How to Make the Most Out of a Quick Toronto Trip

The Vibe

Toronto is a big city for sure, but feels distinctly different from a New York or Chicago experience. It's a very populated area with approximately 2.8 million residents, however the normal "city sounds" were really mitigated here. Where you would normally hear the sounds of honking, talking, traffic, and general hustle & bustle, Toronto didn't seem very noisy to me. The streets here felt a little wider in general than most big cities and when you look out at the whole city from the CN Tower, there isn't one singular Central Business District, but rather clusters of high-rises surrounded by less dense building design. To me, this speaks to their city planning capacity and made Toronto a really enjoyable place to experience with all the amenities and attractions of a major destination but a vibe that wasn't as intense as some cities with comparable populations.

People always talk about how nice Canadians are, but they really didn’t seem too different from the feel of how people talk and interact in Ohio and parts of Michigan. Not overly amicable, but not rude either. Just normal people walking around and minding their own business for the most part.

The food scene in Toronto was really diverse, and admittedly I don't know too much about what typical Canadian cuisine is, but we were able to find good Colombian food which is always a plus for us while on a trip and we had some absolutely wonderful Italian food at Trattoria Taverniti, legitimate cacio e pepe - *chef's kiss* and one of the best desserts I've ever had with a chocolate hazelnut mousse and vanilla crème. I would definitely recommend a stop to Little Italy for the food alone!

There is so much to see in Toronto that we walked and walked most days despite driving to Canada from Ohio, just because the hours slipped by as we explored the city. In addition to Little Italy, there's also an extensive China Town area as well as pockets of other cultural influences throughout. We found lots of cool little bars to pop into but didn't do much by way of nightlife just because we wanted to spend as much time doing all the touristy things we could in the few days that we spent there. We did find a salsa night hosted in a bar about 20 minutes from our hotel, so we spent a few hours there and enjoyed the laid-back atmosphere while dancing to some of the classics.

Getting Around

We drove to Toronto since it's only about six and a half hours from home for us, but found that walking once we got to the zone of the city that we were looking for was much easier given the normal city traffic. We stayed at Novotel in North York, which was a budget-friendly but still really nice and clean, with great city views from our room. We decided to go to Niagara Falls and then spend 3 days in Toronto on a whim for my husband's birthday, so we booked the hotel the night before we checked in and had no issues. I'm sure we could've saved a little money or ended up closer to the downtown area if we had booked further in advance, but shook out in a nice hotel without breaking the bank. One thing to note here is that like most bigger cities, parking is expensive in most areas and scarce where it's free. There was recommended parking for a garage near the hotel, but it was way more expensive than just finding a nearby lot (about $45 USD per night versus $20 USD per night for a short walk to the hotel), so definitely do a little extra driving around to see if you can find cheaper options if you need to park overnight.

What to Do

In addition to checking out the city districts, Toronto offers so many tourist attractions aside from just checking out the city streets themselves. We bought the CityPASS (linked here) and it was 100% worth the money! We spent about $80 USD per person and received access to the CN Tower, Ripley's Aquarium of Canada, Casa Loma, Royal Ontario Museum, and either the Toronto Zoo or the Ontario Science Center (we went with the Ontario Science Center). As fast walkers, we were able to experience all of the attractions in three full days. We also caught a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey game and took the ferry over to the Toronto Islands off the east coast of the city. If you're traveling with kids or enjoy taking a slower pace, you would probably need at least a four-day trip to fit in each of the activities that the CityPASS offers.

We found it beneficial to arrange the stops so that we did the attractions located near each other on the same days, so we started off the trip with the CN Tower and Ripley's Aquarium of Canada. These are also located near the baseball field and not too far from Scotiabank Arena where the Maple Leafs play, so it's also not a bad idea to plan those attractions around a game either. Be sure to check in on the CityPASS website while planning out the day because some of the attractions require scheduled time slots to avoid overcrowding. You could definitely do those two stops in one day, but I would set aside a full day apiece for Casa Loma, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the Toronto Zoo or Ontario Science Center. All of these attractions easily offer nearly a full day of experiences and close relatively early in the evening. We definitely explored a lot of different areas of the city and loved doing the traditional tourist stops on a budget!

Off the beaten path, we enjoyed taking the ferry over to the Toronto Islands to catch the view of the city at sunset. The ferry leaves from the port every 15 minutes or so, with the last ferry heading back to the downtown area before dark. We took our trip in the beginning of October, which was right before the weather turned cold, but we heard from some of the locals that the restaurants and shops had already started closing up for the season. It was definitely chilly heading there and going back, and I'd love to go back in the summer months and spend the afternoon on the beach!

My favorite attraction was visiting Casa Loma, because not only were there breathtaking views of the castle itself but also because the views of the city from the upper floors were spectacular. There are also so many cool artifacts and displays throughout that take you back in time and show you how the aristocrats would have lived. The day that we went, the staff were setting up for a wedding and I can only imagine how dreamy those photos would be! Casa Loma offered beautiful gardens, secret passages, fascinating history, and a relaxing tour taken at your own pace.

Coming In/Going Out

Since we drove in from Niagara Falls, we just had a quick stop across the Rainbow Bridge to check our passports. We crossed through in the middle of the night as we left after work from Columbus, so we didn't have to wait too long to cross at the station. The next day in Niagara Falls, we saw a long line of traffic crossing the same checkpoint, so we definitely made it through at a good time.

Leaving Toronto, we took a quicker route home through Michigan, which was a bit busier of a checkpoint. Both going in and coming out, we just handed over our passports and provided some details on our trip and where we were headed. The border patrol agents did NOT stamp our passports, which was a bit of a bummer, but were pleasant enough and we had no issues entering or exiting the country via car from the United States.

Overall Impressions

I loved the big city experience without feeling as chaotic as some of the other major cities I've visited. Not only was it a quieter vibe, but the streets were also generally very clean and you can see that the people take pride in their community. I could definitely see myself living in Toronto (in the summer, I could not handle Canada winters) and thoroughly enjoyed the quick long-weekend trip. I didn't find the food, drinks, or experiences here to be much more expensive than Columbus and felt pretty safe despite how big of a metro it is. Given that we were able to road-trip here, we didn't really spend too much on travel expenses which made this the perfect impromptu trip. We'll be back for sure!