kmt0778

I will be traveling in July with my 10-year-old daughter on a cross country trip. We will be spending two full days and nights in Toronto (Friday and Saturday). Using Priceline, we'll be staying at Le Royal Meridien King Edward. I know that two must-sees for us would be the CN Tower and Royal Ontario Museum.

I would really appreciate any additional suggestions for areas to explore and/or rough itineraries.

My daughter loves animals and nature, but is also perfectly content to walk around a history or art museum for a couple of hours. She is inquisitive and loves learning. We are also in good shape so a fair amount of walking is not an issue.

Thank you!

irecommend

I would suggest the ROM
http://www.rom.on.ca/

or the AGO

http://www.ago.net/

or the Bata Shoe Museum

http://www.batashoemuseum.ca/

or check out a play like Billy Elliot

http://www.billyelliotintoronto.com/

JPinBC

How about some time at the zoo?
http://www.torontozoo.com/ExploreTheZoo/

Kwoo

It's been a long time since we were in Toronto when our daughters were young, but I would recommend the Ontario Science Center and Ontario Place (a water park). Our daughters were about 11 & 9 at the time, & they, too, were/are always very inquisitive & enjoyed museums. I remember that Ontario Science Center had interactive exhibits. Ontario Place had a nice attractive water park/playground, pedal boats, eating areas, etc.

We also took them to the zoo, which is huge & amazing!

garyt22

The St Lawrence Market on a Saturday morning is an amazing experience... my kids always enjoyed breakfast there and shopping the endless booths for breads, meats and cheeses that we turned into a picnic lunch...

try to include a ferry ride out to the Toronto islands, the ride in the summers gives you a great view of the City plus a park setting for that picnic...

Have a look at the Theatre schedule for an evening performance.. Toronto has become a major venue for Broadway productions... Lion King and Billy Elliott as well as Taylor Swift and other major Music acts appear in July...

Shopping for your daughter may include the Eaton Centre, a walk along the funky Queen St W or a trip to the Harbourfront and Queens Quay...

Have fun!

mat54

Yes you and your daughter will enjoy the Royal Ontario Museum (the ROM). The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) is another good suggestion by irecommend as she likes art museums.

On summer weekends the Harbourfront District has arts, culture, music and food festivals http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/summer/. Also a craft market, patio dining overlooking the water, islands and sailboats, buskers, a few interesting shops, a Native Art gallery, etc.

The St. Lawrence Market is a fun and vibrant place for breakfast and browsing, especially on Saturdays (closed Sunday and I think Monday).

Tommy Thompson Park (also known as Leslie Street Spit) is popular with naturalists and birdwatchers with walking and bike trails - a "naturalized" man-made peninsula into Lake Ontario http://www.tommythompsonpark.ca/home/recreation.dot. Note it's open to the public weekends and holidays only.

There is a very good Toronto zoo, but it's way out on the outskirts and with 2 days, probably not convenient to do.

kmt0778

Thank you for the suggestions so far.

We will definitely walk around the St. Lawrence market on Saturday morning.

I looked into Broadway productions, but am on the fence about Billy Elliot. We have already seen Lion King and Mary Poppins in NYC. I can't decide if I want to spend the money to see Billy Elliot here or go see the Cirque de Soleil Totem in Montreal at our next stop. I can't afford both .

Speaking of NYC, my daughter really enjoyed walking around Chinatown. Is the Chinatown area of Toronto also worth a visit on a limited time frame?

BAK

These messages almost make me want to turn into a pre-teen girl on vaction.

Anyway, Chinatown is a good idea for good walkers.

From the hotel, walk up to Queen and Yonge, which is between The Bay giant department store and the south end of Eaton Centre indoor shopping mall.

Turn left - west and keep walking.

All kinds of interesting things to see -- Toronto City Hall; Osgoode Hall old law courts inside a very speccial fence, with nice gardens; a wide variety of interesting little stores... keep going about 10 blocks to Spadina.

Spadina is extra-wide, has streetcars running down the middle.

Turn right - north and you'll be in Chinatown after a block or too.

Kensington Market is another strange retail area that kids sometimes find fascinating. It's "behind" the Chinatown on the west side of Spadina, north of Dundas Street.

You can walk back along Dundas Street West, which takes you past more Chinese stores and then the Art Gallery of Ontario.

There's a big park behind the AGO, and on the east siode of that park, there's a good kids' playground, and a really weird looking building up on stilts. Worth a walk by.

BAK

Mathieu

Take a look at this site which features all the Toronto summer festivals.

https://wx.toronto.ca/festevents.nsf/

Some run just over a weekend (Thursday noon - Sunday evening), others longer for weeks or months. I'm sure you'll find something happening during your stay, and from the excellent location of the King Eddy, you should be in easy walking distance to something fun and interesting.
The area of Front Street from Yonge to the St. Lawrence market has some wonderful fun kid-friendly events, especially the Busker Festival and the Street Circus Festivals if you're lucky to be there when they're happening. There are also several 'Foods of the world' type of events there on many summer weekends.

Heres the link to 'Now' magazine's (a popular local weekly events magazine) Summer 2011 guide. (I know the link say 2010 but the content seems to be about 2011 events). You'll definitely find something here that will be fun for your daughter and you to enjoy.

www.nowtoronto.com/guides/hotsummer/2010/

All the info provided by the previous posters is very good too.

goddesstogo

Kensington Market is lots of fun -- food, music, markets. Kensington Avenue from Baldwin south to Dundas, especially the more southern blocks are full of fun, funky stores that a kid would like. If your daughter liked NYC Chinatown, I think she'll like Kensington Market.

If you're going to be at Harbourfront, there's a nice lake tour on a schooner. http://www.greatlakesschooner.com/ And here's the Harbourfront Centre website so you can see what else might be happening there. http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/

kmt0778

Thank you, everyone.

Here is what I am thinking, based on a number of the wonderful suggestions...

Friday, July 8
Start with CN Tower
Streetcar to Chinatown/Kensington Market area
Royal Ontario Museum (considering the 1/2 price evening hours)

Saturday, July 9
Start with St. Lawrence Market
Toronto Islands and/or Toronto Zoo

Question 1: Do you think there would be enough time to visit both the Toronto Islands and the zoo in the same day?

Question 2: Do children enjoy the Casa Loma? I can't decide if that would be something that my daughter would enjoy.

Mathieu - I found out that there will be the Corazon De Mexico festival at the Harbourfront Centre the weekend that we are in Toronto. Have you heard anything about this?

mat54

Friday sounds busy but good. Saturday, I still think (as much as I enjoy the zoo) that the Toronto Zoo is difficult to fit in with anything else the same day as it's big and sprawling and easy to spend a long full day there.

The Harbourfront festivals are usually pretty good. http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/summer/heartofmexico/. Typically, they feature food, dance, music and crafts relating to the weekend "theme" and in addition there are still the other sights and attractions of the Harbourfront area mentioned earlier. Also - the ferry to the Toronto Islands is right there and St. Lawrence Market is just a few blocks away, so the 3 - St. Lawrence Market, Harbourfront and Toronto Islands would all together make a fun and full day without having to get into a car or bus.

goddesstogo

I agree that the zoo is too far and too big to be included (same with the Science Centre, by the way). I'd drop Casa Loma. I think a child would find it boring (and so would most adults -- it's really only fun if you're going to an event there).

There's almost always something free going on at Yonge-Dundas Square http://www.ydsquare.ca/ which is at the north end of the Eaton Centre. That's also where the discount ticket booth is.

kmt0778

Last question, I promise!

We will be heading from Toronto to Montreal the following Sunday, July 10.

Would it make sense to spend time at the Toronto Zoo that morning prior to leaving the area?

So...

Friday, July 8
Start at CN Tower
Chinatown/ Kensington Market
ROM

Saturday, July 9
Start at St. Lawrence Market
Toronto Islands
Harbourfront

Sunday, July 10
Toronto Zoo
Head to Montreal

Mathieu

When you say, 'head to Montreal on July 10' do you mean you plan to leave Toronto and arrive in Montreal all on the same day, July 10th ? If so, you'd have no time to spend at the zoo and I wouldn't recommend it. You'd already likely be leaving Toronto early in the morning with a late afternoon arrival in Montreal if you were planning to do it all in one day with minimum stops.

The Toronto Zoo really is something that you shouldn't rush. There so much to see and do there that you don't want to be pressed for time because you have a long journey ahead of you after the visit. If you were going to break your journey and overnight in say Kingston, or Port Hope or Gananoque, then a visit to the zoo is possible. You'd arrive at the opening time, spend a few hours there and then leave at around 3.30 or 4.00pm for a 3 or so hour drive to your first stop. I should also say that I'm assuming you're driving yourselves.

Yes, the Harbourfront festivals are usually very good and the Mexican one should be great too.

mat54

I have to agree about the zoo. It is a great place to visit for adults and kids, but when I go with the family, we usually spend about 8 hours there (although this includes time in the waterpark and other interactive areas), don't see it all, and leave exhausted. It's probably hard to even fit highlights in, in a couple of hours, because it is "themed" into geographical districts (see zoo map at http://www.torontozoo.com/ExploretheZoo/MapofZoo.asp). But take a look at their website and see what you think -remembering that you have a rather long exhausting highway drive to Montreal still to do that day.

kmt0778

Bummer!

Thanks for the advice. This may be travel guide blasphemy since I'm on the Fodor's site, but I have Frommer's 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up and Toronto Zoo is on the list of the top zoos in the world.

It's a shame to not be able to fit it into the schedule. One of those, "So close and yet so far" times. Unfortunately, I've already booked the hotels so, we have to be in Montreal on the evening of Sunday, July 10.

mat54

You're disappointed so I'm thinking. You can do the zoo if you skip some of the downtown stuff. So, what to skip. When are you actually arriving in Toronto (you mentioned 2 "full" days but do you arrive Friday morning or Thursday evening)? If Thursday, maybe visit the Observation Deck of the CN Tower that evening (it will be light out late that time of year).

Otherwise Friday head to the zoo early morning(you'll hit some rush hour traffic, but if you're coming from downtown, most of it will be going the other way). Stay until mid afternoon, come back to hotel, nap/rest, then go to ROM for a couple hours, taking advantage those 1/2 price evenings you mentioned earlier. The next day you will have to skip either Chinatown and Kensington Market (I think Chinatown isn't as interesting as it once was since most of the Chinese descended population have established newer neighbourhoods out in the suburbs), or skip the Toronto Islands or Harbourfront. Whichever you choose, you can probably fit in a quick visit to the CN tower Saturday as it's within walking distance of both the AGO and Harbourfront.

goddesstogo

I know mat is trying to help but I think you'll just be exhausted and frustrated if you try to squeeze the zoo in and you'll have missed a good flavour of the city. You'll just have to come back to Toronto and see the zoo another time, right?

I do agree that Chinatown is quite dispersed in Toronto -- we have at least four huge Chinese communities. Spadina is still a pretty good Chinese area, though, and if you want a good, inexpensive lunch, go have noodle soup with duck (or something) on top at Kings Noodle on the west side of Spadina at Dundas.

By the way, your daughter might also enjoy the Bata Shoe Museum which is small and interesting. It's a short walk from the ROM so you might be able to add it to your Friday list.

kmt0778

mat54 - Thank you for trying to rearrange my schedule to fit in the zoo. We will be getting into Toronto that Friday morning.

goddesstogo - I will definitely look into the Bata Shoe Museum. You are right... we will just have to make a another trip to Toronto in the future.

Thank you, again.