Toronto, Canada

Toronto is, by most measures, the most ethnically diverse city in the world — over 50% of its population was born outside Canada. This produces a food scene, a cultural calendar and a street life that is unlike any other city in North America. The CN Tower remains the defining landmark. The waterfront on Lake Ontario has been transformed into one of the finest urban lakefronts anywhere. BMO Field, newly expanded to 45,500 seats, hosts World Cup matches in a city that has embraced football as its own.

World Cup 2026: Group stage matches, June–July. Toronto in June and July is warm and pleasant — 24–28°C, low humidity, long days. One of the best times to visit. Best months overall: June–September — outdoor festivals, the waterfront at its best and the Fringe and Jazz festivals in summer. September brings the Toronto International Film Festival, one of the world\'s most important.

Toronto\'s TTC (subway, streetcar and bus) is comprehensive. The waterfront streetcar (510 Spadina) and the Bloor-Danforth subway cover the main visitor areas. BMO Field is a 10-minute walk from Union Station, which is also the hub for regional trains. A hire car is not necessary within the city but useful for day trips to Niagara Falls (90 minutes) or the Muskoka lakes.

Kensington Market and the Entertainment District offer the most neighbourhood character. Yorkville is the upmarket option — luxury hotels, excellent galleries and high-end dining. The Distillery District (Victorian industrial buildings converted to restaurants, galleries and boutiques) suits those who want a self-contained cultural neighbourhood. Queen West is Toronto\'s most creative area — independent fashion, bookshops and cafés.

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) — Frank Gehry\'s renovation of his childhood neighbourhood\'s gallery produced one of the finest museum buildings in North America; the Canadian art collection and the Henry Moore sculpture holdings are outstanding. The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) — the largest museum in Canada, with particular strength in Chinese decorative arts and natural history; Daniel Libeskind\'s crystalline addition is architecturally significant. St. Lawrence Market — voted the world\'s best food market by National Geographic; the Saturday farmers\' market upstairs and the food vendors on the ground floor represent Toronto\'s full cultural diversity. The Distillery District — 45 Victorian industrial buildings on a 13-acre site, now hosting galleries, restaurants and studios; outstanding architecture. Toronto Islands — a 15-minute ferry from the waterfront delivers you to car-free islands with the best view of the Toronto skyline, beaches and rental kayaks.

Toronto\'s diversity makes it one of the finest food cities in North America. Chinatown on Spadina has outstanding Cantonese, Sichuan and Vietnamese restaurants — Mother\'s Dumplings and Swatow are both excellent. Kensington Market has the city\'s best Caribbean, Portuguese and South American food. For contemporary Canadian cuisine, Alo in Queen West consistently ranks among the top restaurants in Canada. The St. Lawrence Market on a Saturday morning, with a peameal bacon sandwich from Carousel Bakery, is a Toronto institution.

Toronto is a flat and very walkable city in most areas. The PATH system — 30km of underground walkways connecting Downtown — is useful in bad weather. The lakefront is entirely accessible. Summer weather is ideal for walking. Light layers useful in the evenings.

Toronto is one of the safest major cities in North America. The emergency number is 911. Travel insurance is recommended for health coverage as a non-resident in Canada.

Take the ferry to Ward\'s Island and rent bicycles — cycling the car-free paths through the residential island community with views of the skyline is one of the finest urban experiences in Canada and almost entirely unknown to first-time visitors. Spadina Museum: Historic House and Gardens is a perfectly preserved 1866 merchant\'s house that has never been "museumified" — the family lived here until 1983 and the house feels genuinely inhabited. The Bata Shoe Museum sounds implausible but is one of the most thoughtfully curated and genuinely surprising small museums in North America — 13,000 shoes from every culture and era telling the history of human movement.