2 Best Sights in Toronto, Ontario

In the Shangri-La's Lobby Lounge, where guests check in, a band performs, a fireplace soothes, and silk-clad waitresses seemingly float from sunken couch to sunken couch bringing light meals and cocktails to a mix of locals and hotel guests. You can take in the scene over Afternoon Tea, offered seven days a week. This experience starts at $45 per person for a three-tier spread that includes a pot of one of the expertly blended teas—there are two tea sommeliers on staff to explain the 72 varieties of tea. Expect delicate pastries, buttery scones with homemade jam, and clever twists on finger sandwiches, such as brie, apple, and ham on marble rye on the menu.

A five-story architectural masterpiece, this glass-paneled building houses the year-round headquarters of the internationally acclaimed Toronto International Film Festival, which takes place in September. Throughout the year visitors can attend film-related lectures, watch screenings, and enjoy smaller film festivals, including the TIFF Next Wave Film Festival, a film festival with free movies for anyone under 25 that takes place in April. A stellar educational program includes summer camps and ongoing workshops—on how to produce a stop-motion movie, for example. The TIFF Cinematheque, open to the public, plays world cinema classics and contemporary art house films.