Shaw Theatre Festival

The internationally renowned Shaw Theatre Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake started in 1962. The festival specializes in plays by George Bernard Shaw, by Shaw's contemporaries, and the period of Shaw’s life (1856-1950). The festival produces ten to twelve plays each year during a season that runs from the end of March to mid-November.

Niagara-on-the-Lake, the home of the Shaw Festival, is a historic city with elegant homes, shops, and parks.

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Toronto, Lunch at Niagara Falls, and Shaw Theatre Festival (Niagara-on-the-Lake)

August 28 - 31, 2006

Optional extensions: extra night in Toronto (August 27) and/or extra night in Niagara-on-the-Lake (August 31)

A trip of contrasts: sophisticated Toronto; the majestic Niagara Falls, where 12 million people a year come to marvel; and The Shaw Theatre Festival in a classic low-key, high-voltage 19th century town.

Note: Early sign-up is imperative to guarantee hotel and Shaw Festival tickets.

Our Itinerary:

CN Tower, Toronto's "Eiffel Tower"

Day 1
Arrive in Toronto, transfer on your own to our 3-star hotel in the Entertainment District. Our hotel is right across the street from the venerable Royal York, a great place for afternoon tea, a simple dinner of fish and chips, or a quick breakfast.

If you arrive early in the day: 2 p.m. city tour followed by a tour of Toronto’s sprawling harbor and the Toronto Islands.

Cocktails at twilight at CN Tower, the best time to enjoy the view. The CN Tower is Toronto’s “Eiffel Tower,” a landmark visible from many vantage points in the city. Dinner at Jamie Kennedy’s Wine Bar, one of Toronto’s “hot” restaurants.

Ultimate platform shoes at the Bata Museum

Day 2
We visit Yorkville, Toronto’s upscale neighborhood, with its boutiques, cafes and outdoor dining options. The Bata Shoe Museum, is a “must see,” quirky and fun with crazy shoes you can try on plus magnificent shoes from different periods and countries.

After the Bata, we recommend you visit the Royal Ontario Museum at your own pace. This is Canada’s largest museum with a unique presentation of science, art, and archaeology exhibits under one roof. (A $200 million addition is expected to be completed in late 2006. Architect Daniel Libeskind has designed the addition, an ultramodern edifice called “The Crystal.”)

The rest of afternoon is free for shopping or a visit to the recently reopened Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, just across from the Royal Ontario Museum. Enjoy the museum's rare collection of ceramic art from 17th & 18th centuries plus rare pre-Colombian ceramics.

Early dinner (not included in price of tour), then an optional show at one of Toronto's theatres.

Optional (if tickets available): Lord of the Rings, a musical adaptation of the classic story by J.R.R. Tolkien. If you are into hobbits and magical rings and can sit through a four-hour performance, you will love it. The stage effects are a masterwork. I saw a preview in March and enjoyed it. If Lord of the Rings is not your cup of tea or if tickets are not available, we can get tickets to another play. Remember, Toronto is the third largest theatre venue in the world, after London and New York.

Niagara Falls

Day 3
We will be picked up at our hotel for the two hour drive to Niagara Falls for a brief look at the falls and a buffet lunch at the Sheraton Hotel with a dining room that has a perfect view of the Falls.

Twenty minutes from the Falls, is Niagara-on-the-Lake, the home of the Shaw Theatre Festival. We arrive in time to attend a Festival production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible at 2 p.m.

The indoor pool at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake is behind this screen

Our hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake is the Prince of Wales, a luxury 5-star hotel. There is a lot to love about this hotel:

The spacious rooms with heated towel racks, marble bathrooms and a rose on your pillow at night and a little card with tomorrow’s weather
The ground floor indoor swimming pool with windows so you are not confined to a basement atmosphere
A new spa for major indulgences
A lovely fireplace lounge where you can dine well and inexpensively on great hamburgers or fish and chips
Walk to any of the three theatres of the Shaw Theatre Festival

Shopping in Niagara-on-the-Lake is fun, too, concentrated in an area just 5 or 6 blocks long.

The Royal George, one of the three Shaw Festival theatres

Dinner (not included in price of the tour) followed by the Festival production of The Heiress, an adaptation of Henry James' Washington Square.

Day 4
Leave for home by shuttle to Toronto Airport that picks you up four hours before your flight. It’s under two hours to airport. If you want to attend another matinee at 2 p.m. (George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man), you would have to be able to take a 9 p.m. flight home. Or optionally, stay another night at Prince of Wales Hotel. I loved it.

George Bernard Shaw statue in Niagara-on-the-Lake

Cost
$1,750 (USD) includes 3 nights hotel (single room, no single supplement); Toronto city tour and harbor tour; Bata Museum admission, one dinner in Toronto; private van transportation to Niagara Falls and buffet lunch at the Sheraton Hotel; private van transportation from Niagara Falls to Niagara-on-the-Lake; two plays at Shaw Theatre Festival (matinee and evening); shuttle bus from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Toronto airport. Price does not include airfare to and from your home city; airport transfer from Toronto airport to hotel, breakfasts; lunches on Day 1 and Day 2; dinners on Day 2 and Day 3; Lord of Rings tickets (about $100) or other Toronto show; alcoholic beverages and wine; taxis within Toronto. We have identified inexpensive, but very good, recommendations for your breakfasts and dinners.

Note: Early sign-up is imperative to guarantee hotel and Shaw Festival tickets.

Options to extend the trip include:

Arrive a day earlier in Toronto (4 nights: 3 nights in Toronto, 1 night in Niagara-on-the-Lake)
Stay an extra night in Niagara-on-the-Lake (4 nights: 2 nights in Toronto, 2 nights in Niagara-on-the Lake)
Arrive a day earlier in Toronto and stay an extra night in night in Niagara-on-the-Lake (5 nights: 3 nights in Toronto and 2 nights in Niagara-on-the-Lake)

Request the additional costs if you are interested in any of these options.

This is a busy, active trip designed to show you the highlights of Toronto and to attend the Shaw Theatre Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake. It is three nights to keep the price down in what is the busiest and most expensive time (at the most expensive hotel) to visit Niagara-on-the-Lake. We don’t feel another hotel is an option; they are further away from the action and transportation to town would be difficult.

Our thanks to Ellen, a client who lives in Toronto, for the time she spent whizzing me around Toronto in her snazzy Smarte Car when I was planning this trip. There’s nothing like local knowledge and Ellen shared all her special Toronto insights, especially her favorite Yorkville boutique.

Click here to read a March 22nd New York Times article that highlights Toronto's "unprecedented cultural growth and architectural renaissance" and its hopes for the Lord of the Rings musical.