Public transport in Toronto is first class. They have underground trains, trams and buses, all linkedin one network.

We went in 2007 and stayed at the Hotel that is now the Hilton Garden on Dundas and Jarvis. It was formerly the Comfort Suites. It was fairly budget but the deal we had included breakfast. It was 5 blocks from the Eaton centre (about 15 mins walk) and another half an hour down to the lake shore/Cn Tower/Air Canada centre etc.

My hotel review is here

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/

Thanks ever so much Hi De Hi.......

No problem

We went in April so it was fairly cold but the snow had already gone.

Things to see and do.

Shopping in the Eaton centre
CN Tower
Get the boat over to the Islands and have a walk round. It was deserted when we went but the nudist beach may have some custom next week!
Fort York

You are too early for the Hockey season but the Hockey Hall of Fame is worth a look, take your photo with the Stanley Cup.

Not far from the CN tower on Blue Jay Way is Wayne Gretzky's restaurant. We ate there twice but in the busy season you may need to book.
Take a bus tour to Niagra falls. Again this may be busy but the Maid of the Mist will be running. When we went it was snowing and the falls were frozen, Ice floes in the river stopped the boats running. Some tours include lunch in one of the tall hotels looking over the falls.

You can see some of my photos at
http://www.holidaytruths.tv/c/47/Canada/

If the link works!

Hi,
Firstly, Toronto is a great city you will have a great time there.

When we went a few years ago we stayed at the Radisson Admiral, it's situated on Queens Quay on the lakeshore.

We had great views over the lake and the hotel has it's own outdoor pool although it might be closed now for the season.

The staff were extremely friendly and gave us some great tips on restaurants etc.

There was plenty of public transport outside the hotel and the hop on/off tourist bus stops not far from the hotel as well.

Overall we thought it was a great hotel and would definitely stay there again.

Whatever you decide have a great time and i'm sure you will

Cheers Mark.

Thanks Mark and Hi de Hi.....looking forward to the trip out there...:-)....

I can confirm that the Maid of the Mist boat is indeed in full swing right now. My fiance is going to university in Windsor (across the border from Detroit) and I visited her for a long weekend just a few days ago. We drove to Niagara Falls on Saturday and did the Maid of the Mist on Sunday. I have to say, it was well worth the trip. As we made good time on Sunday, we also drove to Toronto but balked at the prices to go up the CN Tower so settled on taking photos instead.

We also did the Journey Behind the Falls but I was disappointed with it. I wouldn't pay to do it again. However, it's only $10/person and you may never go back to Niagara Falls again so may as well do it. We did that instead of going on the big wheel (can't remember the name of it...SkyWheel or something) but possibly the wheel would have been better.

I also highly recommend crossing the bridge and walking over to New York. I am not sure if it's a problem with a UK passport since you may need a visa waiver form etc. My fiance and I have Canadian/US passports so I can't say what would have happened if I'd tried to use my UK passport instead. I imagine plenty of people with non-Canadian/US passports cross every day, though, so it must be perfectly do-able. The views from the US side are not as good as from the Canadian side, which I had read about in advance and it is indeed true. However, it's still worth doing just for the views you get from the bridge, plus you can put one foot in the US and one foot in Canada at the same time just for novelty value.

Have you considered staying in Niagara Falls instead of Toronto? We got a lovely B&B for $85/night with a king size bed and private bathroom. It was about half a mile from the Falls, easily within walking distance, so we just left the car parked at the B&B the whole time. We then just drove over to Toronto, which is less than 1.5 hours away from Niagara Falls (assuming the traffic is OK).

Have to agree about the behind the falls, not worth the money. I would imagine that you need an ESTA to cross into the US on a UK passport.

Many thanks Grayejectbutton...I've booked a hotel in midtown Toronto for 7 nights, it seems ok and now looking at Niagara Falls for 5 nights then back up to Toronto for our final 2 days, your so right about prices at Toronto but we have arranged to spend time with friends there. The advice given on this Forum is always tip-top and thank you Hi de Hi, Mark and GrayEjectButton for taking the time to write

Not sure if you are a drinker but:

Legal age is 19 for bars etc.

Shops do not sell alcohol, you have to purchase it from certain shops. LCBO is the state shop and there are also some liquor stores in the suburbs.

If you want a snack especially doughnuts then try Tim Hortons, they also do a reasonable breakfast if you are in a hurry. Their coffee is also good and comes in those huge bucket sized cups!

There is a huge shopping Mall out at Missegsauga (spelling worng), it takes about an hour on the tram and bus to get there but your family may have other places they can recommend.

Canadian Tire is a department store that sells loads of different stuff at cheap prices.

Sport Check is about the cheapest place if you want sports equipment (we blew $1200 in there when we went as my son plays ice hockey and the equipment is half the UK price).

Enjoy!

Ah yes, Tim Horton's. There is a bit of a running joke between my fiance and I about the Canadian obsession with Tim Horton's. There are EVERYWHERE. Almost every freeway exit, every highway exit, you can't get away from them. In the small town my fiance grew up in, there are three Tim Horton's on one street. It's really quite bizarre and amusing. However, they actually DO have pretty good food and coffee. They are considerably cheaper than Starbucks and yet the coffee is comparable. They also have a much better selection of food than Starbucks, including donuts (the honey cruller is especially tasty), muffins, biscuits, cookies, bagels, soup, and chilli. The only downside is that their soft drinks are Pepsi and not Coca Cola but that's obviously a matter of taste.

I've been to Niagara Falls three times and while it's wonderful I think 5 nights would be too much. You'd run out of things to see after 2-3 days...

Emdia: ...but you went three times. Did you stay less than a day each time?

We stayed 2 days each time. You've seen pretty much all there is to see by then....

I know. I was just playing with you. But there are a lot of "museums" (of the wax work variety) and such so 2-3 days would be reasonable, especially doing all of the Falls activities (Journey Behind the Falls, Cave of the Winds, Maid of the Mist etc).