Toronto travel info

About ten minutes after the Toronto Island ferry pulls away from the dock, everyone turns around. Across Lake Ontario the glass towers stand in a single row with the CN Tower sticking up from the middle like a needle. The lake is so big it runs to the horizon, and gulls land on the railings. Step off on the island and it's families renting bikes and people reading on the grass; it's hard to believe you just left Canada's largest city.

Back downtown, red streetcars rattle down the middle of King Street. Nearly half the city's residents were born in another country, so in the lanes of Kensington Market a Jamaican patty shop sits next to an empanada stall next to a vintage clothing store, and a few blocks over Chinatown's signs are in Cantonese. There's a Koreatown on Bloor Street too, a subway ride away when you want gamjatang.

In winter the temperature often drops below minus 10, and then the city goes underground. The PATH walkway starts at Union Station and runs for more than 30 km, so office workers move between towers and malls without a coat. Niagara Falls is a two-hour train ride away, which is why so many people use Toronto as a base.

Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)

Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (island airport) (YTZ)