I hear a lot about the islands & ferries, however I'd like to find out more about them. My husband & I (early 30s) will be staying at the Westin this weekend. Are the islands more for families with kids so they can run around & have picnics? Or is this something you'd recommend for anyone?

Any other recommendations for dining (not the finest dining options - but nice atmosphere & yummy food with decent prices) would be appreciated too!

The Westin is right beside the ferry terminal, so go.

Yes, it's for kids and picnics, but it's nice for a stroll, and you can buy and ice cream cone, and it goives hjust about the best view of the city you can imagine.

the other island option is to walk a few blocks west from the hotel (try to stay right by the water, not by the roiad; there are waterside paths that you may think are private property, but they are not, to where the cruise boats are, and take a harbour cruise. The smaller cruise boats talk you through the canals and around the little islands, and might be an even better option that taking the regular ferry boat.

Toronto's packed with excellent restaurants at all price ranges.

Do you understand the streetcar system, and the stop in the basement of an offic building across from the hotel? That streetcar gets you lots of places, or you can walk.

The most restauarnts in a small area in many price ranges are:

Front Street from Jarvis to Simcoe. Jarvis & Front is the St. Lawrence Market, a good place for breakfast Saturday. SDimcoe and Front is the Intercontinental and the convention centre. In betweeen are a dozen restaurants.

Just a couple of blacks north of Simcoe and Front is Simcoe and King Street West. Walk west from King &Simcoe for the entertainment district and another 20 good restaurants.

All have the menus outside, with prices, and many have patios with custoemrs, so you can ask someone just how good their dinner is.

BAK

My wife and I visited Toronto a couple of weeks ago and spent a day on the Toronto Islands. Yes, it is definitely geared more for families with kids. There's a kiddie amusement park, the beach, and like you said, a lot of room to just run around.

That being said, we are also in our early 30s (and sans kids) and had a very enjoyable day as well. There are boats and bicycles you can rent and we also had a fun time playing around in amusement park (we're all kids at heart, right?). Mostly, though, we just walked around and enjoyed the nice weather. Toronto Islands is a great destination for that.

Thanks for the answers! And, yes - Doug - if anyone is still a kid at heart, it is my husband! We'll hopefully have nice weather & will look into doing the ferry to the islands on Sunday as we'll only be arriving Saturday afternoon & will be meeting up with people that night.

I would thoroughly recommend spending half a day on the Toronto Islands. I was with a group of friends and we got the ferry over and hired bikes for a couple of hours or so - we went from Centre Island out to each end and the views of downtown are terrific.

When you first get off the ferry you may think you have landed in an amusment park with kids eveywhere. Bypass that and you will find you don't have to go far to get to the better parts of the island.

The Toronto Islands were one of the highlights of my recent trip to Toronto. A great way to get out of downtown and end up somewhere totally different without going far.