Toronto

Toronto truely has a lot to offer and it's very hard to pick out just one thing that's great about it, unfortunetly many of the districts are at far distances from each other, but they all all unique and worth visiting.

Here are the main areas of Toronto and what each is best known for:

Bloor & Yorkville is the 5th avenue and Champes Elysee of Toronto, the rich area full of high scale shopping and restaurants where many of the famous from Hollywood can be spotted while filming in Toronto

Distillery District is the old brick part of Toronto located southeast in the downtown area right beside the Lakeshore. It contains many fancy and unique bars and lounges as well as private art galleries. The area is famous for being a movie set for many historic Hollywood films such as Chicago.

Chinatown is the busy Asian community of shops, stores and markets with everything from exotic fruit to high-tech gagets. It is right beside the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO)

Little Italy cafes and Italian restaurants fill the street of College east of Yonge Street. Next to it is also Little Portugal as well as a mix of Asia restaurants. The famous summer Taste of Italy festival takes place here annualy, when vendors on the street sell samples and Italian and Cuban music fills the streets

Entertainment District is the area of Richmond and Adelaide where the main nightlife happens in Toronto. All the major clubs are found on these two streets, busiest on Fridays and Saturday as well as Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays for special nights and holidays.

A good site to check out all the clubs (most play Hip Hop and RnB, along with the top 40s, but they also do have special cultural nights), type of night and music that will be played, as well as for any special clubbing events is clubcrawlers.com. Two other major clubs are The Guvernment (more for techno and house) and The Docks, both largest and located by the Lakeshore and waterfront.

Greektown/Danforth located on Pape and Danforth is the Greek town also famous among the European residents of Toronto. Like Little Italy it is packed with cafes and restaurants, these mainly serving gyros, souvlaki and a like. And like Little Italy they have an annual Taste of the Danforth, where the street is closed down for pedestrians and vendors, as well as live bands.

Queen Street West is the trendy less know area of Toronto, consisting of unique, trendy and vintage clothing and houseware stores, along with fancy restaurants and cafes

Church & Wellesley Village is the gay neighbourhood of Toronto with a few small eateries and bars, very lively during the huge annual Gay Pride Parade

The Beaches area is very famous for its annual Jazz Festival which takes place in July.

The area east of downtown and on the waterfront of Toronto, has a sandy beach where many come to tan and some swim (although I wouldn't recommend doing so in dirty Lake Ontario) and have bonfires at night. A long wooden boardwalk stretches along the beach where many bike, rollerblade and walk. The area also has cute tiny cafes and ice cream shops as well as some funky and arts stores and antique shops

Harbourfront area where all the cultural events happen..food fairs, festivals (Caribana being the largest, which celebrates Caribbean culture) and galleries. There's even a lake that freezes as a large skating ring in the winter. From here you can catch a ferry to Centre Island

Centre Island is famous for it's large green area, bike routes, nude beach, and amusement park.

Few people live on the island but there is hardly any vehicles or buildings on it

 

Must do/see:

*Go to Tim Horton's Canada's favourite coffee shop

*Climb the CN Tower for a full 360 view of the city and it's islands, there is also a rotating restaurant on the very top

*Attend a Toronto Rapto's Basketball or Toronto Maple Leafs game at the Air Canada Centre

*Skate at Nathen Philips Square (City Hall) or Harbourfront Centre

*Visit Casa Loma and its Gardens

*See the new Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) Crystal building

*Club or visit a lounge at the Entertainment District

*Shop at the Eaton's Centre and Queen Street West, both in the heart of downtown

*Go to a jazz bar at the Distillery District

*Visit Wonderland for rollercoasters and other rides a bit West of Toronto

*Walk down The Beaches boardwalk

*See Niagra Falls at the border of Canada and the US, a few hours south of Toronto but easily accessible by bus (usually cost $36 for roundtrip), the area also has wax and believe it or not and guinness museums, and Casinos and Wineries

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..will add more as I discover them :)

The Toronto Transit Bus and Subway system (TTC) is simple and easy to use and navigate through. You pay $2.75 for one trip any way, as long as it's within Toronto. You can also get a day pass for $8.50.