Anyone know Toronto?

mark66

mark66

mark66

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My boss has asked me to go to Toronto for a week to do some training at the end of the month. I am quite excited at the thought as I don't usually get to travel much with my job and will certainly be something different, but I am also a bit hesitant that I will just stay in the hotel each night and not venture out on my own!

Is it a nice city? Is there much to do?

Also, is the £/Canadian $ as favorable as it is for the USA - will I be able to get some bargains?

Cheers.
 
Go and watch the Maple Leafs plays hockey one night, you'll have an awesome time even though they're not having their best season.
 
Used to live there when I was younger, went on holiday staying with family last year.

Its a great city - big and very clean I found. The transport system is excellent and very easy to use. People are also really friendly so if you get lost (we did haha) people are only too glad to help.

There is lots to do - ranging from the regular tourist stuff (like the CN tower, galleries, shows and theme parks) to night life and stuff. When I was there it was just coming towards the end of the baseball season so we caught a game. The ice hockey is great though - def catch a game if you can.

Its also 'quite' close to Niagara so if you get the chance, take a trip there.
 
malolo said:
Go and watch the Maple Leafs plays hockey one night, you'll have an awesome time even though they're not having their best season.
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Thats if you can even get a ticket, even though they aitn doing so well..tickets are near impossible to get and are usually quite expensive tbh. But if you manage to get some then definitely go see a game, if not could always go see a raptors NBA game if you fancy...both are a great night out.

Anyways im a Torontonian, i have a bro that lives there and im usually there every few months for a few weeks at a time. Tbh theres not much to do especially at night, its not like NYC unless its the weekend then it sort of comes alive. But saying that, i dont really get out much there as its more of a chill out family thing for me....but there are some nice places to eat there...go to the CN Tower...its pretty cool and a must go place at least once in your life...views are superb to say the least especially on a clear day.

Nightlife there is ok but this time of the yr its pretty cold there, more so than UK...probably snowing there now as well. So most people dpont venture out at night.

As for bargains??, well Toronto isnt that far from Niagara falls and if you get a chance you could venture over to the american side. I usually do my shopping there as they have some pretty big outlet shops there and you could bag some great bargains. Saying that though, the Eaton centre in Toronto is a great shopping mall and you could find some bargains there...depends on what your after tbh. Usually £10 equates to about $20 CDN, well thats the formula i use and its usually bang on. So yeh your £'s will go a long way there..again depending on what you buy or eat...some stuff there is still expensive and not as cheap as you would imagine...America is cheaper though and most Canadians pop over to Niagara falls to shop....

Have fun and make sure you wrap up warm, the windchill is a killer there...gets very cold with the windchill...
 
My girlfriend lives in Toronto - here's what she says:

Head down Queens Street (for shops - The Eaton centre is there as mentioned above) past Nathan Phillips Sq (where you can ice skate or see fountains) and there's some really nice restuarants there and expensive shops. You can visit Chinatown if you go up Spadina from Queens Street.

You can take a tram/street car down College to Kensington Market - fun to explore there. Toronto Uni campus, near Hyde Park is nice to see.
Bay Street is the expensive street with all the shops like Gucci and Prada and it's fun to window shop. There's also a cheap Winners (dept store) at the end of the street right by the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum).

If you want to go clubbing, you can go to Peters Street, Richmond or Adelaide. Menage and Mink are the first clubs that come to mind as good ones.

The Ontario Science Center is probably a bit out of your way if you are staying downtown but it's worth going to see one of the huge IMAX 3-D movies there. Also the up Yonge street from Bay until Eglinton you will find many shops and good pubs. Also down Eglinton, east of Yonge is a good pub area.

If you're into visiting huge malls, Yorkdale, Eatons Center and Scarborough Town Center are the biggest 3.

Sorry if this is a bit of a messy post - I was trying to type as fast as she was talking - not an easy task I can tell ya!

Hope this helps.

Edit: at the moment its $23 CDN per £10 - she isn't a happy bunny with our exchange rates at the moment :P
 
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i assum you are having training for a better job role, so not only are you getting a trip to canadia, but also a better job (perhaps)

what is your training for, who/how many people are you going with, and how much time do you have not training
 
My mum worked there all summer, and we went to visit her for a couple of weeks. There's plenty to do in the city, and almost all of the buildings are connected by an underground walkway called the PATH.
Yonge St has a lot of shops, and the Eaton centre (if it's the one connected to the Bay) is really good.
There's a nice place to eat, called The Rich Tree, above the Hockey Hall of Fame. It's a bunch of stalls with freshly made food (pizzas made to order in front of you etc), and it works on a weird credit card system - each stall swipes your card, and you hand it over at the exit. My mum raved about it before we arrived, and we ate there two out of four nights we had in the city centre.

The exchange rate has been slightly over $2=£1 for months now, and a lot of stuff is pretty much the same price in dollars as in pounds. I did find that clothes cost about the same as at home though.

We bought a guide book, which had some great information (all of the stuff my mum told me to visit was in it :p). I'd probably recommend getting something along the lines of the "Rough Guide Toronto", or at least flicking through one in a book shop ;).
 
Hi,

I moved to Toronto at the end of 2005. It's a great city and there is always something new and exciting going on if you don't mind walking lots and exploring places. :)

Don't forget when shopping for bargains that the prices don't include taxes. Most things need to have two taxes added on (GST and PST). The total tax is therefore 14% on top of the price you see on the label. It takes a bit of getting used to, but once you've lived here a while you can do the maths in your head!

If you visit a restaurant/barber/get a taxi, the standard tip is 15%.

Whereabouts are you going to stay / visit?

If you provide more details I can give you some ideas for places to go etc.

My website contains a journal and photos of Toronto since I moved here. Check it out at www.somewhereintoronto.com for more details.

339844331_cb392196ee_o.jpg

Toronto's Skyline, taken from Centre Island.
 
Toronto's one of my favourite cities in the world :) You need to go up the CN Tower, & if you have a chance, go to Niagara falls (greyhound buses do a tour). It's also just a nice place to walk around. Do you know where in Toronto you'll be staying?

Canada's not nearly as cheap as America unfortunately, prices are pretty similar to prices in England.
 
Wow! Thanks for all the very detailed input and suggestions guys, this should really help me get the most out of my trip and not be a shy lamo and stay in the hotel!

TBH I am not a very seasoned traveller and prefer being in the company of others, but with all the suggestions above I would be a fool not to make the most of this and see whats sounds like a cool city!

My brother had told me about large the underground pathways, sounds like a good way to avoid the cold!

I am not sure exactly where I will be staying yet, but will post it once I find out, hopefully it won't be too far out. I think I am flying out on the 21st.

FrostedNipple said:
i assum you are having training for a better job role, so not only are you getting a trip to canadia, but also a better job (perhaps)

what is your training for, who/how many people are you going with, and how much time do you have not training
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Actually I am going out there to train some other guys from our Canadian/US division in some software. I got the better job recently and this is now a consequence of it :)
 
They cancelled the ski season at Blue mountain nearby and its 10C at the moment there so it might not be as cold as you think.
 
megakid said:
They cancelled the ski season at Blue mountain nearby and its 10C at the moment there so it might not be as cold as you think.
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Yup, it's getting close to being the warmest winter on record. February is supposed to be cold - but then they said that about January too, so I'm not sure. :)
 
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