Tell me about Toronto!

[Meganator]

Our girls' trip this year will be a 3-day weekend in Toronto (probably May 16-18). I know NOTHING about Toronto! Other than that it's a place that will be great to visit with more to see and do than we will be able to in the short time we are there. :) Any pointers on where to look for a hotel, and/or specific hotel recommendations? We will want to be centrally located with easy access to public transportation. We will have four people, so whether or not we need one or two rooms depends on the room...we were happy with one room at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, but it had two bathrooms. Another time we had one bathroom, but two separate bedrooms. For a standard hotel room, we would probably take two rooms. Not too high end; probably $175/room/night would be our preference.

Thanks!
Megan

[foodfiend]

I live in Toronto so I know very little about the hotels here. Go to www.toronto.com for info about Toronto. It has a ton of links about events, restaurants and accomodations. And lots of Torontonians use the site.
If you want restaurant recommendations, let me know. The site though, has lots of good reviews about the restaurants here. Toronto does food very well.
Be careful: the CN Tower is an overpriced tourist trap. Native Torontonians don't actually go there.

[muriel3002]

I used to live in Toronto, too. If you want to be close to the action, definitely stay downtown.

What kind of things do you like to do? May is a bit early and the weather can be a little iffy, to be honest. I used to love walking in and out of the shops along Queen St. East and Queen St. West. There's the Eaton Centre, Harbourfront, and a myriad of other places. When I lived in T.O. I often took my kids to the Ontario Science Center. I've never been to Casa Loma, but I hear that I should go there.

There are also shops and restaurants along Bloor Street, too. You can walk down Yonge Street at night without fear, too.

I would be jealous, but I'm planning a trip there in April or May to see my DD and DS.

[Sarah]

The Sheraton City Centre is centrally located, is within your price range, and is in the heart of the downtown. You can walk to most of the things you'd be interested in seeing (including the CN tower...seeing as you're tourists, Rogers Centre if you wanted to do a ball game, Eaton Centre etc.) and you're close to public transportation for getting around.
I second Lily's suggestion of toronto.com. There are tons of places to eat. It would depend on your interests what the recommendations would be.

[Andrea_2]

The Sheraton City Centre is centrally located, is within your price range, and is in the heart of the downtown.


We stayed at this hotel when we went to Toronto in August. We got a rate of $75.00/night on Hotwire.com, and it was worked out really well. The location was quite convenient for most of the stuff we wanted to do. I have to agree with foodfiend about skipping the CN tower! OMG.. that was the worst experience ever! We were trapped in massive crowds in that thing for hours and couldn't get back down. People were fighting and pushing each other out of the way to try and get on the overcrowded elevators. There was no order to it at all, and there didn't seem to be any employees anywhere to try to get things organized. I didn't think the view was all that great either. Most of it was blocked by the restaurant. The view from the top of our hotel was just about as good. Never again!

[Meganator]

...We were trapped in massive crowds in that thing for hours and couldn't get back down. People were fighting and pushing each other out of the way to try and get on the overcrowded elevators. There was no order to it at all, and there didn't seem to be any employees anywhere to try to get things organized.

OK, if I wasn't already talked out of this, I am now. One of my friends is claustrophobic, and this would not be her idea of fun!

Thanks for the pointers. I will check out toronto.com. Regarding what we want to do - ideally, have a lot of good food, walk around a lot, hit a good museum...maybe explore a cool neighborhood or two outside of downtown. There is never enough time to really see a lot. Foodwise, we'll probably want to have one upscale, fancy-ish dinner, with everything else in the moderate range.

I have to do these trips a little differently than when DH and I travel. My friends are nervous about the uncertainty of Hotwire. They like to have a known quantity well in advance. What I will probably do is reserve an acceptable hotel that is cancellable, then see what is on Hotwire when the date draws closer.

Thanks!
Megan

[Canice]

Since you mentioned museums, the Royal Ontario (http://www.rom.on.ca/exhibitions/index.php)is a must.

[Luiza]

When we go to Toronto, we stay at the downtown Howard Johnson (http://www.hojoyorkville.com/). It's hard if not impossible to get better location than that, and the prices are indeed reasonable considering the neighbourhood. The hotel itself is nothing fancy, it's in a rather aging structure, but the rooms are comfortable and not totally lacking personality. Only recommendation in terms of room location would be to be far from the ice machine, which is rather noisy.

Lots of places can be accessed simply by walking from there. It's near Royal Ontario Museum, a cookbook store, a few steps to a Whole Foods (the coffee shop there is handy for breakfast). Lots of restaurants and shopping all around. It's also close to the Bata Shoe Museum (http://www.batashoemuseum.ca/), which would be a cute girls' outing.

[Andrea_2]

I forgot to add the things we did like! We really liked the Science Museum (can't remember the exact name), Casa Loma was pretty interesting, we went to a Blue Jays game which was a lot of fun, but my favorite thing was the St. Lawrence Market! That was amazing, and I could have spent an entire day there. I thought the Kensington Market was quite interesting too. We liked the Harborfront area, and went on a very interesting boat ride on the lake. I was very excited to go to the Royal Ontario Museum, but you may want to check their schedule before you go. When we went, all the exhibits that we were most interested in were closed. I think it was under some kind of contruction at the time though, so maybe it will be better when you go.

[Meganator]

Ok, as our trip approaches (now 6/26 - 6/29), I have done some more research regarding accommodations. Right now I can get the Intercontinental downtown by the CN tower at $109/night (4.5 stars). That is a great rate, but before I book it - are there restaurants, etc. right in the that area?

I was also looking at a 2br unite at The Rosemont (around John & King St.), which has gotten mixed reviews, and a 2br unit at Conservatory Tower at Bay and College. There is a comment on Tripadvisor about Bay and College not being a very god neighborhood, however, I usually take those reviews with a grain of salt - can I get someone else's perspective on that? Ideally, th 2 br apartment would be better than 2 separate rooms (even if those rooms are at a 4.5 star hotel!).

Thanks!
Megan

[Natasha]

Megan,

There are restaurants just a few minutes from the CN Tower. They're mostly chains, nothing too upscale, but if you travel a bit north you'll find more variety.

I agree with the tripadvisor comment about the Bay & College area. It's not scary or anything, but it's not particularly appealing. I'd probably go with the I/C hotel, unless you really want the convenience of the 2 BR apt, which I can understand.

Have fun!

[foodfiend]

The Intercontinental is probably the best bet for a tourist in Toronto (lakefront, close to CN Tower and Harbourfront activities) though King and John is a fun area of town (lots of restaurants and places Torontonians go to). These areas are fairly close to each other.
If you're by the CN Tower, there are some good restaurants, but they're harder to find just by walking around. Some of the newer restaurants include Beerbistro, Trevor and Jaimie Kennedy Wine Bar (google them for addresses). You're also close to St. Lawrence Market, called one of the best markets in the world. A must-visit for a foodie.