Where to stay in Toronto, 2023 edition
May 8, 2023 9:01 AM   Subscribe

Visiting Toronto for the first time this summer, and trying to figure out where we should stay. Our friends have advised us NOT to stay downtown, as nothing we'll probably want to do is located there, but we're a bit bewildered as to where we SHOULD stay.

The friends we consulted used to live there but no longer do; they sort of vaguely suggested Dundas West and Ossington as areas to look for.

We're happy to use mass transit but kind of hoping not to spend the whole time on trains and buses--a situation we have encountered in other cities when staying in the central downtown areas. Ideally, we would have some cool, local dive bars and good (but not fancy) restaurants walkable, and then be able to take transit to whatever Destinations we might want to focus on, fr ex if we decide on a big splashout dinner or a museum.

Also eager for any specific recs! We are fully adventurous as to food and prefer out-of-the-way stuff to big crowded attractions.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese to Travel & Transportation (22 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Chinatown. Spadina/Dundas. No better place to stay if you want the Toronto experience. Walkable to just about everything that defines "Toronto." I usually use Hot Wire dot com to book hotels when I just care about what neighbourhood. Never had a bad result.

Check out BlogTO and NOW Toronto for timely events and attractions.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:45 AM on May 8, 2023 [4 favorites]


What... what could you possibly want to do that's NOT located in downtown Toronto? Look up the Royal Ontario Museum on your favourite map and stay near or a bit south of there.
posted by heatherlogan at 10:19 AM on May 8, 2023 [3 favorites]


The Drake and the Gladstone are in a walkable area outside downtown. If you want to spend most of your time in bars and restaurants, I think it's a nice place to go. They are close to Dundas West and to Ossington and have streetcar access to downtown.

Northern downtown hotels like the Chelsea, Marriott Eaton Centre, DoubleTree, and Holiday Inn are usually cheaper than these boutique hotels though. And will be closer to other attractions. It depends on what you want to do.

I don't usually stay in Airbnbs or similar rentals anymore.
posted by grouse at 10:50 AM on May 8, 2023 [4 favorites]


For an east end option, consider the Broadview Hotel. It’s funky with a great roof top bar but not too far away from the core downtown. There are decent bars/breweries/restaurants nearby.
posted by walkinginsunshine at 11:13 AM on May 8, 2023


I think your friends are differentiating between the broader downtown region and Downtown Toronto as in the financial district/Union Station.

Which is likely right - the Financial District near the train station has a) the CN Tower, b) the aquarium, c) sports arenas/stadiums, but not much else and is a pretty dead zone. Whereas Dundas West and Ossington are definitely in the downtown region but are walkable neighbourhoods with great restaurants, cafes, cute stores, etc. I would say anywhere from Roncesvalles to Bathurst, south of Bloor, is likely to meet your needs - although you will get totally different neighbourhoods throughout that area .
posted by hepta at 11:42 AM on May 8, 2023 [5 favorites]


Response by poster: What... what could you possibly want to do that's NOT located in downtown Toronto?


Well I mean, this is kind of the question? Every time we have traveled somewhere and stayed "downtown" we have spent the entire trip on a bus or a train trying to get to not-downtown, where the actual places regular not-tourists want to be are located. For reference, I recently went to NYC and stayed in Manhattan, but spent easily 30 hours of the vacation in transit to and from Brooklyn, where anything I wanted to do was. I am hoping to avoid another "god damn it, should have stayed in Brooklyn" situation.

If Toronto is the exception, and downtown is just where everyone lives and hangs out, I'm happy to hear it!
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 11:43 AM on May 8, 2023


Yeah, what "downtown" means is very situational in Toronto. I live near Ossington and don't consider it or West Queen West "downtown" but my cousins who live in Vaughan probably would. So keep that in mind when people talk about "downtown"

Given the picture I'm getting of what kind of vacation you want, I would think about the West Queen West hotels (Drake/Gladstone) or Chinatown. And the downtown hotels north of Queen would be easy to get to many places from.

There are many hotels in the Entertainment District and the Financial District. Sounds like you should not stay there.

Beyond that, it would be best to have an idea of whether there are any specific places you want to go.
posted by grouse at 11:55 AM on May 8, 2023 [6 favorites]


No, pretty much everything that makes Toronto Toronto is south of Bloor, east of Dufferin, and west of say Sherbourne. If you like museums, here's a starter list: Bata Shoe Museum (shoes!), Museum of Contemporary Art, Royal Ontario Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario (my fave), Gardiner Museum (ceramics), Aga Khan (a little outside of downtown but worth the ride if you're into Islamic art), the Power Plant art gallery by the waterfront. There are lots of littler museums and sculpture gardens and so-on.

I've never been to the Hockey Hall of Fame or the Toronto Cop museum, but apparently they are things.The Ontario Science Centre has been neglected by the province for too long, and I'd skip the aquarium and zoo unless you're in dire need of seeing captive critters, they're not unique Toronto experiences.

Depending on when you're here there may be time-sensitive events like TIFF, the CNE, Contact Photography Festival, Craft Beer, Word on the Street, Green Space Festival, Pride, etc, etc.
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:03 PM on May 8, 2023 [7 favorites]


Massey College has historic and interesting rooms, and it is ideally located from a transit perspective right near the St. George subway junction:

Massey College Summer Residence Program
posted by sindark at 1:20 PM on May 8, 2023 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Look up the Royal Ontario Museum on your favourite map and stay near or a bit south of there.

See this is where I'm confused--when I do this, it plunks me in the middle of the University of Toronto campus and also several hospitals, which seems extremely like what I would not want. I am used to university campuses (especially in summer) being really quite dead zones. (But with a smattering of the Worst Bars That Exist.) But am I just wrong, and it's not like that?

FWIW, we're not big museum folks, we just usually encounter at least 1 day of shitty weather and need some kind of indoor thing. We would definitely not need to be near any museums.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 2:00 PM on May 8, 2023


I am used to university campuses (especially in summer) being really quite dead zones. (But with a smattering of the Worst Bars That Exist.) But am I just wrong, and it's not like that?

Yeah, that's not the case in Toronto. The downtown (or "St. George") campus is entirely integrated with the city and borders a bunch of unique neighbourhoods like Chinatown, Yorkville, and the Annex. It is not overpowered with students in the summer but not empty either.
posted by hepta at 2:19 PM on May 8, 2023 [1 favorite]


Popping in to second previous recommendations of the Gladstone. We spent this weekend there and will definitely go back.
posted by okayokayigive at 2:26 PM on May 8, 2023 [1 favorite]


What... what could you possibly want to do that's NOT located in downtown Toronto?

Aga Khan Museum (an absolute jewel). And if you're talking vaguely handwavey GTAish, The McMichael in Kleinburg
posted by scruss at 2:46 PM on May 8, 2023 [2 favorites]


seanmpuckett has given a pretty rundown, Toronto has many attractions downtown.
But I would add that theatre, opera, symphony are also located downtown .
As well as pretty much every professional sport: baseball, basketball, hockey. soccer etc.
Only sports out in the suburbs would be horse racing, tennis or golf.
Also people live downtown. It doesn't become a barren wasteland at the end of the business day
The Toronto Islands are a park a cheap ferry ride from downtown. No cars allowed.
I think they still rent bikes.
The ferry is a cheap way to get a beautiful view of the Toronto skyline.

You can get great views from the top of the CN tower.
It's also a useful reference point as it's visible from almost anywhere.
If you're crazy enough you could try the Edgewalk.


There are various neighbourhoods downtown Chinatown (not as large as it once was), Kensington , Gay village, St. Lawrence market area.

Unniversity Avenue is a broad boulevard used a lot for parades
It has a crapload of hospitals, consulates including the USA, and has the provincial legislature (Parliament type Building, as well as the Museum( which has it's own subway stop called Museum.)

Bay Street is the finacial centre.
Yonge Street goes North South and basically divides the city into west of Yonge or east of Yonge.
You'll see Dundas Street west or Dundas street east. or Queen west or east. it's in relation to Yonge street
The streetcars are slow as hell but are a way to sightsee downtown.

--
Niagara Falls is about an hour and a half drive.
posted by yyz at 2:57 PM on May 8, 2023 [2 favorites]


I think there's great info in this thread and I think you would enjoy the Gladstone. If so, probably you want to hit Sweaty Betty's, it's a very short walk. Thinking about it, a lot of my advice would rest on how good of a walker you are.

But what I came in to explain is that Toronto's downtown core in the sense of "empties after 6pm" is...not very big, geographically. There definitely *is* one, the Bay street corridor over to University kind of thing, but when people are recommending Chinatown over, say, hotels on University Ave, it's like a 10-15 min walk to get to Chinatown. It's also not far from the club district.

U of T is emptier in the summer but it's not empty, and sits between the ROM and Chinatown and the Art Gallery, more or less. If you like Along its northernmost edge, Bloor St. West, heading west there are a lot of restaurants and shops - bookstores and other. If you do stay in that area (i.e. Massy College or even at the edge of Yorkville), I haven't been in a long time but the classic dive bar is Sneaky D's - for me those are all pretty walkable distance from each other but I'm a very Toronto walker and grew up stumbling around the U of T campus at night.

The 501 streetcar is a mess on the eastern end right now (buses) due to building a new subway. The 504 streetcar is still a good trip.

I heartily endorse a trip to the islands if you like quirky houses with no cars and also park land.

If you like classical music at all the Toronto Summer Music Festival has some concerts at Koerner Hall, which acoustically is really amazing. (Also right next to the ROM.)
posted by warriorqueen at 3:36 PM on May 8, 2023 [1 favorite]


Anyway once you have your itinerary locked post again for some more timely recommendations, and maybe we'll do a patio thing? Maybe.
posted by seanmpuckett at 3:40 PM on May 8, 2023


Yeah, look at a map, and the scale and layout in Toranna is different from NYC, and there isn't exactly a Brooklyn equivalent, but the 4 main drags going west from Spadina (Queen, Dundas (we call it "dumb-ass"), College, & Bloor) all have some vaguely cool zones for hipsters to hang out, eat, and drink. Kensington Market gets cited a lot because it has somehow managed to retain a bohemian vibe for a century or so, which is really something. Dundas West & Ossington has the most recently gentrified scene and is maybe the most Brooklyn-esque?

There aren't really many hotels in the west end so you might take grouse's advice above. Many of my favourite old dive bars are mostly memories now (still going: Sneaky Dee's, The Cameron, The Rex..). Also, CN Tower might seem kinda touristy, but it really gives you a perspective on the whole situation.
posted by ovvl at 4:14 PM on May 8, 2023 [2 favorites]


Based on what you’ve mentioned you like you should skew toward the west end around Chinatown, Kensington Market or the Ossington strip. Ace Hotel and The Drake are some of the ‘hipper’ options (amongst other lower-budget options).

Yes, the ‘downtown core’ meaning the relatively small financial district by the convention centre would not be ideal for you. U of T area is fine and you can easily go west from there on the subway but it sounds like you’d enjoy being a short walking distance from the restaurants, bars, breweries and indie shops further west (this exists to a certain extent out east but on a smaller scale).

Really out of the way places with good-not-fancy food (like Chinese food out in Markham) are going to be a massive effort on transit. But there are plenty of options in the above mentioned areas… not sure how ‘fancy’ fancy is but El Trompo in Kensington, Wide Open (dive bar) and Rhum Corner are a few.
posted by scribbler at 6:09 PM on May 8, 2023


I think your friends are right, that somewhere around Ossington, between Queen and Dundas West is probably good for you. There is some chaos happening with the Queen street car right now and the Dundas street car is also a bit slow. The Ossington bus tends to be pretty frequent. If you highly prioritize efficient transit, then consider staying closer to the Bloor subway line. I find if I want to go somewhere that's not on the subway line and is within 5km of where I am, biking is quite efficient. You might consider where the Toronto bike share locations are located when picking a place to stay.
posted by ice-cream forever at 6:34 PM on May 8, 2023 [1 favorite]


I live on Dundas West, about 15 min walk from Ossington or the Drake / Gladstone. I love the neighborhood and walk everywhere. I do not do opera, ballet, or sports, for what it's worth.

we call it "dumb-ass"

I've lived on Dundas for almost 20 years and owned a record store on Dundas as well. I have never heard anyone ever call it that.

The good thing about Dundas is it's walking distance to College (Little Italy), Queen West and West Queen West, Roncesvalles, High Park, Bloor, Chinatown, Ossington...

There are great restaurants and bars venues in the neighbourhood.

As for public transit in Toronto, it's dreadful. I vowed to never set foot on it again almost 6 years ago and have mostly pulled it off. I'd avoid it if you can.

Admittedly, I like to walk.
posted by dobbs at 7:22 PM on May 8, 2023 [1 favorite]


I'd be into doing a patio thing!

I've also never heard of Dundas being called dumbass and I've lived here all my life.

>we would have some cool, local dive bars and good (but not fancy) restaurants walkable

Your friend's recommendation of Dundas West and Ossington sound good tbh.

There's lots of neighbourhoods to explore off Ossington: east on Bloor there's Christie Pits park and Koreatown, east on College there's little Italy, west along Dundas there's Little Portugal, and east along Queen is Trinity Bellwoods Park and lots of trendy stores and restaurants.

You could also stay in the Kensington-Chinatown area, which has lots of restaurants. Its also close to Queen West and Little Italy and close ish to Koreatown. Then you can take the 510 streetcar to the ferry docks and take the ferry to the Toronto islands which are really nice. Further east on Dundas is the Art Gallery, which is free every Wednesday from 6-9 pm, and east of University is Little Tokyo.

If you're OK with biking, Toronto Bikeshare is a good way to get around too.

Have fun in Terrawna!
posted by foxjacket at 7:56 PM on May 8, 2023 [1 favorite]


Can’t go wrong with the advice you’ve gotten. You’re good (pretty much) anywhere south of Bloor and west of Yonge, honestly. As long as you’re within a few minutes of a streetcar (on College, Dundas, or Queen) or subway stop. (Buses can be a little more unreliable and you’ll have to wait a little longer.)

If you’re taking transit, it’s fine (I do, daily), but maintain situational awareness. Since COVID (and, probably, the arrival of P2P meth in this part of the world), we’ve had an increase in assaults, and women are a targeted group. It’s fine, just keep an eye out, and don’t wear headphones when on transit. (It might actually be a little more chill on transit now with the warmer weather, we’ll see.)
posted by cotton dress sock at 8:06 PM on May 8, 2023


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