Tourist Information
Toronto is Canada's largest city with a population of 2.5 million and as many as 6 million living in the surrounding region. It is a cosmopolitan, multicultural, and thriving place that gives visitors a great experience.Toronto Attractions
Top Toronto attractions include:- the CN tower , the world's tallest freestanding structure on land;
- the Art Gallery of Ontario, which is one of the leading art museums in North America, with a rich and diverse collection that includes great canadian art, the Henry Moore Sculpture Centre, many temporary exhibitions, etc., all housed in a spectacular Frank Gehry re-designed building;
- the Royal Ontario Museum, which has great collections on world cultures and natural history, from Canada's native cultures, and ancient Chinese and Egyptian societies, to dinosaur remains; it is housed in a spectacular building that includes the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, designed by Daniel Libeskind;
- the Harbourfront area, on the lake front South of downtown, which has a boardwalk, many cafes and restaurants, the Power Plant museum, concerts facilities, good shopping, and great views; you can take a short ferry ride to the Toronto Islands;
- a great zoo ;
- a large-scale amusement park, Canada's Wonderland,
- the Blue Jays Major League Baseball team.
Entertainment
Toronto has a vibrant entertainment scene, including live theatre (both Broadway/West End large productions, as well as smaller productions), live music (many venues for jazz, Latin, reggae, classical, hip-hop, and rock are located in the downtown core), the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company, etc.The free weekly newspaper Now Magazine has excellent entertainment listings; there is also an online version. A worthy competitor is Eye Weekly. Both come out on Thursdays and are available in street newspaper boxes and in many shops.
Shopping
The main Toronto shopping area is located around the Eaton Center shopping mall, at Yonge St. between Dundas St. and Queen St. You can find everything there from department stores such as the The Bay and Sears to specialized stores.More upscale shopping can be found on Bloor St. between Yonge St. and Avenue Road, as well as on the adjacent Yorkville Ave. This is the area for designer fashion.
Queen Street West is the place for more offbeat shopping.
Restaurants
Toronto has wide selection of restaurants in all price ranges. Being one of the world's most ethnically diverse cities, there is a huge variety of ethnic restaurants as well as more standard North American fare. Restaurants catering to almost every dietary restriction can be found, including a large number of vegetarian restaurants (vegetarian dishes are also available at most places), and kosher and halal food.Restaurants Near the AAMAS 2010 Venue
- In the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel: the Bistro on Two restaurant on the second level is open for breakfast and lunch; Traders pub on the ground level is open from lunch until after midnight; the Lobby Cafe sells coffee, sandwiches, and pastries from early morning until dinner time; there are also Quinn's Steakhouse and Irish Bar and Shopsy's Deli on the Lobby level.
- In the Thomson Building, which is immediately East of the Hotel (and connected to it through the PATH underground walkway at the Concourse Level): there is a food court with several fast food outlets on the Concourse Level; there is also Druxy's Deli at street level.
- In the department store The Bay at Queen and Yonge, there are several restaurants on the Lower Level and 8th floor. The store is connected to the Sheraton by the PATH (walk East through the Thomson Building).
- In the Eaton Centre shopping mall (the largest downtown mall) at Queen and Yonge, there is a large food court at the South end of the mall on Level 1. Besides a variety of fast food outlets, there is the Richtree Market restaurant where you can select fresh dishes from a choice of market stalls. The Eaton Centre is connected to The Bay by the PATH.
- If you walk West on Queen Street, you will find many inexpensive restaurants. Ho Su Bistro at 254 Queen St. W. is a good spot for affordable Korean and Japanese meals.
- Terroni at 57 Adelaide St. E. has tasty Southern Italian dishes and excellent pizza.
- For fine dinning, try Nota Bene at 180 Queen St. W. or Canoe on the 54th floor of the TD Bank Tower at 66 Wellington St. W.
Restaurants Further Afield
- The Gilead Cafe/Bistro at 4 Gilead Place is a casual restaurant that specialsizes in seasonal, locally-sourced cuisine; the chef is quite well known.
- Lee at 603 King St. W., is a popular restaurant that specializes in Asian-European fusion cuisine; the chef there is also well known.
- Conviction at 609 King St. W. offers an updated version of French bistro cuisine.
- Oyster Boy at 872 Queen St. W. is a casual place that has a wide choice of fresh oysters and other seafood and good local wine.
- The Swan at 892 Queen St. W. is cool casual restaurant in a 1950's style diner.
- Lee Garden at 331 Spadina Ave. and New Sky at 353 Spadina Ave. are both good places for chinese cuisine in the heart of Chinatown.
- Bar Italia at 582 College St. is a trendy bar/resturant with good food in Little Italy.
- The Drake Hotel at 1150 Queen St. is a hip joint in the Queen West clubs area that with a good restaurant, lounge, and rooftop bar.
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