Toronto-North York Hotels
 

I will be in Toronto for a visit in late June. Apparently a large convention has made hotel availabilty very tight during the weekend I plan to stay and rates are quite high. I do see a couple of hotels in North York that are rated as three stars that offer a reasonable rate. I do not know the identities of the hotels. My question: Is the North York area convienient to downtown? Is the area generally OK? I am somewhat familiar with the great city of Toronto and have no problems with using subways/public transportation.

Thanks in advance.

Since you have plenty of time before your trip, I suggest that you review the winning Priceline bids posted on www.biddingfortravel.com and www.betterbidding.com and then bid on Priceline for your hotel room.

Recently, I got the 3* Radisson Toronto East (with free parking) on a $38 bid for Jan. 1-3. This hotel is along the eastern edge of Priceline's Vaughan/North York Zone, just north of the Victoria Park interchange of Highway 401.

A search on www.bookingbuddy.com reveals that Expedia rates for Jan. 1-3 are slightly higher than rates for the last two weeks of June at the Radisson East, so I'd suggest that you start bidding 3* Vaughan/North York at $36 and inch your way up. When you are bidding this zone on Priceline at 3*, you have a total of 7 additional free rebids before you have to wait 72 hours. (This is possible by bidding Vaughan/North York in combination with the Brampton, Toronto East and Scarborough/Pickering zones, which have no Priceline hotels above 2*, assuring you that your 3* bid will be in the Vaughan/North York zone.)

Another Priceline zone you might try at 3* is Don Valley, where the most likely hotel is the Crowne Plaza, just a couple hundred yards northeast of the Eglinton Ave. interchange of the Don Valley Parkway. The CP has an $8 parking charge. For this Don Valley zone, I'd start bidding at $40. As with Vaughan/North York, you have 7 additional free rebids in combination with the three zones that have no Priceline hotels above 2*.

As a final note, if you haven't used the www.bookingbuddy.com search engine, give it a try. You only have to insert basic info once to search Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, Hotels.com and more than 100 other hotel/airline/rental car sites!

North York used to be a big city before it merged with Toronto, making an even bigger city.

If you do not have a car, be very careful.

There's a Novatel near the Toronto Center for the Arts at Mel Lastman Square, and that is connected to a subway station.

But after that, I think most if not all North York hotels are places where a car would be advisable.

Changing from subway to bus to get to the hotel is a pain.

Check the Strathcona and the Hotel Victoria for lowish-priced hotels that are not usually on convention schedules. Both are downtown, good places, well located.

North York has lots of OK hotels, designed mostly for business visitors who want to be near factories and warehouses.

BAK

BAK has given you very good advice, re having a car in N.York. The only North York hotel on the subway line is the 'Novotel'. 'The Holiday Inn' at Yorkdale is close to the subway but requires a 10 minute walk through Yorkdale Mall to the subway entrance. The previously suggested, 'Radisson East' is situated close to the exit ramps off Highway 401 and surrounded by an office complex. You need to bus to Fairview Mall to catch the subway. Try midtown, 'The Days Inn' on Carlton at Yonge St. may offer a good rate.

oops, sorry....Scratch the Days, they will likely be full, if there is a conference in town.

The Westin Prince Hotel is TTC friendly located on York Mills and Don Mills. There is a Starbuck's and a at least a dozen eateries close by plus a Longos grocery store. The Prince has a good sushi restaurant as well.
The York Mills bus will take you to York Mills station on the Yonge Line - about a 10 minute ride. The area of
town is one of Toronto's most wealthiest region.

On Highway 7 and Leslie/East Beaver Creek area, there is a Radisson, Marriot (brand new - Suites and Courtyard), Howard Johnson (stayed there when I moved to Toronto - was OK), Hilton (brand new), Sheraton and a Best Western. Great Chinese, Korean and Japanese restaurants are located in this area
plus the dozen or so eateries on East Beaver Creek and Highway Seven. You will need a car for this area.

On Woodbine beginning at Steeles and traveling North, there is a large Holiday Inn at Steeles and Woodbine, A Journey's End and a Hotel Monte Carlo at 8900 Woodbine (brand new).
Holiday Inn is accessible via TTC Steeles bus to Finch Station.

At Steeles and Westin Road area, there is a Dodge Suites. The bus runs
by the hotel back to Finch station.
If you have a car, the 400 is next door. This is the southern end of Woodbridge - the booming Italian area of town which is focused on Highway 7 and Westin Road.

To the east end of town, there is a large Delta Hotel at Kennedy and the 401.

And last but not least the Hilton Suites hotel at Highway 7 and Warden.
This is probably the most luxurious hotel outside the downtown core.

Butasan, what are the hotels you're considering? North York is very large. As you know, Toronto is generally very safe, in fact one of the safest cities in Canada. You'd be just fine in the area around the Novotel, and it's a fun area, like another downtown, as well as very convenient to the subway. Rooms are very small, but when I last saw them a few years ago, quite nice. If you want a quieter ambience, your next best bet is the Westin Prince. It's a tad old-fashioned in decor, but is very peaceful, with nice landscaping around the building, but no indoor pool. All 3 restaurants at the Westin-Prince are good, as is the bar. I think the 10-minute estimate on the bus is probably pushing it. I'd give yourself 20 minutes to account for waiting time at the bus stop, especially if you're travelling in rush-hour times.

The Crowne Plaza is nice, but definitely not TTC-friendly, and there's nowhere convenient to eat other than at the hotel. You'd need your car just to go anywhere. Steeles or Highway 7 locations are even further, especially if you're from out of town and have stuff to do. Highway traffic is appalling these days - expect long, long delays in crawling traffic during the morning and evening rush, and generally during lunchtimes as well.

Also, I agree with BAK and Gemelli, you should keep trying for somewhere inexpensive downtown. If you're really not picky, the University of Toronto offers accomodation when the students have pretty much vacated the place. Try Innis College, which has the newest accomodation, or Hart House, which offers lovely old rooms in stone buildings, as a start. Rates are very affordable, but you usually share washroom facilities, and I'm not sure if there's AC. Definitely downtown, though. Good luck!