Toronto Travel Guide - Itinerary Tips From A Local Tour Guide

Trip101 Editorial
Contributing Writer
Published
| 50 min read
guide to in Toronto

Welcome to Trip101 Travel Talks, where we bring you expert insights from local tour guides across the globe! In this episode, we’re excited to chat with Robert, a seasoned tour guide in Toronto with a unique perspective on what makes this city so special. Originally from Australia and having lived in various places worldwide, he’s spent the last nine years immersing himself in Toronto’s vibrant culture. In this interview, Robert shares his insider tips on everything from Toronto’s must-try foods, like butter tarts and poutine, to the city’s best neighbourhoods for dining, shopping, and exploring.

He also delves into best time to visit Toronto and highlights some essential travel tips, such as navigating public transportation, using food delivery apps, and finding the best souvenirs to bring home.

So, if you’re ready to explore Toronto like a local, this episode is for you! Check out the full interview on YouTube, or read the transcript below to discover all of Robert’s recommendations for planning your perfect trip to this diverse and dynamic city.


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From transportation tips to medical essentials and everything in between, the Toronto local guides share all the must-know information to help you plan your trip.

Transcript

[00:00:07] Bianca: Hi, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Travel Talks on Trip101’s YouTube channel. I’m Bianca, Content Executive at Trip101, and this is a series where we talk to local tour guides from all over the world so that we can get their insights about the cities that they offer tours in. And today I’m speaking to Robert. He’s a licensed tour guide in Toronto, Canada. Hi, Robert.

[00:00:30] Robert: Hi, how are you, Bianca?

[00:00:31] Bianca: I’m doing well, thanks. Do you want to tell our viewers a little bit more about yourself?

[00:00:37] Robert: Sure. Look, I am relatively new to Toronto compared to Torontonians because I have lived here about nine years now. And I’m originally from Australia. I was born in England. Traveled in the United States, lived in Hong Kong. So I’ve had a number of different places I’ve lived in, but since I’ve become settled in Toronto I’ve decided to sort of learn more about the city and because I come from a background in a field that is involving publicity and broadcast predominantly in horse racing, actually, I have had a lot of experiences in meeting fans who come to racetracks and do racing tours, horse racing tours, talking to a lot of people from different backgrounds, different points of view. But it just encouraged me to then transfer some of those skills to on my Days off to begin what was tour guiding. And so I’ve been involved in taking tours now for a couple of years in Toronto.

I’ve learned a lot about the city and I think because of my background and experiences of traveling I certainly understand what travelers want. I know what the excitement and adventure is of having a chance to discover a new city. And because I’m still learning more and more all the time and understand more about the history. I find it very interesting to be in that position. So to me, it’s a very dynamic type of opportunity to impart what I experienced from my view. Certainly there’s a lot of history here.

[00:02:17] Bianca: okay.

Tour guide in Toronto

[00:02:18] Bianca: So you lived in a lot of different countries. So I’m curious to know if there’s anything special about Toronto that made you decide to settle there over other cities.

[00:02:30] Robert: It was triggered by an opportunity to work in the industry. That is predominantly my favourite type of work, which is in broadcast, but it was also a place I’d visited many times in the 90s and really liked it, reminded me of Australia in many ways, being a Commonwealth country. And it also was a blend of what I had experienced in the United States, having lived in places like Washington state, where the Seattle area is close to the Canadian border and New Mexico, which was the opposite in terms of borders, down towards the border with Mexico. So the lifestyle is a bit of a blend of that.

And I think it’s become a city that has transformed so drastically, even in the time I’ve been here, in terms of diversity. It’s one of the most diverse Cities in ethnicity in the world. It’s reflected in a lot of the cuisine in what might be called the mosaic, which a lot of Canadians like to describe as their model of how people come from other countries and bring their culture alongside another as against a melting pot, which is more of an American word term, but all to say, those are the. Types of influences that bring the city to me to be a very dynamic city. So I was back here in the nineties. It’s changed quite a lot, but I think it’s a very current type of city.

[00:04:02] Bianca: I see. Yeah. Okay.

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Cuisines and food options

[00:04:04] Bianca: So you mentioned that, you know, the diversity and culture is represented in the cuisine and the food. So maybe we can start with that because I’m sure a lot of our viewers are really interested in finding out about the local food scene in Toronto. So are there any dishes or cuisines that you particularly recommend that guests try once they are in Toronto?

[00:04:28] Robert: Well, it is interesting because there’s just so many influences from all the different countries that are represented by immigrants who’ve come to live here. But let’s start off with some of the things that are traditional to being in Toronto that may be considered their signature type of food to try. And the first one is simply a butter tart. A butter tart that is, you know, like a sweet cake that you buy in the market, especially here at a market that’s as famous. And it’s just a mixture of, well, I got my recipe, but everyone’s got their own, it’s officially eggs, brown sugar. You can add currants, raisins and things, but you can have a plain butter top, but basically I find that they’re very simple to eat. They are a couple of bucks at the most. Viewers experience that at any point of the day, they’re very delicious. What is the main ingredient there? It says quite sure I’m not a very good cook, but all to say that it’s basically like any other little cake, but it’s famous for what was historically decided, you know, as sort of like a signature of Toronto, because it was Canada. I don’t know about poutine because in poutine, I don’t know if you’ve heard of poutine. It’s sort of like fries that basically prepared with cheese curds and hot gravy on the top. It’s to me more of a sort of cold day winter dish, but people eat them all the time and poutine is something you really want to try. I quite like them. You can add different flavours to it.

I feel like as much as Montreal is associated with famous smoked meats that Toronto has adapted into that, and you find that there are great sandwiches here with terrific smoked meat. I haven’t tried these as much as many other people, but ketchup chips is something that people talk about as being very Torontonian. They actually are chips that are the flavour of ketchup. So these are sort of snacks. They’re not particularly meals. I’m very drawn to a lot of Asian cuisine here because I would have to say, having lived in Hong Kong, where the food was terrific and having lived in Australia, where there’s a huge Asian community and much diversity in it, and in the United States, Toronto has probably the best Asian cuisine in any of those places outside of Hong Kong that I’ve tried. There’s a number of Chinatowns here. And I really recommend certain restaurants, which we can get into later, but I do think you’ll find regions of China are really strongly represented with many different types of cuisine here.

There’s a tremendous Indian community. There are some very good restaurants located by the airport area where there’s a strong presence of Indian cuisine and they’re very affordable and very authentic. I feel like in the area up outside of the city of Toronto in the north, there’s a strong Jewish community that has certainly got tremendous bagels, bagel world. You can talk about places like Water Bagel, but Greifs is another one that’s a very great bagel place if you’re into bagels. I suppose that there’s all the Individual restaurants I could name and mention, but there are a few that I’ll mention later, but just to say those are some of the staple experiences, those butter tarts, poutine, I think you can add in Nanaimo bars, which are also very sort of chocolatey, and they have come from BC area in terms of the name, their wafers, they’ve got a little bit of Coconut in it, Custard. I think Toronto is all about food and it’ll reflect what area you’re in and I can share some of that in a minute too about what sections of town to go to.

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Restaurant recommendations

[00:08:35] Bianca: Okay, yeah, so you mentioned having some restaurants in mind. Are there any in particular that you would recommend for poutine or for the butter tarts?

[00:08:46] Robert: St. Lawrence Market is terrific for the butter tarts, but you’ll find them in a lot of places very common. In cafes, they’re all over the place, but they’re very easy to find in St. Lawrence market, which is a market downtown, which is very famous, has a tremendous history. It’s the old market. It’s being expanded again. It’s where people go to buy their fresh fruits and vegetables and have lots of little boutique shops that they can experience. Lots of great tea shops and coffee shops, but butter tarts are part of that down below on the second floor, lower floor. And I think as far as going to St. Lawrence market, there’s something called pea meal bacon. Peameal bacon is a a cut from the back loin that was rolled in the old days in basically peas, yellow peas. Today, they roll it in what is basically cornmeal, but it used to be In Peameal and it was to preserve it and it’s considered a very lean cut. It’s unsmoked and it’s very common in sandwiches and in, in being considered very much the tastier form of Canadian bacon. So Peameal bacon is something you can buy at St. Lawrence market as well. As far as just places to experience good food wherever you go, you’re going to see a tremendous amount of restaurants. There’s just endless amounts of restaurants in Toronto.

[00:10:13] Bianca: Okay. And do you have any favourites for restaurants to eat at?

[00:10:18] Robert: I do. I wanted to write some down. Yeah. I really liked the areas where they’re not overly expensive, but they have good quality, I mean, prices don’t always reflect the quality of a food at all, but if you’re in the mood for dumplings, there’s a restaurant not far from the main drag of young street, which is towards sort of church. It’s in Charles Street, 3 Charles Street, it’s called Sang-Ji and it has fried bow and they’re absolutely delicious. They’re very specific. They have three choices on the menu, the original or the curry or truffle. And I think you should just simply buy the original. They’re very inexpensive. I think 4 pieces is what it says here, about 7 or 8. And they’re just amazing. And you can continue to add to your order.

There’s a place called Fudao Noodle House in Kensington market, which is a very bohemian eclectic part where it’s not far from the downtown area. It’s on the West, a little bit of a walk or a simple streetcar ride. And that has an interesting history because in the COVID period the owner felt that students really kept his business alive. And because of that, He actually hasn’t raised his prices. And what it is basically hot noodles soupy with a lot of additions that you want to choose, whether it be shrimp or chicken, or if it wants to be vegetarian, you can add a lot of different choices of beef as well. If you’re a meat eater, but you can refill your bowl very quickly for no cost in terms of the soup then that’s a great choice.

Little Italy has a tremendous amount of restaurants. Little Italy is a neighborhood that isn’t far from that Kensington market, and it’s a 15 minute walk further on the West side, and it has a lot of history of influence in the city. The Italian community has a big presence here, there’s also a neighborhood called Corso Italia. You can’t go wrong. There’s so many restaurants. What I’d suggest is I got the name written as Trattoria Taverniti, I think you’ll have to look it up, but it’s 591 College Street. And the Trattoria has these beautiful Czech red and white tablecloths. Excellent food, good pricing. They have the best lemon cake I’ve ever had. There’s an area that’s more on the east of the city called the Danforth, It’s famous for Greek food, and there’s tremendous Greek community here. I’d suggest the Greek Grill, great restaurant. Pantheon has juicy, delicious chicken and spanakopita.

There’s the Astoria that’s really good for shish kebab. That’s a really intriguing area that takes you further across and continue further east to an area called The Beaches. The Beaches are beautiful by the lake. Lake Ontario is enormous. And if you get near the lake, you’re able to sort of enjoy a walk down by the waterfront, but there are restaurants and coffee shops. There are plenty just going back to Kensington market, which is a very historic area, which really was the history of the immigrants that came to this area of Toronto from living by the waterfront. They sort of immigrated into an area closer to what is now the center of the city to set up market life through the Chinese community in Chinatown through the Jewish community in the Kensington market is a preservation historic district. And there’s a number of great restaurants there. I really like the experience of just wandering around there, but there’s a great coffee shop called Moonbeam. It’s very independent. Most of the chains will exist around that. Coffee chains outside of the city, but you get independent coffee shops there. And that’s a very good one.

Just as far as the Korean food Korean community, there’s pockets which might be considered more like a Korea town up in North York. But if you are simply in an area by College, which is not far from that area, I’ve described of sort of the Little Italy and there’s a little Portugal section and Kensington market around there, you’ll find a restaurant called sunrise house. And sunrise house always has lines out the front from local Koreans who really love their food. So there’s just a few. I love the fried rice in Chinatown at the Goldstone noodle house. And there’s great fine dining. If you want to spend money. And you can in this city. If you love a steakhouse, La Castille is a great steakhouse that’s considered in the next area over Mississauga, but it’s really not far from the city. You can get there easily. And La Castille is famous for its Very elegant setting. It’s French Gothic style. It’s beautiful interior wood, and you just feel so transported to a completely different experience. And so while you’ll be paying for a delicious meal, you’ll get more than that. And I think the service is next to none. So there’s an example of something that’s on the high end. You can really find so many beautiful spots to sit and just have a nice drink here. If you want to go to hotels, there are some exquisite hotels, but I think a lot of people on a tour and certainly traveling want to find value for their money. And you don’t have to spend a lot of money to have very good food here.

[00:15:53] Bianca: Yeah. That’s good to know. I’m sure a lot of our travelers will appreciate knowing that they can get great meals for more affordable prices.

[00:16:02] Robert: Absolutely. And it’s got a number of Chinatowns I should mention too. There’s about six of them because the population from Hong Kong sort of swelled in the nineties, in the run up to the handover with Hong Kong back to China. A lot of people came to parts of Canada and really left a footprint in high rises and the changing landscape and brought great restaurants as well. There’s areas like Scarborough, which is a suburban area. That’s very pretty in by the waterfront and has a lot of old homes, but it also has a lot of the new high rise. It’s quite a nice mix that is phenomenal for Chinese restaurants. So if you’re wanting to, take a trip out to that. There’s a place, Markham Hill in Richmond, a places if you ever hear of that, another great community for Chinese food and the experience of just the Chinese culture. But if you are simply in the downtown area, which is very easy to get to Chinatown, you will find the best value in produce, simple produce for fruits and vegetables that you can pick up as a tourist, that you can pack a nice picnic lunch. And they’re fresh and they’re affordable, much better than going to a supermarket. And there’s a number of different neighborhoods that are very well known for their green grocers for their Chinese produce.

[00:17:22] Bianca: I see. Yeah.

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Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free food

[00:17:23] Bianca: And so speaking of fruits and vegetables, is it easy for travelers to find places that cater to maybe more specific diets like those who are vegan or vegetarian or even gluten free? Are there a lot of restaurants that they can find?

[00:17:40] Robert: I think so. I think the city has probably more than most. I think it’s well known for a tremendous awareness of the vegan community, vegetarian community. I have some written down, but I think generally though, you just go to a restaurant, you’re going to find that there are a number of vegan choices, vegetarian choices, vegan choices, more specific, but I do think you’ll find them. Let me see if I can just locate that for you. Because there are places that my friends who are vegan have gone to that they recommended. I’ve got a couple of things to note.

One is, I think I’m saying this right, but there’s one called Hogtown market. If you like hamburgers and in, in sort of vegan hamburgers, vegetarian hamburgers, Odd Burger is a chain. Fast food chain, Soy Boys, which is known as being in the church street area, which is not far from the main city area where it’s located is also for vegan burgers. There’s a tremendous baked goods place called Bunners. They have the best vegan baked goods. And I find whether you’re a vegan vegetarian or not even then they’re so delicious and some of the best. So Bunners are located in Kensington market. They’re also located in an area called Bloor West village, which is a great place to go, or the junction, actually not Bloor West village, the junction.

So, FAA specializes in Indian and Chinese cuisine. And that is vegetarian. Vegholic wraps, vegholic, I think. I’m not sure how to say that. And then if you go to places like Freshy, which is really a corner sort of store that specializes in bowls that are really healthy there’s always those vegetarian choices and they’re really excellent. So one of my friends who is vegetarian and vegan, she and I would go there and we would definitely both find plenty to choose from. And Freshy is a chain. There’s also a place called Fresh, specifically is for meals that are vegan. I’m not really feeling that people who want dietary restrictions that suit their needs will struggle here. I think you’ll find it pretty easily. I think that and even with milk in coffee shops, there are so many cafes that are aware of, you know, you need to ask for what you want, but they’ll probably have a lot of restrictions. Different choices in milk.

[00:20:19] Bianca: Okay. So it’s nice to know that there are a lot of options as well.

[00:20:25] Robert: Yeah, many options. Yeah.

[00:20:29] Bianca: Okay.

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Pet-friendly or kids-friendly activities

[00:20:29] Bianca: Is it the same thing for families who are coming with children or maybe pets? Will they also find restaurants that welcome them?

[00:20:38] Robert: So I think that Toronto is very different. Likely to have kids menus, but there are a lot of family restaurants and I have some noted here. Jack Astor’s - It’s more of a continental food and not bar food, but a lot of typical fair hamburgers and fish and chips and those sorts of meals along with pastas and maybe some meat dishes and salads, that type of place, but they will have a lot of. They will accommodate families really well. There are places that are known, as I would say, having a fairly comfort type of foods, mac and cheese and places that offer those types of foods with places like Steam Whistle, there’s a place called the Rec Room where you’ll find a couple of restaurants in there where there are arcades and bowling alleys for kids to be able to enjoy themselves and then sit down and have a meal. So there’s a little bit of play areas for them as well. But there are just a number of places for basically, patio settings, where when you talk about, “is it dog friendly?” - You can’t bring a dog into a restaurant in Toronto- but you can have the dog next to you and eat outside and you have a lot of places where have patios and that is encouraged by certain places.

So some, like I heard that it’s called the lobster burger bar, and I think it’s called gold strike coffee in Yorkville and stacked market - these are places that people have recommended me to say are very dog friendly. So I think that you will find one interesting thing about Toronto is that when you go walking, there are a lot of trails, and if you go below and start to come down by canals, which are very hidden between neighbourhoods, but they’re there a lot of the time. You’ll find that there’s a lot of areas for dogs to roam around. So there are areas where it’s just on the trail that are specific where you can let your dog run. So you can always go to those people while you’re walking. If you’ve got your dog with you and ask them because they will know, and there are a lot of people walking their dogs out here who do go and go to these sections of parks where the dogs are allowed to run free and it’s great. An amazing thing to sort of be on a run in Toronto and you see a lot of dog walkers walking with about six or seven dogs in these trails and that’s one thing to experience, the beaten track to get out to the trails here. It’s a very surprising city, it’s concrete jungle on one hand, but full of Greenery on the other, and it’s really a city of neighborhoods. And once you decide to go to discover a neighbourhood and get to work out a path. So, for example, where I would be, I would just go down to five minutes from where I’m living, which is north of the city. And if you sort of start to run a little bit down, you end up finding your way to amazing trails. And I think that there’s about six or seven areas I’ve lived in since I’ve been here and they all have them. There are a lot of things to discover in that way.

[00:24:06] Bianca: Okay, I’m sure dog lovers will appreciate that as well. So, you know, the recommendation of having the trails to go to.

[00:24:14] Robert: Yeah, I think that it’s a very dog friendly city, very dog friendly city. It’s a walkable city, but it’s also a city that Is flat. It’s not generally hilly at all. So it’s more of a grid. It’s not that hard to find your way around. And I’m not good with directions normally, but it didn’t take me long to work it out. And the CN Tower is the main sort of focus of the city in terms of the a signature. Iconic building that you can always. Look at if you’re as a tourist at how what direction from the city And how do I go? I mean, it’s right near the waterfront really so you can’t really go far south because you’ll hit the lake, which is great. That’s where you want to be by the waterfront. But if you go north, you’re going away from it. If you go to the east or west, there’s probably a lot neighborhoods that people live in on the west. Very nice to discover that have those types of green and lush areas. And then the east has a lot of neighborhoods that continue to go past the downtown area and start to take you out to more, I say, built up areas later on, but you have a great Lake Ontario, which is just one of the great lakes. It’s enormous. You can travel hours and still see Lake Ontario. You can go up to all these areas that are part of Lake Ontario. Three hours up and three hours across to Ottawa and Lake Ontario. So it’s a wonderful experience to be by the waterfront. And in Toronto specifically, they have built trails for. Right by the waterfront that is like a boardwalk. It’s not very difficult to find. You just basically go to the water’s edge and start walking and you can take a bike and ride on it. It’s very comfortable. You can go running there. We’ll go for ever. So you can go and literally discover the city that way by, by bike riding by the lake, by the waterfront, or you can discover it by you know, picking spots by the waterfront that you’d like to highlight and then working out how long you want to spend there, but you can’t really enjoy Toronto without experiencing the waterfront. I mean, you can, but I think it’s a great asset and you really should have fun with that because it’s what gives it a a lovely aspect.

[00:26:48] Bianca: I see, yeah.

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Convenience stores

[00:26:52] Bianca: So before we get into the transportation, I also want to know if there are a lot of convenience stores in Toronto just for travelers maybe looking to pick up some essentials or some snacks.

[00:27:02] Robert: Yeah, it’s a very easy place to find convenience stores. And so much so that I don’t know how familiar some of TV audiences with Toronto television, but there was a show called Kim’s convenience based on a Korean character’s family. You know that? Yeah, it’s true though. It’s actually very reflective of in a neighborhood and you will find a convenience store really right there. And they’re everywhere. I mean, as I say, I’ve lived in about seven neighborhoods now. And there’s a convenience store always around the corner. And it’s extremely easy to find. Easy to find a 7-11. It’s extremely easy to find a shopper’s drug mart, which stacks a lot of basic things but we’ll have what you need. It’s not a difficult city at all.

[00:27:51] Bianca: Okay.

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Restaurant reservations

[00:27:52] Bianca: And so you mentioned earlier that some restaurants have lines to get in. So would you recommend that travelers make table reservations in advance for those popular restaurants?

[00:28:03] Robert: I think it’s good to do that. It’s often online now. And I think it certainly helps because it can be a bit of a rush at certain hours for dining. And certainly, if you want to, for example, to dine at the CN Tower, a big tourist destination, pretty good food, better to go at lunchtime, I’d say, because it’s more affordable. Plus, you’ll get the view of the daytime.

Of the entire waterfront and background of the city that I think you need to book something like that. Definitely book. A place a steal that I was talking about earlier and steakhouses. I would book for those. If you’re going to some of the asian cuisine and China towns I don’t think it’s as important. There’s so many choices, so I think it depends what you’re after but there’s nothing wrong in making a reservation.

[00:28:53] Bianca: Yeah, okay!

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Food delivery apps

[00:28:54] Bianca: And so since there are so many options in Toronto do you guys also have a lot of food delivery apps or services that travelers can try?

[00:29:04] Robert: There’s a ton. Obviously Uber is very popular. DoorDash and Skip the Dishes are the ones that come to mind, but yeah, those are the three that I would say, get the apps for Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Skip the Dishes.

[00:29:16] Bianca: All right. And just one more question to round out our conversation on food. Is tap water safe to drink in Toronto? Would you recommend it?

[00:29:27] Robert: I think it is safe to drink. There is some chlorine in it because of the Natural chlorinated. That’s how it comes out with the tap water. It’s not a lot, but it just gives it a little bit of I suppose it’s safe to drink and You know, it’s up to each person in terms of the flavor of it., but I think you’ll find if you go over to places let’s say nature reserves and Toronto islands, that there are areas where there are water fountains that you can fill up your water bottle really inexpensively. And that water is just fine. I mean, the water is safe, and I think you’ll be over spending if you go to certain shops to buy bottled water. There are a lot of places that are really inexpensive for a dollar in Chinatown, and places that are not necessarily too cheap, but really Pick up just basic water bottles for a dollar. You can do that, but I would buy. Maybe you could buy one good water bottle of bottled water, and then after that, fill it from the tap water that you can find at the water fountains, because you will find in summer here. It’s very humid, surprisingly humid. And people are not expecting that about Canada. I wasn’t. And it is very draining and you just don’t want to be spending a lot on water when you don’t need to. But you will need to keep hydrated here. It’s deceptively draining in terms of what’s considered an exceptionally hot place. It does have a real summer and summer is a great time to be here.

[00:31:08] Bianca: Okay. Yeah. That’s an excellent tip to save money as well as to, you know, stay comfortable in the hot weather. I actually also didn’t know that Canada had very hot summers.

[00:31:20] Robert: Yeah. People think of Canada only in winter and the scenes of, you know, snow and how cold it is. And that’s true. But when you’re in this part it’s a more humerian like Vancouver, which is dry heat on the West coast, which is sort of more temperate. This is. Has a lake effect. So when the humidity builds, you get a lot of mugginess that leads to rain. But then you get really beautiful stays. But then as fall comes, the weather loses some of that humidity. And it’s a very life full time to be here. Spring gets very rainy. Spring gets very unsettled that predictable as it’s transitioning out of winter. Winters here, I’ve spent winters in Toronto. They’re not too difficult compared to what I expected. But with the lake effect you do get snow. I believe you get less snow than years ago when a lot of people used to remember their childhood. They’d say, It just doesn’t seem to snow as much as it used to, but if you want snow, you don’t have to go far because, and the neighbourhoods outside, and if you want to go to experience magnificent scenery then you might want to go to the border of Ontario and Quebec, where you will definitely get snow.

I do love all the seasons changing here. It’s one of the aspects of living in a place like Toronto. I think it gives a lot of character to the city and people adapt to it. Winter, there are very strong wind chills off of the lake. So there’s a path it’s called the path P A T H, which is basically an area where you can shop underground. It’s basically going into indoor shopping areas without having to walk outside and you don’t actually have to experience the cold. People do like to bundle up and sometimes people really look forward to winter. And it’s not a deterrent. I wouldn’t say don’t come to Toronto because of the winter at all. I think that there are lots of fun things to do. And if you really like to stop here and then go on to an even more wintry sort of ski vacation or a winter sort of setting up further north, such as Quebec, but I do think that as far as the heat, because people don’t expect to be in a hot place don’t forget it, it’s actually, Toronto is not as far north as people think on the map, in latitude I lived in Seattle, and it surprised me to think that I was actually at a higher altitude. Latitude up in Seattle and I was in Toronto. Toronto is a bit like English weather. So think of England and you’ll get similar types of feeling to the weather here.

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Best time to visit Toronto

[00:34:11] Bianca: Okay. And so with the seasons of Toronto is there a certain best time to visit or a season that you would recommend tourists stop by?

[00:34:21] Robert: Well, there’s something going on in Toronto every season, so I wouldn’t Say, don’t come here because of the winter and don’t come here because unsettled weather. I think anytime you come here, there’ll be a lot going on. It could be driven by what your interests are. For example, you know, when we come to summer, there’s a lot of sports going on. If you follow baseball, if you follow hockey in the winter, if you follow what might be different sports. Tennis tournaments, golf that can dictate when you want to come here festivals. There’s tons of festivals all year long. So if you’re coming for a specific reason, that will determine it. The weather shouldn’t really stop you. It’s nothing really extreme in my opinion here. I know that it’s. It’s definitely going to get cold in the winter and there’s less things open in the winter that are outdoorsy, but you get an experience of Toronto that is really lovely because in some ways it’s a good time to explore without as many tourists and it’s probably a little bit more affordable. I think people offer better deals then. I do love the fall. I think that’s the time when the humidity is low, when the sun is still out and you just get a lot more walkability. It’s not as humid to walk around. And I just feel that’s a great time. Yeah, like around September, October, I think it’s very comfortable, very scenic, and I would suggest that is one of my favorite times. And I love summer. So for me, I don’t mind hot weather. And I think it should not put you off. A lot of people in Canada complain how hot it is, and I go, oh no, that’s nothing compared to Australia. So it’s all relative to your experiences. If you’re coming from a place like Singapore, it’s not going to be hot at all compared to that. It’s going to be hot, but nothing to bowl you over. But you do have rain and that can be unpredictable. They say, you know, you get five seasons in one day, well four, I think five because there’s construction and that’s a season of its own. They often say there’s two seasons in Toronto - winter and construction. There’s always, wherever you go, there’s a lot of construction, so be prepared for that. But definitely do not let any season and climate aspect deter you from coming here.

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Festivals and events in Toronto

[00:37:00] Bianca: Okay. And you mentioned that there’s a different festival or a different event no matter the season. So, are there any maybe annual festivals or events that you would recommend?

[00:37:07] Robert: Well, one of the most famous in the world happens here, and that’s the Toronto International Film Festival. I have a number of them written down. I’d like to go through them because they are incredible the amount of things that they have. So the Toronto International Film Festival. That is basically in, I think it’s early September, and they will be highlighting movies that will be the Oscar nominated movies. They really do debut them here. They begin them here. So if you are part of the audience, you’ll pay for a screening that’s a higher amount than you pay for. What if you’re going to a regular movie, but you will get to see that movie. If you manage to secure a ticket in advance, which I would suggest, you will get to see those movies before they become known to the greater public. And, you know, a lot of winning movies are shown here. So Toronto will bring in celebrities. If you follow that scene, that’s enormous. I do think that Carnival is very big Caribbean Community is enormous here. And you have that going on in the summer, you have what’s called Nuit Blanche in October where artists along the style of the Parisian art scene, they’ll do sunrise to sunset so you can be up at night. And go and experience all the different art installations and art pieces that are put together. That’s quite unique. Comedy festivals, tremendous here. There’s tremendous comedy here. There’s the Stratford Shakespeare festival, which pretty much goes all here, but highlights in certain sections with some of the more well known Shakespearean festivals, that’s a bit of a drive out, but it’s worth taking that drive up to Stratford, which is a separate town outside of Toronto, in Ontario. That’s very sweet with a beautiful theater, but there’s a lot of different jazz, there’s jazz festivals. There’s as far as my own industry of horse racing, there’s the King’s plate, which is the great signature race. That’s the longest serving horse race in North America. It’s a stakes race that’s in August 17th. Luminato, that’s interesting for performers that is in June. A lot of live music, a lot of art. There’s a tremendous amount of what we call the Danforth. The Danforth is an area that’s east of the city known for its Greek restaurants, but a lot of festivals like the Taste of Lawrence, which is a street you have all of these different neighborhoods having a lot of cuisine, you have the Pride Parade that comes in late June, but you have. Really, I think a lot of neighborhoods celebrating a lot of their own festivals.

[00:40:03] Bianca: Okay, yeah. So there’s a lot I see to see in Toronto with all the festivals. So, before maybe we get into the attractions, let’s talk about how to get around Toronto.

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Getting to Toronto

[00:40:16] Bianca: So to start with that is there a airport in Toronto and then how far is it from the city centre?

[00:40:22] Robert: Pearson international airport is the main airport. There’s also a smaller airport called Billy Bishop, which is more often called Porter airlines, but that is not your main airport, but it’s interesting to note that’s located right near the waterfront in downtown so that if you fly into the Bishop for any reason, you’re going to be in downtown straight away.

If you come to the Pearson International, which is the majority of people do, then you’re going to need to, and that is located sort of northwest of the city, about twenty, 27 miles or 27 kilometers, I should say up, I would say, you know, you, you’re going to have to work out transport to get out of their downtown.

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Transportation

[00:41:13] Bianca: Okay. So what’s the easiest way to get from the airport to the city center?

[00:41:18] Robert: The easiest way is to take the train, the U. P. Express train and I have it down here at current prices, 12.35. So that’s pretty good. You can take for a family 25, 70, it says under 12, you’re free, but that’s one option. Basically you’re looking at about a 36 minute drive. But if you do the express train, it’s going to be about 25 minutes and it has 3, it has just a few stops getting you to downtown union. Yeah, so it’s affordable. The bus is about 15, 16 is the taxi. You can drive. Obviously, you have to pick up a rental car. They’re pretty good. And you might have an airport shuttle van where you don’t have to worry about it because they have part of the package to pick you up. Uber is pretty good to get because you know, you can really get good options on Uber. But you’re going to pay more than if you go on the express train. The express train is very comfortable. You just buy a presto card.

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Transport pass

[00:42:26] Robert: Presto Card is something that you will need when you want to use public transport. You purchase those at train stations and because when you come out from the airport you can be directed to where to pick up the UP Express train to Union Station, which takes you to the downtown area, Union Station being in downtown. What you end up doing is purchasing one of those Presto Cards for 4 dollars and then you pay the fare on top of that so you can keep that Presto Card. You can actually Record your presto card, register it as an app in your app, in the presto app. And so, if you’re game, you can actually use your app to load your card with extra cash and funds, but it’s a matter of just having that on you, because when you travel between the different stations in the subway, the Toronto transit. You just tap as you go through the Toronto trans with your Presto card. And if you are able to add a couple, maybe 20 on it, it would be handy because 3 dollars 30 is basically what you’re going to be paying for a single fare. And you get use of that for two hours. So after two hours have expired, it will then cost you another 3.30 instead of, if you’re going to be out using public transport, I would buy a two ride ticket for 6.70 or a day pass for 13.50. It’s up to the person, but you can sometimes get what’s called a hop on and hop off discount online if you want to use the hop on and hop off bus in Toronto. But you have to, they’re pricey, but you can get a really good deal. If you purchase that online in advance.

But that’s separate from the TTC, which is basic transit, and they transfer you from the subway system to the street car to the bus is just very comfortably get free transfer. If it’s outside of that period, if you have a day pass, you don’t have to worry. And if you’re staying for longer than you can look at a month pass, but that’s really for people who are based here working here.

[00:44:49] Bianca: Okay, I see. And so for the passes that you mentioned or the Presto card, is that only for the train or is it applicable to other forms of public transportation like buses?

[00:45:02] Robert: Yes, it is. It is for the buses and for the streetcars. And you’ll see that Toronto uses those three as the main forms of transportation. The subway system has a lot of branches that are easy to station. But if you’re going into a major city other than Toronto and you’re traveling on via rail, which is a bit like the Amtrak in the United States, and that’s the main central station, union station, then you can’t use your presto card for that. And you would purchase a ticket and that might take you to a place like Ottawa or a place like Quebec City or Montreal and they’re a fair distance. If you’re going to places like Niagara you can pick up a bus, and you can use your card on that too. So it depends on the service you’re choosing to get there, but it is very easy to get around using a Presto card on any form of transport within the Toronto city area and even the greater Toronto area. Very easy.

[00:46:13] Bianca: I see.

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Car rentals

[00:46:14] Bianca: And earlier you mentioned that there are some options for renting cars. So are there any companies that you would recommend?

[00:46:22] Robert: I do think that the main ones considered reliable. Enterprise is quite good value. Davis is good. Voucher is good. Number of choices when you arrive at the airport. I think that they’re pretty good. I would check if you can purchase something online ahead of time because often the deals are better. If you’ve got insurance through your private insurance in your own country, whether that transfers to here, you’ve got to be careful on that. Sometimes it’s good to use an American Express gold card for those who have that, because that will give you automatic coverage that’s very comprehensive for damage and theft. I do think some of those credit card companies are very good in that way, by actually, you know, paying in credit card that gives you the security of insurance as well. But those companies are very well known here that a major ones across the world. Hertz is another one, and I’ve used a number of them and never had a problem at any point. They run a very good service. There are different drop off points. You just have to know whether you have to return it with a full gas tank or not, and when you do that, I wouldn’t do it near the adults because the prices will be better.

[00:47:46] Bianca: Okay and would travelers, especially those coming from foreign countries, need an international driving permit so they can rent the car?

[00:47:54] Robert: My understanding is that if you’ve got a driver’s license in your home country, that is usually acceptable unless there are exceptions. I think that you’re fine. You just have to have ID and proof that’s you. But most of the time it’s not an issue.

[00:48:13] Bianca: Alright, yeah. And you also mentioned that there are some ride sharing apps like Uber. So other than Uber, are there any other apps that you would recommend?

[00:48:23] Robert: So you might want to try the WestJet and Sunwing, Flare Avis Enterprise, things like that. You can do all those apps. I think when it comes to, I think it’s parking, there’s something called the Green Parking App. Um, There’s the Safe TTC app and there’s a Transit Now app. There’s yellow Cabs, , there’s a number of different apps that depends on your needs. The TTC app is important, I think the safe TTC app, you can download many apps. It’s about TTC, the Toronto Transit System. And Transit now will give you updates of when your train, bus or streetcar will arrive, but if you really like apps, yeah, I would say just put all the things said into your Google search and bring the app up because most things are through the apps for payments as well, such as Uber Eats and DoorDash and Skip the Dishes. I’m not a big person on apps, but you want to have PayPal, Venmo, Interact, Transfer, things that are to do with payments, apps are great for that. And especially if you have to tip someone, they’re always very handy if you don’t want to carry cash.

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Payment options

[00:49:57] Bianca: Okay. Oh, so you would recommend maybe more cashless transactions or credit card over having actual cash with you.

[00:50:05] Robert: It depends on the area. For example, if you went to Chinatown in the downtown Chinatown area of Toronto, you need cash. Most of those restaurants do not accept credit cards. Some have taken up interact transfer, but definitely try uh, balance because most places are the opposite. The majority of places going cashless credit cards are pretty good in the sense that if you’re traveling, you might be able to get, A better payment, really a better savings through your credit card. Sometimes when you travel on those credit card, not only you’re getting a conversion of the currency, but sometimes you get rewards on those credit cards for paying with those credit cards, and you may as well use them for that and then pay off your credit card later. I think you’ll get some benefit from that. Debit cards are useful, but you’ve got to be sure that it’s accepted here. And as far as international currency, carrying international currency and converting it often, it’s better to go simply to an ATM and put in your ATM card, your debit card, and get cash, local currency, or go into a bank or a a place that, you know, is a currency conversion exchange and there’s one in downtown Toronto. That’s fine. But I don’t think you’re going to get as good a rate as you’ll get simply just pulling out some cash from the ATM because you’re going to probably save depending on the country you’re coming from on the exchange rate and worth it. And, for example, U.S. Dollar 73.3 cents Canadian. So it’s very low. It’s been lower and it’s been higher. It’s in a bit of a dip right now. So for you as travelers, it’s a really great chance to save 27 percent on every purchase for a dollar. It’s. It’s great. The euro is really, you know, even better. The british pound is terrific.

[00:52:16] Bianca: I see. Okay.

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Tipping

[00:52:17] Bianca: And you also mentioned something about tipping. So is it the norm? Is it part of the culture to tip when you’re out at the restaurant, maybe, or if you have any service?

Robert: It is part of the culture. But I think people are comfortable knowing how to approach it. So I think it’s personal. You don’t have to tip, but it’s not looked on very well if you don’t tip in a customer service way situation, but you don’t have to be excessive about it. You have to decide if you feel that was good service. I mean, why tip if it’s bad service, if it’s good service and yeah, the customary amounts 15%, which is quite high. But what I feel is tricky about this culture is that a lot of the service industry is relying on tips for their wages and when you come to pay, they often put in front of you a a sort of tap machine where you’re asked to add either 15, 18, 25, or even more, and that’s a lot. And I just want to pull out some cash and not have to add that to your bill. It might feel a little bit less taxing on you because they’re going to add tip and tax to your bill. And some places I think if you carry some coins around it might be a handy thing to just tip 5 here or 10 here depending on the cost of what you’re buying, but 15%, It’s too high for some places and for others, 20 percent is fine, but it really has to be good service. And I think we’re in a culture right now where people are watching their money and they don’t want to overdo it. So I would say definitely tip, but don’t feel it. You don’t have to tip more than you feel comfortable with just to be doing the right thing by them, they will survive.

[00:54:13] Bianca: All right. That’s a really great tip as well for our travelers coming into the city who maybe aren’t used to the tipping culture.

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Healthcare facilities

[00:54:22] Bianca: So let’s talk a little bit also about some of the essentials that travelers may need while they’re in Toronto or if they’re in a foreign city. So what kind of healthcare facilities are available to tourists once they’re in Toronto?

[00:54:36] Robert: That’s depending on where they’re coming from and what coverage they’ve purchased before they come. In theory, you have walk in clinics here. Which people who are local will have free consultations in your entitled as a visitor, if you’re not feeling well to walk into a clinic, that’s basically, it might just say, you know, walking clinic or medical clinic on the outside and then you will have to pay out of pocket for that. Now, some of those walk-in clinics, they’re not going to be dealing with an emergency. They’re gonna be dealing with something that’s bothering you that might not be urgent. So they’re gonna charge something between 50 to maybe 150 out of pocket that would be covered normally. But if you have an emergency you’d have to go to an urgent care clinic. And if it’s really out of hours, you might have to go to a hospital and the emergency center, those are really very expensive. They would be covered if you were a Canadian coming inside of the country into Toronto from another part. But if you’re outside of the country coming in, you might have to check which would be paid back to you later. You’d have to lay it out. The cost of whatever your coverage doesn’t have a ceiling on. For example, you have to pay the amount full and then whatever your deductible is, whether that bridge in your own country. Well now in a lot of the situations they don’t, and you are looking at getting travel insurance. I know from my own experience of traveling that health insurers, it’s worth taking a travel insurance that can cover for the health, but you have to check the details of that travel insurance, but all to say the quality of care is here and they will see you even if you have to wait a bit in a walk-in clinic or in an emergency situation. But they are obligated to see you.

As far as pharmaceuticals, getting a pharmacy for prescription and some of the costs a little bit. I would suggest to people who are borderline with “should I go and see it to do? I really need Something”, walk into a Shopper’s drug mart or walk into a pharmaceutical shop a pharmacy that’s part of maybe sometimes an independent pharmacy in a shopping complex and in Chinatown especially and ask for a little bit of a consultation. You can go to a shoppers drug mart and at the back of the pharmacy where there will be a consultant to talk to you and they are free and they will be able to suggest to you across the counter prescription drugs that might be able to deal with your predicament or they may be able to give you some recommendations. So there are some non cost ways. There are community health centers. There are a lot of clinics that are pre testing and well being that are all for free in the community. So You can go online to find out about those as well. I think Hassle Free Clinic, HQ, Crossways, they’re all for free. And so sometimes you can go in for those types of tests and they will ask questions, just medically and you might be able to treat other things too, but it’s expensive if you don’t have coverage. So be careful not to leave home without knowing what your private health insurer is going to cover you for in the event of an emergency or of unwell.

[00:58:39] Bianca: Okay, I see.

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Attractions In Toronto

[00:58:40] Bianca: Maybe we can jump ahead to speaking about the attractions. Because I think that’s one of the most important thing our viewers would want to talk about.

[00:58:49] Robert: Attractions. Okay, I’ve got a whole list. Yeah. I think. Okay. You want to be in the downtown area and discover a lot of the waterfront. You want to experience seeing some of the landmarks, which would be the CN Tower, the Rogers Tower, Area stadium, which has the baseball field, and it also has tremendous restaurants around it in the aquarium. That’s really well considered one of the world’s best. If you want to experience neighborhoods, this is really a neighborhood. You want to experience market life. It’s got a lot of market life. So ST Lawrence market, some of the old buildings that are around, have a lot of history and so, which has been well transformed into an area for a lot of activities and restaurants. That’s a great place to explore. It’s not far from the main part of the city by the waterfront. At one point, Canada was the biggest whiskey producer in the world and a lot of beer produced here. That’s a great spot. You want to experience neighborhoods, you want to go to maybe an area like high park, which is a very sweet, large natural park with a lot of trails, very famous for its cherry blossoms in the early part of the spring and lovely place to get off of the beaten track. And it’s really close to neighborhoods like Bloor West village, which are real neighborhoods where you’ll experience just the simplicity of how people live. I think those are great places to wander around.

The Toronto Islands is a very sweet place to go if you are based in the city area. Pick up a ferry from the, it’s very inexpensive. And if it’s less than 10 and you go and it’s like being in the outside of the city, you wouldn’t know that you’re in a big, major metropolis because you’re just across the other side of the lake in what is a very picturesque landscape. Toronto Island with three sections that you can walk many trails and paths and bike ride, and it has beach front it has kayaking. It has areas to swim. You don’t have to drive far, 15 minutes on a ferry and you’re there and you have to give them a ferry. So that’s a great place. The zoo is great. Woodbine racetrack is amazing if you like horse racing. It has world class horse racing if you like sports, basketball it’s also great for hockey in downtown that has a great amount to discover. If you are in Brookfield place where it’s located that leads you into the path. The path takes you underground as a connection to different retail outlets.

If you like shopping, there’s just endless amounts of places to find. At different market life, in different neighborhoods, to the big stores that are historic like Hudson’s Bay, and then you go further out to neighborhoods, yorkville shopping mall, way gardens. They’re really high and very nice.

If you like to bike ride, I would suggest really picking up, in any neighborhood, what is a bike rental and a bit like how Paris introduced it. You just pick up, you unlock, you can use an app for bike ride and basically. Right into another neighborhood by the waterfront and then return it to wherever you finish in your destination. You can buy it for an extra number of hours or for the day. Those things are part of community theater here and a lot of theaters seen in the Danforth area, which is what Greek Greek restaurants are down in the, even on the Distillery District has a very good theater, but there’s a number of old theaters as you wander around neighborhoods in the downtown area. So there are some great museums in Toronto. There’s the Royal Ontario Museum, and right now, for example, there’s a feature on cats, wild cats, but there’s just a tremendous permanent collection there, and a lot of you know, also the Royal Ontario Museum, which is a very nice area of the city closer to the Kensington Market area.Yeah. There’s the art gallery of Ontario. And that is also great, especially for kids. There’s a lot of activities for them to do there.

I feel like there are a lot of neighborhoods where you might want to just experience their own individual walking and park areas. So there are. In Lawrence, there’s officially the botanical gardens, but you’ll find a lot of different park areas. It’s a city with a lot of concrete at the same time. Once you get off of the main roads, you’ll start to discover a lot of walking trails and So a lot of things to do with outdoors here. If you want to travel and not go too far, I don’t think that it’s too far to get to Niagara Falls is a magnificent day trip. And Niagara Falls is one of the great wonders of the world. It can be a couple of hours to get, it could be an hour and a half to get there on the bus. And when you get there, you want. I’m going to spend the day there. And if you really have the chance, you need to not just go to Niagara Falls, you need to go to Niagara on the lake, which is magnificent and it’s beautiful country area. It’s a neighborhood area close to Niagara Falls that has wineries, mansions, beautiful peach festival, magnificent fruits, vegetables if you want to take a night there, I think it’s really well. Niagara Falls and Niagara on the lake and come back to Toronto, but it’s very peaceful Niagara Falls itself. Definitely get on one of the ferries to take you made on the mist or just what brings you right up to the brink of seeing the falls on behind the caves. A ton of things to do for kids, but more importantly, is it’s easy to get to. If you have a car that you’ve rented, just go early in the morning. Don’t get into the traffic, wait until the traffic’s passed because traffic can be pretty bad here. We’ll go on the bus, but definitely go there. Niagara falls is a really magical experience.

[01:05:46] Bianca: I see. Yeah.

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How long to stay in Toronto

[01:05:47] Bianca: So you’ve already mentioned a lot of really great attractions. So I’m curious to know how long you would recommend that travelers stay in Toronto so they can experience as much of it as possible.

[01:06:01] Robert: Well, I think that you would need about four days minimum. I know that people can fit a lot in. In a very short time, but four days minimum. But I think if you have a week here, that’s ample. It’s based here because it depends if you want to go to places that are on the road to going north, say on the road to and you might want to go to a place like Port Hope, which is a very cute town. That’s an old style town that is not far from the waterfront and go on to a place called Gananoque. Or thousand islands, which bring you to the St. Lawrence river area. And these are day trips that you can take. So you can add to your trip, maybe a day or two more. If you do, who’s not a real city person, just a few days. If you’re a person, then you can stay a week and it’ll be no problem because there’s so much more you’ll gain by living in the experience a little bit longer, because the attractions that you see downtown, it’s one thing, but the lifestyle of Toronto, you’ll grasp in, in, in time. But I think six or seven days is really for those people who like city life.

[01:07:28] Bianca: I see. Yeah. Okay. And maybe just to round out our interview.

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Souvenirs

[01:07:33] Bianca: So now that we know about the best food spots and the best attractions to visit the city. I’m sure our travelers would want something to bring home with them so that they can always remember their trip. Right. So do you have any recommendations for souvenirs that travelers should pick up?

[01:07:51] Robert: Well, I think there’s some great souvenir shops. You want to probably have a replica of the CN Tower. I think you might want to have some maple syrup. You might want to have some maple leaves in terms of Canadian, the maple emblem of the flag. I think that if you’re a sports fan, there’s so much sports gear that people like to take, especially if you’re a baseball or Blue Jays fan or Raptors fan. But there’s also, you know, interesting, iconic things to do with the Royal Mountain Police so those things for souvenirs for sure. But if you want to find shops, Chinatown is probably the best value in terms of cheap souvenirs. But in terms of something a little more high end, but not expensive, one of the best spots is in the Kensington market called the blue banana. It’s easy to find. If you ask anyone there where blue banana is it’s quite a big store. You walk in a number of really Most interesting collections of items to buy in a, it’s like a consignment store, the way it’s set up, you go from one section to another. They’re all different focusing on different things. They all reflect Canada, a little more expensive than a regular souvenir, but it’s not overly priced and you’ll come away with something that’s high end, but not.

Over the budget you might get shirt, you might get soaps, you might get things that are reflective of your interest, depending on whether you’re a sports fan, an arts fan, a music fan, because Toronto has its own scenes in, in, in many ways, the merchandise cater to that. Plus you definitely want to see the CN Tower in your home as a replica so that you will always remember that you were in Toronto.

[01:09:44] Bianca: Yeah. Okay. Well, thanks for sharing that about, you know, what to bring home so travelers can always remember their stay in the city and all the insights that you’ve given us. I’m sure our travelers are really eager to go to Toronto now that you’ve shared so much about it.

[01:09:59] Robert: Well, I hope that I think it’s age cutting agency. Yeah I feel Toronto is a very dynamic city. I think it’s a city that’s almost on the cutting edge because of the explosion of the population and the diversity of ethnic backgrounds. And the cultural imprints that those communities have brought that really makes Toronto unique. It’s a very interesting city is as much as it’s a concrete jungle is a tremendous amount of greenery. So in many ways, I think it’s a modern city, clean, safe, but it doesn’t have to be expensive. It is possible to spend a lot of money here, no problem, but you don’t have to, to have a good time. And I’d be very delighted to show all of you around.

[01:10:42] Bianca: Yeah. So if any of our travelers are eager to go to Toronto, they can always check out your profile on our website so they can book a tour with you.

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Expert Toronto Travel Tips with Bobby G! Winter & Summer Highlights
Source: Trip101
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