I will be at a conference in Burlington in late April (which you may have guessed by the thread title.) Anything I should try to do or try to avoid? I think I have one day with a lot of free time as I am flying in a day early.
Burlington (I live here) is a pretty dull place. It’s pretty much just a bedroom community of Toronto and Hamilton.
I would suggest you go into Toronto for fun; it’s not very far. The CN Tower is always a big tourist draw, and then you can say you were in the tallest building in the world. The Blue Jays are in town from the 18th to the 27th, playing all those days except the 20th and 24th, and some big time opponents are in town so you might want to see some big league baseball. The Royal Ontario Museum is a good time as well.
Niagara Falls isn’t far either.
The only good things about Burlington are the IKEA and the Labour Day Ribfest 
I’d also recommend seeing the main tourist locations in Toronto if you haven’t already (though there is a LOT to do there!), maybe catch a LoTR showing if you’re a fan. Hamilton can be an interesting town to visit, depending on your tastes, and Niagara and the wine country is a good way to spend a day (although ideally with a designated driver 
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It really depends on what sort of things you like to do. The weather is generally pretty good at that time of year, maybe a bit rainy.
Are you flying into Toronto or into Hamilton (John C. Munro International ariport)? A lot of agencies list Hamilton as something like “Toronto, 40km away” or something. If you end up at the Hammer airport, go check out the Canadian Warplane Heritage museum www.warplane.com . Loads of fun, you can climb into a bunch of the old planes, and if you have 275$ CDN (I think) and if they are flying at that time of year, you can even get a flight in one (probably have to book ahead).
Have fun!
Thank you for the guidance. I fly into Toronto but I think I have to be on a shuttle to Burlington pretty quickly. Maybe I can alter that. Any restaurant suggestions? Last time I was there, we found an interesting little downtown area with lots of restaurants but the one we chose was not so good (sorry, I don’t remember the name. It may have been an African restaurant.)
If you’re landing at Pearson, there’s Milestone’s, Topiary’s, Fox Bistro, Cora’s, Nirvana, La Castile, Jamie Kennedy’s Wine Bar…
Burlington has a surprising number of very good restaurants. The Water Street Cookery is a great spot with a great view of the bay; get the steak. Paradiso on Pine St. is also quite nice. Jake’s, on Walker’s Line, is excellent. Pepperwood Bistro is supposed to be good (never been there) and there’s a Rude Native just off Upper Middle, which has magnificent food.