Spring

Spring is a rather weird season in Toronto.  Weather wise, the snow is starting to melt and while floods can get into the city from time to time, the receding layers of white can be beautiful for photography.  The warming weather combined with the regular breezes from Lake Ontario can create heavenly weather for those that enjoy weather ranges between 5 and 15 Celsius and breezy conditions.

In terms of the attractions, all of the major city attractions are available around the calendar, so you’d be able to see them regardless of when you choose to travel.  However, special events at places like The Canadian National Exhibition usually don’t start until the summer, so if you’re visiting the city in the hopes of going to a lot of events, this is not the best season to do that.

Summer

In my rather humble opinion, Summer has the worst weather of all four seasons in Toronto.  Of course, I’m partial to cold weather and vacationing in a tropical paradise isn’t exactly my idea of a good time.  If you’re partial to warm weather, then Summer is a great time to visit Toronto because the moderating influence of the nearby lake creates temperature ranges that frequently break 25 Degrees Celsius.

Summer is also the high period of tourism in the city, which means that all of the major and minor attractions will be in full swing.  The baseball season is well underway by the time summer comes and the football season is not too far off.  There’s usually extra public transit service in anticipation of higher traveller numbers, but by the same token finding transportation to and accommodation in the city can be harder and end up costing a lot more money.

Fall

Fall is a lot like Spring, except without the great view of melting snow.  Towards the end of Fall however, snow will start to fall on the ground and provide a wholly different set of photographic opportunities.  The weather ranges are about the same as they are for spring, although you can expect more wind in the Fall months.

Fall is a great time to visit Toronto if you’re looking for deals, because it is right after all of the Summer tourism peaks have passed.  Attractions are looking for people to sustain themselves and many airline and hotel companies are doing the same thing.  Rates in a lot of the city’s hotels tend to fall during this period and many of the attractions are silent enough that you can enjoy them alone.  For the various parks, water bodies and beautiful religious structures in the city, this can really make all the difference in your overall experience.

Winter

As a Canadian for the last two decades, I’ve really developed an affinity for cold weather that makes me prefer winter over all of the other seasons.  In terms of weather, you can often expect conditions that are below freezing, with a wind chill factor that can often make temperatures seem like they’re 20 to 25 below zero on the Celsius scale.

The major attractions are all still open, although the number of events that tend to be hosted during this time dips slightly.  However, if you’re a big fan of photography, then getting the chance to take pictures of all of Toronto’s most beautiful buildings when they’re covered by snow might definitely be worth the colder weather.

As I said in the introduction, visiting Toronto is ultimately a personal choice.  There are good points and bad points in visiting the city at different points during the year, but aside from personal opinion there is really no season that is better than the others.

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Hot Dogs and Meal Trucks, Oh My! - While no fast food option is particularly good when it comes to getting a good and nutritious meal, there are certainly ways to save time while improving on going to a fast food restaurant.  This post discusses some options that you can pursue along that road.

The Toronto Traveler Celebrates World Cocktail Week – Have you ever had a Toronto Cocktail?  How about the fictitious, yet hilarious Toronto Toddy?  Check out recipes for both in this post!

The Toronto Traveler’s Submission to the b5media Travel & Culture Theme Day – Take Toronto’s best known landmark and combine it with a well placed ambulance in order to get a picture that captions itself, no editing needed!

Happy Victoria Day from The Toronto Traveler – Victoria Day’s a very important holiday in Canada, so naturally no post about the City of Toronto would be complete without an acknowledgement of this great holiday!

Start off your day with Free Pancakes in Toronto – Pancakes are delicious and posts about them are fun to read

Well, the above five posts certainly represent my most memorable experiences with The Toronto Traveler in May.  What about you?  Do you agree with the above choices?  Disagree with them?  Have other suggestions that you’d like to put forward?  Feel free to leave a comment letting me know what you liked about this month and what you’d like to see moving forward into June.  The more feedback I get, the better I can make the blog for my readers.

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Are you interested in visiting Toronto sometime in the near future?  Well, whether you’re planning to drive across the border from the US, hop into Pearson International Airport from another continent or simply take a bus or train ride into the city from elsewhere in Canada, the upcoming weekend of May 24th and 25th should be your top priority when doing the scheduling.  The reason for this is that a great event will be taking place during this time. 

Known as Doors Open Toronto, this event will showcase some of the best of the city as 150 buildings will open their doors to the public over the weekend.  These include places that show off Toronto’s distinct multicultural heritage and religious diversity as well as the historical heritage that the city has come to be proud of over the years of its existence.  Some of these buildings would not normally be open to tourists because of their private nature, but during Doors Open Toronto you can tour them to your heart’s content.

Event Details

Doors Open Toronto 2008 is the 9th incarnation of this event and it is going to be the biggest one yet.  Admission to all of the buildings participating under Doors Open Toronto is completely free during the May 24-25 weekend.  To get an idea of how remarkable that is, every single building on the list is either a building that would not normally be open to the public during those hours or alternatively would charge an entrance fee for you to enter.  However, during the weekend that Doors Open Toronto is going on, admission is free and accessibility is universal.

More information about the event can be found by visiting the Doors Open Toronto Website, by e-mailing doorsopen@toronto.ca or by phoning 416-338-0628.

Buildings on Display

A full list of buildings on display is readily available from the Toronto City Website, but in looking over it I’ve come up with some highlights that I think warrant special attention:

Allan Gardens, located on 19 Horticultural Avenue, is one of the premier botanical garden sites in Toronto.  It was created in an act of philanthropy more than fifteen decades ago and ever since that time it has been a must see site within the City of Toronto.  During Doors Open Toronto, it will be open on both days from 10 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon.

The City of Toronto Archives is a site that doesn’t get mentioned much in traditional tourism, mostly because access to the archives is restricted by the city’s governing council.  However, all of the information that you could ever want to know about Toronto’s rich cultural and historical tradition can be found inside the archives and for people that love to totally immerse themselves in a city both past and present, the accessibility to the archives during Doors Open Toronto is an opportunity that can’t be missed.  The archives will be open on Saturday from 10 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon and will be closed on Sunday.  It is located on 255 Spadina Road.

There’s no specific reason for me to mention these two out of the 150 that will be available aside from the fact that I haven’t covered either before on The Toronto Traveler.  The fact of the matter is that every single site on the list is an important one for understanding Toronto, so you can quite easily scan the list and pick out the buildings that interest you the most.

Photo Credit: Flickr, Flickr

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Toronto, like many of the other cities, is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of many different pools around the city.  Swimming is a great exercise to pursue if you are in the city not only because it is extremely fun for the whole family, but also because swimming is considered one of the best forms of exercise you can do; it works all of the muscles in your body.  This combination of fun and fitness makes it the perfect tourist activity and in Toronto during the summer there is no dearth of places for you to go if you’d like to swim.  The swimming areas in Toronto are divided into four distinct areas, each with its own set of rules and opportunities.

Some General Rules

Here are some general swimming rules to be followed when you are in one of the city pools:

- Those with serious medical conditions should consult a doctor before swimming and should also have someone with them that understands their condition; they should also notify the lifeguard before entering the pool

- Children seven years of age or older need to use the change room of their own gender, unless special arrangements are made with the pool staff beforehand

- No street shoes are allowed in the shower or in the deck areas and a pre-swim shower is recommended in order to keep the pool clean

- Using devices like cell phones is prohibited anywhere in the change room or washroom

- Children 5 years of age and under must have at least one adult supervising per two children; Children 6-9 years have that ratio at four to one unless they can pass the faculty’s swim test in which case they may swim alone.

Different Pools

There are dozens of different pools across the city (both indoor and outdoor) available to people that are interested in grabbing a swim.  The city catalogues their pools through the use of four different regions.  The links below will lead you to a listing of pools and special events being put on by each region during the upcoming summer months:

Etobicoke Region
East York Region
Scarborough Region
North York Region

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Hot Dog Stands and Meal Trucks are all over the place in downtown Toronto and many of them are around working more than 12 hours during the day.  This ensures that whether you are going to a sporting event, visiting a museum or just taking in some of the sights and sounds of Toronto, you’ll definitely have no problem grabbing something to eat from one of those stands should you choose to do so.  At the University where I am on a frequent basis there’s a hot dog stand on each corner and meal trucks between them!  And there are few places in downtown where you can stand outside on the street without seeing one in your immediate vision (believe me, I’ve tried).

The typical fare on a hot dog stand is usually limited to beef hot dogs, chicken hot dogs, Polish sausages, Italian sausages, German sausages, veggie hot dogs and various drinks from pop to juice with water thrown into the mix as well.  Beef and chicken hot dogs usually go for $2.00 to $2.50; sausages go from $3.00 to $3.50; veggie hot dogs usually go for $2.50 to $3.00 and drinks are around $1.00 to $1.50 depending on what you want.  With many toppings that you can put on your dog and nice thick sausages, you can get a filling meal and a drink for under $5.00 from a hot dog vendor in just a few minutes, which is far better than you could do at any fast food restaurant in the area.

Meal Trucks have more choice in terms of their offerings and will frequently offer both hot dogs and burgers in both meat and veggie formats however you’d like them done.  You can also usually get fries from a meal truck and therefore grab a meal of a burger, fries and a drink for a little bit more than you would spend at a hot dog stand.  Meal trucks are regulated for the city and required to maintain safety and health standards high in order to operate and all of the food is cooked extremely thoroughly as well, meaning that it is all safe to eat.

I’m not necessarily saying that hot dogs and meal trucks represent gourmet cuisine in the City of Toronto, but I would make the point that if you’re in a hurry, they might be better than fast food restaurants.  They’re definitely faster and cheaper however, two things which are usually looked for by someone that is in a hurry to get somewhere else.

Also, perhaps as a testament to the multicultural nature of the City of Toronto, many of the different hot dog stands have actually started carrying products that fit various dietary restrictions.  The best example of this is the fact that the city has a number of different Halal hot dog stands with food that follows Muslim dietary law.

Photo Credits: Flickr, Flickr, Flickr

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Photo Credit: Flickr

A few days ago, I wrote a post that talked about how Toronto subway stations have distinctive tiling and how that tiling had been captured by a set of buttons that were now on sale.  While that post was originally just going to be a stand alone post in and of itself, it actually planted a few seeds of thought in my head.  Seeds of thought are dangerous things for bloggers because they can lead to crazy ideas for posts and in this particular case that’s exactly what’s happened!

So, without further ado, I’d like to introduce Subway Sundays, the newest series of posts that will be debuting with this post on The Toronto Traveler.  As the name implies, this series will be a weekly segment on the blog with one post a week discussing information, news, events and other useful information for travelers to know regarding the Toronto Transit Commission, the organization that is responsible amongst other things for the maintenance and extension of Toronto’s subway system.

Toronto, like many of the best tourism destinations around the world, is a city that could not exist without its subway system.  Some might say that statement is a bit of a stretch, but when you consider how many tourist attractions are near subway stations and then add to that the fact that so many different riders take transit to work every single day, I think that for practical purposes that statement is a truism.  And since I’m supposed to be blogging about things that are important for travel and tourism as well as important for Toronto, this seems like a pretty good idea.

Also, I’m trying to get myself back to a time when I was posting regularly (i.e. once or twice each day as opposed to lengths of silence and then a flurry of posts over 2-3 days) because not only did that help me keep the material fresh and on-going, I know anecdotally that it helped many of my readers as well.  I’ve found that series (such as my Hogtown Halloween series) are easy to do on a consistent basis and am hoping that Subway Sundays will get the posting on The Toronto Traveler back to where it was in 2007.

So sit back, relax and tune in next Sunday for the first non-intro post to Subway Sundays and prepare to learn far more information than you ever knew existed regarding Toronto’s transit system!

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

If you aren’t at a computer terminal where you can access The Toronto Traveler, then there are actually places on the streets where you can do in order to get your fix of tourism and travel within the City of Toronto.  These handy little terminals are known as InfoToGo terminals and they have been placed at key areas around the city specifically for use by people that are either lost and trying to find their way somewhere or alternatively are looking for a place to go in order to kill time until their big event for the day starts.

Maps

One of the biggest things that you are going to find from the terminals is a map.  This map can be zoomed in and out at your convenience and can even be broken down into different area maps for easier loading and quicker access time.  The maps themselves will contain points of interest, historical sites, tourism sites and basically the locations of everything you could ever want to know or visit within Toronto.  Public transit locations are also featured on the maps so that everything is quite literally at your fingertips when you are looking at a map at an InfoToGo terminal.

Audio

As if the map itself weren’t enough, you can also sometimes get audio for a number of the different sites that are located on the map.  Whether you are looking for directions in speech from where you are standing to a nearby TTC station or are simply looking for information on a number of interesting sites in your location to decide which one to visit, the InfoToGo terminal might very well have what you are looking for in an easy to use audio delivery system that will have you on your way with confidence in no time flat.

Pocket Maps

If neither the map available at the terminal itself nor the audio system of delivery are enough to make you confident about finding your way around the city, then for a small fee of $2 (the machine operates through the use of loonies and toonies), you can actually get a fold out map of the city that you can then use to mark down where you want to go and the shortest route to get there.  One side of the map has an enlarged and higher scale printout of the downtown core of Toronto where most of the popular tourism destinations are located, while the other side has a lower scale representation of the entire city just in case you happen to find yourself in the suburbs later on.

There are currently 23 of these terminals spaced around the city at strategic places for people to use them if they need help.  These InfoToGo terminals are just the start of what promises to be a big push for tourism on the part of the Toronto government, so as more innovations are announced and get placed within the city, look for them to be featured here on The Toronto Traveler.

Maps of the 23 Terminal Locations

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Taiko Drumming is one of the most energetic artistic forms in the world.  The drummers not only need to have strong arms, but they need to have a high level of overall endurance in order to get through performances that number in the hours in terms of length while they are going at maximum in order to create the great beats that Taiko drums are known for.  We’ve got a club of Taiko drummers at the University of Toronto and every time I see those guys I just have to sit in awe of how they are able to keep their energy up throughout a performance that would be long even by the standards of a symphony orchestra where the musicians get to sit down and take it comparatively easy throughout the whole performance.

Well, in an artistic field that requires excellence, the Yamato Drummers of Japan are amongst the best of the best.  And they are performing at Roy Thompson Hall on November 24th, with ticket prices starting at $50.  The hall itself is well built, so you don’t have to invest in the more expensive tickets if you don’t want to.  The more expensive tickets can be as much as $70 and will admittedly give you a much better view of the drummers themselves as they go about their business.  Either way, the show starts at 8 PM and seating starts approximately one hour before that.

Roy Thompson Hall is probably the premier music venue in Toronto.  I’ve been there and I’ve actually performed there when I was in high school and it is certainly one of my favourite places to go whenever I can afford the prices.  The Hall itself is just a short walk from St. Andrew Subway Station; you walk west on King Street until you get to Simcoe Street and then head south until you get to the only building in the area that looks like the picture shown above!

This concert is definitely going to be an exciting one, so if you happen to be a fan of music then this concert should definitely be on your list of things to do in Toronto.

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

No, what I want The Toronto Traveler to be about is information you won’t find from a typical tour guide about these major attractions, as well as attractions that you might enjoy that are not so well known.

With that having been said, at the same time I would be remiss in my duties of bringing the City of Toronto into your computer room if I didn’t mention the biggest of the big when it comes to tourism destinations within Hogtown and doing it pretty early I figure gets it out of the way so that we can get to the juicier content within these tourist attractions and also within the lesser known great parts of Toronto.

With that, I bring you the next TTT serial: Toronto Tourism Tendencies!  This serial will run for the next two weeks and will showcase some of the biggest tourist attractions that you can find within the City of Toronto.  Big names like The CN Tower and The Canadian National Exhibition will be on this list, as well as governmental points of interest like Toronto City Hall and the Ontario Provincial Legislature.  What else is on the list?  Well, you’ll just have to keep tuning in to find out

First post for the series is tomorrow!

Post from: The Toronto Traveler