Toronto, Canada
O Canada, “The Great White North” is known by many for it’s cold and vast landscape, maple syrup, hockey, “Eh”, and it’s wildlife. It’s true Canada has those things, but it has so much more. It’s a country of extremely friendly and welcoming people with a vibrant and diverse culture. It’s lands are diverse with rocky coastline, towering mountains, Arctic Tundra, fertile plains and great lakes. It’s a land of history, culture and beauty. We visited Canada for the first time in 2025 and started with it’s largest city and former capital Toronto. We found it to be a beautiful city with much more to do than we realized. A great representation of Canada to me comes from the Walt Disney World song from the Canada Pavillion in Epcot that says “You’re a lifetime journey for the traveler…..Ten thousand dawns and sunsets I could see And still not know you well”. From our experiences in just Toronto, I can absolutely believe it!
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Getting to Toronto and Transportation
Getting to Toronto is very easy from the United States. It’s easy to drive to Toronto, especially from the Northeast with there being multiple border crossings. Toronto has two airports with Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) being the main international gateway that is the main hub of Air Canada. It has direct flights to most major US cities and many around the world. The Mainline US airlines like Delta, United and American all fly there as well as some of the low-cost carriers. We flew into Pearson International on our trip. It’s around a 45-minute drive to downtown from the airport. The second airport in the very small and unique Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ) that is located on an island in Lake Ontario very close to downtown Toronto. You can get there by ferry or through a short pedestrian only underwater tunnel. Only turboprop (propeller) aircraft fly to the airport due to it’s short runways and it is a hub for Porter Airlines. Only Canadian airlines fly there, but there are some flights to and from the US to the airport. You also could go by Lake Cruise but that is not an overly common method of entry.
Airport Transportation Options
Country Information
Canada is the second largest country in the world with vast and different land that includes frozen tundra, high mountain peaks, temperate rainforests, vast and fertile plains and rocky coastline with highly tidal waterways. It has relatively mild summers and very cold winters. Canada is also a melting pot of cultures. Driving is on the right side of the road just like in the US. There are many land border crossings and of course many international airports throughout the country. For the languages spoken, English is the language spoken in the majority of the country with French being the predominant language in the Quebec Province (French Canada). There are many indigenous languages also spoken throughout the country. The currency is the Canadian Dollar that at the time of this writing in October of 2025 1 Canadian Dollar is equal to $.71 US. US Citizens do not need a tourist visa if visiting for less than 180 days. Like the US, Canada is strict when it comes to entry if you have a criminal record so if that is an issue for you do some research and get advice if needed. Also download the Arrive Canada app and fill out your customs form before you arrive for faster service. The weather greatly varies as it was somewhat warm in Toronto when we visited.
Touring Toronto
Toronto is the 4th largest city in North America behind only Mexico City, New York City and Los Angeles with over 3 million people living in the city itself and 9 million that live in the greater Golden Horseshoe region. Its Canada’s largest city and a major business and banking city. It was founded in 1793 as the city of York and the name was changed to Toronto in the 1800s. It has great public transportation and a wide variety of things to do. We did a lot while there, but will need to go back to see more of the area. Its so far the most European like city we have been to in North America with its look and feel but has a uniquely Canadian culture. Here is what we did while in Toronto!
The CN Tower
The CN Tower is the tallest structure in the Western Hemisphere and is one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. It stands at an enormous 1815 feet tall and was the tallest building in the world until 2007. It is an iconic part of the Toronto skyline. It was built by the Canadian National Railway as a communications tower. It has two observation “pods” or “decks” for visitors. The main observation structure is 7 stories tall with a rotating restaurant and 360 degree view of Toronto and Lake Ontario. You can stand on glass and look down to the ground. If you are really adventurous you can book a tour on the top of the main observation structure and be tethered and hands free lean over the side. The main observation deck is a bit over 1100 feet tall. The sky pod or The Top is over 1400 feet tall and is the highest point available for the public. It is an extra cost but we enjoyed seeing the main observation deck and a different view from there. It’s a great place to visit and a must see in Toronto! There’s a lot of other places around the CN Tower including the Rodgers Center where the Toronto Blue Jays play and our next stop amongst others!
Ripley’s Aquarium Canada
Owned by the same company that runs Ripley’s Believe it or not, they have a wonderful aquarium in Toronto. It’s a large facility that has sea life from around the world including Canadian waters. One of the highlights is the longest underwater viewing tunnel that has a moving sidewalk where you can view sharks, Stingrays and hundreds of fish in a tropical lagoon. It is part of the CityPass in Toronto just like the CN Tower and other attractions are. It’s a great aquarium that we are glad we decided to visit while at the CN Tower!
The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)
The Royal Ontario Museum is the largest museum in Canada and one of the largest in North America. It has exhibits on Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the different eras of Europe including little rooms with furniture from those times. It has natural history such as a taxidermy animal display and dinosaur fossils. They have a massive China and Asia exhibit and a nice exhibit about the First Nations and other indigenous people’s of Canada. They have totem poles that are multiple stories high. Even the Museum Subway station is interesting with pillars decorated with statues from Egypt, First Nations, Asia and the Aztec/Mayan people’s. It’s a great museum to visit while in Toronto!
Royal Ontario Museum Tickets
Little Canada
Little Canada is a wonderful attraction that we thoroughly enjoyed while in Toronto. Its located in the Eaton Center in Sankofa Square. It’s a mixture version of the different regions of Canada. It’s incredibly detailed with cars driving, miniature sports arenas with the jumbotrons working, and so many other things. If you look closely you can see scenes like Amazing Race Canada, a Chinese Cultural party, Flying Over Canada and much more. You also can hunt for Maurice the Moose hidden throughout the displays. The different regions that they have for you to see are Niagara Falls, Toronto, The Golden Houston, Ottawa, Quebec, The East Coast and The West Coast. They continue to add regions and just after we visited they opened the Northern Territories that we were told would be a bit of a colder room to enhance the experience. We spent all the time we could there until they closed and we could have spent more time. Check out the video below to see what its all about and definitely visit as you learn a lot about Canada as each display gives history and information about the region.
Little Canada Tickets
Casa Loma
Casa Loma is another unique destination in Toronto. It’s a house on a hill (Casa Loma is Spanish for Hill House) that is a Gothic Style Castle. It was completed in 1914 for a wealthy banker that has a very unique architecture. Inside you feel like you have been transported to a European manor with a grand library, dining hall, a conservatory and a large garden outside. The owners room and the guest rooms were fancy as well. On the top floor is a very well done museum about the Canadian Military over the years. As I walked through the exhibit I found how much Canada has had America’s back after we were enemies in the War of 1812. They have fought alongside us in WWII, Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan. You can climb up to the towers of the castle and get great views of the city. They have multiple escape rooms you can try in the evening after the museum closes that look amazing that includes the towers. In the basement you can take a walk through a long tunnel that takes you to a separate building that holds the stables and an antique car display. Being there in October the tunnel and the stables had turned in to a Halloween Haunted house. We got to see the Haunted House without the actors and actresses there. The house has also been in many movies from X-Men (Professor Xavier School), stood in as Wayne Manor in a movie with Batman in it and many others. It’s a great place to visit!
Fort York National Historic Park
Located not too far from the city center is the Fort York National Historic Site. It’s a free admission site run by the City of Toronto. It is the remains and replicas of Fort York that guarded the City of York in the late 1700s and in the 1800s. It was largely destroyed in 1813 when American forces invaded Canada during the War of 1812. As the American troops approached York, outnumbered British, Canadian and First Nations forces attempted to repel the troops in the woods near the Fort. They were defeated and went back to the Fort. They ultimately rigged the powder magazine to explode on a timer. American troops entered Fort York where it exploded killing many including the US commander. Today you can tour a well done museum that goes over the battle and many buildings you can tour that talk about life at the Fort, the War of 1812 and artifacts from the Fort. It’s a wonderful place to visit while touring Toronto and a way to learn about a different time in Canadian and American history!
Lake Ontario Cruise
We decided to take an hour and a half Lake Ontario cruise from Toronto to see the Toronto Islands and the city from a different perspective. The Toronto Islands are 15 islands not far from Toronto that are completely car free. Around 700 people live there but its difficult to buy a home on the Island with a long waiting list for the opportunity to buy one when one comes open. The islands are in general a natural area where we saw Swans, Canadian Geese, Ducks and more. On the islands you can cycle, hike and visit the Centerville Amusement Park. You can also canoe, kayak or stand-up paddle board the calm waters. There is also a clothing optional beach if that is what you like. We just cruise through the islands. If you want to go there and stay on the islands for a bit there are public ferries and water taxis available. The Billy Bishop airport is on one of the islands and can be reached by ferry or pedestrian tunnel. After the island tour we got wonderful views of the city and watched the Rodgers Center roof open before the big playoff game the Toronto Blue Jays were playing against the New York Yankees. It was a great little cruise on the lake! Our tickets cost $12 Canadian.
Lake Cruise Options
City Sightseeing Hop on Hop Off Bus
We really enjoy Hop on hop off busses as it’s a great way to get an overview of the city we are visiting and we can get off where we want to visit different areas. This is all while getting details and history about the city. We used it to visit a good number of the sites above. There was live commentary on this Hop on hop off bus that really did give us good information and history. We got to see how in Toronto mixes the modern with the historic and how well they work to preserve their historic buildings. It is a great option while in Toronto or many other cities around the world.
City Sightseeing Bus Tickets
Sankofa and Nathan Phillips Square
Toronto has two major squares right in downtown Toronto that we visited. There are other squares and parks in the area as well. Sankofa Square (formerly Yonge-Dundas Square) is in central Toronto and officially opened in 2002. The Square is like Time Square or Picadilly Circus in that it is full of video screens and signs. There is a stage in the center of the square and it’s a place for different events. There is a lot to see and do around the square as well. There are many restaurants and a lot of selections of food especially around Asian food. There are also many different theaters in the area. There is the Eaton Center for shopping and across the street there is a building with a movie theater, restaurants and shops. In the bottom floor you’ll find Little Canada that’s described above. It’s a great place to visit while in the area and the starting point for the hop on hop off bus.
Nathan Phillips Square is the largest square in Canada and was completed in 1965. The old and current city hall are on the square with the current city hall being a large clam like building. The square has a peace park, areas dedicated to the First Nations, an area for Winston Churchill and a large reflecting pool with the Toronto sign. In the winter the reflecting pool becomes an ice-skating rink. The square is where many events and protests occur as well. It’s worth a walk through as we did on a Sunday morning when it was quiet.
Toronto City and Walking Tours
Toronto Ghost Walking Tour
While we are paranormal skeptics (we did have odd experiences in a dungeon in Prague, Czech Republic), ghost walking tours are a great way to spend an evening and you get to see a different side of the city. On our tour our guide told us about haunting in theaters, mass graves from epidemics, and ghost American Warships that were sunk in Lake Ontario that can be seen forever patrolling the waters (if you see them it’s a bad omen). It was a great couple hours tour where we got to walk the city at night with a guide as well.
Toronto Ghost Walking Tours
Public Transportation in Toronto
We used the TTC Subway line while in Toronto and it was very nice. The stations we found were nice and clean and getting a ticket from the automated machine was easy. It was around $3 CAD for a single ride ticket that was a pretty good price that beats the traffic which can be intense in Toronto. They have busses and light rail/trams as well but we stuck to the Subway and felt good and safe doing so.
Niagara Falls and the Golden Horseshoe
While in Toronto we decided to take a day trip into the countryside in the Ontario Province to visit the Golden Horseshoe region that is named that as its shape is that of a Horseshoe around Lake Ontario. I was not aware of Ontario’s vibrant vineyards and wine so we visited a teaching vineyard, Niagara Falls and the beautiful small town of the Niagara-On-The-Lake. Here is what its like to take a day trip out of Toronto to the Niagara Peninsula!
Niagara College Teaching Winery
Its around a 90 minute to 2 hour drive from Toronto to the Niagara area. On the way we passed by many cities part of the Toronto metro area and the Golden Horseshoe. One was Hamilton that is home to Iron Smelting factories on the lake like we saw in Little Canada. After passing the cities we got into wine country where we saw field after field of vines in a beautiful setting. Its there we saw the Niagara Escarpment that’s a range that runs from Ontario to Wisconsin and is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve for its animal and plant diversity. Niagara Falls itself is a part of the Escarpment. The tree leaves were starting to turn for the fall so it added to the beauty.
We stopped at the Niagara College Teaching Winery where students learn to become wine makers. There we got to see the vines with grapes on them and learned about a type of wine I was not familiar with called Ice Wine. It’s a type of wine where its harvested after a time of reaching a temperature of 18 degrees Fahrenheit or below and usually late at night. The freezing of the grapes forces the grapes to accumulate sugar at the center of the grape and creates a very sweet desert wine. Many grapes are used for the wine as only a few drops of juice are extracted from each grape. They use Vidal and Riesling grapes to make the white dessert wine. We tried some and its wonderful. Its more expensive than the normal bottle of wine as the ones we purchased were around $50 CAD. Anything purchased supports the college and the students so its for a good cause and is really good wine. It’s a great place to visit while in the area!
Niagara Falls and the City of Niagara Falls
After our Wine Tasting we headed to the main event on the tour. We headed into Niagara Falls that is a nice city with an observation tower and plenty of hotels and attractions. Parts of the city are definitely tourist centered and reminded me of Branson or Myrtle Beach with Ripley’s Believe it or Not, Wax Museums, a Rainforest Café, a massive Chocolate Shop, go-karts, miniature golf and much more. We headed to a great restaurant that overlooks both the American and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. The Queen Victoria Place restaurant provided us a three course meal while being able to watch the Falls. The lunch was included in the price of the tour that was very nice!
The Falls
Niagara Falls is both in Canada and the United States with the smaller American and Bridal Veil Falls being in the US and the larger Horseshoe Falls in Canada. Niagara Falls are not the tallest or widest waterfalls in the world but it is amongst the most powerful due to the shear volume of water that goes through the Falls. The Falls are hydroelectric producers and are legendary for many reasons including people going over the Horseshoe Falls in barrels and other things that has gone OK for some and not for others. Its not a good idea and thankfully no one has tried it in years. In my opinion, the Canadian side has the better view of the Falls as you look at then from the front of the Falls. The New York side gives you a different vantage point where you can see the Falls from the top to watch the water tumble over. On the Canadian side there is a great walkway along the cliff down to the Niagara River that allows you to see both waterfalls well. New York and the US is not far away, and there is a bridge (The Rainbow Bridge) where you can cross. We did not cross over while there. We took some time to walk through Queen Victoria Park that had statues, and manicured flower gardens. We found the area has many great gardens.
We did take a boat ride past both the American and Canadian Falls that did briefly cross into US waters. We got close to both the American/Bridal Veil Falls and we went into the center of the “Horseshoe” of the Horseshoe Falls where we were surrounded by the Falls. You are given rain ponchos as you will get soaked otherwise from the heavy mist from the power of the Waterfall. Its an amazing sight to see and I got great pictures of a double rainbow. We still got very wet but it was a hot day so we didn’t mind. After our experiences at Niagara Falls we headed to our last stop.
Niagara-On-The-Lake and Fort George
Our final stop was to the small but beautiful town of Niagara-On-The-Lake. It was founded in the 1700s and was also a Battleground in the War of 1812 as the United States is right across the river. Our bus parked in the Fort George National Historic Site parking lot so we headed there first. Fort George was the headquarters of the Army of Upper Canada that was Commanded by General Sir Isaac Brock until his death in battle and then Brigadier General John Vincent when the Americans invaded. The Americans took over the Fort after a battle but abandoned it in December 1813 while retreating back to New York. Today there is a museum and replicas of the Fort walls and many of the buildings as the Fort was burned down as the Americans retreated. The museum was closed when we got there but the staff let us stand at the gate and look into the Fort without entering. There are cannons and historical markers outside the Fort we stopped to read and see.
The small town of Niagara-On-The-Lake was founded in 1781 and changed names a few times before being named Niagara-On-The-Lake. It was the first capital of Upper Canada (now Ontario) under John Graves Simcoe who some might remember from the Revolutionary War series “Turn”. The city was burned during the War of 1812 but has since been rebuilt. It’s a beautiful town with many shops, museums and great gardens with flowers. Nearby on the way to the city our bus briefly stopped to see a working large clock completely made of flowers outside of the arms of the clock. Its around a 10 minute walk from Fort George to Niagara-On-The-Lake. While there we went to a couple shops including a year round Christmas Store and a game shop that sold puzzles and unique board games. We also got great Gelato from a small shop there. It’s a great historic and beautiful city to visit that I’m glad we got to visit. After that stop we headed back to Toronto and got beautiful sunset views over Lake Ontario.
Our Niagara Falls Tour
Other Niagara Falls Day Tours
Leaving Toronto and Conclusion
After a great trip we took a private transfer service back to the airport. There is a train also available that goes to Toronto Pearson International Airport. Drop-off and check in was a normal process but what is different is the fact that Canada has US Pre-Clearance. A few other countries have this process that we have encountered like Aruba, and Ireland. In this process you clearly US Passport control before you leave Canada. You go through US TSA style security as well. This way if you need to connect like we did in Atlanta it is like you are on a domestic flight and just go to your gate. Once you enter the US Pre-Clearance area you can’t leave it as technically you have left Canada. It all worked out well and we got home just fine.
We were really impressed with Toronto and Canada in general. There are many places we missed like the Hockey Hall of Fame, St. Lawrence Market and much more. This was just one city and there are so many other places to visit and explore in Canada with different cultures and landscapes. We found everyone very friendly and held no animosity towards us due to tensions between the US and Canada at the time of this writing in 2025. The museums and National Historic sites were great, iconic structures like the CN Tower and hidden Gems like Little Canada made this trip wonderful. We did this in a 3 day weekend trip but we could spend much more time in the area alone. We are planning many more Canadian trips as we want to explore this vast and amazing country further. So tips are definitely check the weather as it was pretty warm during the day in October as a heat wave was going on. In shoulder seasons the weather can really vary. In the winter time of course prepare for the cold. A hop on hop off bus really is helpful to get around and learn more about the area. A day trip to Niagara Falls is a great option. I encourage you to make your way to Toronto and Canada in general as it’s a wonderful country that has been our friends and allies for many years. We were impressed and we think you will too!
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