Toronto
Canada
Half the city was born somewhere else, and you can eat your way through the proof
Photo by Berkay Gumustekin on Unsplash
Photos by Patrick Tomasso, Scott Webb, Marcin Skalij and Zia Syed on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Canada
May to June, September to October
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 83mm in Jun
Where it is
43.65°N, 79.38°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Go up the CN Tower, and walk the glass floor if you dare
- Take the ferry to the Islands and cycle round them
- Eat through Kensington Market on a Sunday
- See the Group of Seven at the AGO
- Catch a Blue Jays or Leafs game for the local religion
- Take the day trip to Niagara Falls
Toronto travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Canada
ExpensiveOntario adds 13% HST at the till, so the shelf price is never the price. Restaurant tipping runs 15-20% and the card machine will suggest more. Cards work for everything, including the streetcars.
ATMs & cards
RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO and CIBC machines are on every corner downtown; the white-label ones in bars and shops charge several dollars extra. Decline the machine’s conversion offer.
Avoid these
- white-label machines in bars and corner shops
Use these instead
- RBC
- TD
- Scotiabank
- BMO
- CIBC
Ontario adds 13% HST at the till, and the card machine will suggest a 20% tip on the taxed total.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Canada
SafeOne of the safest big cities in North America, and comfortable to walk downtown at night. Ordinary care applies around the entertainment district at closing time and on the subway late. Winter is the actual hazard: −20°C with wind off the lake, and pavements that ice over — which is why the PATH exists.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (6 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Moss Park — and Sherbourne, at night
- Bag theft on busy patios
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Canada visa rules
Travel authorisation requiredup to 180 daysC$7
An eTA is required to fly to Canada and is valid five years. It is not needed if you are arriving by land or sea. Apply only through the canada.ca site — C$7 is the whole fee.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 180 days
Visa required in advanceC$100
A visitor visa, applied for online with biometrics.
How to get it: Apply for the eTA at canada.ca; most are approved within minutes but some are held for days, so do it well before booking anything non-refundable.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Before you fly: travel authorisation
Electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA)RequiredCAN$7
Before you book, ideally. Most are approved in minutes.
Have these in front of you before you start:
- passport
- a credit or debit card
- an email address
Valid five years or until the passport expires. Anyone flying in needs one; driving across does not.
Use the official link above. Sites that charge a "service fee" to submit one of these for you are not the government, and they want the same passport details the real form does.
Health & emergencies all of Canada
Good but costlyRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
Excellent, and expensive for visitors — there is no reciprocal arrangement with most countries, and an emergency admission runs to thousands of dollars. Travel insurance with a high medical limit is essential. In the Rockies, mountain rescue is coordinated by Parks Canada and is not billed, but the helicopter and hospital that follow are.
Wildlife and weather rather than illness. Carry bear spray on trails and know how to use it. Hypothermia is possible in any month at altitude, and snow closes passes well outside winter.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodEat by neighbourhood rather than by restaurant: Chinatown, Little Italy, Greektown on the Danforth, Little India on Gerrard, Roncesvalles for Polish. Peameal bacon at St Lawrence Market is the local sandwich. The city has more good cheap food than any list can hold.
Nightlife
Neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood rather than one strip, and one of the more genuinely varied nights in North America.
- King Street West — the clubs, and the queues for them
- Ossington Avenue — and Dundas West, for the bars
- Kensington Market — the scruffy, cheaper version
- Church-Wellesley Village — the gay village
Closing: 02:00.
A beer in a bar: C$8–10
Getting around
Easy- UberWorks here
- LyftWorks here
- BoltNot here
- From the airport
- Toronto Pearson to downtown C$60–80, against C$12 on the UP Express
- Against a taxi
- A little under the meter, and thinner on the ground in the cities that allowed ride-hailing late.
Time zone and your working day
America/Toronto — the same time as you
8 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–17:00 your time, 09:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 09:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 09:00–17:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Canada
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 2.1× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Good. Maps, calls and streaming, and enough to tether a laptop for an afternoon. Mobile runs at 1.3× the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Canada, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Canadian English
- A one-dollar coinA loonieLOO-nee
- A two-dollar coinA toonieTOO-nee
- A knitted winter hatA toquetook
- The last item takenThe last one, sorry
4 more phrases
- A rural cottageA cabin, or a chalet in the Rockies
- Right? / Agreed?Eh?ay
- Bear sprayBear spray — carry it, actually
- Washroom, not toiletWhere’s the washroom?
The language is English; the vocabulary occasionally is not.
Religion
Christian majority, and secular
Christian by heritage with a fast-growing share reporting no religion. Indigenous spiritual traditions are recognised, and their sites carry protocols worth respecting.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Queue properly, hold doors, and apologise reflexively — it really is the norm
- Tip 15-20% in restaurants and for taxis; staff wages assume it
- Carry bear spray on Rockies trails and know how to use it
- Take note of which province you are in — rules on alcohol, cannabis and driving differ
Don't
- Do not assume Canada is a variant of the United States; it lands badly
- Do not approach or feed wildlife, and never get between a bear and its cubs
- Do not underestimate distances — the Rockies are far bigger than the map suggests
- Do not litter or leave food out at a campsite; it is both a fine and a genuine danger
Where to stay in Toronto
No Holistay rentals in Toronto yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Toronto on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Pearson YYZ
25 minfrom the airport· 20 km as the crow flies
UP Express to Union Station, 25 min.
Also worth pricing: Billy Bishop YTZ — on an island by the downtown, for regional flights.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
