Smitten by the city in Toronto - Scotsman Magazine travel

Famous for urban landmarks like the CN Tower, the Canadian city is reinventing itself with a push for sustainability.

With its skyscraper-dominated skyline, punctuated by the distinctive, needle-like profile of legendary landmark the CN Tower, Toronto is known as a built-up metropolis – and indeed it is Canada’s largest city.

But it’s also making something of a name for itself as a hub for more laidback, wellness-focused pursuits, and a major sustainability push, as I discover on this trip that marries both this and the urban aspect of its character to showcase a highly appealing destination.

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Indeed, before I set off, everyone who tells me they’ve visited Toronto raves about it – including somebody particularly well-travelled who says it’s their favourite city ever, like a condensed and more accessible version of New York. And it doesn’t take me long after arriving to also be very smitten with it.

Our accommodation is the 1 Hotel Toronto, billed as a 'sustainable urban retreat'. Picture: Destination Toronto.Our accommodation is the 1 Hotel Toronto, billed as a 'sustainable urban retreat'. Picture: Destination Toronto.
Our accommodation is the 1 Hotel Toronto, billed as a 'sustainable urban retreat'. Picture: Destination Toronto.
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We fly from London via Air Transat, a Montreal-based airline that flies to various destinations in Canada, and which has committed to running the Gatwick-to-Toronto route every day for the next year. The airline also offers flies direct to Toronto from Glasgow.

We’re lucky enough to fly out in Club Class, which includes priority boarding, a higher baggage allowance, and a very tasty in-flight meal that I tuck into on the hi-tech, low-impact A321neoLR aircraft.

After touching down, we arrive at our accommodation for the trip, which comprises 1 Hotel Toronto, located in the downtown part of the city.

The Toronto Island ferry, providing a stunning view of the city skyline from Lake Ontario. Picture: Destination Toronto.The Toronto Island ferry, providing a stunning view of the city skyline from Lake Ontario. Picture: Destination Toronto.
The Toronto Island ferry, providing a stunning view of the city skyline from Lake Ontario. Picture: Destination Toronto.

It describes itself as a sustainable urban retreat, and this is highly evident as soon as we enter the building, with the lobby and adjacent seating area home to a veritable plethora of repurposed wood, each piece branded with its provenance.

Above the bar to the far right of the lobby is an impressive dried flower mural by Lauren Wilson, a “floral artist” who says “loves telling stories with florals”, and wanted walking into the space to feel like “walking into nature” – which indeed it does.

My room houses more of the hotel’s 1,000-plus repurposed wood items, including some sugar maple reborn as a bedside table, while other sustainability-tastic in-room touches include the option to donate unwanted clothing that the hotel will distribute to a local charity.

I also head up to the top of the building for a peek at its highly ‘Gram-able outdooor pool that offers impressive views of the city.

The 3D TORONTO sign in Nathan Phillips Square, one of the stop-offs on our city bike tour. Picture: City of Toronto.The 3D TORONTO sign in Nathan Phillips Square, one of the stop-offs on our city bike tour. Picture: City of Toronto.
The 3D TORONTO sign in Nathan Phillips Square, one of the stop-offs on our city bike tour. Picture: City of Toronto.

Extensive

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However, the next day we get a more extensive view at ground level by heading out on two wheels courtesy of Toronto Bike Tours.

I’m a nervous, wobbly cyclist, and to be honest would have preferred to follow everybody else in a taxi, so I’m therefore eternally grateful to our excellent guide (and the firm’s founder) Terrence who tests our abilities before we set off, making suggestions and providing reassurance to those that need it (i.e. me).

Some near-misses aside, I soon feel like a Tour de France pro and it proves an excellent way to see a city; we cover an extensive amount of landmarks.

Kensington Market, which offers a plethora of global cuisines. Picture: Nick Wons/Destination Toronto.Kensington Market, which offers a plethora of global cuisines. Picture: Nick Wons/Destination Toronto.
Kensington Market, which offers a plethora of global cuisines. Picture: Nick Wons/Destination Toronto.

Terrence is a knowledgeable and entertaining guide, telling us for example that more than half of Toronto’s population was born outside Canada, and that the city is home to more than 8,000 restaurants – with a host of epic fusion cuisines including Italian-Jamaican at the excellently named Rasta Pasta.

He also points out that Toronto is known as Hollywood North for being the setting for so many film and TV productions, and we pass a building used in TV show Suits, for example. I later learn that Toronto was used for filming the classic movie Mean Girls.

Among other key sights we see are The Sharp Centre for Design, an ultra-modern black and white oblong of an edifice elevated tens of feet off the ground by long multicoloured stilts; a much-snapped sign spelling out Toronto near both the old and new city halls; and green spaces including Grange Park.

Later, we spot several of our bike tour stop-offs from further afield, on a trip up the CN Tower, and I think I’d have refused to get back on the plane home without a visit to this landmark that extends to a lofty 1,815.5 feet and feels like it benevolently watches over us throughout our stay, clearly visible in practically every location.

After taking in the 360-degree views, I pluck up the courage to walk across a transparent section of floor, although I am definitely not ready to join the hardy souls we see undertaking an EdgeWalk, “a full-circle, hands-free journey around the exterior of the Tower’s main pod” some 116 storeys above ground level – in fact the world’s highest external walk on a building, apparently. However, those we see doing it look like they’re enjoying it, so à chacun son goût as they say.

Island escape

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Among the many attractions that can be seen from the tower include vessels zig-zagging across Lake Ontario, and we will later head across the water by ferry to Toronto Island, the skyscrapers slowly retreating into the distance on one side, and the greenery of our destination coming into view.

After taking a stroll around the island, which includes quiet beaches overlooking equally quiet waters, we then head along to Toronto Island SUP, which offers stand-up paddleboarding that provides a tranquil view back across to the city.

All this activity is hungry work, and seemingly the same size as paddleboards are the pancakes I order at breakfast hotspot Mildred’s Temple Kitchen, its flagship dish. I’m delighted to be presented with a trio of the mattress-thick delights that arrive under a generous bedspread of berry compote, and they are so popular that you can even buy a kit to make your own home, with the box embossed with the excellent slogan “life’s batter with pancakes”.

No arguing from me on that point, and it’s just one of many examples we are served of Toronto being something of a gourmand’s paradise/waistband’s enemy. In fact the MICHELIN Guide in September announced that 74 restaurants had made the inaugural Toronto selection, a landmark seen as “highlighting the depth and diversity of the city’s food scene”.

The list includes Ration | Beverley, where we try the delectable “salmon mi-cuit”, the fish cooked using a technique that gives it a rich, almost butter-like texture, served with pea husk shoyu (aka soy sauce), radish, and nasturtium.

Also combining the dairy product and fish with very pleasing results is restaurant Richmond Station in the form of a perfectly white slab of butter-poached Pacific halibut served with accompaniments such as maitake mushrooms.

Desserts are no slouches either; 1 Kitchen Toronto, one of our hotel’s in-house restaurants and also a zero-waste affair, serving local and sustainably sourced farm-to-table cuisine, including produce grown on site.

Delights

It serves plenty of healthy, wellness-tastic dishes, but the s’mores’ inclusion of dark chocolate ganache and toasted marshmallow ice cream, occupying the top and bass notes of the dish, now forever occupies a place in my heart, as does the delicious “zero waste” bread and butter pudding.

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I could have eaten my way round the city indefinitely, including a prolonged spell at Eataly, which boasts a massive high-calibre food hall, restaurants, and cooking classes, where we make our own semolina pasta.

We also visit many more cuisines from around the world at Kensington Market via a tour by local firm Chopsticks + Forks. We meet our well-informed guide Felicia at NU Bügel, where we sample wood-fired traditional Montreal-style bagels, including a trip highlight in the form of one filled with smoked trout, and then to other sites to try the likes of Jamaican patties, Tibetan broth, and Swedish coffee.

She also points out local landmarks, including the El Mambo venue where The Rolling Stones performed two surprise concerts in 1977, the area’s extensive Jewish history, and a statue of actor Al Waxman, who starred in detective show Cagney & Lacey and sitcom King of Kensington. In front of his effigy, embossed on the ground, is a quote by him stating: "Trust your gut instincts. In small matters trust your mind, but in the important decisions of life – trust your heart."

Wise words to live by – and my heart is telling me to return to Toronto as soon as possible.

Rooms at 1 Hotel Toronto start at £662 a night. 1 Hotel Toronto, 550 Wellington Street W, Toronto, ON M5V 2V4. Air Transat flies from London Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow to Toronto. Return Economy Class flights start from £381 (based on travel on selected dates in 2022). For information and reservations, visit a travel agent, or call 00 800 87 26 72 83. Destination Toronto can provide more in-depth information on the city.