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Any reccomendations for a ~2 day itenirary in Toronto
My girlfriend and I will be visiting Toronto for around 48 hours next weekend. We get in late Friday and leave Sunday around 5 to head to visit friends in Montreal. I've been to Toronto a few times as a kid, but long enough ago I don't remember much besides the CN Tower, and she's never been. Does anyone have recommendations on things to do and especially on places to eat? The only real thing we have planned so far is the HHoF, which I definitely want to see again.
What kind of things do you guys like? Hockey Hall of Fame good place for fans yes. You guys like hockey, can always try to catch a game even if it's not NHL.
My favourite places in Toronto were the Zoo, the Royal Ontario Museum, and Art Gallery of Ontario, which is doing a Yayoi Kazuma right now, if you were fans of Team Lab in Tokyo kind of Instagramable experience.
Food ....... Nothing really stood out as must have, need to travel to eat type of thing. There are lots of good options so plan your itinerary first and I'm sure folks will chime in with suggestions around the attraction.
We enjoy nature and museums a lot, so the Zoo/Royal Ontario Musem/Art Gallery of Ontario all sound good.
For my girlfriend, besides those things, she likes fun shopping experiences? I guess that'd be a good way to describe it?
For me, maybe like, some local history type things are interesting to me? e.g. We might go see Casa Loma because I love specific little museums like that. Genuinely the main reason we're going is that we wanted to visit our friends in Montreal anyways but I really wanted to fly on a Porter Airlines Dash-8 out of YTZ airport :P so anything else to do Saturday/Sunday is just for fun.
That has been the gist of most of our vacations together so far, to be honest. For example, in Japan it mostly consisted us of eating, shopping, and visiting a few local castles/shrines/temples/etc.
Casa Loma is a 1900s modern rich guy's house and not historic like actual castles. It's also fairly out of the way from downtown, so factor in transportation costs + eating away from downtown in addition to the ~$60 per person admission fee.
Maybe go see the Grange building while you're at the AGO, and Campbell House Museum for beautiful Georgian architecture downtown.
Check to see if the Toronto Opera Company has a Free Concert while you are there. A much more laid back casual dress, but no less professional and talented musical experience than the full size Toronto Symphony Orchestra experience. I liked the intimacy and approachable Q&A afterwards.
Edit: maybe don't wear yourselves out at the zoo then, it's a big long walk esp in the summer, when you've got a week with friends. Also since you're going to Montreal save the fancy food budget for there, eat good cheap food in Toronto like any of the independent ramen shops.
See this bit's fine with me...
but I did not do enough research to see how much it costs or how far it is :P so yeah maybe that one will be a pass, thanks!
If Japanese Peruvian food sounds at all interesting to you check out Chotto Matte. I ate at their Miami location and it was some of the best food I have ever had. I have not been to the Toronto location, but since it's the closest Chotto Matte to me I have been thinking of taking a trip there just to eat at the restaurant it was that good.
On Friday, the Blue Jays play the Cardinals at the Skydome (aka the Rogers Centre). If baseball is at all your thing, it could be entertaining. The most notable thing there will likely be my son, who will attend the game with his uncle, but he might not actually stick out from the rest of the crowd of several thousand.
Right nearby, there is the CN Tower, which has a pretty acceptable restaurant in it. It is mostly notable for being able to see for miles; the food is just okay and not worth a trip in and of itself. In the immediate vicinity of the Tower and the Dome are also the Steamwhistle Brewery, and Ripley's Aquarium. I actually really like the Aquarium, but it is not a particularly big aquarium as aquariums go.
On Saturday morning, you may want to check out Kensington Market which is a big-city market that gives some real small-town, welcoming vibes. There are a variety of delightful shops for cheese, other foods, clothes, etc. It's worth a trip over.
I saw Casa Loma mentioned, and it is a fairly cool spot to see. I don't want to disagree with the wonderful @chocobean, but it is only about an hour's walk from right downtown, or a couple of subway stops; it's not particularly difficult to get to. I would suggest that it is perhaps not worth the $45CAD for the price of admission, but I say that as a person who has been inside a couple of times, so it was clearly worth the price of admission at least twice for me in the past.
The Toronto Zoo is pretty great, but it is relatively far from downtown - about an hour if you drive and probably several hours if you are on public transit of some kind.
The Distillery District has a lot of great shops and walking tours and boutiques and mini museums. It is a fair walk (45+ minutes) from downtown, but well worth it.
Toronto Island Park is a nice spot. There are several beaches, a few little shops, some expensive cafes, a decent disc golf course, and some fair-ride attractions. Part of the fun is just going on a ferry over to the island. Since you are already going to Billy Bishop airport, this might be a fun thing that you could do Sunday morning, though I don't know about the logistics of luggage.
The ROM is a great museum. Their current features are Bees, Psychedelics, and Shokkan ("Material Encounters in Japanese Art"). I think all of them are pretty great exhibits, though it's too bad the Shark exhibit is gone as it was even better.
If you are into walking and shopping and just seeing the city, you could heat to Nathan Phillips Square, and from there to the Eaton Centre. The Eaton Centre has a lot of mall shopping, and Nathan Phillips Square is cool, albeit not really jam packed full of activities.
As far as food goes, Toronto has a ton of options, so it is difficult to specifically recommend anything. If there is something specific that you're looking to eat, please feel free to say specifically but I will shoutout NomNomNom poutine in Toronto as being pretty good. I also liked Ikkousha Ramen the last time I was there, but that was a couple of years ago. But most of the restaurants that you might find walking around to any of the places I've listed should be good+. Restauranting in Toronto is pretty competitive and bad places tend not to do well.
I checked the schedule and there are no NSL (Northern Super League - Women's professional football / soccer) games that weekend.
If you are open to trips in the near vicinity, Go Train has a deal where you can have unlimited 24-hour train pass for $10 on the weekend. It can get you to a lot of places, and can even be worthwhile for travel within Toronto. Notably, Niagara Falls can be gotten to for $10, which is kind of crazy.
I hope you have a wonderful trip!
Awesome, thank you! Kensington Market sounds like something my girlfriend would love and the rest of your recs are helpful too :)
I reread your other response about the shirts y of things you like, and I will double down on Kensington and the distillery district. They would both be pretty great.