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Tag: Canada Travel View All Tags

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WestJet Launches Cuba And St. Maarten, Non-Stops Away From Canadian Winter

November 3, 2009 at 4:54 PM | by Omri | 0 Comments

Starting from last Sunday, Toronto travelers in search of warmth have had two new options courtesy of Canadian low cost carrier WestJet. Last week the airline announced they were launching nonstops to Varadero, Cuba and St Maarten, and the first flights duly took off over the weekend.

The company issued separate press releases for the St Maarten and Cuba routes, each identical except for the obviously made up location-specific quotes from Hugh Dunleavy, WestJet Executive Vice-President of Strategy and Planning. That doesn't make WestJet's announcement any less exciting. It just kind of made us giggle.

Both new routes have flights three times per week, and both last only until April 29, 2010. Presumably that's the date they expect Toronto to thaw, with all the consequences for demand that would portend. They're promising more "sun destination" announcements in the coming days though, so maybe those will last past the winter months.

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2009 Halloween Theme Park Scare Guide: Canada's Halloween Haunt

Where: Vaughan, ON, Canada
October 15, 2009 at 9:33 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

Our neighbors to the north love to celebrate Halloween as well, even if their spooky day is after Thanksgiving. For those in and around the Toronto area, the best place to get some thrills is at Canada’s Wonderland. Cedar Fair owns the place, the same theme park experts responsible for HalloWeekends at Cedar Point. It might not be as crazy spooky as things in Ohio, but they definitely get the job done.

Halloween Haunt at Canada’s Wonderland dares visitors to explore their way through the park while attempting to avoid possessed woodland creatures and vampires. All the major rides will be running, but it’s up to you to make your way to the coasters without being frightened out of the park.

Mazes are the big thing here, and there’s plenty of returning favorites as well as some new ones. The park seems especially excited about Club Blood. Visitors are led to believe that it is just a nightclub to celebrate the season, but unfortunately vampires run it. Just try to avoid being invited back into the VIP lounge; that’s where the vampires do their thing.

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'Mele Kalikimaka' Is The Thing To Say On WestJet's New Hawaii Routes

Where: Canada
October 6, 2009 at 8:43 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

Cold Canadians have had their prayers answered. Just in time for the long cold winter ahead, WestJet has announced some new routes to Hawaii. It’s pretty much seasonal service for the snow season, but at least it’s a new option to escape to paradise when you need it most.

For those sick of shoveling snow in Calgary there will be non-stop routes to both Honolulu and Maui. Starting in March there will be an escape route flying once a week. The introductory rates will start at $329 CAD each way not including taxes, fees, and anything else they want to throw at you. If Maui is more of your style, getting there will set you back about $40 CAD more each way.

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Canada's Most Famous Squirrel Turns To Twitter To Promote Travel

September 25, 2009 at 8:56 AM | by Omri | 0 Comments

Remember this photo from a month ago, with Melissa Brandts and her husband, joined by the world's most recent celebrity squirrel? It went from Lake Minnewanka, in Canada's Banff National Park, to the National Geographic "Photo Of The Day" site. Then it went pretty much everywhere.

American Airlines is betting you remember this mini-meme quite well, which is why they've pulled their "French guy training squirrels on scooters" advertisement out of the vault. In case you missed the not-entirely-unobnoxious ad when it originally aired in the spring, here it is again:

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Take A Ski Lift To Leaf-Peeping Just Over The Border In Canada

Where: Quebec, Canada
September 16, 2009 at 2:53 PM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

This is for those of you north of the border, or who just can't swing heading to Paris for a little falling leaf action: go instead to Quebec. More specifically, grab a Greyhound bus from Montreal to the little, but heavily-touristed, ski village of Mont-Tremblant.

Peak fall colors season is in early to mid-October, so you'll be well enough ahead of the snowfalls to enjoy riding the ski lifts up and over the foliage sans snowboard and ski suit.

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Summer May Be Over, But Off-Season Deals Are Just Beginning

September 8, 2009 at 5:24 PM | by Heidi Atwal | 2 Comments

Let's collectively take a moment to mourn the end of summer, a season rich with getaways and celebrations like last weekend's definitive season-ender, Labor Day. While the masses file back to reality, we're not convinced that summer's close has to put a violent halt to our travel plans. If anything, the end of summer marks the beginning of off-season deals, which we gladly welcome to pocket some extra cash.

Keeping tabs on Travelzoo's Twitter feed is a smart way to stay wise to travel discounts which pop up from time to time, whether you're planning an overseas trip or are firmly in staycation mode. We found a couple that are worth noting, including a host of ticket discounts for everything from Mets games to two-for-one tickets to see Hairspray, if you happen to be in London.

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Is Ryanair Just Too Mean To Succeed In Canada?

Where: Canada
September 1, 2009 at 9:10 AM | by Omri | 3 Comments

Airline industry analysts are busying themselves by attempting to figure out if a LCC like Ryanair would fly in Canada, in more ways than one.

There are good arguments in favor of success; like Ryanair has an obnoxious habit of breaking into new markets, plus low-cost carriers are the only airlines not hemorrhaging money right now. But arguments against balance this out: Canada is a worst-case scenario for LCCs, with a huge amount of territory, a relatively low population density, and few secondary airports.

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Rumors Continue Over Virgin America's Possible Canadian Routes

Where: Canada
August 20, 2009 at 5:28 PM | by Omri | 6 Comments

Not content with reaching across the country and expanding service to Ft. Lauderdale, LCC Virgin America has been spreading rumors about new routes to the north. Far, far to the north:

Virgin America ... has announced it’s studying whether to fly to Toronto and Vancouver, as well as several new U.S. destinations... If Virgin proceeds with the plan, analysts say it could not only be flying into Vancouver within three to six months of an announcement, but the move could prompt other discount carriers to follow suit. Others say it would put strong downward pressure on all air fares, making cheaper flights the norm for British Columbians.

Next to "free wifi" and "open bar," "downward pressure" is probably our favorite travel industry phrase. Anyways, this is not new information for us; we chatted with VA's CEO David Cush about the Canadian routes and more in our phone call with him almost two weeks ago.

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Bring The Beano For A Canadian Baked Bean Festival

Where: Zurich, ON, Canada
August 13, 2009 at 12:02 PM | by kjb | 0 Comments

About two hours outside of Detroit and within a stones throw of Lake Huron sits the town of Zurich, Ontario. If you haven’t already had more than your share of baked beans this season, then you may want to head north to Zurich in a couple weeks to take in their 44th Annual Bean Festival on Saturday, August 22.

Any festival that has been going strong for this long has got to be a good one, and the Zurich festival is no exception—especially with a such a unique food focus. Friday night kicks things off with a classic car cruise and ends with a blast of fireworks in the night sky. They’ll park the cars so you can see them over the weekend, and there are a lot of them too; it’s one of the largest car shows in Ontario.

The big day is when the “bean meal” is consumed. Over a ton of raw beans are turned into their top secret recipe and are served along smoked pork, coleslaw and applesauce. However, if the aftershocks of all that bean consumption hasn't cleared the area by dark on Saturday night, there'll even be a "bean dance" to wrap up the festivities.

Related Stories:
· Zurich Bean Festival [Official Site]
· There's Nothing Corny About Iowa's 'Shuckfest 2009' [Jaunted]
· Festivals coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Mattsip]

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This Weekend In The World: Restaurant Week Redux And A Little Pearl Jam

August 7, 2009 at 5:47 PM | by JetSetCD | 1 Comment

· Miami
We've talked and talked about New York Restaurant Week until our faces were blue and we finally sat down to several discounted dinners. For this reason, we can't be more excited that our southern friends are joining in on the fun with the launch of "Miami Spice" Restaurant Week. All through the rest of this month and September, some of the city's trendiest and best restaurants will serve you a several-course lunch for $24 and dinner for $35. Finally, a non-clubby reason to hit up Nikki Beach. See our post on the event for more.

· New York City
Meanwhile, New York's spectacular and amazing and totally-worth-it Restaurant Week decides to tack on some extra time and the deals are extended through Labor Day. Book it and book it now! See our original post on the extension for more information.

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Get In On Canada's Blockbuster Summer Music Festivals

Where: Canada
August 6, 2009 at 4:49 PM | by Omri | 0 Comments

Virgin Mobile's V-Fest, their second annual Canadian summer concert series, has already gotten its fair share of excitement this season. After passing through Montreal and Nova Scotia, the festival touched down in BC a few weeks ago for a weekend of music, celebrations, and insanely massive thunderstorms. The first night actually had to be called off early to ensure that nobody died, although concert organizers rescheduled The Roots for another time.

But it's the next two shows, first in Alberta and then in Ontario, that are getting all the attention.

Alberta's concert happens this weekend when, on Saturday, Pearl Jam headlines, marking their first appearance in concert this season. Sunday night's headliner is Billy Talent and in between there will be festival "experiences" like Thai massages, burlesque pole-dancing lessons, and an autograph tent.

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Summer Vacations With an Edge: Kiteboarding off Lameque Island

Where: 62 Du Parc, Petite Lamèque, NB, Canada, E8T 2L8
August 3, 2009 at 5:30 PM | by juliana | 0 Comments

There's only a few weekends left in the summer and if you're still looking to get away, why not try something different than partying til you puke with your friends at the shore? Why not try a Summer Vacation With an Edge? For the rest of the month we'll be rounding up some summer vacations that won't suck, starting with kiteboarding off Lameque Island in New Brunswick, Canada.

Unless you're a professional kiteboarding, you're gonna need some training, not to mention equipment. The Club Wind & Kite school, headed by its founder and owner, Eric Girard, has put together a 7-day ABC kiteboarding package that includes training, lodging and some other activities like kayaking and bicycling. The 7-day package is $899 CAD and of course, doesn't include airfare. If you want to save some money the package will be discounted 20 percent off from September 5-26.

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