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Hey everyone, long time lurker here, rare poster, was just seeking some input in regards to the city if Toronto. My girlfriend and I, both in our mid twenties will be visiting Toronto for the first time in a month (first time in Canada actually) and we are extremely excited about our trip. We will be driving from Columbus Ohio and are staying through an air bnb location in Liberty Village, near liberty street I believe. We are planing on relaxing and exploring and enjoying Toronto over the course of 5 days with a fairly relaxed schedule and open mind. I was seeking any recommendations or any must see attractions, locations, venues, restaurants, etc that we should check out while we are there.
Ive been doing quite a bit of general research on different neighborhoods and cool things around the city, just wanted some personal recommendations from people that actually live there or have lived there. We are open to suggestions and any feedback. We are interested in street art, museums, music, dance, restaurants, cool photo spots etc. Were thinking maybe a little more off the beaten path type stuff but any cant miss or cool major attractions would be appreciated as well. Thanks!
Hey everyone, long time lurker here, rare poster, was just seeking some input in regards to the city if Toronto. My girlfriend and I, both in our mid twenties will be visiting Toronto for the first time in a month (first time in Canada actually) and we are extremely excited about our trip. We will be driving from Columbus Ohio and are staying through an air bnb location in Liberty Village, near liberty street I believe. We are planing on relaxing and exploring and enjoying Toronto over the course of 5 days with a fairly relaxed schedule and open mind. I was seeking any recommendations or any must see attractions, locations, venues, restaurants, etc that we should check out while we are there.
Ive been doing quite a bit of general research on different neighborhoods and cool things around the city, just wanted some personal recommendations from people that actually live there or have lived there. We are open to suggestions and any feedback. We are interested in street art, museums, music, dance, restaurants, cool photo spots etc. Were thinking maybe a little more off the beaten path type stuff but any cant miss or cool major attractions would be appreciated as well. Thanks!
Matt
You have to visit nabe's like the Annex, Yorkville, Kensington Market (Sundays are great at Kensington!), Chinatown (Spadina/Dundas one - take a pass on the Broadview Gerrard Chinatown its smaller and less interesting), Little Italy - food!, The Distillery District (go on the weekend - Sat or Sun), Entertainment District (straight nightlife - esp Fri/Sat nights) and you must walk up Queen St W (unique/funky shopping) and King Street W - two of the nicest strolls in the city! Of course the DT core is a must just to take in the bustle of one of the largest DT cores on our continent. Walk walk walk. Old Toronto is imminently walkable! Even chintzy, you have to check out Yonge street (busiest street in the city), go to the Eaton Centre/Dundas Sq (Yonge/Dundas intersection) with all its billboards and ped vibrancy - weekends usually there are free events/concerts etc there.. Also, check out the Gay villiage at Church and Wellesley and grab some perogies at Hair of the Dog and a Canadian craft beer there! Walking through these nabe's places will give you a great sense of the pulse of the city!
If you like Sausages and beer lol - go to WVRST sausage hall on King Street West! What types of food do you guys like because Toronto is incredibly diverse, whatever your taste there will be a great restaurant. If you want something unique, try the Black Hoof as long as you're meat eaters!
Must see attractions - Hockey Hall of Fame (if you like hockey- if not take a pass!), Casa Loma (a 'castle'), Royal Ontario Museum (ROM-best museum in the city - if just one museum do this one!), Art Gallery of Ontario - best art gallery in the city, heck why not the CN Tower (tallest tower in the western hemisphere) it gives the best views of the city and if you like Aquariums, Toronto has a great one in Ripley's Aquarium of Canada (awesome fun even for adults and very intereractive) at the base of the CN Tower. Smaller niche museums that are close to the ROM are the Gardner ceramic museum and Bata Shoe museum which are both super interesting and worth a look time permitting!
All the places I've mentioned you can google to narrow down what you'll be most interested in but they are all in/close to or straddling the DT core. If you get a city pass you can shave money off the entrance fees to some of those places. Just google Toronto citypass or click link below. It may be worth the money even if you visit only 2 or 3 of the attractions vs paying individually - I think there is five included in the price - I always do city pass in large N.A cities I visit. The good thing about City pass is they just added Ripley's aquarium.. For a 5/6 day stay in Toronto city pass is a no brainer imo!
As the weather turns nicer as well, the city becomes alive with festivals of every genre you can thing of! When you visit, it just so happens that doors open is going on which means you can visit many of the cities architectural sites that are normally closed to the public and its free so you can stop by some of them during your walks! Even though I highly recommended walking - good idea to make use of the PT system - esp the subways as Toronto's DT core and environs is very large for a N.A city. Being in liberty villiage you'll probably become aquainted with taking Toronto's ubiquitous Streetcars (Trolley's).. Since you're in Liberty villiage as well - might as well go to the Drake and even Gladstone Hotel - live music/bar venues one night - artsy!
Good spots for skyline views include Riverdale Park (take subway or streetcar), and Humber Bay Park (streetcar). If you're interested in using the bikeshare, you can bike to those too, there's some pretty nice bike trails connecting those two spots to the waterfront near Downtown and Liberty Village. Those trails go along the waterfront a bit past Humber Bay to the west (with High Park along the way, if you cross the highway), and also up the Humber River for about 10 miles; east along the waterfront to the Don River, where you have a junction with trails going far up the Don River, along Lakeshore Road to the Beaches, or along Cherry Street (bike on the road, but not too much traffic) through the Port Lands, past Cherry Beach and to Tommy Thompson Park.
Tommy Thompson Park (aka Leslie Spit) is a man-made peninsula that juts out about 5 miles into Lake Ontario. It's still actively used as a place to dump construction rubble, so it's only open on weekends, but much of it has been taken over by nature, and it's a great place for skyline views. There's also the Toronto Islands, accessible by ferry from downtown (you can take a bike along), mostly a big park with marinas and a few little "villages".
Out of those, the most popular stretch for biking seems to be Downtown to Humber Bay.
I think the pedestrian bridge by Draper Street across the railway tracks is good for sky-line photos too.
Iconic spots for (non-skyline) photos would be the Distillery District, Dundas Square, City Hall, York Pier (waterfront), CN Tower area
Distillery District, St. Lawrence Market, AGO would be on my to-do list. Also you could go for a sunday evening stroll along the Martin Goodman Trail...Those are a few of about 17 gajillion recommendations.
Buying TTC pass is a good way to see some of the city. Purchase at any TTC subway station, at the fare collector's booth. A cheap way to go for a ride, on a street car, bus or the subway ( no graffiti to be seen on the subway cars ). Travel all over the city for a bargain price.
Thanks for all the responses, Im looking into some of the things listed now
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