I’m going to Toronto for a weekend (April 6-9), and I’m looking for some fun things to do. This is the first time I’ve been in Toronto other than just passing through. Any suggestions?
Depends on what you consider ‘fun’.
- Catch a hocky/basketball game.
- Check out the SkyDome (A damned impressive building)
- take a trip up the CN Tower (There is a dance club up there.)
- Catch a musical/play
- visit come of the night clubs. (The ‘Government’ coems to mind…)
SOME of the night clubs…SOME!!!
Don’t miss their Chinatown.
Isn’t that the tallest building in the world? 
Only one more typo to go!
Seriously though, thanks for the ideas. As for what I consider “fun” – just about anything. I think for this visit, though, anything requiring tickets (hockey, basketball, play, etc.) is probably out of the question. Any particularly good (and by that I mean high quality and/or amusing) museum you’d recommend? Historical sites? How about good restaurants? What’s Toronto known for food-wise? If it helps, I’ll be staying downtown along Lake Ontario.
Poirot, I haven’t had really good Chinese food in a while since I moved from big city to small town. If Toronto has a good Chinatown, I’ll definitely keep that in mind.
Tallest freestanding structure. You go up on a clear day, and damn, the view is sweet.
as for museums, check out the ROM or the Science centre. The ROM is great for museumy information, the science centre is educational, and plain-out FUN!
If you want restaurants, try Avenue Road. I forget which stretch it is, but for a time the entire thing is basically restaurants, of all forms and types.
Also, if you’re gonna be in Toronto, you have to visit my store and buy a knife or two. It’s… uh… tradition! It is! It’s not a sales pitch or anything! 
The way the Leafs have been playing recently, you probably wouldn’t want to subject yourself to a game anyway.
You can check out the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum. Both of them are top notch (I think my Mother is going to insist I accompany her to the Russian Hermitage exhibit at the AGO).
As for food, you’re all set. Toronto is very cosmopolitan so you can find just about any cuisine you can think of. You’ll definitely want to check out Chinatown and the Kensington Market. You can get wonderful fresh produce & baked goods as well as shop for clothes, etc. BTW, food’s relatively cheap in this area (major bonus in Toronto).
For more hip & artsy shops, cafes & atmosphere check out Queen St. West. City TV, one of the local stations at the corner of Queen & John, always has crowds swarming around it with VJs mixing amongst them. Try giving Speaker’s Corner a shot.
Those are my immediate ideas. I tried to think of things that a casual visitor may not be aware of (I think you’ll be able to find the CN Tower by yourself :)). These are all farily centrally located and easily accesible by subway or streetcar.
Have a good trip,
Hodge
Only slightly related, but I am curious, how many of us Torontonians are there on SDMB?
I was born in TO… and I’ve spent way too much time there since then…
I like the Tower. The glass floor is fun… especially if you can drag some child afraid of heights out into the middle of it and then walk away Often mothers will just laugh at the kid as he trembles and tries to decide if collapsing in a heap is a good thing.
A friend of mine used to work as a busboy at the Big Bop… said it was customary to spot women going down in dark corners… who would then flee into the night spitting… and be back in line after 10 minutes. Is is still that sleazy?
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*Originally posted by JeffB *
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I think we’ll leave that one alone.
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*Originally posted by Doubleclick *
Only one more typo to go!
Prick
I agree with the others, the ROM. the AGO and the Science Center are all a blast.
China town is brilliant! REAL Chinese food! (Not your typical Chicken Balls w/ Red Sauce (What the heck is that stuff anyway) and fried rice with ribs.)
me.
Great ideas, all – keep 'em coming. Sounds like I’ll definitely have to get to Chinatown at some point.
Give me the name and location of the store, and I might stop by. Knives are cool, mkay. (Sorry, Mr. Mackey just popped into my mind.) What type of knives – cutlery, outdoors, or both? Do you own the store?
Everyone should get over to the Where Are You? thread so that obfusciatrist can get you on his Dopers of the World map. So far, only Mnementh and Double Click are mapped from the Toronto area.
I’ll be visiting Toronto that weekend, too, JeffB. Maybe we can get together.
I’d recommend going on the Danforth if you like Greek food. If you like Italian food, St. Clair W. is the place to go. Plenty of pubs to visit, too.
If you like “castles”, you can visit Casa Loma, it’s quite interesting.
A Toronto Dopefest is also a possibility.
While you are at the CN tower, walk (or take a short cab ride) down to Queen’s Quai (pronounced: Queen’s Key). You can have lunch at the Cayote Grill. Foods not bad but the view over the lake is the real reason to go there. You can warm yourself up over a hot coffee at the Starbucks on the peer right next door. There are lots of interesting novelty type shops in the Quai plaza as well. Kite and paper plane store. Cool Umbrella and hat shops. Really neat music box shop. And other sundry stuff like that. Kind of upscale but not snooty.
Visit the mink mile - Bloor street between Yonge and Spadina. Lot’s of upscale boutiques if you like that kind of stuff.
Just one or two blocks north is Cumberland and Yorkville. More upscale boutiques as well as trendy restaurants for the beautiful people.
My advice for food, unless you are really a big fan of Chinese food, give it a miss in T.O. It’s nothing you can’t find in most other north american cities. It’s greasy, the surrounding are often dirty and smelly. If you must have chinese, try Lai Wah Heen in the Metropolitan hotel. It’s upscale but very good. Otherwise, treat yourself to a great meal at really interesting restauraunts like Fred’s Not Here/Red Tomato on King Street W. Very close to the CN tower. Try Il Fornello for good italian food (yeah, it’s a small italian restaurant chain but the one on King St W is very nice and the food is always fresh and delicious). But if you are going to have one and only one meal in Toronto, you absolutely must get your butt to Danforth and Chester (middle of Greek Town) and have a meal at a place like Omonia (or any other greek restaurant within the four block stretch). You will not regret it. You will thank me. You will want to move to T.O. just for that alone. For fantastic eastern european flavour try Old Europe on Bloor St W just west of the mink mile shops. Bring cash, they don’t accept credit cards. Order the Schnitzel Nature. You will not be sorry.
And of course do the Royal Ontario Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Well worth a few hours of your time. The CN tower is a tourist must but once you’ve been up there you’ll wonder what all the fuss is about. Yeah, you can see far on a clear day. So what. Ontario is flat and featureless and the view will show you as much. I like looking at the horizon as much as the next guy but I much prefer the view from an airplane window.
Have fun and next time try to visit Montreal. It’s a bit run down (compared to Toronto) but has much more diversity as far as scenery, language and general feel.
In addition to the things the others have mentioned, I’d recommend the Bata Shoe Museum. A unique experience, and quite a bit of fun.
Impossible not to reply to this, being very proud of my city.
There are several “Chinatowns” – the one you probably want to visit is New Chinatown (although it’s no longer the newest) at the west edge of the downtown core.
Off the top of my head… the usual tourist stuff: CN Tower, Ontario Place Cinesphere, Skydome, Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), Eaton Centre, Hockey Hall of Fame. A little further from downtown, there’s the Ontario Science Centre and Metro Zoo. Too many other things to try and list, but there are lots of tourist information offices scattered around downtown.
Dozens of clubs, of every type…
On the number of SDMB Torontonians… hmmm… seems like maybe we need a TorDopeFest…
Oh forgot one other thing… if you are into the tragically hip kind of lifestyle of the late teen and early 20 somethings, wonder around Queen St west between University and Bathurst. Lot’s of trendy and generally inexpensive stores, pubs, restaurants and tatoo parlours. Much Music (Canadian MTV) is there if that matters to you in the least.
I’m from Niagara Falls, but I think a TODopeFest is a good idea. I don’t get to Toronto as much as I’d like.
Hodge
It’s the House of Knives, at Fairview mall. I tend to work Friday afternoons and Saturdays, so anyone who’s interested can drop by and visit. I’m reluctant to let my real name get out, but just look for the 6’4" blond guy. That’s me. Wait, I think we just hired another 6’4" blond guy… ohwell. Just ask if SDMB rings a bell and if you get blank looks, it aint me.
We sell pretty much everything sharp. I dont own it, but I’m a high-rankin’ guy! hurrah!
Stop on by, Toronto dopers.