Toronto, along Lake Ontario’s north-western shore, is the biggest city in Canada. With its diversity in ethnicity, food, music, art, infrastructure and sports, it makes for a perfect vacation to discover Canada’s cultural quarter.
We bring you five reasons why you should visit Toronto as you plan your next trip.
(Image Source: Pixabay)
1. Cultural Centre
Toronto is a cultural hotbed as it is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world. Immigrants from various cultural backgrounds have brought their language, traditions, food and music. Such diversity attracts tourists throughout the year to visit and witness the plethora of cultural festivity in the city. One of the most popular festivals held annually in Toronto is the Caribbean festival or simply known as Caribana, celebrates the Caribbean culture and traditions including the Grande Parade during the summers over the course of three weeks. Speaking of art, the Art Gallery of Ontario, also knows has AGO, has some world-class collection of both Canadian and International artists with over 95,000 pieces of artwork. The collection has artwork dating back to the 14th century Western style to modern contemporary works of artists like Liegender Frauenakt and Peter Ruben.
The interiors of the Art Gallery of Ontario (Image Source: Pixabay)
2. Sports
If you are a sports lover, then Toronto is one of the best cities in the world to be in as it has many of its popular home teams across various sports. Hockey is one of the most popular sports across Canada and while you are in Toronto you can watch their famous Maple Leaf team on ice rink. During the baseball season you can spend an entire afternoon watching baseball at the Blue Jays stadium. Basketball lovers can catch on the games of the current NBA champions Toronto Raptors in the city. Since Hockey is one of the most loved sports, this city has the iconic Toronto’s Hockey Hall of Fame, which is dedicated to preserve NHL history, feature memorabilia, and induct some popular players of the game. This museum is a testament to the city’s passion for the game of hockey and it is one of the places that attracts many tourists, especially sport freaks. Oh, and don’t forget you can also join an axe-throwing activity…
(Image Source: Pixabay)
3. Toronto’s Skyline – Commercial and Residential Towers
One of the striking features of Toronto is its skyline that has many towers which adds up to its urbanity. There are many high rise buildings like the CN Tower, the First Canadian Place, the Adelaide Toronto, the Scotia Plaza, the Aura and the Commerce Court that provide a breathtaking and picturesque view of the city’s skyline. Walking on the edge of the CN tower, about 1200 feet off the ground on a five-foot ledge can be daunting but a unique experience on the World’s highest hands-free full-circle walk. Toronto is also known for residential towers such as the highrise condo. In fact, there has been an upsurge in the condos and real estate business in the city. The increase in residential towers speaks powerfully of the city’s urbanity power to draw people back downtown.
The CN Tower (Image Source: Pixabay)
4. Movies
Toronto is home to numerous movies and TV shoots including TV series Suits and movies like The Mean Girls, The Incredible Hulk and Hairspray. Its skyline can be transformed into that of many big cities and with low production cost; you can find scenes being shot as you wander about the streets. Sites like, The Distillery District, Casa Loma, Yonge and Dundas Square, Allan Gardens Conservatory, and EF Toronto neighbourhood are a few popular locations that you might identify from movies and TV shows that you might have watched. The city also plays host to the iconic Toronto Film Festival in the month of September, one of the largest such gathering in the world of nearly 480,000 people annually. The film festival actually brings a buzz to the city and there are invariably lots of opportunities for celebrity sightings.
(Image Source: Unsplash)
5. Shopping
For all kinds of shoppers, Toronto is a one of a kind shopping destination. It has numerous top-notch American and European department centres and several market areas across many neighbourhoods. One of such places is Kensington Market, a multicultural neighbourhood with eye-catching indie shops, endless collections of art, contemporary cafes and vintage boutiques. If you are looking for self-gifting you can visit Durumi, Haven and Gravitypope, while you can shop for home essentials in Spacing Store or Likely General. The food scene in Toronto is a reflection of the cultural diversity that the city boasts. You might be surprised by the cultural mix that you might see in food served, right from Hakka to Venezuelan to Ethiopian to Jamaican-Italian. With the absence of a distinct food style and a large-scale cultural synthesis in food culture, Toronto is becoming a culinary destination globally.
A Clothing Boutique in Kensington Market (Image Source: Pixabay)
With the diversity that it holds, Toronto has something for everyone that comes to visit. Therefore it is not surprising that visitors keep coming back to this culturally advanced city time and again.
