The attractiveness of Toronto
The business capital of Canada is a much-overlooked destination for tourism
KING FEATURES SYNDICATE
Although the city of Toronto is a great metropolis of countless modern skyscrapers and 3,000,000 residents, it doesn’t attract as many international tourists as you would expect. A great many Americans prefer the French quaintness of Montreal and Quebec City, and the excellent weather and outdoor pleasures of Vancouver and Victoria. So many of them pass up Toronto when they make a trip to Canada.
And that’s a shame, because Toronto gives you a strong lesson in the development and increasing strength and population of Canada. It has every pleasure and attraction of most other similarly sized cities — and then some.
It has the world’s largest outdoor market, the Western Hemisphere’s tallest observation tower, and numerous theatres playing important musicals and dramatic works. It has more important museums than you could visit in a month, together with recreational theme parks, a major zoo, an outdoor water park, scores of superb restaurants, three big universities, an important Chinatown, a Hockey Hall of Fame and every other urban delight.
All this is experienced in a multicultural setting. Unlike the present-day United States, Canada encourages immigration, and people from every nation are your fellow visitors to the attractions of Toronto.
Finally, it has an excellent airline that flies you into a city airport (Billy Bishop Field, receiving aircraft of the unique Porter Airline) that lets you off the plane just a mile or so from downtown skyscrapers — a visual thrill. I’m planning a return visit.
Arthur Frommer is the pioneering founder of the Frommer’s Travel Guide book series. He co-hosts the radio program, The Travel Show, with his travel correspondent daughter Pauline Frommer. Find more destinations online and read Arthur Frommer’s blog at frommers.com.