Toronto in August - Tennis and University tour
 

We are visiitng Toronto August 12 through the 16 and need your help!

This trip includes my husband, my 16 year old daughter and me. May daughter turns 16 the last day of the trip!

We are staing in Courtayard Downtown (475 Yonge St). Is this a good location? Decent hotel?

We are going to the Rogers Cup tennis tournament at York University. Do we need a car?
We also may visit Toronto university if they are having tours.
What are the "must see", what are good restaurants to experience the city?
Any exciting recomendation to celebrat my daughter's 16th bday?

THANKS

Alba

partial answer...

Toronto has three universities.

York University is a long way from your hotel, and is where the tennis probably is.

If budget permits, getting a car to go there would be a good idea.

Ryerson University is a few blocks south of your hotel. Walk down and look around. It really is not much of a place to have an organized tour.

The University of Toronto is the big one. It has three campii (or what ever you call the second campus, and the third) but the main one is not far from you, very big, has lots of interesting buildings, and may have some tours. REgardless, it is easy to walk around.

In broiad terms, it is immediately south and west of the Royal Ontario Museum.

Your hotel is fine, in a mid-range kind of a way. It's close to College Street, and walking west on College a few blocks gets you to UofT.

Birthday dinner: that's a problem, caused by too much choice.

My soon turns 16 in August -- his view of girls tiurning 16 is "they're all different."

So, can we have any hints about her style -- and her favorite foods.

And when in doubt, The Keg on York Street, south of Queen.

I was in another Keg Thursday evening. All I had was water and coffee, but it seemed like a place I want to go back to.

But Toronto has every sort of ethnic restaurant she might like.

BAK

THANKS!
The Keg is a good place except we have one down the street from where we live.....my daughter is the typical teen looking for trendy exciting places and taking pictures constantly, she is a picky eater but we have taken her to Europe and Africa and she finds things to eat. Is chinatown an interesting place? Could it be fun for her birthday on a Monday for lunch?

Would it be crazy to drive to Niagara Falls? Could we dedicate a morning to it or do we need all day?

There's nothing wrong with that hotel inside, I'm sure...but you could do better re location, IMHO. Why did you choose it? Is it a really good deal?

For birthday lunch, how about the restaurant at the top of the CN Tower - assuming it's a sunny day, there will be a great view. http://www.cntower.ca/

The Park Hyatt at Avenue Road and Bloor has a roof top terrace with a great view - I believe meals are served. http://www.parktoronto.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp

I've seen signs advertising walking tours of the U of T this summer but can't find it listed on their website.

Heritage Toronto and the Museum both offer free guided walks in various parts of the city.
http://www.heritagetoronto.org/discover-toronto/walk
http://www.rom.on.ca/programs/index.php

The Museum has an exhibit on the Terracotta warriors for the next several months.

http://www.torontohippotours.com/ - that's a tour that goes in the Lake and around the city.

The Rogers Cup is at York University and it's a long bus/subway ride so a car's a good idea. http://www.rogerscup.com/

Driving to, seeing and returning from the Falls to TO in a morning would be RUSHED....you could do a drive past (my son does that but we've all seen the Falls many times and he's kind of ODD). There are tours by various bus companies.

South Pacific starts a Toronto run if you like classic Broadway and the new Broadway Hit "Rock of Ages" is also running... You might consider a dinner and show near the theatre... my kids loved the row of restaurants on King St W including the Kit Kat(italian) and Freds not Here (steak and grill) as well as Hey Lucy (pizza/pasta) ... perfect for a 16... have fun

We walked along Queen Street west yesterday and it's really changed in the last few years between University & Spadina - lots of chains that you'll find in the malls. Despite that, there's still a couple of good restaurants. I love the Queen Mother and I think teens would like it as well. Same with the Rivoli (owned by the same people). I seem to recall taking my niece there when she was that age.

If you want to go to Niagara, allow a who day, and include Niagara Falls, the city where the falls are, and Niagara on the Lake, a nearby theatre town.

The idea of a play to celebrate her birthday is a pretty good one. Try Mirvish.com for some ideas.

And I'll echo the suggestion of the King Street restaurant strip between University AVenue and Spadina. Kit Kat is my favorite, and a teenager should enjoy it, too.

The rooftop of the Park Hyatt may be classed as a bar, without 16 year olds. Same for the rooftop bar on the Manulife Center at Bay and Bloor. But the CN Tower restaurant welcomes all ages, and is one of the best up-high restaurants in the world. Not cheap.

BAK

The Roof Lounge at the Park Hyatt has a "light bar menu" so no meals.

Panorama at Manulife Centre has a full menu. http://www.dine.to/profile_features....re=menu&id=192

my personal view is that the king west strip between john and peter & the queen west strip between university and spadina are kinda tourist traps - restaurants are decent but aren't really trendy... again, just my opinion.

however, if trendy is what she's interested in, for a 16th birthday celebration, here are a few potential alternatives:

a) celebratory-type place with a view (if budget isn't a concern): C5 (in the ROM), or canoe (TD Bank tower - closed Saturday night).

b) younger, trendy crowd (less expensive options and approachable food) = pizzeria libretto (on ossington), terroni (on queen west - though there are a few locations), the queen and beaver public house (on elm), the cieli cottage (queen east - newly trendy leslieville), or oyster boy (on queen west).

c) trendy and more modern, some have less approachable food (ie: japanese tapas, sushi, charcuterie, etc..) = blowfish (king west, sushi), the black hoof (dundas, charcuterie), buca (king west, italian), lee (king west, fusion), or guu izakaya (church & gerrard, japanese tapas)

after all that (at least it gives you a number of places to consider) i'd probably recommend terroni on queen west for a 16 year old. i imagine she'd love it - pretty straightforward italian food, but a 'cool' clientele. however beware, they don't take reservations and there is always a line up (part of the fun is people watching on queen west while you wait, if you're up for it...)

have a great trip & birthday dinner.

I think Terroni will be it!!!

THANK YOU
I'll port our itinerary hoping for some feedback