Toronto, Canada summer 07 - what to do

Newcarneeded

Going to Toronto for two weeks in August. Planning on spending the first 4/5 days there and then travel a little. Don't know much about Canada so can anyone recommend things to do in Toronto, other places to visit.

So far planning on seeing Niagra Falls which i think is nearby. how far is it? Are there bus tours from say Toronto or would we be better hiring a car?

We're also considering hiring an RV - or motorhome for the second week and travelling a bit farther and camping. Has anyone done this themselves?

Any recommendations on what to see in Toronto, where to stay etc greatly appreciated.

Cause

Hey there, it’s been a long time since I’ve been in Toronto (summer work visa 1998) so if may have changed a lot since then. All the same, we found the city quite boring to be honest. There wasn’t a whole lot going on and the night life wasn’t great. A lot of restaurants but very little pubs and clubs. Also there weren’t all that many historical buildings, which was surprising considering the history of the region. I’d get all the touristy stuff out of the way in Toronto and then move ASAP....

pow wow

I'm with Cause on this one. I went there for 3 days just before Christmas last year and found myself bored after the 2nd day! There wasn't much to do there, other than Niagara and the CN tower. Some nice English pubs though.

I stayed at the Ramada which is just off the main streets, you'll find the hotels just off the main drag much much cheaper than the ones on it. Even for the 50 feet or so distance.

breadmonkey

You lads must have stayed under some very large rocks!

The nightlife is bangin as far I'm concerned.

Off the top of my head:
Niagara
CN Tower
Olympic Island (great place)
Baseball game in Sky Dome (baseball is actually good craic live)
Canada's Wonderland
.......

Cause

breadmonkey wrote:

You lads must have stayed under some very large rocks!

The nightlife is bangin as far I'm concerned.

Off the top of my head:
Niagara
CN Tower
Olympic Island (great place)
Baseball game in Sky Dome (baseball is actually good craic live)
Canada's Wonderland
.......

After we'd done all the above we weren't left with much more to do... Only two pubs in my immediate area and the rest were restaurants...

mcgrate

Toronto's a great place.
Check out shopping at the Eton centre, take a trip to the Toronto Islands, you can take a few days in ottawa (bit more "old buildings" than toronto") or montreal if you wanted to go further.
Toronto zoo is great. You'lll probably miss it but the Canada Day festival is on in toronto around 1st july and its brillinat. Street theatre, music everywhere, great weather etc.
There are TONS of good pubs, some are quite british (i.e. friar and firkin) but they're usually quite busy and do great beers. THere's a place in downtown called the Biermarket (or BeerMarket - im not sure) but its a brewery (like porter house but much much better).

Roddy23

Was in Toronto for 2 months back in 2000. Had a great laugh. There's not much tourist attractions, CN tower, niagara, bluejays get all that done in 2/3 days. There's a few nice streets - spadina, yonge street, and as mentioned Olympic island is nice. You should take a trip to the lakes, but you can't swim in it, massive area along the boardwalk, where they all play volleyball.

Load's of bars around. Getting a job was a bit of hassle, but we didnt have visas so that was the trouble.

Montreal is much more livelier, was there for about a week, and the place was jamming. Nitghclubs and bars everywhere, and there was some huge expedition on when we were there in the old town.

mcgrate

Roddy23 wrote:

You should take a trip to the lakes, but you can't swim in it, massive area along the boardwalk, where they all play volleyball.

Hey roddy23,
I swam in the lake :eek:
It was summer, id only just arrived. Went to the islands and there's a fab beach at the back. So myself and a fellow stupid irishperson went for a dip...was alll going "swimmingly" until the lifegaurd seen us and nearly died. Hauled us out so fast and informed us that the lake is "highly poluted"..
...So yeah, dont swim in Lake ontario.

Newcarneeded

Breadmonkey, any chance you remember the names of the better pubs and clubs?

breadmonkey

Newcarneeded wrote:

Breadmonkey, any chance you remember the names of the better pubs and clubs?

SWAP are the equivalent of USIT over there and they organise various nights out, the best of these being "cheeky wednesdays" which is held in a club called Afterlife. Sounds bent but is really great craic. EDIT: If you aren't 20 this definitely isn't for you.

The problem with clubs in Toronto is that they aren't really like Ireland. In Ireland, night clubs are full of people absolutely trollied just dancing/fighting/having a laugh, whatever. In Toronto, they're full of posers trying to score. On that note, I would advise avoiding most clubs around the John St area.

I actually thought I'd remeber loads but I've drawn a total blank. I liked Crocodile Rock, Republik is a fairly insane metal place. I think Government was good but it's a bit out of the way. God, I went out almost every night but can't seem to remember anything sorry!

As for pubs, McVeigh's is good craic. Again, Irish pub but you won't find anything else that's as good. Sunday night is the best because they have music and it's really packed. I think it's on the corner of Church St and Adelaide St. I also drank a bit in a pub called The Imperial which is just off Dundas Sq. Where are you staying?

Also, one thing to remember is that Friday night is black night in most of the major clubs in the John St area and you can't/don't want to get in anywhere!

lushballs

Camping and canoeing in Algonquin Park, about 4 hours north of Toronto.