A chauffeured black car from London, Ontario to Stratford with LondonLimo.net is 60 km north on Highway 4 and Highway 7, or the 401 and Highway 8, in about fifty minutes off-peak, at a fixed rate shown before you confirm - a planning figure of $130-160 plus HST for a business sedan, $160-190 for an SUV, $260-320 for a Sprinter - or, for the matinee and the dinner, an afternoon and evening by the hour with the chauffeur waiting. The Stratford Festival's four theatres from April to October, the restaurants along Ontario Street and the river, the inns and bed-and-breakfasts, Stratford General Hospital, the Chefs School, the Avon's swans and St. Marys with its quarry and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame are the addresses the chauffeurs know. The City of Stratford's site has the calendar; the desk books the theatre transfer more than any other run north of London.
Why Londoners go to Stratford
The Festival, above all: North America's largest classical repertory theatre runs six months of Shakespeare, musicals and new work at the Festival Theatre, the Avon, the Tom Patterson and the Studio, and a London couple's or group's Stratford day is a matinee at 2, a walk by the river, dinner at 6 and the drive home at 9 - or the evening performance and a night at an inn. The restaurants are the second reason; the Chefs School trained many of them and the town eats better than its size. Stratford General's referrals, the town's furniture and food companies, St. Marys's baseball hall of fame and its quarry swimming hole, the Christmas lights and the Swan Parade in April fill in the rest. It is also the road to Waterloo when the 401 closes at Ingersoll, and a Stratford passenger is a stop on that run.
| From downtown London to | Sedan | SUV | Sprinter | Off-peak time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downtown Stratford, the Festival Theatre, the Avon Theatre, the inns | $130-160 | $160-190 | $260-320 | 50 min |
| Stratford General Hospital, the Chefs School, the industrial parks | $130-160 | $160-190 | $260-320 | 50 min |
| St. Marys, the Baseball Hall of Fame, the quarry | $110-140 | $140-170 | $240-300 | 40 min |
| Festival matinee and dinner, hourly, chauffeur waiting | $95-115 / h | $115-135 / h | $145-175 / h | 3 h minimum plus the run |
| London to Stratford and on to Kitchener-Waterloo | see the Kitchener page; Stratford is a stop |
LondonLimo.net planning ranges before HST, one way; the engine quotes the exact addresses and date. A Festival afternoon with the return is almost always cheaper by the hour.
The drive: Highway 4 and the country
North from London on Richmond Street and Highway 4 through Elginfield, or Wonderland Road and the 4, to Highway 7 at St. Marys's junction and east into Stratford; fifty minutes through farmland with the Thames crossed twice. The alternative is the 401 east and Highway 8 north through Tavistock, the same time on a good day. Both are two-lane country roads that a chauffeur drives at the limit, and both drift in a west wind in January; Ontario 511 is read before every run. Ontario Street's Festival-night traffic and the Avon Theatre's one-way approach are the chauffeur's local knowledge.
The Festival: the matinee, the evening, the four theatres
The Festival Theatre on the river's north bank with its famous thrust stage, the Avon on Downie Street downtown, the Tom Patterson on the river's south bank, the Studio behind the Avon: each has its own drop and its own place where a car may wait, and the chauffeur knows all four. A matinee starts at 2 and ends about 4:45; an evening at 8 ends about 10:45; the chauffeur waits nearby on an hourly booking and is at the door at the curtain. The Festival's site has the calendar and the running times; the travel desk books the tickets with the inn.
Dinner and the restaurants
Ontario Street, Wellington Street and the riverside have the restaurants that make Stratford a food town - the Chefs School's alumni run most of them - and the pre-theatre dinner at 5:30 or the post-matinee dinner at 6 is the reason the day is by the hour: the car waits, the wine is poured, and the drive home is somebody else's. The desk books the table if you ask.
The inns, the bed-and-breakfasts and the night
For the evening performance, a night in Stratford beats the 11 p.m. drive: the Bruce, the Mercer, the Foster's and the Parlour downtown, the bed-and-breakfasts in the Victorian streets, the Arden Park. The travel desk books the room with the tickets and the chauffeurs - the run up on the day, the chauffeur back for the drive home in the morning.
Stratford General and the medical run
Stratford General Hospital serves Perth County and takes referrals from the region, and a family's day from London is a chauffeured run with the chauffeur waiting at the entrance, by the hour or as two fixed runs on a household account; patients from Stratford and Perth County come the other way to London's hospitals every week, and the hospitals and medical page describes how medical runs are handled.
St. Marys, the quarry and the Baseball Hall of Fame
Ten minutes short of Stratford on Highway 7, St. Marys's limestone town on the Thames has the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, the quarry that is the country's largest outdoor swimming pool, a Victorian main street and the opera house; a London family's summer day by the hour touches the quarry and the hall of fame and ends with dinner in Stratford.
Business Stratford: furniture, food and the industrial parks
Stratford's furniture and food-processing companies, its automotive suppliers and its technology firms sit in the industrial parks on the town's east and south sides, and a London supplier's or professional's Stratford day is an hourly booking on the corporate account, often combined with a client dinner and the theatre - the most civilised client entertainment in Southwestern Ontario.
Weddings and events
The Festival Theatre's gardens, the Stratford Country Club, the barn venues of Perth County, the river's pavilions, the Revival House in the old church: a London wedding party by Sprinter and the guests by coach, the couple in a stretch through our partner fleet, quoted from the timeline as the wedding page describes; the Swan Parade in April and the Christmas lights in December are the family occasions.
Kitchener-Waterloo and the airport beyond
Stratford is forty minutes from Kitchener-Waterloo on Highway 7/8 and fifty from Waterloo airport, and a London run to either passes through Stratford when the 401 is closed or the chauffeur prefers the country road; a Stratford passenger joins as a stop.
Winter and the two-lane roads
Highway 4 and Highway 7 drift and close in a west wind more readily than the 401, and the chauffeur reads 511 and the forecast before every winter run; the Festival is closed in winter but the Christmas season and the hospital are not. Winter tires from November to April; all-wheel-drive SUVs on the bad days; the fixed rate unchanged.
The honest alternatives
VIA Rail stops at Stratford and St. Marys on the Toronto line a few times a day and suits a solo theatregoer going station to theatre, if the timetable matches the curtain; the Festival's own shuttle buses run from Toronto, not London. For the matinee and dinner, the inn, the hospital run and the client evening, the chauffeured fixed rate or the afternoon by the hour.
Three Stratford bookings, as they actually ran
A matinee and dinner, Saturday. A luxury sedan from Old North at 12:15, the Festival Theatre at 1:30, a walk by the river, dinner on Ontario Street at 6, and home at 9:15. Nine hours by the hour; nobody drove.
A client evening, Thursday. A business sedan from a London office at 3:30 with two guests, a meeting at a Stratford company at 4:30, dinner at 6, the Avon at 8, and home at midnight. On the corporate account.
A Festival weekend, July. A couple from Byron up on Friday at 4 for the evening show and a night at an inn, the chauffeur back Saturday at noon for the matinee and the drive home. Two fixed rates and an afternoon by the hour; the travel desk booked everything.
Three questions the desk is asked about Stratford
Can the chauffeur wait through the play? Yes - by the hour, nearby, at the door at the curtain. Can you book the tickets? The travel desk can, with the inn and the table. Is St. Marys on the way? Yes, ten minutes short of Stratford on Highway 7, and a St. Marys stop is priced as a stop.
Booking it
Two addresses on the reservation engine, the date and time, the vehicle class; the fixed rate appears; or book the Festival afternoon by the hour. Weddings, groups and client evenings are quoted by the desk; the rates page has Stratford beside Woodstock and St. Thomas.
Planning figures. Rates are LondonLimo.net planning ranges before HST, one way from downtown London; the engine quotes the exact addresses, date and vehicle. Theatre, restaurant, inn and hospital names describe where we drive and imply no affiliation; tickets are yours or the travel desk's.
What Stratford looks like from the car
Highway 7 arriving from the west along the Avon with the Festival Theatre's tent-roofed silhouette across the water, the swans on the river, Ontario Street's Victorian storefronts and its restaurants, the Perth County courthouse's tower, the leafy streets of the old town where the bed-and-breakfasts are, and the industrial parks on the town's east and south sides. The chauffeur knows the Festival-night traffic on Lakeside Drive, the Avon Theatre's one-way approach on Downie Street, the pickup points at each of the four theatres and the back roads to Kitchener when Highway 7/8 is slow; the City of Stratford's site publishes the road work and the parking rules.
Visitors coming the other way
A Stratford company's executive visiting a London customer, a Perth County patient referred to University Hospital, a Festival actor or director with a London engagement, a Stratford family collected for a flight from YXU: the same chauffeur, the same fixed rate in reverse, and the corporate account working for the Stratford company as it does for the London one.
Groups: the Festival coach and the school matinee
A London seniors' group to a matinee, a school's drama class to a student performance, a company's client group to an evening show and dinner: a coach through our partner fleet or two Sprinters, with the drop at the theatre's coach bay, the wait, and the return, quoted from the itinerary as the group transportation page describes. The Festival's group-sales office and the travel desk handle the tickets.
Booking checklist
The London address and the Stratford address or theatre; the date and the curtain time; whether the day is by the hour; the dinner reservation; whether a night at an inn is wanted; the group size; and the account or card. The desk confirms in one email.
