Toronto Ontario Canada

Canada’s largest city has been a major tourist destination for decades, and offers a great deal for the traveller keen to see the sights, and experience the vibrant lifestyle that Toronto offers.

With plenty of museums , the former largest standing free tower in the world, a rich cultural life, and areas of supreme natural beauty such as Niagara and Algonquin National Park all within striking distance, Toronto has become the most visited city in Canada, and many people visit every year, some coming for just a few days as part of a larger tour of the country, others taking advantage of cheap airfares and excellent shopping to visit Canada for a short city break from neighbouring USA.

Toronto has all the style, excitement and exuberance of a major metropolis but, unlike most, it’s also clean and well-run (the transport system actually works!), and it has the lowest crime rate of any major North American city.

It is also, according to the UN, the most culturally diverse city in the world. Most big cities have a Chinatown and a Little Italy, but Toronto also has a Koreatown and a Little India, a Greek quarter (the Danforth) and a Portuguese enclave (along Dundas Street West).
Downtown Toronto is a compact area with a good bus, streetcar and subway system that connects the city districts. The downtown is also very clean and vibrant with people from all walks of life bustling about. Toronto is a safe city even at night when the city is still fairly busy and apart from a few select areas, the streets can be wandered unhindered at all hours.

Locality:

Situated 566 feet above sea level on the northern shore of Lake Ontario (part of the Great Lakes system), Toronto is one of the southernmost cities in Canada. In fact, it has nearly the same latitude as northern California.
Culture enthusiasts will be just as happy here as shopaholics. There are excellent museums, with everything from dinosaurs and Egyptian mummies at the Royal Ontario Museum to the world’s largest collection of Henry Moores at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Toronto has world-class opera and ballet companies and symphony orchestras. And, after New York and London, it’s the third largest centre in the world for live theatre (with more than 125 professional companies), so if you want to catch a show while you’re in town, you’ll be spoilt for choice.

Like so many other things in Toronto, the cuisine scene has been revolutionised in the past few decades. Where burgers and bland once ruled the roost, there’s now a wealth of interesting, affordable food.

Popular attractions include:
CN Tower: The former world’s largest free standing tower (surpassed in 2008) is a must see for tourists. The main attraction is the viewing deck on the top floor, which gives a magnificent panorama of Toronto. Those who are brave enough can step onto the glass floor section and enjoy the vertical view.

Stratford Festival: With an ever changing roster of plays in four distinctive theatres, the Stratford Festival is home to classics, dramas, new works and popular musicals. Backstage and costume warehouse tours also available.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Thrilling hockey fans for seven decades, The Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto’s NHL hockey team, now entertain thousands at the Air Canada Centre. For tickets call Ticketmaster at (416) 872-5000.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra: See Canada’s premier orchestra perform at its newly renovated home, Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. Experience the energy and excitement of live orchestral music. Programs include classical masterpieces, light classics, pops, kids’ classics and special performances. So, take a close look at what’s in store.

York Museum: The museum collects and displays photographs and objects which represent the economic, political and social history of the former city of York from its early beginnings to the present day.

New York State USA

New York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation’s third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border with Rhode Island east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Ontario to the west, and Quebec to the north. New York is often referred to as New York State to distinguish it from New York City.

The most popular tourist destination in New York is undoubtedly Manhattan, only 13 miles long and between one and two miles wide, the island of Manhattan encompasses at least 19 distinct neighbourhoods including the long-established Little Italy, Chinatown, Harlem and Puerto Rican ‘Loisada’, plus smaller pockets of Polish, Bengali, Jewish, Korean, German, Ukrainian, Irish, Latino, Haitian and West Indian communities.

Beyond Manhattan lie the four boroughs that make up New York City: Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island, each with their own diffuse, evolving communities.
Few other cities could hold together such a complex mix of lifestyles and people.

As it always has been, New York really is the city that never sleeps. From the moment you arrive, there’s a tangible energy and a sense of excitement.

For tourists, the temptation is to gorge oneself -there are just so many thrilling places to visit and things to do, great food to be enjoyed and a unique atmosphere that makes you want to stay up late and get up early.
New York is truly one of the world’s great cities, so slow down a little to get the most out of it: you’re never going to see everything in just one visit.
The atrocities of September 11th 2001 may have laid bare the raw heart of New York, but its spirit remains resplendently intact.

There is a lot of sightseeing to be done in New York, the most obvious of which is either in New York City or Niagara Falls. But New York also has some destinations of incredible natural beauty, especially around the Finger Lakes and in the Adirondacks. The Adirondack Park, in particular, is an incredible gem—it’s the largest single park in the continental U.S. and where the art of American painting began.
The natural beauty of the state is diverse, from the incomparable Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon of the East, Letchworth Park, to the mountainous terrain of the Catskills and the Adirondacks, perfect for hiking and camping. The numerous waterways of the state include Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, the Erie Canal, and the Hudson River, all of which see regular boat traffic throughout the summer months. Oenophiles can visit one of the top wine regions in the country in the Finger Lakes; the entire region is dotted with small towns and villages of historic character, with almost 100 wineries in between. The region produces perhaps the best Rieslings outside of Germany, and Finger Lakes ice wines are growing in popularity.

None of the upstate cities compare to New York City in profile or in prominence, but each of them has a selection of first-class attractions and amenities sufficient to support tourism, without the crowds and frenetic activity of their larger neighbour.