Eastern Canada Cities: Toronto, Niagara, Ottawa and Montreal, 6 Nights

Clear immigration at Pearson, Canada's busiest airport, and take the hotel shuttle to your room. Toronto is the country's largest city and one of the most varied anywhere; nearly half its people were born outside Canada, and Indian food is easy to find across the city. Keep this evening easy after the long journey and rest for an early start tomorrow.

The road follows the curve of Lake Ontario to Niagara, where the river drops over the Horseshoe Falls in a white wall of water and a permanent cloud of mist. The boat cruise takes you to the foot of the falls in a rain poncho, so close that the roar drowns conversation; it usually runs from about May to November, subject to weather and operation. Free time on the promenade gives the classic view before the return to Toronto in the late afternoon.

Make your own way to the meeting point for a two-hour guided drive around the centre. It passes the CN Tower, Union Station with its great columned hall, the Rogers Centre stadium and the lakefront, with stories of how a colonial town became a modern metropolis. Spend the afternoon at St Lawrence Market, strong on cheeses and baked goods, then the Distillery District, or ride the CN Tower lift for the view (not included).

Check out after breakfast for the short flight to Ottawa, where a driver meets you and takes you to the hotel. Use the afternoon on the hop-on hop-off bus, whose schedule varies by season: the Gothic Revival Parliament buildings on their bluff above the Ottawa River, part of them under long-term renovation, the Rideau Canal with its locks, and the leafy streets of the diplomatic quarter past Rideau Hall. The ByWard Market is the place for dinner.

After breakfast the private transfer takes you to the airport for the onward journey to Montreal; the train, about two hours, is an alternative we can arrange instead. Montreal is the largest city of French-speaking Canada, and the afternoon is yours for Old Montreal on foot: the Notre-Dame Basilica, whose blue and gold interior can be visited for a fee, the old port and the cafés of rue Saint-Paul.

An early breakfast for a full day out. The coach follows the St Lawrence to Quebec City, about three hours away, whose stone walls enclose the only fortified old town north of Mexico. You walk the upper town on its cliff, then descend to Place Royale and the narrow Petit-Champlain quarter, among the oldest streets in North America. On the way back the tour stops at Montmorency Falls, which drop further than Niagara, before the evening return to Montreal.

Breakfast, check-out and the hotel shuttle to Montreal-Trudeau airport for your flight home, or on to western Canada if you are combining this trip with the Rockies. With a later flight, the Jean-Talon market and a Montreal bagel make a good last morning; the city's bagels are smaller, sweeter and denser than the New York kind.