Toronto has many nicknames — Hog Town, The 6, The Big Smoke, Hollywood North, T.O., or T-Dot — but each identity only hints at the thrills of this multicultural melting pot. There are cutting-edge neighbourhoods and beach-fringed islands to explore, a lake to cruise, vineyards to dip into, a river to kayak, a tower to dangle off and plenty of what Canada does best: extreme weather, ice hockey and unfailing politeness. Here’s what no visitor to Toronto should miss . . .
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1. Get drenched at Niagara Falls
Visit Toronto without making the effort to see Niagara Falls and Canadians will think you’ve gone off your rocker. They have a point. The 670m-wide whopper is often rated as the world’s most beautiful waterfall and while that’s up for debate, what can’t be questioned is where to put it on your Toronto itinerary: and that’s right at the top. The mistake made by plenty of visitors is to see the falls as one entity, but they straddle the US-Canadian border with Horseshoe Falls, the biggest and most impressive of the three Niagara River cascades, plummeting from the Canadian side. To voyage into the heart of the falls like Columbus, albeit in a luminous rain poncho, jump on a Niagara City Cruise.
2. Take in the views from the CN Tower
There are many things to scare you in Toronto: how cheap it is compared to the UK; or how cold it can get in midwinter. But nothing compares to the monumental terror of looking down through the glass floor inside the CN Tower’s observation gallery, or embarking on the nerve-fraying EdgeWalk, the world’s highest hands-free circuit around the top of the main pod. A brave face seems to be the form.
3. See the Stanley Cup
You might not give two hoots about ice hockey, but suck it up. Excepting the nation’s bizarre obsession with Tim Hortons coffee and doughnuts, it’s the one thing that unites all Canadians, and the Hockey Hall of Fame is Shangri-La for sports fans. For Brits, most of the NHL’s players could be anybody, but the silverware shines and there’s enough memorabilia to fill the nearby Scotiabank Arena, where the hometown Maple Leafs play. The star exhibit is the Stanley Cup championship trophy — to ice hockey what the Jules Rimet trophy is to England football fans.
4. Sail Lake Ontario
Canada knows how to do big. Take Lake Ontario, for example. It’s the smallest of the Great Lakes, and yet the 13th largest in the world, and over 1,200 times the size of Windermere in the Lake District. For a chance to savour its seemingly unfathomable reaches with the wind in your sails, head out from Queens Quay West past the Toronto Islands on board a 41-footer. The highlight of a small group trip for many is learning the ropes and how to navigate your yacht.
5. Discover a castle in Downtown
You could blame Canada’s Scottish heritage, or the city’s love of all things with chutzpah for Casa Loma: a gothic revival castle so storybook perfect it could have been drawn by an over-imaginative child. Abandon your plans and diarise enough time to explore its great hall, library and conservatory, suites, stables and gardens — all come tailored with Euro-style pomp. If you think you’ve seen the castle before, it’s because you probably have; Hollywood has used it for various film and TV projects. Most notably it’s been Wayne Manor, the home of Batman.
6. Step into shoe history
Which museums you visit will depend on your personal interest (textiles, Persian art, sugar or optical illusions), but one shouldn’t be missed: the Bata Shoe Museum. Housed in a world-leading research centre, the galleries lead you through more than 14,000 bits of footwear cherry-picked from 4,500 years of shoe-wearing history. Oddities include Samurai slippers made from bear fur and loafers woven from human hair.
7. Wander Kensington Market
Toronto is cheek-by-jowl with up-and-coming neighbourhoods, but multicultural Kensington Market west of Downtown Toronto is extra special. You’ll know you’ve arrived when you see wall-to-wall vegan and gluten-free bakeshops, patio breweries, vintage thrift stores, popcorn companies and fairtrade coffee shops. Allow at least half a day for exploring its graffiti-splattered streets.
8. Admire the Royal Ontario Museum
The family-friendly sightseeing starts from the get-go at the Royal Ontario Museum, with the astonishing Michael Lee-Chin Crystal extension, a series of intersecting gigantic crystals that jut out on to Bloor Street. Then things get more spectacular: past Gordo the Barosaurus, the largest dinosaur fossil found in Canada, the galleries pinball you between Chinese temples, Egyptian mummies, a mammoth skeleton and a reimagined Jamaican bat cave, home to more than 800 models. By the time you’ve visited you’ll have travelled the world — and the centuries — and absorbed a stupendous amount of trivia.
9. Day-trip to the Toronto Islands
For island lovers, Toronto’s trump card is the Toronto Islands: a boomerang-shaped archipelago where sheltered coves reveal exactly why locals love the summer so much. Rent a canoe, stand-up paddleboard or kayak to see Gibraltar Point Lighthouse, or stake out a spot on one of the many picnic areas for a day in the sun. Hanlan’s Point Beach and Ward’s Island Beach are the most-photographed strips of sand for good reason, with the walk between the two taking a couple of hours. In total there are 15 islands to explore, so focus on two or three to make the most of a day-trip.
The Distillery District (Alamy)
10. Drink in the Distillery District
Amid all the skyscrapers, Toronto has history if you know where to look. The red bricks of the Distillery District, once the home of the world’s largest distillery, were first laid nearly 200 years ago in 1832 and today’s cluster of industrial heritage buildings trade on such history. Come with a full wallet and empty stomach for its terrific stores, restaurants and bars. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s a handful of distilleries (Spirit of York does whisky, gin and vodka; Izumi brews sake), but no matter how much you sample, ignore the temptation to join a Segway tour and instead take in a gallery, art studio or performance at the Young Centre.
11. Ride the coasters at a theme park
Always a good tip in North America: check out an amusement park to see locals in their happy place. Canada’s Wonderland, north of Downtown, is where to go for rollercoaster thrills, rickety gold-mine rides and the record-breaking Yukon Striker, the world’s fastest and longest “drop” coaster, which plummets at a silly 80mph. Skip the hot dog and maxi cup of soda beforehand.
The Rogers Centre (Getty Images)
12. Catch the baseball
The Rogers Centre is the gateway to Canada’s love affair with major league baseball and is home to the Toronto Blue Jays. They haven’t won the World Series (the sport’s big-hitting trophy) since 1993, so you won’t be coming for glory, but rather to see the team play one of the league’s big guns. Thanks to geography — and the jumbotron screen — you might get an eyeful of the best batters in the business from the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and the other major league teams. The season runs from April to October, with the World Series taking place once the league standings have been decided in November.
The Art Gallery Of Ontario (Alamy)
13. Admire the AGO
AGO, or the Art Gallery of Ontario, is worth half a day of anyone’s time. Beyond Frank Gehry’s blue titanium exterior, the arthouse hides the most significant collection of painting and sculpture in Canada, with plenty of works reflecting the country’s wide open skies, vast oceans, and rhythmic prairies. Peter Paul Rubens’s The Massacre of The Innocents is the painting everyone comes to see, but you’ll find as much artistry in the oil work of the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson — to Canada what Turner is to England.
14. Drive the Niagara wine trail
There’s more than one wine area to visit in Ontario, Toronto’s home province, but by far the most storied is Niagara. The so-called birthplace of Canadian winemaking and Canada’s largest cluster of vineyards, the area is an all-year-round affair, with everything from large estates to Ma and Pa back garden outfits. Appellations include Niagara River, Niagara Lakeshore, Four Mile Creek and St David’s Bench, with the lake effect resulting in fruity labels and ice wines in the -8C temperatures of winter. Leave Toronto early enough for the two-hour drive south and you can squeeze four or five visits into a long day trip.
Peameal bacon in St Lawrence Market (Getty Images)
15. Eat a peameal bacon sandwich
All North American cities share a love of one particular street food — it’s deep-dish pizza in Chicago, the Philly cheesesteak in Philadelphia — and in Toronto it’s a peameal bacon sarnie. The cornmeal-rolled, wet-cured slab of bacon comes loaded on a kaiser roll with mustard and is most memorably served at the red-bricked St Lawrence Market, a downtown bazaar that has been dishing them out since 1854. Try it at the Carousel Bakery. The sandwich was the brainchild of an English immigrant, and there’s plenty to thank the city’s liberal immigration policy for elsewhere — the market floor hums with Cretan olive oil vendors, Portuguese grillers and Ukrainian pierogi rollers.
16. Bike High Park
For all Toronto’s skyscraper boulevards and high-rise condos, the city brims with greenery. Nowhere better, in fact, than at High Park, the city’s nature-filled playground with plenty of tempting distractions. Among these are a zoo, playground, picnic areas, greenhouses, restaurants and a lake (or ice rink in winter). The bike trails are gorgeous too. For bike rental, download the Bike Share Toronto app for access to nearly 7,000 bikes scattered across the city.
The Royal Alexandra Theatre (Alamy)
17. Live it up in the Entertainment District
Downtown Toronto is a whirl of disco beats, electronica, theatres, gastropubs and restaurants. Make time for a show — those at Roy Thomson Hall or Princess of Wales or Royal Alexandra theatres are worth the splurge — or bar hop from Steam Whistle Brewery to The Porch, with the ultimate patio view of the CN Tower.
Kayaking on the Humber River (Alamy)
18. Kayak the Humber River
Beaver, cotton-tail deer, mink and coyote. Not the average sort of street life to spot in one of North America’s metropolises, but then a tootle down the Humber River by kayak isn’t any old excursion. The river runs through the city’s West End, emptying out into Lake Ontario, and it’s ideal if the thought of living out a Yukon-style fantasy appeals. Join a guided tour for a beginner lesson, or rent your own vessel to paddle at your own pace.
The view from Canoe
19. Dine on high
Canadian cuisine is better than you think it is — and Toronto is home to the lion’s share of the country’s world-class restaurants. One such place is the romantic Canoe, offering a seasonal and contemporary Canadian menu based on whatever chef and self-proclaimed outdoorsman John Horne can find in the market, forest, or lake. It’s located on the 54th-floor of a Downtown high-rise, with will-you-marry-me views and a wine list including Niagara bottles of fizz.
Art in Graffiti Alley (Alamy)
20. Go on a graffiti tour
Street art is an indelible part of Toronto’s urban make-up — indeed, it’s encouraged and granted municipal significance — and the best place to mural-spot is in the Fashion District, west of Downtown. The highlight for many is Graffiti Alley, which is spray-painted gutter to gable by celeb can wielders and is as much an introduction to here-and-now pop art and street culture as it is to one of the city’s lesser-known neighbourhoods.
21. See a premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival
Half a million people can’t be wrong — and that’s how many visitors descend on the city each September to watch gala premieres at one of the world’s best celebrations of all things cinema. Virtually every A-lister has turned up over the years, including Keanu, Kiefer and the two Ryans (Gosling and Reynolds) — all of whom are homegrown poster boys. Venues from star-studded hotels to the Bell Lightbox theatre are given the red carpet treatment, and while many events are off-limits for ordinary schmoes there are still plenty of opportunities and tickets for screenings and Q&As.