Thinking of visiting Tornonto area

[TOkidd]

Originally Posted by fusion2

I think Closer to the end of August would be a great time to come to Toronto this summer:

One of my favourite festivals is buskerfest and it will be on yonge street this year (pretty much the most famous street in Toronto - Eaton Centre is on it).

Scotiabank BuskerFest in Support of Epilepsy Toronto ~ August 22-25, 2013 in the Downtown Yonge Neighbourhood - Toronto (Canada)

While you are at it you can check out the CNE - Canadian National Exhibition
Plus....

The brand new
Ripley's Aquarium of Canada | Toronto Aquarium | Things to do in Toronto

Check out the Toronto City pass as well because it includes tickets to Casa Loma and although some don't recommend the CN Tower it has tickets to that it and really the view is extraordinary! and the ROM is included as well which is a fantastic Museum. Heck you can spend a whole day at the Toronto Zoo it is one of the best out there! All these are in the city pass for a great price! Seriously Three days worth of stuff for 62 bucks each person

Official Toronto CityPASS® | Visit 5 Toronto Attractions for US$*62.12

You can seriously spend a full week just in Toronto during the summer! As others mentioned off the beaten track there are amazing nabe's in Toronto!

As others have said, Niagara Falls can't be missed but Toronto should be the focus of any trip up here!

That Toronto Pass sounds really cool, and would be a great idea for visitors to the city. Also, I totally agree with trying to line up your trip with one of the city's awesome summer festivals. There's one almost every week in the summer, so you'll no doubt arrive when one is going on, but some are better than others. Buskerfest is awesome, but Caribana is the quintessential Toronto festival/carnival. The Ex (CNE) is also a Toronto tradition that locals never seem to tire of, and for residents all over the GTA it is a great carnival that is also a region-wide reminder that Fall is just around the corner. The food is awesome, the exhibits are really cool, the shopping is amazing, but the rides and carny games are a rip-off and should be mostly avoided.

One thing I always advise visitors to the city to do is take a walk around when they first arrive and look for corners with newspaper boxes. Many corners have a free magazine called Now, which offers a very thorough guide to what is going on in the city that week - everything from musical acts, poetry readings, festivals, art exhibits, concerts, orchestral performances, theatrical performances, restaurant reviews, and on and on. It is the go-to guide for Toronto events.

Also, if you are foodies, do some research on the web beforehand, because Toronto has recently undergone a restaurant renaissance with so many unique and excellent spots of all price ranges and cuisines opening up all over the city. If there is a specific cuisine you want to eat while here (for example, Chinese, for which Toronto is famous, but has far more bad places than good ones. Ditto with Indian and Japanese / sushi, Korean, Caribbean and other ethnic cuisines that are very popular here) post it here and members can help point you in the right direction. For example, some awesome burger joints, pizza places, a couple stand-out BBQ joints, and some critically acclaimed trendsetters in the whole-animal movement, which carnivores will love have opened up in the last few years and shouldn't be missed. Places like the Black Hoof are on the cusp of this kind of cuisine. If you have some money to spend, Momofuko is probably the hottest high-end restaurant in town at the moment, and I can attest to the fact that it is incredible. There is also a ramen craze hitting the city, and Momofuko has a noodle bar at street level that serves inexpensive noodle dishes and excellent ramen. As far as food goes, Toronto has grown by leaps and bounds in the last ten years to become one of the premier food cities in North America.

So get back to us, let us know what we've posted that appeals to you, tell us a bit more about your interests, and we can give you even more advice about what to do, where to go, where to eat, etc. Toronto is an amazing city, but too many people come here without really educating themselves about what Toronto does really well, and they leave feeling that the city is overrated because they were looking for the wrong things in the wrong places. By posting here, you've made the first step in ensuring that you have a great time in the city.

Also, I don't know how long you plan to stay here, but if it's a week or longer, myself and others can recommend some great day-trips so you can see some of the many non-urban attractions of Southern Ontario.

[flyingscotsman]

Originally Posted by TOkidd

So get back to us, let us know what we've posted that appeals to you, tell us a bit more about your interests, and we can give you even more advice about what to do, where to go, where to eat, etc. Toronto is an amazing city, but too many people come here without really educating themselves about what Toronto does really well, and they leave feeling that the city is overrated because they were looking for the wrong things in the wrong places. By posting here, you've made the first step in ensuring that you have a great time in the city.

Also, I don't know how long you plan to stay here, but if it's a week or longer, myself and others can recommend some great day-trips so you can see some of the many non-urban attractions of Southern Ontario.

So glad I posted on here, thank you all for the great information.

Quick question regarding Niagara falls, is it worth doing at night to see it lit up or just stick to seeing during the day and preferably mid-week for less busy?

We will be planning on coming up later part of July, decided to go back to school as a mature student and have to abide by the school terms.

I liked the look of the city pass, I like science museums and my wife likes castles, (once visited 17 in 2 1/2 weeks in the UK), wife likes the architecture that goes with older style buildings/castles. We both like the idea of the zoo as well. Some gentle trail walking nature hiking would not go amiss.

Even a walk along the a waterfront is a nice relaxing pass time.

Looking like we would be in Toronto for 5 or 6 nights (not sure yet), so if there are a couple of day trips worth doing that would be wonderful as well.

As for the food scene I am Scottish and eat pretty much anything, my wife prefers fairly plain food (but she did try haggis in Scotland).

Glad to know that the baseball tickets should not be a problem and I checked they will be at home most of the time we would be there

Once again thank you so much for all the help.

[Stoke]

Check out a TFC game. We're terrible but the atmosphere can still be fun.

[flyingscotsman]

Originally Posted by Stoke

Check out a TFC game. We're terrible but the atmosphere can still be fun.

Not sure I could persuade the wife to do that, but being Scottish I think TFC are better than a large number of Scottish teams.

[AlsoNotMe]

TFC tickets even terrible ones can be hard to find just fyi!

[Habfanman]

Originally Posted by AlsoNotMe

TFC tickets even terrible ones can be hard to find just fyi!

Not any more. They can't give Fail Club tickets away these days!

[tarp]

You could spend a week or two in Niagara and still not run out of things to do. We have the gorge, the whirlpool aero cars, the butterfly conservatory, the Balls Falls, Short Hills, Port Dalhousie, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Lake Erie cottage country, the Welland Canal and its visitor's centre, quaint downtown Port Colborne, the hydroelectric project on the U.S. side has an awesome visitors center, and there are lots of other touristy things for kids like Bird Kingdom, mini Golf places, arcades, etc.

Never been to the Toronto Zoo, it's a ripoff, I use the National Zoo in D.C. which is free instead.

[TOkidd]

Originally Posted by tarp

You could spend a week or two in Niagara and still not run out of things to do. We have the gorge, the whirlpool aero cars, the butterfly conservatory, the Balls Falls, Short Hills, Port Dalhousie, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Lake Erie cottage country, the Welland Canal and its visitor's centre, quaint downtown Port Colborne, the hydroelectric project on the U.S. side has an awesome visitors center, and there are lots of other touristy things for kids like Bird Kingdom, mini Golf places, arcades, etc.

Never been to the Toronto Zoo, it's a ripoff, I use the National Zoo in D.C. which is free instead.

Going to the zoo on a trip to any city is not a great idea, unless that zoo happens to be very famous, or you have lots of time. The reason is that I'm sure most people have access to a good zoo closer to home, and there are other activities more unique to the city itself that should be covered instead, especially seeing as how going to the zoo usually swallows up an entire day. The only reason for a tourist to go to the Zoo while on vacation here is if they really want to see the pandas. Otherwise, wait until you get home to go to a zoo, and stick to the city and the Niagara area for more unique adventures.

[Beenhere4ever]

Surprised by the feedback on the zoo. It was my fourth Toronto trip. They had the polar bear cubs. The ride on Toronto transit was easy. And the afternoon was very pleasant. It would make a great exercise walk with all the ups and downs. I consider it one of the most worthwhile things I've done in any city. At home our zoo is not free. It is kind of a miniature version of the same zoo concept, but with much fewer animals. Plus, the weather I had for my visit was ideal. Until such time as I get to D.C., of course, I can't do a "compare and contrast", but I can rate my Toronto visit, and I give it very high marks. I wonder what the top ten things "you can do free in Toronto" are. I never took that approach. In 2004, I went to Little India. I could have done it free, but that wasn't my objective on that trip.