Toronto (Canada) > Reviews > Toronto- Reality Check

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money	Average
Shopping	Average
Nightlife	Poor
Ease of getting around	Excellent
Family Friendly	Excellent

Advantages:	Toronto Islands are rather nice, safe streets .
Disadvantages:	Boring, extreme weather, stuck up people

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Toronto is alright for a day or two, but any longer and it would start to wear very thin.

Considering it has a population of over 4million people, it's very boring and has few attractions.
The CN tower is OK, but let's face it, it's just a very tall concrete tower with a restaurant at the top. Not exactly the Eiffel Tower. You'd do well to stretch more than an hour from the experience, especially as it's usually infuriatingly packed.
The ROM and Toronto art gallery similarly are very dissapointing compared to ones in European big cities. Exhibits of replica Egyptian artifacts I find particularly poor, who wants to look at a load of replicas?
Casa Loma is pretty, fair enough, but personally I prefer real castles to 100 year old follies.
The Eaton Centre is good if you like shopping, but architecture wise, isn't very impressive and definately not worth flying thousands of miles to see.
Toronto's Architecture is generally dull and full of 1960's edifices. There are a few gems such as the art-deco Canada Life building, old city hall and the university but Toronto is largely an ugly place.
Weather wise, Toronto is particularly unpleasant. Winters are bitterly cold and summers intollerably hot. The heat of the summer is made even worse by choking smogs which often blanket the place.
On the positive side, downtown Toronto is very safe and it's public transport system is excellent.

Unfortunately however, I can't say I would recommend Toronto to tourists. It's boring and has a stuffy, business orientated atmosphere. The people I find are rather snooty and miserable.
If you're going to visit Canada, go to Montreal, Nova Scotia or the Rockies instead.