Destinations & day trips · 2026-09-21 · 8-minute read
London, Ontario to Toronto by car is 195 kilometres and two hours fifteen minutes door to door on a normal day - the 401 east past Woodstock, Cambridge and Milton, then the 427 and the Gardiner Expressway for the waterfront and the Financial District or the 401 and the Don Valley Parkway for midtown and the east - at a LondonLimo.net planning figure of $320-380 plus HST for a business sedan, $370-430 for an executive SUV and $580-680 for a Sprinter, fixed before the car arrives, with the gratuity inside, the tolls on the 407 if the chauffeur uses it, and the drop at Union Station, a Bay Street tower, a hospital's entrance, a hotel's porte-cochere or the Scotiabank Arena's door. The Toronto page has the destination and the city-to-city page the service; this article is the run itself, done properly, with the honest comparison with the train and the bus.
The run, hour by hour
| Leave London | The 401 to Milton | Into the city | Door to door | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5:30 a.m. | 1 h 25 | 35 min | 2 h | The emptiest run of the day |
| 7:00 a.m. | 1 h 30 | 50 min | 2 h 20 | The Gardiner's inbound crawl from 7:45 |
| 9:30 a.m. | 1 h 25 | 40 min | 2 h 05 | The desk's favourite departure for a noon meeting |
| 1:00 p.m. | 1 h 25 | 40 min | 2 h 05 | The quiet middle of the day |
| 3:30 p.m. Friday | 1 h 45 | 1 h | 2 h 45 | The 401 at Cambridge and the Gardiner both full |
| 7:00 p.m. | 1 h 25 | 35 min | 2 h | The evening run for a hotel |
| The return, 6 p.m. weekday | 1 h 50 out of the city | - | 2 h 40 | The Gardiner westbound and the 401 at Milton |
The Ontario 511 site has the live conditions and the Wikipedia article on the 401 the highway's history; the desk's dispatcher watches both.
The 401 east, in detail
Wellington Road or Highbury Avenue to the 401 at London's south edge, the highway east past the Dorchester and Ingersoll exits, Woodstock's ONroute at kilometre 235, the 403 split, Cambridge's interchange with the 8, the Guelph Line, Milton's escarpment, and the 407's western end at the 401 and the 403 near Mississauga; the truck lanes are full on a weekday afternoon and the desk's chauffeurs drive the left of the three from Cambridge. The Woodstock page and the Cambridge page have the towns on the way.
Into the city, by destination
The Financial District, Union Station, the waterfront hotels and the Scotiabank Arena: the 427 south to the Gardiner and off at Spadina or York. Midtown, Yorkville, the hospitals on University Avenue and the Bloor hotels: the 401 to the Allen Road or the DVP to the Bayview extension. Scarborough, the east and Pickering: the 401 straight through, or the 407 for a fee. The Toronto page has each district's drop and the Destination Toronto site the city.
The fixed fare, in detail
$320-380 for a business sedan, $370-430 for an executive SUV, $580-680 for a Sprinter, fixed before the car arrives, with the gratuity inside and the tolls on the 407 added at cost if the chauffeur uses it to save the passenger an hour on a Friday; a stop of thirty minutes on the way is inside the fare and the rates page has the classes. The taxi-limo alternative the desk has seen quoted is $220 to Pearson and not to the city; a taxi's meter to downtown Toronto is the taxi article's sum.
The corporate day
A London executive's day of meetings on Bay Street: the sedan at 6:30, the tower at 8:40, the chauffeur by the hour through the day for the meetings across the city and the dinner, and home at 10; the corporate page has the account and the hourly page the day's rate, and the corporate visitors article the companies that book it.
The hospital run
Toronto General, Mount Sinai, Sick Kids, Princess Margaret and Sunnybrook take London's referred patients, and the run is the sedan to the hospital's entrance at 8 for a 10 o'clock appointment with the return held open for the clinic's end; the medical page has the referrals and the out-of-town patients article the reverse journey.
The game, the show and the weekend
The Leafs or the Raptors at Scotiabank Arena, the Jays at the Rogers Centre, a concert at Budweiser Stage, the Royal Ontario Museum and a Yorkville hotel: the fare down, the travel desk's hotel and tickets, and the fare home on Sunday; the concert article has the Toronto show and the things to do article the reverse weekend.
The winter run
The 401 between Woodstock and Cambridge takes the snow squalls and closes once or twice a winter, and the chauffeur leaves thirty minutes earlier from December to February on winter tires with the Ontario 511 cameras watched the evening before; the winter article has the rules and VIA is the option on the day the highway closes.
The honest comparison with VIA and the bus
VIA Rail runs London to Union in two to two and a half hours several times a day at a per-seat fare on its site, and a solo traveller going to Union with one bag and time to spare takes it; FlixBus and Megabus run the corridor in two to three hours at a per-seat fare to a downtown stop; the car is door to door with the bags, the meeting's papers and the family, and the VIA article and the bus article do the arithmetic for each.
Three runs, as they went
A Bay Street meeting, a Tuesday. Masonville at 6:30, the tower at 8:35, the chauffeur through the day, home at 9:50. The corporate day by the hour.
A Sick Kids appointment, a family of three, a Thursday. Byron at 7, the hospital's entrance at 9:20, the return held open, home at 5:30. Two SUV fares with the wait.
A Leafs game and a Yorkville hotel, a couple, a Saturday. Old North at 2, the hotel at 4:15, the arena's door at 6:30, the hotel, home on Sunday at 3. Two sedan fares and the travel desk's room.
Booking it
The run is a fixed fare on the reservation engine in seconds with the Toronto address; the corporate day and the hospital's open return are one email to the desk; the Toronto page has the destination.
Three questions the desk is asked about the Toronto run
Does the chauffeur take the 407? Only when it saves the passenger real time - a Friday at 4 to the east end, a Monday morning to Markham - and the toll is added at cost on the invoice; the desk says so at booking.
Can we be dropped at two addresses? Yes - a stop of thirty minutes is inside the fare and a second drop across the city is a small addition the desk states; a day of several addresses is the hourly booking.
Can the return be booked open? Yes - a hospital's or a meeting's return held open by text, with the chauffeur in the city or back from London by the time the passenger is ready. The FAQ has the rest.
Woodstock, Cambridge and Milton, in detail
Woodstock's ONroute at kilometre 235 is the coffee stop and the last easy one; the 403 split at 236 takes the Hamilton and Niagara traffic off; Cambridge's interchange with the 8 at 282 is where the Kitchener traffic joins and the Toyota plant's shift change slows the merge at 5; Milton's escarpment at 320 is where the Toronto commuter belt begins and the express and collector lanes split at Mississauga. The Cambridge page and the Mississauga page have the towns.
The 427 and the Gardiner, in detail
The 401's collector lanes to the 427 south at Exit 352, the 427 past Pearson's edge to the QEW and the Gardiner Expressway eastbound along the lake, and the exits at Spadina for the waterfront hotels and the Rogers Centre, at York and Bay for the Financial District and Union, and at Jarvis for the east of the core; thirty-five minutes at 9:30 and an hour at 8 on a weekday. The Toronto page has the districts.
The DVP and the Allen, in detail
The 401 east past the 427 to the Allen Road south for Yorkville, the Annex and the hospitals on University Avenue by Avenue Road, or to the Don Valley Parkway south for Leslieville, the Distillery District and the east end's hospitals; the DVP's morning crawl from Lawrence is the reason the desk sends a 9 o'clock Sunnybrook appointment by the Allen. The medical page has the referrals.
The corporate day, in detail
The sedan at 6:30, the tower's loop on King West at 8:40, the chauffeur's card with the passenger's number, the second meeting in Mississauga at 1 by the QEW, the dinner in Yorkville at 7 and home at 10:30; twelve hours by the hour on the corporate account with one invoice, and the hourly page has the sedan's day rate.
The hospital run, in detail
Toronto General's and Mount Sinai's University Avenue entrances, Sick Kids' on University at Gerrard, Princess Margaret's at University and College, Sunnybrook's on Bayview: the sedan at the entrance at 9:45 for an 11 o'clock clinic, the chauffeur in the garage or the city by the hour, the return by text when the clinic ends, and home by 5; the out-of-town patients article has the pattern in reverse.
The game, the show and the weekend, in detail
Scotiabank Arena's Bay Street door and the corner at Bay and Lake Shore after, the Rogers Centre's gates on Bremner, Budweiser Stage's Lake Shore drop at Ontario Place, Massey Hall on Shuter, the Royal Ontario Museum on Bloor; a Yorkville or a waterfront hotel through the travel desk, and the concert article has the Toronto show's night.
The Sprinter and the group
Fourteen from a London company to a Toronto conference in the Sprinter with the table and the Wi-Fi at $580-680 each way, or a family of ten to a wedding at a Toronto hotel; the group transportation page has the manifest and the fleet page the Sprinter's cabin.
Booking checklist for the Toronto run
The date and the time; the pickup; the Toronto address and the district; the return, fixed or open; the vehicle; the 407 preference; the stop if any; the account or the card. Eight lines to the desk or a fixed fare on the reservation engine.
The honest summary
Two hours fifteen from a London door to a Toronto door at $320-380 for a sedan, with the 401's moods and the Gardiner's in the plan; the Toronto page has the destination and the city-to-city page the service.
