Toronto Feb weekend help
 

My husband and I just booked a weekend to get away for Feb. 17th. We have never been to Toronto before so are looking for suggestions on what to do, where to go, nice restaurants, recommend a show? We are staying at the Soho Metropolitan. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Breakfast -- across the street at Coras.

Toronto's most expensive restaurant is in your hotel. Sen5es (with the 5 on purpose)

You are a block from Second City.

Tell us more about your interests and budget, and we can add more info.

Will you have a car?

Do you have any serious hobbies? Model trains? Photography? Sewing? -- There's a shoe museum in town, and the hockey hall of fame, suggesting there's lots to do.

More info to follow. Even better info if we know more about you. It sometimes helps us to know where you are from, too.

BAK

Have a look at www.torontotourism.com and www.toronto.com

Lord of the Rings starts in previews this weekend.

Scaramouche is super but might be over your budget, if you go, ask for a window table; Canoe has great views on the 55th floor of one of the downtown towers - maybe lunch there instead of dinner.

Thanks for the comments. Just to give you a little more info on what we would be interested in doing, etc. We are from New York, basically we were interested in getting away for a weekend to see someplace new. We would be intested in some museums but but for such a short trip we usually like to walk around and see different neighborhoods, window shop etc. Both nights we are in town we would like to go to a nice dinner (mid to nice range, but of course it doesn't have to be expensive as long as it has a nice atmosphere, good food). We were thinking of North 44 and Bellini's, any comments on these places? We were also thinking of going to a show maybe I will look into Second City.
We would like to go out at night to a nice lounge/bar, not a club. We weren't planning on getting a car, but to that pt. wha is the best way we should get to the hotel from the airport, taxi? Thanks!

From New York... well that makes things different.

First, you probably are good walkers. Secpndly, you won't be petrified by prices.

Saturday morning... leave the hotel, walk up to King Street West, turn right (east, toward the giant towers)
and walk east past University AVenue, to King and Bay. You are now in the financial heart of Canada, with four of the five major banks right there, and the fifth just down Bay Street, in the gold building.

Anyway, more, later. (it gets better) I need to go to one of those buildings right now for lunch with a unviersity profesor whe teaches business in one of the towers.

BAK

You might enjoy the Distillery Historic District - http://www.thedistillerydistrict.com/ a short streetcar ride along King St. East and an interesting place to spend a couple of hours exploring the shops/galleries.

Back to my message above...

After crossing University Avenue and before you get to Bay, look behind the giant black slab towers on your right forthe sculptures. Cattle, from Saskatchewan artist Joe Fafard, plus a bunch of other stuff.

Keep walking east, across Yonge Street and the King Edward Hotel and then turn right and cut across the parking lot towards Colborne Street and you'll see some of Toronto's oldest office buildings. Keep on the angle andyou'll get to Church street and then Front Street. Turn left again (east) and at the end of the block is St. Lawrence market. Go inside (remember this is Saturday -- the market is closed on Sunday)and get your self a peameal bacon on a bun sandwich for breakfast, at any of the several stands selling these.

PRowl around the makrket, and buy some bagels from St. Urbain, in the south east corner, to compare with New York. The St. Urbain bagels are very close to what you'd get in Montreal, the ral bagel capital of Canada.

From the market, keep walking east to Oarlkiament Street (a few blocks) to The distillery District, as reccommended above.

This should keep you occupied from 8 am to at least noon.

BAK

I really am a lousy typist. I apologize.

Oarlkiament is really Parliament Street.

And North 44 is a long way away from you, considering there are lots of excellent restaurants much closer to the hotel.

Airport to Hotel -- go out of the terminal and look for the limousine stands (generally Lincoln Town Cars) they are very close to the same price as a cab. Considering your hotel's location, that's more convenient than taking the giant bus the serves downtown from the airport.

Bars -- I'm not much of a bar guy, but my favorites are the main floor bar in the Four Seasons Hotel and the rooftop bar at the Park Hyatt, both at Bloor and Avenue Road, the Library Bar in the Fairmotn Royal York, and the bar off the lobby at the Kind Edward on King Street.

But there are nice bars close to your hotel, to, across the street from Le Germain Hotel, on Mercer Street, which is close to the Soho Metropolitan. Chances are really good the hotel can make suggestions.

BAK

Thank you so much, all of this info is great, and I really appreciate it. I still have to read it over in more detail, and I am sure I may have a question or two ;). Very helpful though!

For neighbourhoods: there's the Beach with the Boardwalk but kinda chilly in Feb.

Little Italy is College Street west of Bathurst - you could walk from your hotel, west on King, north on Spadina - through one of our three Chinatowns - this is the first, turn left (west) on Dundas to Kensington or Augusta Avenues, turn north (right) - that's Kensington Market - then you'll hit College Street - turn left (west) and keep walking till you're in Little Italy - faster way is to take the streetcar west on King to Bathurst - get a transfer (transfers are free)when you board (or buy a day pass), transfer at Bathurst and get off at College.

It's more Italian at Via Corsa on St. Clair Avenue (subway to St. Clair West station then transfer to a St. Clair streetcar going west); Little India is on Gerrard St East - subway to College Street on the Yonge line, transfer to a streetcar going east at Yonge and College (in front of Tim Horton's - get a coffee (and maybe a donut) for the trip) - that streetcar (called the Carlton) takes you to Cabbagetown, over the Don River to Chinatown East, which becomes Vietnamese, then Little India - if you stay on the streetcar, it eventually ends at Main St subway station and you can transfer to the subway and take it west to Pape station - get off there and walk east on Danforth through Greektown to either Chester or Broadview stations.

Okay that's your first morning - kiddin'!

There's also Queen West - an easy walk from your hotel - it's got lots to see from pretty well University Avenue to Dufferin Street - a streetcar also runs along that route.

The Art Gallery is being renovated but is still open - it's walkable from the hotel - up (north) John Street to Queen, then Beverley Street to the gallery - it the building with the odd (and I'm being kind) black and white thing on the roof.

A non-ethnic neighbourhood with lots of restaurants and shops is Leaside - between Davisville and Eglinton East; subway to Davisville, transfer to the Bayview bus; Yonge and Eglinton (aka Young and Eligible) is like that, subway north to Eglinton, out of the street and wander north or south.

That Carlton streetcar I mentioned goes along College street west from Yonge past a big hospital, the provincial legislature, parts of the University of Toronto, Little Italy, a Portuguese neighbourhood, a bit of Parkdale and ends at High Park -our second largest park. If it's too cold out (but we're having a non-winter) to wander in the city, it's not a bad ride and you see a lot. If you have a day pass, you can jump on and off if something catches your fancy. Once you get to High Park, you can walk up Parkside Drive to Bloor St West where there is a block with several restaurants or take the subway back downtown from nearby Keele stations - that's east or west to Runnymede to another neighbourhood called Bloor West Village that's always bustling and has restaurants and coffee places - there's a pleasant Timothy's (another coffee chain) or maybe it's the Second Cup chain - both have comfortable seats and you can linger - some provide newspapers.

This should keep you busy for two days!

Torontonians love doffee.

Bloor West Village: there are two subway stops, one at Runnymede and one at Jane Street.

Get off at one, walk along the street, and get back on at the other. Doesn't matter which order you do this.

there's a Timpthy's by the eastern entrances to both stations. There's a second Cup half way between. There's at least two Starbucks. there are a couple of little combo delis - restaurants with exotic coffee, there's a coffee roasting place between the two entrances of the Ssubway at Jane street...

No wonder I'm hyper.

BAK

And the old Runnymede Theatre in Bloor West Village is now a big bookstore - you can still tell it was a movie house so is worth a peek and it has, guess what, a coffee bar!

All of these ideas are great, thank you. I refuse to go to a Starbucks though, as great as it is are they are on every corner of NYC ;) Any thoughts on Bellini's and North 44 for dinner?

BAK : Your typing cracks me up ! Are we really 'doffee' lovers ??? :) But your suggestions (as always) are spot on and EMM, you'd be advised to consider them all, as well as SallyCanuck's.

For a weekend, these two Torontonians have given you a weeks worth of activities and I cannot add any more.

Enjoy yourself in our fair city.

I've e-mailed a foodie friend who's in Mexico at the moment to ask if she's eaten at either of them. When I hear back, will let you know.

Friend here just ate at Flow, also in Yorkville, and was very happy with the meal.

Here's the response on North 44 from my foodie (she runs a catering business): "North 44, yes. We went there last summer and it was good but ridiculously expensive for what you got but it was good."

She hasn't been to Bellini's.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions. I looked at North 44 online and the sample menu they had was very expensive. We may still try it out though. I also noticed on toronto.com site they had top 10 restaurants listed, so I have to take another look at that too.

North 44 is our favorite Toronto eatery and has always been consistant on quality and level of service... it is only a short cab ride from your hotel and comparable to NY prices.(Wine,appetizer,main,dessert,coffee will be $80-100 US per person)

We have found Top Toronto restaurants to maintain their quality standards much better than NYC restaurants...it seems that many NY eateries get lazy once they gain recognition and quality drops to ordinary...

we also enjoy Sassafraz(dining room not bistro) and Ultra Supper Club as well as several of the Yorkville bistros for quality casual lunching...

Wondering how your weekend went?

Our weekend was great, we loved Toronto! Thanks again for all of the suggestions. Soho Metropolitan was a very nice hotel, we would difinitely recommend it. Bellini's was also a great low-key Italian restaurant, that we thoroughly enjoyed. We loved walking around and exploring all of the different neighborhoods. To be honest we were surprised with North 44. The service the night we were there was not good at all and the food was just ok, my husband and I are not that picky either so it was significant for me even to comment about it. As we left we noticed another couple who complained to the hostess about the service as well, so we realized it wasn't just our experience. But overall the trip was great, just thought I would share our experience.

Sorry about N44... we have sent dozens of people there and never gotten a bad report... i'll be more careful from now on...

Dear EMM and others: We will be staying at the SoHo Metropolitan in May. Any words of advice? We gave up staying in Yorkville to be closer to the Convention Center and many guide books recommend the SoHo. Thanks.