OT: Toronto
- Thread starter RabidLion
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Do a Steam Whistle Brewery tour. Only about a block away. Pretty cool, inexpensive and close. https://steamwhistle.ca/visit
If a hockey fan go to Hockey Hall of Fame.
CN Tower and Ripley Aquarium are in same vicinity as well.
Mill Street Brewery had good beer as well.
If a hockey fan go to Hockey Hall of Fame.
CN Tower and Ripley Aquarium are in same vicinity as well.
Mill Street Brewery had good beer as well.
CN Tower is a must. Yonge Street has a fair number of bars and restaurants. It also has the distinction of being the longest "street" in North America (or at least it did). Hit the ethnic areas of Toronto - with their influx of immigrants, you can find almost any kind of authentic ethnic food you like.
Toronto is a great city. It's like NYC if it was cleaner, safer, and didn't suck so much.
Its easily the worst MLB ballpark in Canada, and one of the worst in North America with maybe only Tampa being worse. It's really weird to watch baseball in a dome. The CN tower is close buy, although kinda pricey for just a tower. How many ballparks do you have left? I'm down to 4.
Mill Street is an extremely solid brewpub, the beer and food won't blow you away, but both are above average. It's in an awesome neighborhood... the Distillery District.
Molson Amphitheater is an amazing concert venue, if anyone good is playing while you are there.
Hit a Tim Horton's at least once.
If you are driving up via Niagara, that opens other options, such as the falls, wineries, and wings in Buffalo
Buy your maple syrup in a grocery store, it will be much cheaper. Also, you can probably get by without any cash, assuming this is a family trip. If more of a "guys" trip... take LOTS of cash.
Its easily the worst MLB ballpark in Canada, and one of the worst in North America with maybe only Tampa being worse. It's really weird to watch baseball in a dome. The CN tower is close buy, although kinda pricey for just a tower. How many ballparks do you have left? I'm down to 4.
Mill Street is an extremely solid brewpub, the beer and food won't blow you away, but both are above average. It's in an awesome neighborhood... the Distillery District.
Molson Amphitheater is an amazing concert venue, if anyone good is playing while you are there.
Hit a Tim Horton's at least once.
If you are driving up via Niagara, that opens other options, such as the falls, wineries, and wings in Buffalo
Buy your maple syrup in a grocery store, it will be much cheaper. Also, you can probably get by without any cash, assuming this is a family trip. If more of a "guys" trip... take LOTS of cash.
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Following up on this...if you don't already have one, get a credit card that doesn't charge an international transaction fee.
Or at least ask what the fee is in advance. I just spent a week in Canada and spent in the $20-$30 range in transaction fees, didn't hold back my spending at all, and this included hotels. That was more than covered by the favorable exchange rate.
This reminds me though, let your credit card company know you are traveling abroad to avoid any hiccups with your card.
A
anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
Great point! Makes for unpleasant surprises when the card servicers stop legitimate transactions because you're not in your regular geography. Goes for debit cards, too!
Get the poutine at the Rogers Centre. Had it there in 2015, at a Red Sox game. It costs somewhere around $20, but it is delicious.
Son plays juniors (hockey). I'm up in Toronto five times a year if not more. My advice:
- Be ready for TRAFFIC. Toronto is TERRIBLE!!!! TERRIBLE!!!!!
- Niagara falls is SO MUCH nicer on the Canadain side.
- If you have mace (spray) it's illegal in Canada and treat it as if you were carrying a gun so don't bring it.
- CN Tower is very cool especially at the top, with the glass floors, but be ready to pay 30 bucks to get up there.
- The hockey hall of fame is OVERRATED (and this is coming from a "HOCKEY DAD"). It's in a friggen mall for christ sake and is nothing like the NFL or MLB HoF (which is crazy when you think about it). Go to say you went. But be ready to be disappointed. Which leads me to my next point
- You MUST go to Gretzky's restaurant (99 Blue Jays Way). The memorabilia there is 10xs what you'll find in the HoF. The waitresses are SMOKEN! The food kicks ass! And they are all known for their drink the Ceaser (Canada's version of a Bloody Mary). It's OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!! In fact... if you do ANYTHING in Toronto you have to visit this place.
- Be sure to buy the following 1) Kraft Smooth Peanut Butter (has to be that brand) and 2) Ketchup potato chips. Listen, you may think this is crazy, but they make their peanut butter different up there. It's very "fluffy" and the ketchup chips are crazy good!
- By the way, did I mention be ready for the TRAFFIC? IT BLOWS!
- Get your beer or alcoholic beverages BEFORE you go into Canada. It's very expensive.
- In addition to you CC... let your bank know you're be using your ATM up there.
- All the ATMS machine I encountered only take CHIP ATM cards (at least in the hotels). Make sure your ATM card has one (chip) or more than likely won't work.
- Use the American money when you can... it getting a better exchange rate.
- Don't be surprised if the people in Toronto are rude. I've been all over Canada and they seem to be the worse.
- Oh... and the traffic sucks! So plan for it.
- MOST IMPORTANT!!!!! BE SURE TO GET A TEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL PLAN ON YOUR CELL PHONE!!!!! SOON AS YOUR CROSS THE BOARDER YOUR PHONE WILL STOP WORKING AND IT WILL BE USELESS WHICH MEANS NO GPS!!!! ON TOP OF THAT THE RATES (IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE INTERNATIONAL PLAN) ARE CRAZY. MY BUDDIES BILL WAS 1200 FOR THE WEEKEND. NOT KIDDING!!!!!!!
- Oh... GO TO GRETZKY'S!!!!!
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Nice write up! I was just up a couple weeks ago and had a good time watching the Jay's and Orioles. We liked the stadium. The weather was great so the roof was open. The footlong dogs were really good. Like most events food and booze was expensive but thats expected. And come to think everything was a little expensive in Toronto.
We only used our credit card for hotels and ball tickets. As soon as we crossed into Niagara Falls I did a large currency exchange so I didnt have to use my card and could go all cash. What the hell is up with all those damn coins Canada? Nothing smaller than a 5 in a bill. What a pain in the ass.
We stayed at the Westin on the Harbor and it was nice and only about a 15 min walk to the stadium. Wear comfortable walking shoes because traffic and parking suck. They do have Uber. Go to the St Lawrence Market for some good lunch food. Its like the Reading Terminal Market in Philly if you're into that.
As far as the cell phone service goes I have Xfinity Mobile and didnt have any problems. As soon as I crossed the border I received a courtesy text informing me of extra charges. They were very reasonable. I just had to turn roaming data on in my settings and everything worked as normal. The speeds just weren't as fast as at home. We used data for all our GPS, hotel bookings, normal use, etc... and our bill was only like $9 more than usual.
I absolutely disagree with the previous comment that the hockey hall of fame is overrated, and I have been following hockey since the late 70's.
Great point about the cell coverage, we have something that it costs us $5 per day per line in Canada and Mexico and makes it much cheaper than getting surprised with a huge bill.
We did not find the food at Gretzky's to be anything special. Olde Yorke Fish & Chips had some really good food, as did Amsterdam BrewHouse.
Great point about the cell coverage, we have something that it costs us $5 per day per line in Canada and Mexico and makes it much cheaper than getting surprised with a huge bill.
We did not find the food at Gretzky's to be anything special. Olde Yorke Fish & Chips had some really good food, as did Amsterdam BrewHouse.
This is a very good point. Last time I was there, I got a notification of spending $50 in data in a few minutes.
Why would you want to operate in cash? You pay to exchange money to Canadian, you carry all those damn coins, then you pay to exchange back to US. It's so much easier to just use credit cards, and the foreign transaction fees are minuscule.
That's crazy.
. Here is a copy of the text from Xfinity with the rates.
Hello! Welcome to Canada. While traveling, calls are $0.10/minute, texts are $0.10 each, and data is $0.05/MB. If you have trouble using data, call XFINITY Mobile support at +17207285462.
I've been to almost all the Halls of Fame (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, Tennis, College Football). I think MLB is by far the best.
I've been to Toronto once, about 20 years ago. I was really impressed -- it's a city at least as large as Philadelphia, with amazing ethnic food, professional sports, theater district, you-name-it. Even casinos. And Cuban cigars. It's like a little slice of Europe in North America, and they speak English too.
Without getting into politics, Canada has been a little easier on immigration from certain countries. If you've never eaten real Syrian food -- as close as it gets in our country might be Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, or certain areas in Dearborn, Michigan -- then Toronto will be a revelation.
Without getting into politics, Canada has been a little easier on immigration from certain countries. If you've never eaten real Syrian food -- as close as it gets in our country might be Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, or certain areas in Dearborn, Michigan -- then Toronto will be a revelation.
In the week or so before we went up we saw no less than 3 news stories of credit card skimmers and other credit card scams. I guess I had a slight bit of paranoia. I know it could happen anywhere, but using cash made me comfortable.
You must not be aware that you are not responsible for fraudulent charges on your credit card. It doesn't matter how they occur whether by skimming, stolen card , etc. On the other hand, if you lose any cash whether lost, stolen, or misplaced - "that's on you".
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