How to Have the Perfect Toronto Trip : Everything to Do & Avoid
Toronto, Ontario is an awesome city in Canada. It is very modernized, holds a lot of history, and culture. The city has a lot of cool buildings, museums, and markets to see. They also have an old town area that has some cool buildings and the distillery historic district. Toronto offers a lot of different markets, neat museums, fun day trips, islands, and fun restaurants.
My mom and I recently went to Toronto for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time. Mostly, because Canada does not celebrate Thanksgiving the same day Americans do, so there were no crowds when we went. In this article, you will read about the different areas, markets, museums, and places/day trips to take while in Toronto (that are actually worth seeing).
Also, in this post, you will read about Toronto train, Toronto travel, Toronto train map, Toronto transit map, Toronto train station, Toronto train from nyc, Toronto traffic, Toronto travel guide, Toronto tripadvisor, Toronto trip planner, Toronto trip itinerary, Toronto trip to Niagara Falls, Toronto trip with kids, Toronto trip ideas, Toronto trip cost, Toronto trip from Montreal, Toronto hotels, Toronto free travel guide, travel to Toronto by train, things to do in Toronto, and more.
This post is all about a Toronto trip.
Toronto Trip :
Toronto Hotels
Usually one of the first things people book when planning a trip is either a place to stay or plane tickets. Toronto has many different options to choose from, whether you want an AirBnB, hotel, hostel, etc. My mom and I stayed at the Double Tree by Hilton Downtown Toronto. It was a little pricey, especially with the parking that we also paid for (parking is $45 Canadian dollars a night, about $31 US dollars per night). Per night, we paid about $230 but this is after all taxes and fees were accounted for.
Also, we were there from Wednesday through Saturday, and prices are usually cheaper on weekdays than weekends. Thus, I’m not sure if $230 per night is an accurate price for the weekends. Lastly, I know this is pricey for a lot of people, but in my opinion, for the location, the price was worth it. I know parking was pretty expensive but after doing some research, I found that this was actually a pretty comparable price compared to other garages. And for us, the parking was right there, next to the hotel, and super easy to use, so again, it was worth it for us, especially since we didn’t use our car again until we left.
How Many Days/Nights to Spend in Toronto
Also, three nights there was perfect for my mom and I. We got to see everything we wanted, except for a couple things. Thus, you don’t need to book a ton of nights in Toronto to see everything, therefore, I would spend the extra money to have a great location in the city instead of a full week in Toronto. Also, we are not big museum people, but there are lot of big museums to see there, so maybe you might want to spend a couple more nights in Toronto. It really depends on what you want to see while you’re there. In addition, we solely used public transportation and walking as our means to get around and had no issues. You can find some other great hotels here, also AirBnB’s, and lastly hostels, here.
{Related Post : Two of the Best Cities in Canada to Explore}
Toronto Train & Toronto Transit
Okay, after using the subway and street car in Toronto, I can confidently say, it is very straight forward and easy to use. The subway I think is very user friendly, there are signs all within the stations and Toronto train maps along the way. The main subway train we used was the 1 train that runs north and south toward Finch or towards Vaughan. I will say, I didn’t read any of the Toronto transit maps within the stations, I just used Google Maps and it was really easy to follow. Also, there are many Toronto train stations or subway stations within the city, that you should be able to find.
The streetcar (runs east and west on Dundas Street) again, this was very easy to use, I just followed where to go for the street car stops via Google Maps and found them (they are labeled). They are very similar to bus stops. We did not use any of the buses at all, but if they are like the subway and street cars, then I’m sure they are easy to use and on time.
Presto App
Lastly, GET the PRESTO app! This app works very similarly to Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. If you live in Canada, you can add your card to the Presto app and simply open the app, press on your card, then scan this at the subway, bus, or street car pay station, and it will scan your card on your phone.
Now, if you don’t live in Canada, you can still download the Presto app, and a prompt should pop up for you to add Presto to your Apple Wallet. You will simply add Presto to your wallet and the amount you wish to add to Presto. Again, to scan/pay for public transit, you will open your wallet app, press Presto, and scan that to any of the public transit pay stations before you board the subway or when you board the street car and bus.
Toronto Traffic
Lastly, let’s talk about Toronto traffic, I would say it’s pretty standard to the US’s busy traffic times. Around 5pm the streets and public transportation systems get jam packed with people. My mom and I were never out on the streets before 9am on this trip, but if Toronto is busy at 5pm, I would assume, traffic starts to build up anywhere from 7:30am-9am before work. On this trip both of us slept in and were not on the roads until 10am, which worked out great because the streets were empty at that time.
Toronto Travel Guide & Toronto Travel
Okay, now onto the fun part, what to do while you’re in Toronto! Toronto has a lot of things to do, especially near the holiday season. Around Thanksgiving time to Christmas, they have multiple Christmas markets that you can go to and usually if you get there before 4pm, entry is free. My mom and I went to the Christmas market in the Distillery Historic District of Toronto (this district has Victorian, industrial, and older style buildings that are really pretty), or old town Toronto, near the St. Lawerence Market. At the Christmas Market there was a lot of different pop-up shops, food & drinks, Christmas tree, Santa & elves, and many places to take pictures. Although, be prepared, because most things were definitely over priced.
A lot of the things my mom and I did revolved around shopping or walking. We went to a couple different markets such as, the St. Lawerence Market, the Kensington Markets, and the Distillery District. If you want to find souvenirs, I think your best bet would be Yonge-Dundas Square. I didn’t find any souvenirs here, but I wasn’t looking that hard. I really couldn’t find anywhere that was selling t-shirts or sweatshirts that said Toronto. But, maybe you’ll have better luck than I did. You could also see a hockey game at Scotiabank Arena or see a play at one of the local theaters.
Things to Do in Toronto & Toronto Trip Planner
Here are some more fun things on Toronto TripAdvisor if you like looking at TripAdvisor for ideas for things to do. I recommend going to the Steam Whistle Brewing Company as well (located in the Distillery District), the Amsterdam Brewhouse for drinks and food. Another fun thing to do in any city is to go to local trivia nights. Toronto trivia nights are hosted by some of these local bars such as, the Drake Hotel, Stout Irish Pub, and more that you can find here.
Some other notable sites that I think would be worth going to in Toronto are the University of Toronto, the old government buildings (near Nathan Phillips Square), old town (Distillery District), Casa Loma, the CN Tower, the Toronto Islands (in the summer time), Yonge-Dundas Square, and the Illuminarium Art Museum. Some other museums you could go to are the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Royal Ontario Museum. Lastly, you can find some Toronto free travel guides (walking tours) here.
What’s Worth Seeing
My mom and I went to both the markets, the Distillery District/Old Town, Casa Loma, the University of Toronto, Nathan Phillips Square, Yonge-Dundas Square, and saw the different government buildings. I think all of these places are worth seeing except for Casa Loma. From the pictures, Casa Loma, looks like a stunning castle, and it is pretty. However, my mom and I walked here and it was NOT worth the walk. If you have a car, then I do suggest seeing it. Otherwise, if you walk around the University of Toronto, you’ll see enough castle like buildings that are prettier than Casa Loma.
Lastly, my mom and I didn’t get a chance to see the CN Tower. We really didn’t want to because we didn’t see the point of it (we’re from New York and have already gone up the top of the Empire State Building). However, if you like heights, seeing the tower and going up it might be of interest to you. However, if you want to see older and prettier architecture, then I highly suggest walking around the University of Toronto, Old Town, and the government buildings near Nathan Philips Square.
Toronto Cuisine
I don’t know if it’s because of our location or if this is true of all of Toronto, but, the majority of food places were either Asian cuisine or very high end and expensive restaurants. My mom and I love Asian cuisine, so this was not an issue for us. However, if you don’t like Asian food, you might want to do some more research of where to eat ahead of time. Again, maybe it was just the location we were in, but that seemed to be the main and only food option available.
Day Trips From Toronto
Okay, there are a lot of fun day trips that you can take from Toronto as well. A really popular one is Toronto trip to Niagara Falls, and there are plenty of different day trips that you can choose from here. I will say, the Canadian side of the Niagara falls is much better than the American side. You want to be looking for Horseshoe Falls, that is the “big” drop or the picture with all the falls. Another popular town to visit about 30 minutes from Niagara Falls is Niagara on the Lake.
Niagara on the Lake is a super cute, small village with great souvenirs. I found that they sold more souvenirs here than anywhere in Toronto. Some more fun day trips are Bruce Peninsula, Algonquin Provincial Park, and the Blue Mountains. I really wanted to go to Bruce Peninsula, so I definitely want to go back to see this park. In my opinion, Bruce Peninsula looked like the prettiest day trip to go too, along with Niagara Falls.
And that wraps up our Toronto trip itinerary and things to do while in Toronto. I hope this was helpful to you to find things to do that are actually worth seeing. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you get the chance to go to Toronto. Thank you and take care!
