Sights—CN Tower; Eaton Centre (along with 16 mi/26 km of underground shopping); Toronto Islands; St. Lawrence Market and the Esplanade area; Rogers Centre; Air Canada Centre; Harbourfront; Toronto Zoo; The Distillery Historic District.
Museums—Royal Ontario Museum; Art Gallery of Ontario; Ontario Science Centre; Hockey Hall of Fame; Spadina Museum: Historic House & Gardens.
Memorable Meals—Foie gras at North 44; pasta at Grazie Ristorante; anything Chinese on Spadina Avenue; drinks and Mediterranean treats at Ouzeri; gourmet burger or wood-fired pizza at the Sunnyside Pavilion Cafe.
Late Night—Bistros in the trendy Queen Street West section of town; pubs in the Beaches; the cafes and bars of Little Italy; eateries on the Danforth; dim sum in Chinatown.
Walks—Along the river at Harbourfront Centre; the boardwalk beside Lake Ontario; along Queen Street West; through any of Toronto's three Chinatowns; along Greektown on the Danforth; through trendy Yorkville; around Ontario Place; around the University of Toronto; any of the eleven Discovery Walks.
Especially for Kids—Royal Ontario Museum; Riverdale Farm; Ontario Science Centre; CN Tower; Ontario Place; Rogers Centre; Centreville on Toronto Island; Toronto Zoo; Black Creek Pioneer Village; Paramount Canada's Wonderland.
Toronto sits on the north shore of Lake Ontario. Distinctive neighborhoods punctuate the various sections of the city, each with unique shops, cafes and markets. Yonge (pronounced
young), the longest street in the world, is the main north-south artery. Bloor and Queen streets are busy east-west thoroughfares that intersect with Yonge Street downtown. Other streets follow a fairly neat grid pattern. The airport is in the northwest corner of the city; the zoo in the northeast. The lakeshore runs along the southern edge, and Toronto's two major landmarks, the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre, are nearby.
People in Toronto refer to the city's neighborhoods by quoting streets or intersections. For example, Yonge and Bloor is the city's center, and King and Bay is the heart of the financial district. Yorkville (just north of Bloor Street, west of Yonge Street and near the Royal Ontario Museum) has the town's most upscale shops and an abundance of chic cafes. Greektown on the Danforth (the name Bloor Street adopts east of the Bloor Viaduct—between Castlefrank and Broadview subway stations) is the place to look for casual Mediterranean dining and bouzouki music. Queen Street West offers an assortment of shopping—great junk, boutiques, bookstores and funky antiques—as well as fine bistros. The Beach (Queen Street, east of Woodbine) includes a 1.8-mi/3-km wooden promenade along the shore of Lake Ontario. Harbourfront is another waterfront development featuring luxurious condominiums, cafes, art galleries and cultural venues. Most of these areas are easily reached on foot or via public transportation. And don't forget the PATH, 16 mi/26 km of underground shopping. It stretches across the downtown core and connects to major tourist attractions, parking garages and hotels. But it does not follow the grid pattern of the streets above.
Inhabited by the Seneca and later by the Mississauga tribe, Toronto became a thriving trading post after the French arrived in the 1600s. The French built forts there, only to be driven out by the British in 1763. A haven for British loyalists during the American Revolution, Toronto was the site of several battles in the War of 1812, with U.S. forces capturing the city for 11 days. Retaken by the British, the settlement's population grew rapidly after the war, topping 9,000 in 1834—the year Toronto was incorporated as a city.
The city's conservative, religious character earned it the nickname "Toronto the Good" in the 1800s and early 1900s. A new wave of immigrants after World War II transformed the town into Canada's largest city and a bustling, international metropolis.
In January 1998, the provincial government amalgamated the seven municipalities that made up Toronto, creating the new city of Toronto. The undisputed financial center of Canada as well as a cultural mecca for global tourists, Toronto markets itself as the "Home of the World."
Dubbed Hollywood North because of the number of movies filmed in the city, tourists regularly rub shoulders with celebrities in Toronto's boutiques and local cafes, especially during the annual Toronto International Film Festival in September. The best places to see a star during the festival are at the upscale Bistro 990 on Bay Street or any of the Starbucks locations in Yorkville.
Want to avoid the central traffic mess and the accompanying headache during rush hour? Take Rosedale Valley Road, a long, wonderful and winding road through a valley most people don't know exists.
Not far from the Eaton Centre, the busiest downtown shopping mall in the city, sits the tranquil Church of the Holy Trinity. This is where locals and tourists alike go for a moment of peace within a hectic day. It's accessible year-round.
Overlooking the waterfront, visitors will observe a string of islands known as the Toronto Islands. This bastion of green houses the city's only public clothing-optional beach (on Hanlon Island). The islands are accessible by the Toronto Islands Ferry. The beach hosts as many as 400 visitors daily during the summer months.
Torontonians who have penned works of fiction about Toronto include: Michael Ondaatje (In the Skin of a Lion); Michael Redhill (Consolation); David Bezmozgis (Natasha and Other Stories); Dionne Brand (What We All Long For); and Anne Michaels (Fugitive Pieces).
Glenn Gould, the world-renowned pianist whose most famous recording was The Goldberg Variations, lived in Toronto and is buried at the Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
The 501 Queen Streetcar is one of the longest streetcar routes in North America, covering nearly 31 mi/50 km of the city. National Geographic dubbed it one of the world's top 10 trolley routes.
