Southern Ontario offers many top attractions of Canada, such as the world renowned Niagara Falls. However, if you have been to these attractions and don’t want to duplicate your trips, you may wonder where else to visit for the next long weekend.  This was the very question I asked myself back in 2005.

My answer to this question was: go to the southern side of the border. After I had visited most attractions in southern Ontario, I started making long weekend trips to the United States in 2006. The more places I visited, the more friends asked me basically the same questions: “Why go to USA?” “What can I see over there?” “How can I visit?” “Where do I sleep?” “Is there an outlet mall nearby to shop?” and so on. As well, friends had asked me to share my trip itineraries, so that they could also visit. As such, I had the idea of writing a travel guide book for the 10 long weekend destinations on the American side that I have been to over the past few years.

From the perspective of visiting USA, Torontonians are lucky because the neighbouring states on the American side boast the longer history in USA, and thus more attractions. Moreover, many attractions are even world famous, such as the Ford auto factory tour in Detroit and the Carnegie museums in Pittsburgh, to name but a few.

Surprisingly, compared to visiting the attractions in Ontario, visiting neighbouring states on the American side is not more expensive, further, or more difficult in general. Accommodation and admission fees on the American side are usually less expensive. Gas price, which accounts for a significant proportion of the travel expenses for road trips, is also lower on the American side.

The average distance from Toronto to these 10 destinations is 230 miles. This is almost the same distance as to those favourite long weekend destinations in Ontario such as Algonquin Provincial Park and Bruce Peninsula National Park. Refer to Appendix 1 for more details about driving distances and expenses. Crossing border is also acceptable and usually takes less than half an hour if you arrive at the border by 10:30 am.

Thanks to the largely different holiday schedule on the American side, you can also avoid the crowds that you are likely to encounter on the Canadian side on long weekends. Besides, you have considerable duty free allowance if you spend long weekends on the American side.