places and full of pedestrians on a festival evening; the chauffeur knows which hotel takes a car at the door and which asks for the side street. Queen Street itself is closed to through traffic for the town's parades and the December Candlelight Stroll.

The Shaw Festival, the wineries and the Falls from the door

The Shaw. The Festival Theatre on Queen's Parade, the Royal George on Queen Street and the Jackie Maxwell Studio run from April to December, and the town's hotels fill for the openings. A guest with a 2 pm matinee and an 8 pm evening performance at the Festival Theatre books a chauffeur for the afternoon between — a winery lunch and back — and the event transportation page explains the pickup at the theatre door afterwards.

The wineries. Two dozen estates within fifteen minutes — the Wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake association lists them — and a chauffeured afternoon of three with a vineyard lunch is the wine-country half-day that most guests book; the chauffeur keeps a shortlist by style and nobody drives after the third tasting.

The Falls. Twenty-five minutes south along the Niagara Parkway — the Whirlpool, the Floral Clock, Queenston Heights — to Table Rock and Niagara Parks' attractions; a half-day with the car waiting, or the evening illumination and dinner.

Fort George, the lake and the town. Fort George and the Niagara Historical Society museum are in town; the lake is at the end of Queen Street; Niagara-on-the-Lake's own visitor site lists the rest. Most of it is walkable from the Vintage Hotels; White Oaks guests use the car.

Stations and the other airports

Niagara Falls' VIA and GO station is twenty minutes from the old town for the train to Toronto; St. Catharines' station fifteen. Buffalo airport is forty-five minutes across the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge or the Peace Bridge for a US fare — a cross-border transfer with passports at the bridge — and Niagara Falls International in New York state is thirty. Hamilton airport is fifty minutes back up the QEW for the low-cost carriers. The return to Pearson is the QEW in reverse, timed to the check-in cut-off on the departures page.

Weddings, retreats and the White Oaks conference wing

Niagara-on-the-Lake is one of Ontario's wedding capitals — the winery estates, the Vintage Hotels' gardens, the lake — and its weddings bring guests through Pearson across a weekend; the wedding transport plan meets each of them at the curb and runs the day. White Oaks' conference wing hosts corporate retreats whose delegates arrive on a manifest through the group shuttle and move between the resort, the wineries and the theatre in an hourly Sprinter on the corporate account.

Booking the transfer

Enter the hotel as the drop-off with the flight number, the date and the vehicle class; the fare is fixed for that door and shown before you pay. For an inn with no drive, add a note and the chauffeur confirms the stopping point the day before. Gratuity is never added.

White Oaks in detail: the resort at the highway

White Oaks Resort & Spa stands beside the QEW's Glendale exit at Taylor Road, which makes it the closest Niagara-on-the-Lake hotel to Pearson — seventy-five to eighty-five minutes — and the easiest to find at midnight. It is a full resort: the spa, the tennis and racquet club, several restaurants and a conference wing that hosts corporate retreats and weddings, ten minutes from the old town along Niagara Stone Road through the vineyards. The covered entrance takes anything from a sedan to a coach, and the resort's shuttle covers the old town by day; the chauffeur covers the wineries, the Falls, the theatre evenings and the Pearson return. The outlet mall across the highway is the other reason guests stop here.

The Vintage Hotels in detail: the old town's landmarks

The Prince of Wales on the corner of King and Picton has been the town's hotel since 1864 — the Victorian façade, the afternoon tea, the Shaw Festival's opening-night crowd in the lobby — and its arrival is on the corner, where the chauffeur stops on Picton Street and the bell staff meet the car. Queen's Landing sits at the river's edge beside the marina with a circular drive at its Georgian front, the quietest arrival of the three. Pillar and Post, a block from the Royal George Theatre on John Street, was a canning factory before it was a hotel; its drive is off John Street and its spa is the town's largest. All three take a car at the door; the town's traffic on a festival evening is why the chauffeur plans the approach from the Niagara Stone Road end rather than up Queen Street.

Arriving for the Shaw: the theatre schedule and the car

The festival's season runs April to December with matinees at 2 pm and evenings at 8, and its patrons plan the day around the curtain. A chauffeur booked for the arrival from Pearson delivers to the hotel by early afternoon for a matinee the same day; the evening between a matinee and an 8 pm show is the wine-country half-day or dinner on Queen Street; and the pickup after the evening performance is at the Festival Theatre's Queen's Parade door, where the chauffeur waits on the event-night pattern. A two-night stay with three plays is one booking: arrival, the between-plays afternoons by the hour, and the return to Pearson timed to the flight.

What the fare includes

The Niagara-on-the-Lake fare is fixed by vehicle class for the hotel's address and includes the chauffeur, the vehicle, fuel, tolls, taxes, curbside pickup at Pearson's pre-arranged area and the included waiting — sixty minutes on international arrivals, thirty on domestic. Meet and greet inside the terminal is the add-on; gratuity is never added; a case of wine rides home in the boot at no charge and the chauffeur packs it so it does not roll.

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