Glossy010

Hi everyone,

My husband and I are thinking about moving from Ottawa, Ontario to Burlington. Could you let me know what your opinions of the city are? Is it clean, safe? Are the people friendly? And what's the weather like? We're getting tired of the length of winter in Ottawa. We know we live in Canada so we're not expecting a tropical paradise, but at least a place where the winters are better. (Without having to move all the way out west). Anyway, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

Glossy.

Souvenir

It's a nice enough place, for what is effectively a suburb of Toronto. Rather cookie-cutter, as are all places around there. Not as cold as Ottawa, although the wind coming off the lake can be brutal. It doesn't snow as much as here but you do get lake-effect snow. Try shovelling wet cement.

RobertoMan

Hi,

I actually live in Burlington with my family. It's a really nice place to live. If you're used to the big city though you might have a little trouble adapting as there's not as many places to go. I'm 25 and i usually end up going to one of the pubs in downtown Burlington for a night out. The people in Burlington are ridiculously nice. I moved here from Manchester, UK in 2001 and it really amazed me how friendly everyone was at first. Now, i'm used to it. Is there any specific information you were looking for?

rossi1

Hi

we moved from the Uk to Burlington in may 08 and love it, we came over the summer before to check out areas, but non in my opinion matched Burlinginton.

We live close to the lake, so have never got bored walking down to timmies at night and walking down to the lakefront, dont think we will ever get tired of that view.

We have found the people have made us realy welcome, the kids are in a great school and they love it here...there is sooo much for families to do here and plenty for free.

Me and hubby our in our late 30's so still enjoy going for a drink when we get a chance, theres a few british pubs, but we find we normally go for a meal and have a drink while there, but we find there is a good enough choice of restraunts, shops etc... and love the fact you have the lake at the front, all your shops etc...in the middle and a 15 min drive to the top of burlington you are in the middle of nowhere, but with amazing views of burlington and Toronto.
We often get the train into Toronto, 50mins and 15 dollars later your there...fab!
By the way we are from liverpool, uk but would never think of living anywhere else but Burlington and even though this is our 1st winter, weve survived it so far and yet you do get the wind from the lake that is bitter, but probably not as bad as other areas.

so if you need any more information just let me know and good luck!

dbd33

I don't find Oakville very interesting either but that's a bit harsh.

rossi1

who mentioned oakville? I didnt!
To be honest i work in oakville and find burlington and oakville very similar!Both lovely places, especially down the lakeshore rd area.

dbd33

It's a joke. 15 minutes in any direction from Burlington gets you to another indistinguishable suburb of Toronto. I picked one at random.

Glossy010

Thanks for all your comments! We've only been to Burlington once and I seem to remember that it was a nice place. We're planning on driving down at some point to check it out for ourselves again. Do you have any recommendations for where we should make sure to go to? Does anyone work there or do most people commute to work in Toronto? Are the winters long? In Ottawa it snows a lot and it feels like it's always freezing cold. How do you guys find the winters down there?

Thanks again!

RobertoMan

The winters take a while to get used to. I'm not sure how it compares to Ottawa but i would imagine would get less snow here. There are a few British Pubs to go to in the downtown area - The Queenshead, The Dickens, both place are full of friendly people. If you're looking for a nice evening out in Burlington, i would personally go to Pepperwood Bistro - elegant, nice atmosphere and affordable. The lakeshore area around Spencer Smith park is nice during the summer when the weather gets really hot - average around 28 celsius in the summer.

cornmatthew

Yay, a Burlington thread.

I'm not sure that winter's any *shorter* here than it is in Ottawa. It's probably not as severe, though. The people I know in Ottawa skip work half the winter because it's too snowy. Slackers.

People seem friendly enough, and the neighbours are good to us.

There's something in the 'cookie-cutter' comment: while there are attractive buildings, the architecture isn't exactly inspiring. Then again, I lived in London and Cambridge in the UK, and you kind of stop noticing the pretty buildings after a while anyway.

There's no shortage of places to eat out. I liked Pepperwood. I must remember to go back there sometime.

cornmatthew

You also asked about work.

There are plenty of local businesses (and not just retail type work either), but where you'd find work really depends on what you do. Lots of people do commute to Toronto, but not everybody.

Burlington is also close to Hamilton, so you might find work in that direction as well.

johnh009

Some of the best "English style" fish and chips I ever had in Canada was at a "Scottish" pub in Burlington, close to the 401. I think it was the Black Bull or something?

Glossy010

Thanks you guys. All this sounds good. Does anyone know anything about the real estate market there? My husband is into real estate investing. What are the house prices like? Thanks!

BC15

That's a joke? The only joke about it is that it's so factually incorrect it's laughable. I read this last week and on sunday after seeing my friends in Carlisle drove through Kilbride and down Cedar Springs. At Dundas I clocked the time as I left to drive down Brant Street. I arrived at the end of Brant and opposite Spencer Smith Park exactly ten minutes later. This included two red lights. Cedar Springs begins on the northern side of Dundas. This is the beginning of open country and superb views, country and forest.
Go East and take the next line (Guelph) and you get into beautiful country north of Dundas including Mount Nimo and Crawford Lake. Do the same at Walker and Appleby and in ten minutes (from the lake) you get to the country which includes stables where the wife wanted horses and she gets them and their daughter's a pony, or two.
Being with 15 minutes in any direction would mean a lot of splashing in the lake. You would have to travel for a lot more than 15 minute to reach a Toronto suberb. Why, travelling east you would have to go through Oakville and Mississauga to get to your first Toronto suburb.
West from Burlington you would eventually come to Hamilton, but the area between west and north is rural.

dollface

Ottawa getting you down? where are you in Ottawa?