Hamilton, Dundas and the waterfalls: a day trip from Toronto by black car

Hamilton and Dundas, in one paragraph

Hamilton is the day trip Toronto forgets it has — an hour away, a city on an escarpment with more waterfalls than any other urban area in the world (the city counts more than a hundred), a botanical garden that is Canada's largest, a castle, a downtown art scene that fills James Street on the second Friday of every month, and a valley town next door with a peak so photographed the conservation authority now makes you book it — and the black car does it as a Saturday for the family who would otherwise spend the day in the escarpment's parking lots, and as a Tuesday for the patient the GTA's hospitals have referred to the Juravinski. This guide covers the drive, the waterfalls and their logistics, the gardens, the castle and the gallery, James Street and the crawls, the shops and the waterfront, the arena and the stadium, McMaster and the hospitals, Dundas and the Peak's reservation, Ancaster and the Bruce Trail, the airport, the commuter, the vehicle and the rate, and a worked waterfall Saturday.

The drive

The QEW west from the Gardiner (the Oakville and Burlington pages' stretch), the Burlington Skyway (the 1958 bridge over the harbour's mouth — the defensive driving article's crosswind and the winter tires article's high-wind closures, with the Eastport Drive lift bridge as the alternative), the 403's exit from the QEW at Burlington and its run along the harbour's north shore and up the escarpment's cut to the mountain (the "Mountain" — Hamilton's word for the escarpment's upper city), or the 407 west to its end at the 403 in Burlington for the Vaughan and Markham passenger; the exits — the Main Street and King Street for the downtown, the Aberdeen for Locke Street and the Chedoke, the Mohawk and the Lincoln Alexander Parkway (the "Linc") for the Mountain's falls, the York Boulevard for Dundurn and the RBG, the Highway 6 north for the RBG's arboretum and the Dundas Valley, the 403's continuation west for Ancaster and Brantford; seventy kilometres, fifty-five minutes of driving, an hour with the rush hour article's Gardiner at 8 a.m. or the QEW's Oakville crawl at 5.

The waterfalls

The escarpment drops through the city and every creek that crosses it falls — the city's count is over a hundred and the Waterfalls of Hamilton map (the city's and the Hamilton Conservation Authority's) lists the accessible ones: Webster's Falls (the 22-metre curtain in the Spencer Gorge above Dundas — the park's lot, the stone bridge, the stairs (closed) and the top-of-falls view; the summer weekend reservation and shuttle system the HCA runs from the Christie Lake lot because the falls' own lot was overwhelmed), Tew's Falls (the 41-metre ribbon — Hamilton's tallest — a ten-minute walk from Webster's; the same reservation), the Dundas Peak (below), Albion Falls (the Mountain's east end on Mountain Brow Boulevard — the 19-metre cascade, the lookouts at the top since the 2017 fence, the lot on Mud Street), Tiffany Falls (Ancaster's Wilson Street — the 21-metre ribbon a ten-minute trail from the lot; the winter's ice climbers), Sherman Falls (Ancaster's Old Dundas Road — the private-land falls with the public view), the Devil's Punchbowl (Stoney Creek — the 37-metre plunge into the bowl of red and grey rock strata, the cross on the escarpment's edge above, the Ridge Road lot and the view over the lake), Felker's Falls (Stoney Creek's Paramount Drive — the 22-metre ribbon and the trail), Chedoke Falls (behind the Chedoke golf course — the informal trail the city discourages), Buttermilk Falls (Albion's neighbour), Borer's Falls (the RBG's Rock Chapel — the arboretum's edge), Smokey Hollow (Waterdown's), Great Falls (Waterdown's other), Canterbury, Lower Sydenham, Washboard, Little Davis, and the dozens with a trail and no lot; the chauffeur's Saturday circuit is four or five with a lot and a view (Webster's and Tew's on the reservation, Albion, the Devil's Punchbowl, Tiffany) and the passengers' choice of the trails, with the Toronto Islands article's mud on the mats after and the families with luggage article's stroller for the flat ones.

The gardens, the castle and the gallery

The Royal Botanical Gardens (Canada's largest — the four cultivated gardens and the nature sanctuaries across Hamilton and Burlington: the Rock Garden (the 1930s quarry garden's 2016 rebuild — the terraces and the restaurant), Hendrie Park (the rose garden and the Plains Road main entrance), the Laking Garden (the irises and the peonies in June), and the Arboretum (the Lilac Dell — the world's largest lilac collection, the fortnight in mid-to-late May when the dell is the region's photograph and the lot is full by 10; the High Park cherry blossoms article's logic), plus the Cootes Paradise marsh's trails; the drop at each garden's entrance and the RBG's shuttle between), Dundurn Castle (Sir Allan MacNab's 1835 Regency villa on Burlington Heights above the harbour — the costumed tour of the forty rooms, the kitchen garden, the York Boulevard lot and the Hamilton Military Museum beside it), Whitehern (the McQuesten family's downtown house museum), the Art Gallery of Hamilton (King Street West — the Canadian collection, the Bruegel-to-Bosch-era Dutch paintings the gallery is known for, the ROM and AGO article's standard), the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum (at the airport — the Lancaster and the fifty flying aircraft; the Hamilton airport page's neighbour), the Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology (the 1859 waterworks' pumping engines), and Battlefield House in Stoney Creek (the 1813 battle's re-enactment in June).

James Street and the crawls

James Street North — the downtown's gallery strip from King to the harbour, the Portuguese and the Italian bakeries that were there first, the studios and the shops that came in the 2000s — holds the Art Crawl on the second Friday of every month (the galleries open late, the street fills, the food trucks, the 7 to 11 p.m. that the Nuit Blanche and late-night article's Toronto crowd drives to) and Supercrawl on the second weekend of September (the three-day festival closing James Street North — the music stages, the art installations, the 200,000 visitors, the event limo page's logic with the drop on the street's edge at Cannon or Barton); the black car's Friday evening — the 6 p.m. departure, the dinner on James or at the Hamilton Farmers' Market's neighbours (the Rapscallion, the Aberdeen Tavern, the Nique, the Mesa, the Hambrgr, the Shorty's, the Brux House on Locke), the crawl, the 11 p.m. return, the midnight door.

The shops, the waterfront, the arena and the stadium

Locke Street South (the boutiques and the cafés between Main and Aberdeen — the Yorkville guide's Hamilton), Ottawa Street North (the fabric district and the antiques), Westdale Village (McMaster's neighbourhood shops), Concession Street (the Mountain's brow — the lookout over the lower city and the lake), Bayfront Park and Pier 4 and the waterfront trail (the harbour's west end, the boat launch, the Williams Fresh Café), the Hamilton Beach Strip and Confederation Park (the Wild Waterworks), Tim Hortons Field (the Tiger-Cats' CFL games and the Forge FC — the Balsam Avenue drop; the BMO Field article's logic), the FirstOntario Centre (the Bulldogs' OHL and the arena concerts that skip Toronto or add a night — the York Boulevard drop; the Scotiabank Arena guide's small version), FirstOntario Concert Hall (the Hamilton Philharmonic), and Theatre Aquarius.

McMaster and the hospitals

McMaster University (the Main Street West campus — the graduation article's convocation at the Hamilton Place or the campus, the September move-in with the Sprinter, the medical school's Toronto applicants' interviews), and Hamilton Health Sciences — the Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre (the Mountain's Concession Street — the region's cancer programme, the GTA's referrals for the radiation and the trials), the Hamilton General (the Barton Street trauma centre, the cardiac and the stroke programmes — the hospital row article's referrals west), McMaster Children's Hospital and McMaster University Medical Centre (the campus — the pediatric referrals, the child seat installed), St. Joseph's Healthcare (the Charlton Avenue and the West 5th campuses), and the Juravinski's patient run from the GTA — the 6:45 a.m. departure for the 8:30 appointment, the accessible service article's vehicle, the family's multi-day hire for a treatment week at a Hamilton hotel, and the chauffeur who knows each campus's patient entrance.

Dundas and the Peak

Dundas (the valley town at the escarpment's foot west of the city — King Street's Victorian brick and its shops (the Carnegie Gallery, the Collins Brewhouse, the Detour café, the Dundas Valley School of Art), the Dundas Driving Park, the Dundas Valley Conservation Area (the trails and the Hermitage ruins — the 1855 mansion's stone walls in the woods, the Sulphur Springs Road lot), the Dundas Cactus Festival in August), and the Dundas Peak and the Spencer Gorge (the lookout above Webster's and Tew's Falls with the view down the gorge to Dundas and the lake — the escarpment's most-photographed point and the reason the Hamilton Conservation Authority introduced the summer weekend reservation (the timed ticket booked online, the shuttle from the Christie Lake Conservation Area's lot, the falls' own lots closed on the weekends from May to October; the weekdays free of the system) — the Sandbanks and the Elora Quarry's logic; the chauffeur drops at Christie Lake for the shuttle on a weekend and at the Webster's lot on a Tuesday, and the fall colours article's October at the Peak is the region's postcard.

Ancaster, the Bruce Trail and the airport

Ancaster (the escarpment-top village west of the city — the Ancaster Old Mill (the 1863 mill's restaurant over the falls and the Ancaster Creek — the fine dining article's Hamilton and the wedding venues article's Hamilton weddings), the Wilson Street shops, Tiffany and Sherman Falls), the Bruce Trail's escarpment stretch through the city (the 900-kilometre trail from Niagara to Tobermory passes every waterfall — the Dundas Valley, the Chedoke stairs, the Albion section; a day's walk with the drop at one trailhead and the pickup at another — the hourly's use), and the Hamilton airport page's John C. Munro International (the Mount Hope airport on the Mountain's south — the Swoop and Flair budget flights, the cargo hub, the Warplane Heritage Museum, and the twenty minutes from the downtown).

The commuter

The Hamilton resident who works in Toronto's core (the GO train's Lakeshore West from Hamilton GO Centre and West Harbour — an hour and ten minutes to Union — is the commuter's spine, and the corporate account's standing black car at an hour door to door with the Barrie article's logic is the executive's), and the reverse — the Toronto executive at McMaster, the Juravinski, the steel companies (the ArcelorMittal Dofasco and the Stelco works on the harbour — the corporate car service page's industrial visits), the port and the Hamilton city page's corporate accounts.

The vehicle and the rate

The S-Class or the executive sedan for the couple's Art Crawl or the executive's Juravinski board meeting, the Escalade for the family's waterfall Saturday (the stroller, the boots, the mud on the mats — the vehicle cleaning article's detail after) or the patient with a companion and a walker, the Sprinter for the Supercrawl eight or the McMaster move-in; the fleet's flat Hamilton rate (the engine shows it — the one-way with the return leg built in; the Hamilton city page's local rates), the hourly for the eight- to ten-hour waterfall day or the flat Hamilton day rate, the multi-day hire article's daily rate for the hospital week, the 407 at cost, the gratuity guide, the HCA's reservation and the RBG's admission the passengers' own, and the hybrid and electric article's EV doing Hamilton and back twice on a charge.

A worked waterfall Saturday

A Riverdale family — the parents, three children (twelve, nine and five) — a Saturday in early October, an Escalade on the flat Hamilton day rate, the Spencer Gorge reservation booked Tuesday for the 10 a.m. slot. 8:15 a.m.: the pickup (the child seats article's booster for the five-year-old; the boots and the stroller in the cargo); 8:30 the Gardiner west, the QEW, the Skyway in sun at 9:05; the 403 and the Highway 6 north; 9:40 the Christie Lake Conservation Area's lot — the drop at the shuttle; the family's shuttle to Webster's and Tew's and the Peak (the timed ticket — two hours; the Peak's view in the colour); the chauffeur's a day in the life article reset at Christie Lake and a coffee in Dundas; 11:50 the pickup at the shuttle's return; 12:10 Dundas' King Street — the Detour café's lunch and the Carnegie Gallery (an hour; the chauffeur on the side street); 1:30 the 403 east and the Linc to the Mountain — Albion Falls' Mud Street lot (the lookouts, thirty minutes); 2:30 the Devil's Punchbowl's Ridge Road lot (the bowl, the cross, the lake view, twenty minutes); 3:15 the Ottawa Street antiques for the mother (thirty minutes); 4:00 Bayfront Park — the children's hour on the waterfront trail and the playground; 5:15 the Aberdeen Tavern's early dinner (booked; the chauffeur on Aberdeen); 6:45 the 403, the Skyway in the dusk, the QEW; the three asleep by Oakville; 7:50 the Riverdale door with the mud on the mats and the boots carried in. Eleven and a half hours, 170 kilometres, five waterfalls, one peak, one valley town, one detail for the Escalade on Sunday, and a family that had driven to Hamilton once before and spent it looking for parking at Webster's.

Hamilton and Dundas quick reference

Booking the day

The hourly chauffeur page books the waterfall Saturday; the engine shows the Hamilton rate and the day rate; the Hamilton city page the local service; the Hamilton airport page the flights; dispatch books the Spencer Gorge reservation and the Old Mill on request. Book the Peak's summer weekend slot on the Tuesday.

Book a Hamilton day