Hamilton from the driver's seat
Hamilton — at the western end of Lake Ontario, sixty kilometres from downtown Toronto, with its downtown below the escarpment, the Mountain above it, and Ancaster, Dundas, Stoney Creek, Waterdown and Flamborough around it — is 55 to 75 minutes from Pearson via the QEW and the 427 or the 403 and the 407 (80 to 110 at the peaks), 15 to 25 minutes from Hamilton's own airport at Mount Hope, and 60 to 90 minutes from downtown Toronto. Its black car trade is the two airports, McMaster University and the hospital network, the downtown's and the escarpment's weddings, Tim Hortons Field and the Toronto run.
Hamilton is a city of half a million with its own everything — a downtown on James Street North's galleries and the Gore, a university and one of Canada's largest hospital networks, an airport with sun flights and cargo jets, a football stadium, a hundred waterfalls on the escarpment, the Royal Botanical Gardens shared with Burlington, the Dundas and Ancaster villages, the Mountain's neighbourhoods above the brow — and a relationship with Toronto that the QEW and the GO train define. For a black car it is the region's longest regular run to Pearson and its shortest to Hamilton's airport, a city whose hospitals bring visiting surgeons and patients' families from across Ontario, and whose weddings on the escarpment are among the most photographed in the province. This page covers the neighbourhoods and their pickups, the two airports and the highways, McMaster and the hospitals, the corporate city, the weddings, the waterfalls, the Toronto run, and a day worked through.
The neighbourhoods and their pickups
Downtown Hamilton (the Gore at King and James, James Street North, Hess Village, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, FirstOntario Centre and Concert Hall, the GO Centre and West Harbour GO): the restaurants with pickups on the side streets (Hughson, John, Rebecca), the arena's Bay Street lay-by, the hotels' porte-cochères (the Sheraton on King, the Royal Connaught, the Staybridge), the GO Centre's Hunter Street loop. Westdale and McMaster (Main Street West, the campus, the Westdale village): the university's Sterling Street and Main Street loops, the hospital's entrances, the village's side streets. Dundas (the valley town below the escarpment at King Street West's end): the village's main street with pickups on the side streets, the Dundas Valley Conservation Area's gates, Webster's and Tews Falls' lots. Ancaster (the escarpment's village on Wilson Street, the Meadowlands, the Ancaster Mill): the village's streets, the Mill's porte-cochère, the Hamilton Golf and Country Club's gates. The Mountain (above the escarpment, from the Jolley Cut to Upper James and the Limeridge Mall): the residential streets, the mall's entrances, the Juravinski Hospital's loop. Stoney Creek and the east (the lakeshore and Winona's fruit belt): the door, the Confederation Park's lots. Waterdown and Flamborough (north on Highway 6): the village and the rural north. The waterfront (Bayfront Park, Pier 8, the Hamilton Harbour): the parks' lots. The Hamilton guide covers the routes; the street notes are on dispatch's map.
Two airports, and the highways
Hamilton's airport at Mount Hope is 15 to 25 minutes from anywhere in the city via Upper James Street or Highway 6, and the Hamilton airport page covers the terminal; for the city's residents it is the airport for sun flights, Flair's routes and the private aviation that the field's long runways attract. Pearson is the long run: the 403 to the QEW east through Burlington, Oakville and Mississauga to the 427 (55 to 70 minutes off-peak from downtown, 80 to 110 at the peaks), or the 403 to the 407 east across the top of the region to the 427 (60 to 75 at almost any hour, with the toll shown by the engine), which we recommend at the peaks and on the QEW's closure days. Buffalo is the QEW west through Niagara (60 to 80 minutes plus the border) and a genuine alternative for US fares; the Buffalo page covers the crossing. The Hamilton-to-Toronto guide works the Pearson decision by neighbourhood; the Pearson page has the procedure at Door A.
McMaster, the hospitals and the medical city
Hamilton Health Sciences — Hamilton General, the Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre on the Mountain, McMaster University Medical Centre and McMaster Children's Hospital in Westdale, St. Peter's — and St. Joseph's Healthcare on Charlton Avenue make Hamilton one of the largest medical centres in Canada, drawing patients, families and visiting physicians from across Ontario. Our Hamilton work is disproportionately medical: a family from Sudbury or Windsor booking a car from the Sheraton to the Juravinski for a week of treatment, a visiting surgeon from Pearson to McMaster with meet and greet, a Stoney Creek couple's standing car to St. Joseph's, an Ancaster patient's weekly appointment on the Mountain. The healthcare executive transport article covers the visiting-physician pattern and the medical appointments and seniors' guide articles the standing arrangements; each hospital's entrance loop is on the chauffeur's map. McMaster University's campus in Westdale brings the student and academic traffic — Pearson pickups for international students with meet and greet, convocation cars in June, visiting scholars — that the convocation article covers.
Corporate Hamilton
The downtown's professional firms and the head offices on James and King, the steel and manufacturing companies of the harbour's industrial east, the Innovation Park at McMaster, the airport's cargo and logistics operators, the Stoney Creek and Ancaster business parks — Hamilton's companies book the Pearson run (long from here, with the 407 approved on the account), the Hamilton airport run (short), client pickups with meet and greet, hourly days for visiting executives and the Sprinter to a Toronto client dinner; corporate accounts hold the building's lay-by and the airport policy.
Weddings: the escarpment's venues
Hamilton's weddings are the escarpment's: the Ancaster Mill on its waterfall, the Dundas Valley's barns and the Dundas Valley Golf Club, the Royal Botanical Gardens on the Burlington border, the Hamilton Golf and Country Club in Ancaster, the Art Gallery of Hamilton and the Liuna Station downtown, the Carmen's and the Michelangelo banquet centres on the Mountain, the Winona fruit-belt estates and the Stoney Creek waterfront. The transport is the wedding page's with the city's specifics: a couple's stretch or premium sedan from a Westdale home to a downtown church, photographs at Webster's Falls or the RBG, the reception at the Ancaster Mill with its porte-cochère on the chauffeur's map, and a guest bus from the downtown hotels; the venue notes cover the Mill, the RBG and the downtown venues.
The waterfalls, the RBG and the Hamilton day
Hamilton calls itself the city of waterfalls — Webster's, Tews, Albion, Tiffany, the Devil's Punchbowl and a hundred more on the escarpment — and a day by black car from Toronto that takes in three falls, the Dundas Valley, the RBG's gardens and lunch in Dundas or Ancaster is an hourly booking with the distance component that the Hamilton waterfalls day trip works through; the falls' lots fill on summer weekends and the chauffeur knows which trailheads are open. Bayfront Park and Pier 8 on the harbour, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum at the airport, the Dundurn Castle and the Art Gallery of Hamilton are the city's other days out.
Tim Hortons Field, the arena and the city's nights
Tim Hortons Field on Balsam Avenue in the east end is the Tiger-Cats' stadium and Forge FC's, with a game-day pickup on the side streets north of the stadium that the event limo page's method covers; FirstOntario Centre downtown hosts the Bulldogs and concerts with a Bay Street lay-by; James Street North's Art Crawl on the second Friday of each month and the Supercrawl in September close the street to cars; Hess Village and the downtown's restaurants are the city's nights, with pickups on the side streets. A Hamilton evening from Toronto — a Tiger-Cats game, a concert at the arena — is an hourly booking with the QEW home at 11 p.m. moving freely.
Downtown Toronto and the Toronto run
Hamilton to the Financial District is the 403 and the QEW to the Gardiner (60 to 75 minutes off-peak from downtown Hamilton, 90 to 130 at the peaks), and the GO train from the Hamilton GO Centre or West Harbour is the honest single-passenger alternative; a Leafs game, a Yorkville dinner or a Mirvish show from Hamilton is an hourly booking with the chauffeur waiting downtown and the arena or theatre guide's pickup. Niagara Falls is 45 to 60 minutes east over the Skyway and the wine country thirty, which makes Hamilton a base for the Niagara day.
Burlington, Brantford and the neighbours
Burlington's waterfront is 15 to 25 minutes east (the Burlington guide), Brantford and Six Nations thirty minutes south-west on the 403, Grimsby and the Niagara fruit belt twenty minutes east on the QEW, Cambridge and the Waterloo corridor forty minutes north on the 403 and Highway 8 (the Waterloo airport page). A Hamilton family's trip to a Burlington dinner, a Brantford casino night or a Grimsby winery is a short fixed fare.
A Hamilton day, in cars
4:15 a.m. — an SUV from an Ancaster home to Hamilton's airport via Highway 6, eighteen minutes, a family bound for Cancún. 5:30 — a sedan from a downtown condominium to Terminal 1 via the 403, QEW and 427, sixty-one minutes ahead of the peak. 9:00 — a visiting surgeon from a Pearson arrival with meet and greet to McMaster University Medical Centre via the 407, seventy minutes. 11:00 — a Stoney Creek couple's standing car to St. Joseph's and the pharmacy. 2:00 p.m. — a family from Sudbury at the Sheraton to the Juravinski for an afternoon of appointments, hourly. 3:00 — a stretch limousine and a Sprinter begin an Ancaster Mill wedding: the couple from a Westdale home to a downtown church, Webster's Falls for photographs, the Mill's porte-cochère, the last drop at midnight. Every trip a fixed fare.
Hamilton to everywhere
| From downtown Hamilton to | Route | Off-peak | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton airport | Upper James or Highway 6 south | 15–25 min | 20–35 |
| Pearson | 403 → QEW → 427 | 55–70 | 80–110 (407: 60–75) |
| Buffalo airport | QEW west + border | 60–80 | 80–110 |
| Financial District | 403 → QEW → Gardiner | 60–75 | 90–130 |
| McMaster / Westdale | Main Street West | 8–12 | 12–20 |
| Ancaster (the Mill) | 403 → Wilson Street | 12–18 | 18–30 |
| Dundas (Webster's Falls) | King West → Dundas | 15–20 | 20–30 |
| Burlington (downtown) | 403 east | 15–25 | 25–40 |
| Niagara Falls | QEW east | 45–60 | 60–85 |
Booking a car in Hamilton
The engine prices any Hamilton address to either airport and shows the 407 option for Pearson; the notes field takes the hospital's entrance, the venue or the campus. Corporate accounts set the airport policy once; standing orders cover the medical appointments and the weekly trips.
James Street North, the arts and Hamilton's evenings
James Street North's galleries, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the FirstOntario Concert Hall's orchestra and the downtown's theatres — Theatre Aquarius on King William, the Westdale and Playhouse cinemas — and the restaurant strips of James North, King William, Locke Street and Ottawa Street are the city's evenings, and a Friday or Saturday night in Hamilton by black car from Toronto — dinner on Locke Street, a concert at the arena, the QEW home — is an hourly booking with the distance component. Pickups are on the side streets (Vine, Cannon, Colbourne on James North; the cross streets on Locke), and the monthly Art Crawl's closure of James North is on dispatch's calendar.
Hamilton's GO service and the single traveller
The Lakeshore West GO line runs from the Hamilton GO Centre on Hunter Street and the West Harbour station on James North to Union in about 65 to 75 minutes (limited service from Hamilton; more from Aldershot in Burlington), and it is the honest single-passenger alternative for the downtown commute. For the airport there is no rail from Hamilton to Pearson, and the UP Express comparison works the numbers: GO to Union and UP Express back out is more than two hours with two transfers, and the car via the 403 and 407 is an hour and a quarter at almost any time of day. Hamilton's regulars use the GO for the commute and the car for the airport, the evening and the family.
Booking notes for Hamilton
Three small things. Check both airports in the engine before you book — Hamilton's for sun flights and Flair's routes, Pearson with the 407 approved for the rest. For the hospitals, name the entrance (Hamilton General's Barton Street loop, the Juravinski's Concession Street entrance, McMaster's Main Street West loop, St. Joseph's Charlton Avenue entrance) and the appointment time, and take the pickup time the confirmation gives. And for the falls, tell the chauffeur which ones you want to see; the lots at Webster's and Tews fill by 11 on summer weekends and the alternatives are on the map.
