Hello, I've been looking at some posts & am learning about some great places to see and eat in Toronto! I will be in Mississauga to attend a four-day class in mid-November (seems like I'll be busy those days until about 5:00p.m.),and am thinking of extending my trip by a day or two to see Toronto (I'd move hotels to be closer to the center). I'd arrive on a Sunday and depart either Friday or Saturday. First - do you think I should rent a car for my entire stay? Second - are there any areas I should/shouldn't stay in Toronto as a solo female traveler? I would like to try to cap the hotel to around $100US/night if possible. Any off-hand recommendations? Thanks for any advice you may have!

I'm sure others can give you more knowledgable answers, but I've been planning my trip there for next summer. I found that the Days Inn East Lakeside is running around $82CAD. It's outside of the downtown area and isn't a 4star (but I'm not looking for 4star). I'll have a car as I'm traveling all over, but plan on parking at the subway lot and taking the subway downtown.

The subway info is here: http://www.toronto.ca/ttc/schedules/subway/index.htm

and parking info is here: http://www.greenp.com/tpa/parkingloc...ATOR_OPTION=13

Those might help out in picking a hotel, etc.

I don't think you need to rent a car at all if your classes and lodging are in the same Mississauga location. You certainly don't need one once you come downtown. If you can forgo a car altogether maybe you can put that 'found' money towards your hotel room. The train station is right downtown and so is the bus to the airport.

I'm not sure about rates for mid-November but some central hotels (probably varying amounts) are:

Novotel (downtown)
Fairmont Royal York
King Edward
Strathcona
Westin (on Queen Street)
Sheraton (on Queen)
Delta Chelsea Inn
Soho Metropolitan
Holiday Inn (on King Street)
One King West
Pantages (I'm suggesting it because it's right downtown and pretty new but gets poor service reviews)

In the more expensive Yorkville area:
Windsor Arms
Hotel Intercontinental
Hyatt Four Seasons Yorkville
Le Meridien Park Plaza

Check the rates and if you want some location details on specific hotels, I'd be glad to provide it. Restaurants as well.

You'll be perfectly safe here. Possibly chilly, but safe.

No easy answers.

First, if you are finished work every night by 5, you certainly could get bored if your only evening activities are dinner in the hotel and then watching television.

Which brings us to the car question. Mississauga is a huge place, and where you stay relates directly to the boredom factor.

If you are at the Novtel at Burnahamthorpe and Hurontario, at least there's a movie theatre within walking distance, and an indoor shopping center, and a couple of OK restaurants. Ruth's Chris across the street if your budget allows.

Up by the airport, ... who is to say. You can walk between a couple of hotels, sit in a hotel bar, go swimming...

But if it was me -- I used to travel almost constantly -- I'd probnably want a car in Mississauga.

As for downtown... That Days Inn is in a mediocre location, and is a converted beer parlor across the street from off-track betting.

I used to semi-live a block away, but we had a car and used it to go almost anywhere except the nearby beer store.

Stay downtown, within the bordrers of Front Street on the south, Spadina on the west, Jarvis on the east, and within two blocks of Bloor Street on the north.

For Toronto itself, you do not need a car. Exzcellent subway system, good cabs, and a compact area of interest. (within htose same borders)

BAK

There's no "East Lakeside" in Toronto, but if you're talking about the Days Inn on the Lakeshore in the east end of the city (near the Beaches) - BAK is absolutely right. It's a dive. Do NOT stay there! It is on Queen Street East right near a streetcar stop; unfortunately the streetcar in question is referred to as the Vomit Rocket because all the drunks come out of the nearby bars and the racetrack and - er - distinguish themselves all over the seats late at night. Not a good location!

I'd assumed you weren't going to be coming downtown after class during the week. I've been on that kind of thing many times and found that I'm usually beat by the end of the day. If dinner's not provided, there's usually stuff to do locally with colleagues. However, even if you are planning to come downtown in the evenings, I'd stick by my position that public transportation is your best bet. The cost of the car rental and parking downtown will add up and I can think of lots better things to do with that money.

I'm a bit unclear about your schedule. What day do you get to Mississauga and what day does your class end? Then when do you plan to come downtown and how long will you be staying there?

I can't really help you with Mississauga (except for the one expensive restaurant I know -- Rogues) but when you move into Toronto PLEASE don't try to save money by staying in a bad hotel outside of the downtown core. It won't work -- you'll be unhappy with your hotel and you'll end up spending too much time and money getting where you want to go in the city.

OK, so I'm getting the idea that my hotel choice isn't a great one. Is the hotel that bad or is it just the area that is "lowlife"?

I really need to keep my hotel cost under $100/night. As I indicated, I'll have a car but don't plan on driving downtown each day, just to the closest subway parking lot.

Looking at hotel rates, it looks like the airport hotels would be affordable. Do you think they're a better choice than the Days Inn East Lakeshore (sorry, my typo earlier with Lakeside)?

I realize I'm not going to be in walking distance to anything and that's OK. I'm just looking for a clean safe place to park my body at night.

If you are outside the City of Toronto (i.e. In Mississauga) and tasking public transit, you'll need to transit fares each way, so that adds $10 to your budget that you'd save if you stayed downtown.

I live downtown, where you should be, and I have a client next to the airport that I visit via transit. Streetcar to subway, change subway, then catch a bus, get off at the airport and walk across the street. past a Four Points by Sheraton. All one busi fare, so about $5 round trip. So, you could check out the Four Points by Sheraton on Airport Road, Misssissauga, if you want to spend over an hour on the bus and subway combo each way. Fewer buses from subway to airport in the evenings, so you may be wiating longer at the subway on the way home.

We see a lot of reports here about bargains on Priceline, at well under $100 in very good hotels downtown.

But honest, it's a long way to an airport hotel at 11 o'clock at night after a day downtown.

Check Strathcona, Hotel Victoria, Travelodge on King Street West, and For about $130cdn (remember, taxers are extra) One King West. You may need to make some phone calls to knock down the published rates.

BAK

Toedtoes,
I'm sorry, I don't know your hotel at all but I'd trust the opinions you've gotten. It's probably not unsafe, just unpleasant and uninteresting.

Do you specifically want to be in the east end? If so, there's a Holiday Inn on Estate Drive in Scarborough (which is east of city centre) that shows a rate of $92 on the HI website. That's all I know about it, though.

The airport hotels would be in the north-west part of the city.

Thanks Hdn

I'd read varying comments about the Days Inn on other sites. I know for the money I'm not getting anything spectacular, but I don't want to worry about the rental car and/or my well-being.

I'm not locked in to the east end. I'm hoping for something fairly close to public transit - although I'm willing to drive to a subway parking lot each morning.

I'll take a look at the Holiday Inn.

Wow, I never refer to the Queen Streetcar as the Vomit Rocket. Obviously Meesthare hangs out with a different crowd. I don't live as far east as the hotel in question, but I've often taken that streetcar. However, if I were looking for a hotel, I think I'd rather be closer to the downtown area. Scarborough, as suggested, is way too far east.

BAK - part of my problem is that I will have a car during my stay (I'm going other places), so I have to add the cost of parking for a week to any hotel rate downtown. That knocks them way out of range. I have calculated the cost of public transit into my budget (day passes) as I'll be using it during the day, so that's not a problem.

I've thought about Priceline, but I just don't feel comfortable using them. I know the deal is better, but it's too chancy for my tastes.

I guess I'm in one of those conundrums... d**ned if I do, d**ned if I don't.

Don't panic, toedtoes. I just looked up your hotel. You were right in the first place -- it's actually called Days Inn Toronto East Lakeview. I think people are picturing a rather barren stretch of Queen Street East but it's actually located on Kingston Road where it meets (sort of) Danforth Avenue, which is a completely different location. In fact, I have friends who live not far from there in a rather nice neighbourhood.

The pictures on Expedia look fine, though I admit you can't always tell by that, but at least it's in a better neighbourhood than first thought. I'm not exactly sure of public transportation from there but it looks like you've done your homework.

If I'm remembering correctly, you'll be not too far from very interesting Indian and Greek neighbourhoods, both of which have tons of restaurants.

And Susan? I've never heard it called the Vomit Rocket either. In fact, the Queen car comes right through the rather upscale Beach (formerly Beaches, eh?) neighbourhood! I've recently walked the stretch from Broadview to the Fox Theatre and while it seems a little run-down, in fact there's tons of interesting stores and restaurants along that stretch of Queen, even before the Beach.

OK, guys, I need to defend myself here. We just drove past that Days Inn a few minutes ago; it's within about 10 minutes of my son's house where we're currently visiting. We live in Victoria BC now, but I lived within a 5-minute drive of that intersection up until a year ago. My fitness club was right across the road. I know the area very well. The hotel is absolutely a dive, and the Queen Car has been known as the Vomit Rocket for years. My former next-door neighbour was a TTC driver and he told me about that some time ago, but I've heard it referred to that way by other people since.

The Beach (or Beaches if you prefer) is a wonderful part of town - interesting and pretty. But the western end of it where the Days Inn is is a mixed sort of neighbourhood and even when I lived here, I would never have felt safe walking there at night. We lived on a residential street just about due north of the racetrack, in a working-class area that has recently been gentrified a bit. I felt safe and happy in my house, but some of the adjacent streets are known to be high-crime areas.

I won't pretend to be an expert on Toronto, despite having lived here all my life until last September, but that much, I DO know!

No, you don't need to defend yourself -- people feel differently about different neighbourhoods. Personally, there are few neighbourhoods I wouldn't walk through at any time of the day and I've lived downtown all my life and worked in Regent Park.

It should be said, though, that the racetrack hasn't been there for several years and has been replaced by a very nice neighbourhood of single houses and townhouses.

The area on Queen, just west of Woodbine, is the area I was mentioning earlier. It looks somewhat seedy but it's dotted quite heavily with restaurants (one of my favourites, Verveine), antique stores, retro stores, etc. I'd walk down that street anytime.

In fact, I'd be more hesitant about getting off a bus at night in the suburbs than pretty much any downtown neighbourhood.

As far as the name Vomit Rocket goes, I've just never heard it myself. Let's face it, people use the Queen car to go to work and back and live their normals lives every day. How bad could it really be?

Actually, I might want to amend my last post. The new neighbourhood I'm thinking of is where Greenwood Racetrack used to be. I think. I always get the Woodbine and Greenwood tracks mixed up. Is there still a racetrack at Queen and Woodbine?

OK, we continue to learn.

The Days Inn Lakeview is probably stretching the definition of lakeview, and is way out in Scarboro.

It's not the dump across from the old racetack, and it is not on the Queen Street streetcar route.

It's way out Kingston Road, a long, long way from the Beaches / Beach neighborhood.

There's nothing to walk to.

It's about half way to Montreal, by some estimates, but on the other hand, I used to drive out there for lunch at Bo-Peep, starting in the heart of downtown, and we thought we were nuts to go so fr, but the sandwiches were really good.

So, the good news, it's not the dump.

The bad news, it's a place that makes no sense for a visitor who wants to see downtown Toronto and the tourist attractions.

Go to Google maps to get an idea of how far away from anything except the zoo that this place is.

BAK

Whew! I feel a bit better now that I know this hotel isn't a total loss.

I had done some research on transportation and found that the Warden subway station is a 10 minute drive from the hotel and parking there is $2-$4 per day. Then I could take the subway to downtown. That would mean I'd spend around $10-12 per day on transportation (with a day pass) rather than $20-$45 on parking a car downtown each day. I don't mind spending up to an hour in transit each way to save $30+ per night on lodging. I looked at the time tables, and it looks like it's about a 30-45 minute trip to downtown. Does that sound right?

I'm not a nightlife person so I'm not worried about trying to catch the subway at 2 a.m.

toedtoes: You've obviously researched your choice and are comfortable with travelling an hour or so to get downtown, as it will save considerably on parking. To save even more, you might want to consider taking the bus, which I'm sure stops right at your hotel, directly to the Warden station. You can get the details on the TTC website.

hdm: You were confused about Woodbine and Greenwood racetracks. You are not alone. As a Toronto native, I remember when the racetrack in the east end was the Woodbine Race Track, named obviously from the nearby street. In 1956, the proprietors built a new Woodbine Race Track in the far north-west part of the city (it was in the country then). The old track was called Old Woodbine for a while, but then was officially renamed as Greenwood,after another nearby street. Now, it's made way for a new housing development.

Ya, I finally got that straightened out at dinner tonight.

Old Greenwood racetrack (now gone and replaced by a nice neighbourhood development) was at Woodbine and Queen.

Woodbine racetrack is god knows where, somewhere in the north west end but, illogically, nowhere near Woodbine Avenue.