48-hours in Toronto
Posted on 13 July 2011 with no comments from readers
Both Emirates Airline and Etihad fly to Canada’s fastest growing and most populous city, while Qatar Airways has just entered the Canadian market up river in Montreal. Canada is a great place to escape the heat of the Arabian Gulf with very moderate high summer temperatures.
Toronto is a high-rise city with some major attractions. The second highest freestanding structure in the world after the Burj Khalifa is the CN Tower, albeit more than 1,000 feet shorter than its rival in Dubai.
Dine at the top
The best deal is a meal at the top with the transport to the top for free. It’s about half the cost of the Burj Khalifa. U2 were playing in the former super-dome below on the night we left.
Then there are the museums and art galleries of this city, always useful in the winter months when the weather can be harsh. In the summer you can take a ferry over to the islands in front of Toronto, from which the city derives its name.
These used to be full of casinos and drinking holes in the prohibition days of the 1920s and popular then with tourists from the dry USA. But today they are rather run-down and the entertainments for children in need of modernization and there is not a bar in sight.
The big day-out from Toronto is the world-famous Niagara Falls. You can go by tour bus or train from Union Station. ArabianMoney can recommend the bus tours with stop offs on the way, although the direct train at weekends looked good too.
Niagara tour
Niagara Falls is a bit like Las Vegas with tacky hotels and a casino but you cannot fault the natural wonder of the water falls with the highest volume of water in the world. Take the Maid of the Mist boat tour and you can get up close to the falls, or hover above in a helicopter for a very reasonable $105.
Wonder down to the harbor front in Toronto and you can enjoy lunch or dinner overlooking Lake Ontario with high-rise condominiums all around. Indeed, Toronto sells more apartments a year – around 18,000 – than any other city in North America.
Toronto is an eminently livable city and would surely welcome many more visitors from the Gulf if it allowed the region’s airlines more landing slots. In the meantime it’s a hidden gem for the summer for those who know it.
