Toronto, OT

The more than 7000 fine dining establishments, bars, cafes, bistros, clubs and dance halls (a large number of which can be found Downtown) suit every taste from bohemian to business. The downtown area of the city also houses a number of stadiums and arenas where some of Canada's top-of-the-line professional sports teams—the Maple Leafs , the Raptors ,the Blue Jays and the Argos—play. And race car fanatics will have no trouble picking up the roar of Molson Indy engines come summer.

Overlapping Downtown, the entertainment districts is home to numerous world-class museums, art galleries, theatres, dance companies, festivals and parades that add creativity and culture to an already vibrant city. Any of these could serve to define Toronto. While the city may once have had a reputation as Toronto The Good, a nondescript place which shut down and rolled up the sidewalks at sundown, nothing could be further from the truth today. The city is alive with some of the best theatres, museums and galleries anywhere. For example, Toronto is the third largest centre of English-speaking theatre productions in the world (next to London and New York), with more than 200 professional theatre companies and 10,000 performances a year.

That multi-ethnic gathering has given the city an exciting and awesome energy. It has also created a place of wonderful neighbourhoods, each with its defining character and local colour. With a plethora of different cultures and neighbourhoods bumping into one another like pieces of tectonic plates, the cuisine is as diverse as the population—and matching any taste and affordability, from the unlimited expense account to those counting their pennies. In fact, while there are plenty of upscale haute-cuisine restaurants where price is of no concern, some of the best food Toronto has to offer is tucked away in the small eateries of the city's original Chinatown . Here you will find Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Thai, Indonesian and Japanese dishes to satisfy both the timid and the adventurous. You can also spend a day shopping at the Dragon City Shopping Mall at Dundas and along Spadina Avenue where East meets West.

Even in the cold winter, Toronto's blue skies make city seem alive and coming in from a snowstorm, the restaurants, bars and shops feel cosy.

However the city is more fun in the other three seasons: in spring the midtown streets suddenly become forests; in summer the patio bars and waterfront come alive; in autumn the leaves change colour and the air is clean and crisp.

Climate

Toronto has one of the mildest climates in the country, thanks to the moderating effects of Lake Ontario and a southern latitude of 44º north, on par with Florence, Italy. Winter is not as bad as the rest of Canada: the city gets less snow than it used to, but visitors should bring hats and gloves as the mercury often dips below 0°C. Toronto gets plenty of sunshine year-round. Summers are hot and humid, punctuated by thunderstorms.

Summer

This vibrant city casts off winter and throws itself into summer with an incredible enthusiasm. Sidewalks are suddenly home to packed patios, which are perfect for people-watching. Toronto crams a kaleidoscopic array of festivals into the summer months, from Luminato arts festival, North by Northeast music festival and the gargantuan Toronto Pride in June, to the renowned Toronto International Film Festival in September. Open-air events and street festivals confetti the calendar, and every weekend sees a slew of diverse events that attract literally millions of spectators and participants. All this means that top Toronto hotel prices stay high and the city feels exceptionally alive from morning till the wee hours. Toronto weather in the summer can lurch into the hot, sticky 90s, with humidity occasionally making that feel like well over 100 degrees, but summers usually bask in the mid- to high-80s and are cooler by the lakeshore and on the Toronto Islands.

Winter

Winter in Toronto is an unpredictable beast—one year a January or February visit might have you clambering over 4-foot snowbanks to get into a cab, while 12 months later there might be only a token sprinkle of the white stuff on the ground. Even in the harshest weather conditions, however, Torontonians keep on hitting the bars, checking out events, and getting the most out of the city. Don’t be surprised to see T-shirt clad regulars chatting and smoking outside West End watering holes at 2AM when the mercury’s dipped well below zero. Other than over the holiday season, you’ll find some decent deals on hotel prices during the off season.

Spring and Autumn

When you’re thinking of Toronto travel, April and May are the best times to visit Toronto. At some stage in mid-April, the final dregs of the last snowstorm melt away, temperatures bound toward 70, and, suddenly, everyone in the city is smiling. There’s a palpable joie de vivre when spring arrives, and a visit during these months will have you falling for Toronto within hours of arrival. With the city being such a beacon for Canadian finance and commerce, there’s not much wiggle room in hotel prices, but you won’t find so many places sold out at this time of year.