Discussion
Evening all,
Hope you are all well.
We are thinking about a weeks holiday in Toronto next September. We have never been before and would like to stay somewhere central as we won't hire a car. We are relatively fit and able to walk a few miles each day exploring the city but also happy to use Uber or the metro system when required.
Must do's include a day trip to Niagara Falls but I would be grateful for any hints and tips on where to stay and what to see and do. Don't need a a 5 star hotel, just somewhere clean and reasonably priced as we will be out and about most of the time anyway.
Weather in September looks ideal - not too hot, not too cold.
Thanks in advance.
Hope you are all well.
We are thinking about a weeks holiday in Toronto next September. We have never been before and would like to stay somewhere central as we won't hire a car. We are relatively fit and able to walk a few miles each day exploring the city but also happy to use Uber or the metro system when required.
Must do's include a day trip to Niagara Falls but I would be grateful for any hints and tips on where to stay and what to see and do. Don't need a a 5 star hotel, just somewhere clean and reasonably priced as we will be out and about most of the time anyway.
Weather in September looks ideal - not too hot, not too cold.
Thanks in advance.
Chelsea Hotel is big but the staff are very good. It's not spectacular but it's modern, clean, with a typical American style buffet breakfast. And central. Concierge will also arrange you day trip to Niagara Falls, picked up at the hotel, with a boat trip around the falls, a visit to Niagara on the Lake (which is the poshest place in the world) and a vineyard, for about CAD155 (about £85). Leave about 8am, return around 7pm. Great value.
Totonto is great, but a whole week there is quite a lot. By the way, the 2nd T in Toronto is silent (locals say the 2nd T is for Tourist), so it's Torono. But most locals seem to go with Trono.
Totonto is great, but a whole week there is quite a lot. By the way, the 2nd T in Toronto is silent (locals say the 2nd T is for Tourist), so it's Torono. But most locals seem to go with Trono.
Been a few years since I was in Toronto (2007 was last time). Stayed at the Chelsea. As above, ok location and facilities.
China town was cool, we eat in some proper Chinese place the locals were frequenting. No idea what we had as no English on the menu or spoken and it was the days before Google Translate on your phone but it was tasty!
As well as Niagra we did a day trip out the city visiting some Mennonite community. Was cool seeing their way of life, including Maple syrup harvesting.
CN Tower is worth a trip up on a clear day.
China town was cool, we eat in some proper Chinese place the locals were frequenting. No idea what we had as no English on the menu or spoken and it was the days before Google Translate on your phone but it was tasty!
As well as Niagra we did a day trip out the city visiting some Mennonite community. Was cool seeing their way of life, including Maple syrup harvesting.
CN Tower is worth a trip up on a clear day.
Edited by colin79666 on Sunday 20th October 08:39
CN tower is a tourist must-do together with Yonge street, claimed to be the longest street in the world…
I like catching the ferry across to Toronto island where you can hire a bike or a four wheel pedal cycle/car thing (quadracycle) and just potter about for a bit.
The “path” is interesting, a load of the basements for the larger buildings have been joined together with tunnels to create an underground city - Its just shops and cafes really, but allows people to do city things in the winter without having to go outside when it’s bitter.
One change that struck me last time I was in Toronto was the number of dope shops that have sprung up since marijuanana was legalised - bit off putting to be honest
I like catching the ferry across to Toronto island where you can hire a bike or a four wheel pedal cycle/car thing (quadracycle) and just potter about for a bit.
The “path” is interesting, a load of the basements for the larger buildings have been joined together with tunnels to create an underground city - Its just shops and cafes really, but allows people to do city things in the winter without having to go outside when it’s bitter.
One change that struck me last time I was in Toronto was the number of dope shops that have sprung up since marijuanana was legalised - bit off putting to be honest
One of my favourite cities. Definitely do the CN tower.
It's basketball season so try to get to a Raptors game if you can, and NHL just started so an evening watching the Maple Leafs is a must.
You have to hire a car for at least one day, that way you get to visit Niagara Falls, which is a full day in itself. You're on the canadian side which is the best side as you get to properly see the horseshoe. Take the tour and you get to walk behind the falls which is actually brilliant. And of course, a trip on maid of the mist.
Depending on which day you go, if it's Friday, the fireworks in the evening are great, and they have a brilliantly kitsch fair and attractions in that area. If you like a gamble, Fallsview Casino is a nice place to hang out and if you're lucky, someone decent may be playing a concert there.
Toronto is known for food, so enjoy the different cuisines, it's a proper melting pot of nationalities.
Enjoy it, you'll love it
It's basketball season so try to get to a Raptors game if you can, and NHL just started so an evening watching the Maple Leafs is a must.
You have to hire a car for at least one day, that way you get to visit Niagara Falls, which is a full day in itself. You're on the canadian side which is the best side as you get to properly see the horseshoe. Take the tour and you get to walk behind the falls which is actually brilliant. And of course, a trip on maid of the mist.
Depending on which day you go, if it's Friday, the fireworks in the evening are great, and they have a brilliantly kitsch fair and attractions in that area. If you like a gamble, Fallsview Casino is a nice place to hang out and if you're lucky, someone decent may be playing a concert there.
Toronto is known for food, so enjoy the different cuisines, it's a proper melting pot of nationalities.
Enjoy it, you'll love it
Fas1975 said:
You have to hire a car for at least one day, that way you get to visit Niagara Falls, which is a full day in itself.
Absolutely no need. There are loads of organised coach tours to choose from, and as I said upthread, if you stay at The Chelsea, the concierge will book it all for you. TwigtheWonderkid said:
Fas1975 said:
You have to hire a car for at least one day, that way you get to visit Niagara Falls, which is a full day in itself.
Absolutely no need. There are loads of organised coach tours to choose from, and as I said upthread, if you stay at The Chelsea, the concierge will book it all for you. Otherwise I agree coach tours are plentiful and easy to use.
Toronto is the only city I’ve visited and thought “Yeah, I could live and work here” (realistically anyway… not much call for my profession on some lovely isolated beach in Greece sadly). Although the caveat to that is I visited in the summer.
We did a coach tour to Niagara Falls which I would recommend, called at Niagara on the Lake and Ice Wine vineyard. The falls themselves, are up there with the Grand Caynon as the most spectacular thing I’ve seen - but turnaround and the town itself whilst not exactly Blackpool isn’t a million miles off.
As well as the usual recommendations you’ll see of the CN Tower etc. one place I enjoyed was https://amsterdambeer.com/pages/brewhouse-by-the-l...
We did a coach tour to Niagara Falls which I would recommend, called at Niagara on the Lake and Ice Wine vineyard. The falls themselves, are up there with the Grand Caynon as the most spectacular thing I’ve seen - but turnaround and the town itself whilst not exactly Blackpool isn’t a million miles off.
As well as the usual recommendations you’ll see of the CN Tower etc. one place I enjoyed was https://amsterdambeer.com/pages/brewhouse-by-the-l...
I know you’ve said you don’t want to hire a car and that’s fair enough, Toronto's drivers are terrible, very uncanadian. But I would still recommend it. That way you get to drive out to Niagara Falls on your own time scale and I would personally recommend spending a full day and at least one night in Niagara on the Lake. It’s very nice over there and rushing to Inniskillin vineyard and then buggering off back to the big smoke seems like a wasted opportunity to me. We stayed at the riverbend inn and dined at Peller one evening, both recommended.
I don’t know if you’re an aviation enthusiast or not but something I want to go back and do is a flight in a Lancaster out of Hamilton (just south of Toronto). They’ve got loads of cool aircraft there even if you don’t want to fly in one.
I don’t know if you’re an aviation enthusiast or not but something I want to go back and do is a flight in a Lancaster out of Hamilton (just south of Toronto). They’ve got loads of cool aircraft there even if you don’t want to fly in one.
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