Me and the other half might be going sometime soon. Any suggestions for cheap places to stay, things to avoid/see, driving tips, etc.?

8/9/2006 1:35:42 AM

the t dot rollllllllls

8/9/2006 1:54:31 AM

You probably already have this planned, but you MUST go to the Hockey Hall of Fame. It's in an old bank, and they keep the original Stanley Cup bowl in the vault. Plus, the way the rest of the trophies (Vezina, Calder, etc.) are arranged, they're visible from the street and lit up brilliantly at night.

8/9/2006 2:09:54 AM

Younge street is the place to be. It runs trhough downtown. I would recommend the CN Tower, Skydome, and Wayne Gretzky's restaurant. There isn't much to see at Maple Leaf Gardens. The place has really cleaned up in the last decade, no more smut and strip joints downtown. I don't think people gather how large of a city Toronto is compared to cities here in the south. Have fun.

8/9/2006 8:08:16 AM

A place to eat in addition to Gretzky's is right above the Hockey Hall called Le Marche (The Market if my French translation is correct...haha)

It is really cool place to eat...all sorts of different stations where you can get anything from a waffle to a really good NY Strip. I've been there twice and both were very impressive.

8/9/2006 8:43:18 AM

Things to avoid:

The Gardiner

8/9/2006 8:47:40 AM

cn tower is a given. im mostly going to check out U of Toronto for grad school, but i figured we'd stop over at niagra and do some stuff in toronto as well.

arent they fixing up exhibition park some, too?

8/9/2006 1:47:25 PM

I actually just got back from a week and a half in Toronto, I went last year as well. Just to add to some of the things said.

Gretzky's Restaurant really is not that good. Yeah its cool to go and see, and you should go ahead and do it, especially if you're a hockey fan but the food really isn't that good.

Central downtown on Front, King, and Queen has cleaned up quite a bit however there are still a good number of homeless beggers panhandling on the sides of the road so keep your other half close. If you like the club scene i suggest going on Dundas St. its pretty trendy and there are tons of nightclubs tucked away on it. Bars and pubs are tucked all over the city. Some of my favorites were the Elephant & Castle, James Joyce, Brunswick House, Loose Moose, Black Bull, and the best bar i have ever been to in my short life The Madison Ave. You must go there, its on Madison Ave. right off of Bloor St. Its inside 2 old victorian houses and is 4 levels. Thurs-Saturdays its so popular that they actually make it 21+. In my 2 years of Toronto its the best bar i've been to there(or anywhere) and the atmosphere is great.

If you want to go shopping check out Eaton Centre at Yonge and Dundas. And check out the Yonge & Bloor area. This is considered the gay district although its not bad at all. There are tons of trendy shops (fcuk, Louis Vuitton, etc). Me and the 3 guys i was with stayed this year in a Comfort Hotel in the heart of this district and had a great time. Right around the corner was the Panasonic Theatre which is home to the Blue Man Group. Show your student ID and you can see this amazing show for 20US dollars compared to the 60 regular ticket price. This was one of the best things we did during this year's trip. Also if you want a classy strip club the Brass Rail is nice, and it's right off Yonge too. That might not be your thing though.

Let me know if you have any other questions, i'm at work all day so i can answer them no problem. I know the city pretty damn well.


you said you were checking out UofT. Awesome campus and very huge, good luck getting into there if you apply. Madison Ave, Yonge&Bloor are all very close to that campus.

[Edited on August 10, 2006 at 8:48 AM. Reason : add]

8/10/2006 8:43:46 AM

Quote :

"Eaton Centre "

I remember that place being HUGE!

8/10/2006 10:35:27 AM

I know its almost a decade, but bumping this shit. Making my first trip to Canada in a couple months for a business/pleasure trip. At this time planning to fly into Buffalo and rent a car and drive up to Toronto so we can spend a few hours scoping out Niagara Falls first. Staying at Hilton in downtown.

So recommendations for places to eat and things to do. Wife likes historical stuff and bosses wife likes to go shopping. Boss likes to enjoy some nice dining and drinks (not necessarily expensive, but great hole in the wall places). I kinda follow hockey so I might try to stop in at Hall of Fame. Not a big fan of heights but may try to go up CN Tower as well. Anything else that we should definitely go to? Only have 4-5 days so not a ton of time, so just trying to hit the highlights.

3/3/2016 10:26:14 AM

Enjoy the fucking traffic. It sucks so bad from the border to Toronto and back. Toronto has a ton of cool stuff to do and see, but man it sucked getting around when I was up there a couple summers ago.

3/3/2016 6:43:47 PM

I really enjoyed going to the St Lawrence Market. They also have good food trucks. I was there during the playoffs last year, so watching the game at city hall was cool and hanging out outside the Skydome before the game.

The most fascinating part of Toronto to me was the PATH. It's like an underground city. Lot's of legit hole in the wall eateries, but almost everything is closed on the weekends.

Also, apparently you can only buy beer in the LCBO stores (ie ABC stores) and they close at like 8. Marijuana is apparently legal there, b/c we smelled it everywhere.

[Edited on March 4, 2016 at 8:27 AM. Reason : ?]

3/4/2016 8:25:35 AM

Bttt, leaving next Tuesday. Change of plans slightly though. Thought I was going to fly to Buffalo, but now we are flying direct to Toronto via the Jazz flight from RDU. Price changes made the Southwest flight more expensive and the Jazz flight dropped some, so I couldn't justify the rental car.

PATH is very interesting and will be checking that out. Had no idea about that so thanks.

Looking at some of the brewpubs as my boss and I both love good beer. Really interested in Amsterdam BrewHouse right on the lakefront and maybe Steam Whistle as well as it is nearby to CN Tower.

Since we won't be driving I am looking at one of the day bus trips down to Niagara Falls. They will pick up at my hotel and take us to the Falls for like $75 CAD. Last day of conference is a half day and looks kinda lame so I might see if we can miss it and go to the falls instead.

5/26/2016 7:44:06 AM

If you have Netflix watch Layover

https://www.netflix.com/watch/80043521?trackId=14170289&tctx=0%2C7%2C211c939d-8506-42d2-8039-169bf9f8a2d9-41535540&ad=&t=

http://www.travelchannel.com/shows/the-layover/travel-guides/30-hours-in-toronto-travel-guide

5/26/2016 8:09:34 AM

^Thanks!

5/26/2016 8:24:44 AM

Steam Whistle is a fun tour. Highly recommend.

5/26/2016 12:09:40 PM

i'll be in toronto tonight until wednesday around noon

recommendations?

6/12/2016 10:30:27 AM

We got back last weekend and had a blast. Lots of good food. Here are some of the places we went:

Amsterdam Brewhouse: Pretty good beer and good food. Great location on the waterfront.
Pia: Great Thai restaurant. Place was packed at lunch. I got the Marmasan Beef Curry and it was excellent.
WVRST: Really good brats of all different meats. If they have the pork tacos, don't do them. They are okay, but Canadians can't prepare pork like we do in the South. That was disappoint, but the brats were not. Duck fat fries are fantastic as well.
BarHop: Great place for a drink and food is supposed to be good too. We met the owner Jimmy and he is a really nice guy. They have two of them and I would strongly recommend the newer location on Peter Street as it is three stories tall and has a fantastic rooftop patio.
The Gabardine: Randomly stumbled on this place out walking. We all got lots of things in our group and sampled the dishes. Everything was great.
3 Brewers: Just drank beer. Several places in downtown. Neat location and nice patio area. Beer was pretty average IMO.
Rum Exchange: Found this one wandering around. Place was close to closing, but we got some drinks and hung out for a bit. Really good rum drinks.
Irish Embassy: Very neat looking interior. Just had some beers (Smithwick's) and then headed on. Pretty good place, but no idea on food.
The Burgers Priest: Had lunch and really enjoyed it. Not the best burger ever but it was packed and the food was good.

Other things we enjoyed were checking out the PATH Underground. It was very different from walking on the street. Really nice too. Not at all what I was expecting. We walked downtown a bunch, including down by Rogers Centre, CN Tower and Steam Whistle. There was a Blue Jays game that evening so Steam Whistle was swamped and we skipped it. If you have an afternoon or something go check out the Toronto Islands. Much more fun than going to the CN Tower from what I heard. It was a short ferry ride over and back and we spent a couple hours just walking around and taking photos. It was later in the evening so the place was rather empty. It was very nice.

[Edited on June 12, 2016 at 10:54 AM. Reason : ]

6/12/2016 10:45:40 AM

so far have loved it here - great weather

staying at the fairmont royal york and working just a bit west down front street

have been to the following so far and planning to do kensington market tonight and the plan is to start at trinity common

pearl diver - great seafood - fresh and mostly local oytsers - had the chowder / seafood hotpot / random selection of oysters - small beer selection
c'est what - awesome little beer bar - great local selection and a good numbers of casks - sampled a bunch and was never disappointed
keg steakhouse - small chain but great food - had the bleu cheese filet and twice baked potato - great cocktails
bar hop - best beer selection of the lot - can't be disappointed here - waiter recommended bellwoods
bellwoods brewery - had to uber to get here but well worth it - locals said it can get very busy but we were lucky we went on a monday night and there wasn't a wait - sat down immediately on the patio

6/14/2016 4:43:31 PM

Fairmont looked awesome from the outside. We were just at the Hilton, but walked by Fairmont several times. Wish the conference was there instead.

6/14/2016 5:02:49 PM

went to gabardine for dinner and it was pretty good - compared to everywhere else i would put it on the must-do list but everything was tasty

spent most of the night after that at Trinity Common in kensington market and then wound up at Ronnie's down the street until close

6/15/2016 11:00:51 AM