OTHER CITIES: VANCOUVER MONTREAL

Touring Toronto In Two Days

Posted by Karen
Filed in City
May 31, 2006

This past weekend I had a childhood friend visit from Asia who is here for work. The hotel that she was put in was in the middle of Nowheresville, the industrial part of Mississauga-Brampton. As I picked her up, I assured her that Toronto is nothing like what she'd seen so far.

The dilemma for me was that I only had two days to show her my Toronto. Believe it or not, deciding on where to go was harder than even I thought it would be.

I decided to concentrate on the various neighbourhoods in the city. I wanted her to see that despite it being a big city, there were pockets of places that made you feel like you were part of a small community. I wanted her to get a sense of where and how we Torontonians live.

This is where we went - St. Lawrence Market & Front Street, The Distillery District, Danforth Avenue, West Queen West, Cabbagetown and Riverdale Farm, the Beaches (yes, I know it's supposed to be called "The Beach") and Chinatown. There were so many other places that I would have loved to explore but I think she was reeling from sensory overload anyway.

Where would you take a friend if you only had two days?

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my cousin Natasha was here for four and a half days, (so i guess i had more time, and with the two extra days, we went up in the cn tower and had lunch at the 360 resteraunt and also made a trip to niagara falls and stopped at casino niagara). BUT we also did queen street west, kensington market and chinatown, the annex and future's (!!), window shopping along bloor street, the beaches, and lunch at lahore ticca house in little india. she was impressed that i didn't take her to a single mall while she was here! oh and we skipped doorsopen and i kind of wish we hadnt, i was really looking forward to that =(

Posted by: Sana at May 31, 2006 11:25 AM

I'd take my friend to King West, Yorkville, Harbourfront, Center Island, Little Italy, CN Tower, Skydome, Yonge Street and those other great ideas mentioned above.

Posted by: Andrew at May 31, 2006 11:38 AM

Distillery District for sure. Yonge St. Casa Lomo. That big tower (what's that thing called?). AND of course, by all means, without a doubt, Kensington Market - The Happiest Place on Earth ... next to Tijuana of course ...

Posted by: Chris Thomas at May 31, 2006 11:45 AM

I had the same problem this weekend when one of my really good friends came to visit me. She had never been to Toronto so I really wanted to show her how wonderful and beautiful Toronto is. I ended up taking her up and down Queen Street, Spadina, St. Lawrence Market, the Eaton Center area, and down to the CN Tower. I think the next time she comes I'd love to show her the Toronto Islands.

Posted by: nicole at May 31, 2006 12:25 PM

I'm definitely a fan of the islands, but sadly, heading across on the ferry doesn't leave you time to do much else in the day other than just the islands. St. Lawrence Market and Distillery District are some of my favorites, but like a true tourist, I'm a pretty big fan of the ROM, the AGO, and Casa Loma as well.

Posted by: Sameer Vasta

at May 31, 2006 12:49 PM