flywithlivCanada has a lot of beauty to offer with its incredible mountainous terrains and lovely colourful coasts. It is definitely a country that should be on your bucket list, you must visit Canada. So, as a born and raised Torontonian, take this advice from me:
When you visit Canada – skip Toronto.
I know, I know, it’s a bit controversial. Skip the big city?! How could you?! Drake has made it famous as the 6ix, it’s the home of the Toronto maple leafs hockey team, and has the CN tower.
But believe me, a common conversation among us locals is Toronto is actually such a boring city!
Let me give you the details:
- the CN tower is nothing special. You go up to the top and see a view of Toronto I guess, but the so-called “glass floor” is incredibly unimpressive. I would recommend going to the glass floor in New York City instead
- Outside of the CN Tower, we have ripleys aquarium. Why did we build an aquarium if Toronto is not on an ocean? Well, because tourist have nothing to do in Toronto, we need to make money off of you someway!
- Another thing you could do in Toronto is go to the harbour front board walk, where you walk and ride your bike. This part actually is beautiful because it’s on the waterfront. BUT, before you get too excited about going swimming, you most likely won’t be able to swim here due to pollution. Yes, I’m serious. It’s just sad.
- You could go to a game – hockey, baseball, basketball – but for many this isn’t too special because you’ve been to a game before
- The patio scene is big in Toronto in the summer – some recommendations can be found here
- There’s definitely a night life in Toronto. This is probably the best part. There’s tons of bars, clubs, around every corner.
- Unfortunately, I haven’t eaten at any mind blowing restaurants in Toronto. I feel like I’m biased now that I’ve lived in Europe tor 2 years, nothing seems to compare. However Kingston, Ontario? That’s another story – I could tell you all about the fine places to go! I also think I enjoy the authentic food places a lot more than the everyday restaurants families tend to go to. For example, I think checking out Chinatown, little Italy, and Greek town is probably your best bet for wonderful food
- There are, however, some wonderful recommendations I could give you on places that I think might be fun or worth checking out when you visit Toronto, Canada:
- Snakes and lattes cafe with board games
- Rebel nightclub – big nightclub, if there is a good DJ playing it will feel like a movie
- Toybox, also really fun nightclub
- Patios – jack Astor’s patio on
- Towns – China town, little Italy, Roscencvalles (polish food), Greektown
So if not Toronto, what would I recommend?
- East coast of Canada – Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, Newfoundland
- West coast of Canada – Banff, Vancouver
Believe me, Toronto is just like any other city. It is nothing special.
Now no shame to Drake – I love that he reps Toronto to the world and raps about it and all. Since I grew up here, I get all the references in his songs, there are torontonian things that people just don’t get unless they grow up here, and I love that. Toronto will forever and always be my home.
However from a tourists perspective, skipping Toronto is worth it!
