Places to fly from Rockcliffe > Further afield

Places a little further away, where you could spend the night and make a weekend trip of it. (Thanks Alison Hobbs for the reviews). Most are less than 3 hours away from Rockcliffe by 172.

All of these locations have been tested by our roving aviators.>None of these destinations is more than two or three hours away:

Québec

• Quebec City, there is always an interesting show at the museum of civilization if you don't have any other reason to go.
• Trois Rivieres 
• Montreal Dorval or St Hubert.
• Riviere-du-Loup
• Ile-aux-Coudres-- landing on a island is so romantic! 
• Sherbrooke (to explore L'Estrie, the Eastern Townships area) 
• La Macaza North of Mont-Tremblant (stay at one of the "auberges" nearby) 
• St Victor de Beauce, south of Quebec City 
• Bromont, another destination in the Eastern Townships

Ontario

• Toronto land at Buttonville or City Center: not as scary as you would think
• Stratford: for the Festival, stay overnight or for several days. 
• St Catherines: for Niagara Falls and/or Niagara-on-the-Lake, Shaw Festival anyone?
• Goderich 
• Kitchener: overnight stay in Guelph, if you land there
• Brampton: Not much farther than Toronto, visit the Visit The Great War Flying Museum
• Manitoulin Island: (there are two airports on the island
• Killarney: stay at Killarney Lodge with the jet-set, if you can afford it! but reserve way ahead...
• Muskoka: there's a motel on the main road within walking distance of the airfield, or you could go into Gravenhurst
• North Bay
• Georgian Bay: (near Parry Sound) restaurant within walking distance, on the main road north (the Trans-Canada Highway) Flying along southern Georgian Bay is beautiful.
• Oshawa: just before you get to Toronto.

and, across the U.S. border,

The following airports are also within easy flying distance from Rockcliffe airport and are recommended by Alison Hobbs them as attractive stopping places, especially if you're prepared to pay for a short taxi ride into the towns they serve. Sometimes, if you're lucky, local hotels will send free shuttle busses to the airport to pick you up:

• Watertown, NY (we stayed overnight at nearby Sackets Harbor the lakeside historic town to the west of Watertown)
• Ithaca, NY
• Saranac Lake, NY
• Lake Placid, NY: the circuit goes around the ski jump tower - impressive.
• Burlington, Vermont: (in this case there are hotels very close to the FBO and a restaurant at the passenger terminal)
• Alexandria Bay, NY: for a view of the 1000 Islands from the other side of the St Laurence
• Portland, Maine
• Montpelier, Vermont
• Rutland State, Vermont: hike some of the Apallachian Trail
• Sandusky, Ohio: They have a shuttle that will take you to Cedar Point Amusement Park

Northern Ontario: (Peter Mucklow)

Why not venture North and enjoy the vast beauty of Northern Ontario? Think you don't see many planes in the skies around this area? You OWN the skies up there!! You can't beat the Fall colours in the Quebec hills around Mattawa following the Ottawa River to its head at Lake Temiskaming in the Tri-town area (New Liskeard, Haileybury, Cobalt). North Bay is a good rest stop for trips into Sudbury (Big Nickel), Earlton, Kirkland Lake, St Bruno de Gigue (Que), Timmins, Cochrane (Polar Bear Express to Moosenee), Iroquois Falls, Hearst, Kap, etc. if you want to break things up a little.

From experience I know that Kirkland Lake and Earlton have long/wide runways (4500'-6000') in excellent condition and well maintained. Most traffic there is GA, Air Ambulance, and Business jets (mining/waferboard companies got lotsa money!).Other than fuel (cheap - $1.01-1.02/litre!!) and tiedown, not alot of services on the fields. But all are close to their respective quaint towns. And folks are extremely nice up North.

Lots of farming in and around the Tri-town area on both the Ontario and Quebec sides, so plenty of places to put down if the need arises. No worries there.

Timmins (Shania Twain, mine tours) is ClassE dual r/w, but is relatively quiet. Some scheduled Dash-8 service offered by Air Ontario, but mostly GA traffic. So go North, get away from the rat-race, and enjoy ClassG to the max!!