Toronto is not a city where the tourist has an exhaustive itinerary.
It is more of a city that grows on you slowly – the traveller is seduced by its summer festivals, markets, boardwalks and food, rather than engaged in a breathless stomp around endless cultural attractions.
Situated reassuringly near to Niagra Falls, it is untrue to say that Toronto has no ‘wow’ factor, although the city has a reputation as a clean, safe metropolis.
Toronto is also one of the great ethnic melting pots of the world: its many immigrants have meant that the city is in constant cultural flux.
Toronto sits in the Great Lakes region of Canada, on the shores of Lake Ontario. The downtown area has a distinctively heteroclite aspect: at once bohemian, ethnic and historic.
The Harbourfront area, the CN Tower and the SkyDome, Toronto’s vast sports arena are the features on Toronto’s wannabe New York skyline.
There is a proper Chinatown (not just a row of vaguely Oriental eateries a la London) starting along Dundas Street.
Just north of Chinatown is a bustling university area and to the west, Little Italy and The Annex.
To the east of downtown lies Cabbagetown, a gentrified neighbourhood that retains some Irish immigrant character.
This ethnic diversity compensates for the paucity of world-class museums and restaurants.
With a wide range of flights to Toronto from UK airports it’s easy to reach Toronto, even just for a sjort break.
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