You can take the GO Train from Toronto to Niagara Falls again starting this weekend

Itching to get out of the city after more than four months of feeling like you can't, or shouldn't go anywhere too far from your own front door?

I don't blame you. Between border closures, pandemic safety restrictions, public health recommendations, quarantine lockdown orders and the daily bombardment of information about COVID-19, it's been a weird time to travel.

Fortunately, you don't need your passport to have a good time. Just get on the GO Train.

Local vacation destinations like Niagara Falls are welcoming back tourists from our home and native land as most of Ontario enters Stage 3 of the provincial government's economic reopening plan.

Starting this weekend, you won't even need a car to get there: GO Train service will be resuming between Toronto and Niagara Falls on Aug. 1, providing a cheap, safe and affordable way for city slickers to explore the falls for a day.

📢Niagara GO train service returns📢 ​
Starting Aug 1, we’re reintroducing weekend train service between Toronto & Niagara Falls! Newly improved schedules help you safely discover the beauty of your own backyard. Start planning your journey here: https://t.co/fL17cblHRo pic.twitter.com/K0bUqq8nQm

— GO Transit (@GOtransit) July 28, 2020

Trains will run every Saturday, Sunday and holiday Monday with four trips to Niagara and back scheduled each day, according to Metrolinx.

The GO Transit operator will even hook you up with a discounted "WEGO" bus pass to get around Niagara Falls locally once you arrive, according to a blog post published Tuesday.

A whole host of attractions are now open around the falls (with social distancing protocols in place, of course), including whirlpool jetboat tours, the Niagara Skywheel, Nightmares Fear Factory, the journey behind the falls and that epic new zipline.

"We are pleased to see the return of weekend GO Train service into Niagara as we continue to take steps to recover from the effects of COVID-19," said Niagara Region chair Jim Bradley Tuesday.

Bradley noted that the Niagara tourism sector  employs more than 40,000 people who "rely on visitors from the Toronto area."

The reintroduction of weekend GO Train service should surely help them out.

by Lauren O'Neil via blogTO