I'm so sorry! I was down in Toronto this week & I realized that I never came back with all the info about Toronto!
There is a
Toronto CityPASS, which is actually good value because attractions in Toronto are expensive. It includes 5 attractions:
1.
The CN Tower - of course
2.
Casa Loma - yes, we have a castle!
3.
Royal Ontario Museum (the ROM) - meh
4.
Ripley's Aquarium of Canada - right beside the CN Tower & SkyDome (now called the Rogers Centre)
5.
Toronto Zoo (we have pandas!) OR
Ontario Science Centre - It's a shame that it's one or with these two attractions, because these are great attractions for kids! However, both are well outside of downtown Toronto.
The CityPASS doesn't include the
Art Gallery of Ontario (the AGO) because the AGO is free on Wednesday evenings after 6pm. Not a lot for kids at the AGO, but it does have a nice collection of Group of Seven paintings!
I always tell people to orient themselves from Union Station (which is partially under construction, as it has been for the last four years!). It's the main transportation hub, it's downtown & everything is a grid from there. Directly across from Union Station is the Royal York hotel, one of the grand chateau hotels built by Canadian Pacific Railway. South of the station along Bay St., you'll pass Air Canada Centre (home of the Raptors & the Leafs!), and then come to Lake Ontario + the ferry across to the Toronto islands. On
Centre island, there is an amusement park for kids called
Centreville. (This may be more a nostalgic thing for locals because it never changes! It's the exact same amusement park I went to when I was a kid!)
Back to Union Station, east on Front St, you'll pass the
Hockey Hall of Fame, then further along you'll pass our version of the flatiron building (it's called the Gooderham building). Further along Front St., you'll come to
St Lawrence Market. There's a bakery inside called the
Carousel Bakery that claims to have the best peameal bacon sandwich in the world! This part of the city is "Old Toronto."
Back to Union Station, north on Bay St. towards the clock tower, you'll head into the Financial District. There is an underground pedestrian walkway & shopping complex called the
The Path that connects most of downtown Toronto. It's like a complete underground city and a lifesaver in the middle of winter! Above ground, there's an office building called
Brookfield Place at 181 Bay St. which has a beautiful interior & is one of the most photographed buildings in Toronto. (It also connects to the Hockey Hall of Fame.)
Back to Bay St. continuing towards the clock tower (which is Old City Hall & the city courts) will take you to Queen St. Right (east) on Queen St. will take you to the
Toronto Eaton Centre, the main shopping centre in Toronto. There's a nice photo spot from level 3 (2nd floor above ground) closest to Queen St. Walk through the mall to Yonge St. near Dundas Square. The city tore down a bunch of old buildings just so the city could have its own Times Square. In the summer there is usually something interesting happening in the square.
Back to Queen St., west on Queen St., next to Old City Hall is new City Hall & the new TORONTO sign in Nathan Phillips Square.
Some more places of interest:
• the provincial parliament ("
Queen's Park") is on University Avenue (which runs north-south) and behind that is the University of Toronto. There are a lot of really nice old buildings here! North of U of T is the ROM.
• The Toronto International Film Festival is centred about the TIFF Lightbox at King St. & John St. (The Festival is in September, though). On the north side of King St. walking east on King St. towards Roy Thomson Hall you'll find "
Canada's Walk of Fame"! There are also more plaques in the ground on both street sides of Roy Thomson Hall.
• On Peter St. (part of which is called Blue Jays Way) you'll find
Wayne Gretzky's bar & restaurant, and
Wahlburgers across the street (as in the actor Mark Wahlberg and NKOTB member Donnie Wahlberg!).
• Also over by the CN Tower, SkyDome & aquarium, there's
a train museum that has the cutest little train that goes around the park!
• There are Chinatowns across the city, but main one is on
Spadina north of Dundas.
• One street over from Chinatown is
Kensington Market, which is the city's bohemian, alternative, counter-cultural neighbourhood. It's a very diverse & interesting neighbourhood, but be advised it's also home to at least three marijuana cafes & dispensaries so you may have to explain to the kids what that smell is!
• The
Distillery District is a nice area with shops & restaurant. It's actually an old distillery & very picturesque!
• There's another amusement part outside of Toronto called
Canada's Wonderland. It's got all kinds of roller coasters + a water park. It's about a 40-minute drive from downtown Toronto.
That pretty much covers the entire downtown area. This all makes sense in my head because I can picture walking around the city, but I hope the directions aren't too confusing!
There's a popular blog called
blogTO that has a ton of information about Toronto. And, of course, I have a Pinterest board all about
Toronto, and I also have a board all about
Ontario, too.
Let me know if you have any more questions!
(8 hours... hmmm... weekend trip for me and the fam!?)
I remember when we went there was quite a bit of hands on stuff for kids like shooting pucks, etc.
. I am looking for advice on a few things. One...money saving tips for food/lodging/tickets. Two...advice on which tourist places we must hit up (what's overrated, what's underrated) and local places that are awesome and the tourists usually miss.