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Toronto
Although the famous Niagara Falls are nearby, Toronto isn't a city with a checklist full of attractions. It's a city that grows on you slowly. Its summer festivals, the spicy corners of its markets, the beachfront boardwalks and the music pouring out of its neighbourhood eateries seduce you.
This is Canada's business capital and largest city, a clean, safe and vibrant metropolis where real estate prices are high and blood pressure levels are low. A centre for Anglo-Canadian culture, it's also one of the great ethnic melting pots of the world.
The city no longer carries the heavy, moralistic mantle of 'Toronto the Good'; its many immigrants have helped the city shake its traditionally standoffish image. It's a place just finding its feet, and is all the more charming for it, fresher than many a city its size.
Area: 632 sq km
Population: 2.4 million
Country: Canada
Time Zone: GMT/UTC -5 (Eastern Standard Time)
Telephone Area Code: there are a number of different area codes, each integrated into the phone number
back to top Orientation
Capital of the province of Ontario, Toronto sits in the heart of the Great Lakes region of southeastern Canada, on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. The city is 350km (220mi) southwest of Ottawa, 500km (310mi) southwest of Montréal, 560km (350mi) west of New York City and 335km (210mi) northeast of Detroit. The downtown area is clasped on almost all sides by a hotchpotch of bohemian, ethnic and historic neighbourhoods, with the remaining southern edge crisply defined by Lake Ontario, one of North America's Great Lakes. Yonge St, the main north-south artery, stretches about 18km (11mi) north from Lake Ontario through the central downtown area and beyond the city's northern boundary. Bloor and College Sts are the main east-west streets. At the lakeshore (south) end of Yonge St is the semi-developed Harbourfront area. Two blocks west is the CN Tower and the Skydome, Toronto's vast sports arena. North of the arena, Chinatown starts along Dundas St, just west of Yonge. Just north of that is the bustling university area and Yorkville, and to the west, Little Italy and The Annex. To the east of downtown lies Cabbagetown, an increasingly gentrified neighborhood that retains some Irish immigrant character. The Toronto Islands sit not far off shore in Lake Ontario.
Pearson International Airport is 27km (17mi) northwest of the downtown area, near Etobicoke. The cheapest way to get to/from the airport is by a combination of subway and bus, but there are also direct buses, taxis and hotel shuttles. Allow at least an hour if travelling by public bus from downtown Toronto. Ferries run every 15 minutes to the City Centre Airport from Bathurst St on Toronto's lakefront. The trip takes just minutes. The VIA Rail terminal, grand old Union Station, is a few blocks north of the Harbourfront area on Front St. The main bus terminal is at the edge of Chinatown on the corner of Bay and Dundas Sts.
When to Go
Toronto has a warm summer (June-early October) filled with festivals and events, making it the best time to visit. July and August can get muggy, however. Many visitor-oriented facilities, attractions and accommodations reduce hours or close outside of summer, but the ones that remain open almost always have reduced rates and smaller crowds. Toronto gets downright frosty in winter (November-March), with cold spells averaging between 2 and minus-10°C (35-14°F). Luckily, indoor arts (symphonies, theatre, opera) and sporting events (especially ice hockey) are at their liveliest during the snowy season.
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Events All of Toronto's main festivals and events take place between May and October, when there's little chance of snow and plenty of light by which to see them. Summertime festivals begin with mid-June's Caravan, a nine-day cultural exchange between the city's ethnic groups. The annual Gay Pride Week culminates in an outrageous out-of-the-closet parade on Church St. The excellent Du Maurier Downtown Jazz Festival attracts local and international players in June and early July. With scarcely a beat lost, Toronto's music scene segues neatly into the Great Canadian Blues & BBQ Festival, enlivening the Harbourfront in early July.
Also in July, flags drop at the Molson Indy, Toronto's only major car race, and the Fringe Theatre Festival raises its curtains. In August Caribana, an ever-growing Caribbean festival, celebrates with a weekend of reggae, steel drum and calypso music and dance. Its finale, and main attraction, is a huge Rio-esque parade. Come September, the internationally renowned Toronto International Film Festival has cinema buffs swooning in the aisles. And for the bookish at heart, the Harbourfront International Festival of Authors, also usually held in September, is the largest literary event of its kind anywhere.
The major public holidays are New Year's Day (January 1), Easter (April), Victoria Day (May 21), Canada Day (July 1), Simcoe Day (August 6), Labour Day (September 3), Canadian Thanksgiving (October 8), Remembrance Day (November 11) and Christmas and Boxing Day (December 25-26).
back to top Attractions
Cabbagetown
Cabbagetown, on the eastern outskirts of downtown, was settled by Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine of 1841. The area was so called as the sandy soil proved ideal for growing cabbage. Today it has possibly the richest concentration of fine Victorian architecture in North America and is worth a stroll to peek at some of the beautifully restored houses and their carefully tended gardens. Gentrified 19th-century worker cottages with picket fences mix with bay and gable houses, Toronto's most famous architectural style, and a myriad other superb buildings. Look out especially for the Toronto Dance Theatre & School, a soaring red-brick Romanesque Revival building with a distinctive weather vane. The Witches' House is nicknamed for its quintessential gingerbread-house appearance and the gargoyle on its front face. The Chapel of St James-the-Less, with its deep spire, is reminiscent of an English country church. It has justifiably been called one of the most beautiful buildings in Canada.
To the north of Cabbagetown is Rosedale, one of the city's wealthiest areas for almost a century. Here, striking Georgian and Victorian homes rub shoulders with country manors, with impressive gardens all round. If time is short you should head straight to Elm Ave, where almost every house has been listed by the Ontario Heritage Foundation for architectural or historical significance. They are all impressive, but particularly noteworthy are the two ornate faces of No 88 and the ornamental iron porch of No 93.
back to top Downtown Toronto
Downtown encompasses many of Toronto's most significant and easily accessible attractions. The CN Tower - at 533m (1748ft) the highest freestanding structure in the world since 1976 - has become a symbol and landmark of Toronto. Impressive views only go so far, however, and many find the cost and long queues to the observation deck a turn-off. A better deal might be to dine in its 360 Revolving Restaurant instead. If feats of engineering really rock your boat, you may want to also visit the SkyDome next door. It features the world's first fully retractable dome roof, a striking interior and a playing field large enough to park eight 747s.
The Old Town of York is the city's truly unmissable attraction. Many of Toronto's oldest and best-preserved buildings can be found here. Highlights include the Flatiron Building, with its triangular shape and famous trompe l'oeil mural, and the St Lawrence Market, whose Market Gallery hosts exhibits of art and historic artefacts relating to the city. The North Market's clock tower is one of the city's finest examples of Victorian classicism. The venerable St James Cathedral is graced by Tiffany stained glass, a grand organ and the tallest spire in Canada. Pay your respects to the city by strolling up Toronto St, a narrow street full of elegant triple-storey 19th-century office buildings.
The Harbourfront area is jumping with galleries and cultural centres, and its lakeshore breezes make for pleasant strolling when the humidity is up. A little further north, historic buildings such as Mackenzie House, Osgoode Hall and Campbell House vie for attention with the restored grandeur of the Elgin & Winter Garden Theatre Centre. Galleries and museums abound - the Art Gallery of Ontario and Museum for Textiles are two especially worth your time. Chinatown's bustling restaurants and stores add some spice to the mix.
back to top Little Italy
One of the great pleasures of exploring Toronto is visiting the city's many enclaves of immigrant cultures. Little Italy, west of the University of Toronto, is chock-a-block with see-and-be-seen outdoor cafes, bars, bakeries and fine ristoranti. Further northwest of Little Italy is the less sceney, more authentic Corso Italia, with the real Italian cinemas, smoky espresso cafes and pool halls. North of Bloor St the area is mainly Caribbean, and to the west there's Koreatown and multi-ethnic Bloor Village. The one-room Ukrainian Museum of Canada and a Tibetan Buddhist temple complete the multicultural picture of this section of Toronto.
While you're in the area, don your best threads and head to Casa Loma, literally 'House on a Hill', for a taste of the good life. This 98-room medieval-style castle-cum-mansion was built by wealthy electricity baron Sir Henry Pellat in the early 20th century. The sumptuous interior features the finest materials imported from around the world, including rugs in the same pattern as Windsor Castle's and a glorious Italian-made chandelier. Jutting up above The Annex, the mansion's towers offer city views that rival the CN Tower's. The restored gardens are open in summer.
Spadina House is another key Torontonian mansion, a gracious Canadian take on Art Nouveau. Built in 1886 and still lit by working gaslights, the impressive interior contains fine furnishings and art collected over three generations. The Edwardian and Victorian gardens are beautiful in spring and summer.
back to top Toronto Islands
Toronto's jewel-like islands are relatively new, formed in 1858 when a storm cut through the immense sandbar that stretched south of Toronto into Lake Ontario, creating the Eastern Channel. The islands' cool breezes are great on a hot, sticky day, and cycling along the paved paths and boardwalk on the southern shore isn't a bad way to spend some time.
Centre Island Park has the most amusements, including the quaintly old-fashioned Centreville Amusement Park, the Far Enough Farm, a hedge maze and a boathouse. The best beach on the islands is Hanlan's Point Beach, on the western end of Centre Island. Centre Island has hundreds of visitors each weekend, but no residents, as the 'sandbar bohemians' who had been living here for more than a generation were evicted in the '60s.
Algonquin Island Park and Ward's Island, on the other hand, managed to keep their homes and unique way of life. Once you see the small artistic communities for yourself you may feel a little jealous: the peace, lack of pollution and incredible skyline views of Toronto are really something. You can catch ferries to Hanlan's Point, Centre Island Park and Ward's Island. All islands are interconnected by bridges or footpaths.
back to top Yorkville
Once Toronto's smaller version of Greenwich Village or Haight-Ashbury, the old counterculture bastion of Yorkville has become the city's trés glamorous shopping and gallery district. Glitzy restaurants, nightspots and outdoor cafes feature, with a passing parade of Jaguars, Bentleys and classic convertibles to lift the general tone of things. The busiest streets are Yorkville Ave, Cumberland St and Hazelton Ave.
For quirky pop culture value, try the Bata Shoe Museum - shaped to resemble a stylised lidded shoebox - on for size. Among the 10,000 sole-stirring exhibits are 19th-century chestnut-crushing clogs from France, four-million-year-old footprints and the offcasts of such luminaries as Elton John, Indira Gandhi and Pablo Picasso. For more stuff in glass cases head to the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art for its excellent history of ceramics. Canada's largest collection of old things, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is only of limited interest; although, its Chinese temple sculptures and Gallery of Korean Art are some of the best in the world.
The nearby University of Toronto, Margaret Atwood's alma mater, has long been a wellspring and guardian of Canadian English-language literature. You don't need to be a literary pilgrim to enjoy wandering the historic buildings and UT Art Centre though. Not far from the student crowds, Toronto's gay village, Church St, stretches between Isabella and Alexander Streets. The hotspot is around Wellesley St, where you can eat, drink and dance up a storm.
For more information about Toronto please follow this link here.
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