Heading to Toronto for New Years. Travel tips?

[wander]

Hi all,

I’m heading to Toronto for New Years and will have a few days to explore.

Survival tips?
Cool things to do?
Interesting/nerdy shops to check out?

[TyIsI]

Pack a winter jacket…and also something you’d wear here! (I’ve been told that they’ve had t-shirt weather recently)

[tdwebste]

Expect quite changeable weather, dress in layers. Expect slush,

Vist both Site3 and Hacklab. They have very different cultures.

Queen street used to have great electronic surplus stores. Those have
mostly moved outside the downtown area. Toronto also has a real estate
speculation problem, just not quite as bad.
Sadly Toronto Queen and Spadina is starting to lose some of its character
as result. See it while you still can.

Visit the different ethnic communities within Toronto. Ethnic
communities in the suburbs are more boring. IMHO
Toronto is not NYC, but it is a lot closer to NYC than Vancouver.
IF you have time you can take a bus from Toronto to NYC, for not too much
money.

[Janet]

I do like Toronto. Definitely all the usual spots - the AGO, ROM, Bata Shoe Museum. I’m pretty meh on the science center and that’s a ways from downtown so I wouldn’t go out of your way to check it out. Also of course visit the Silver Snail at Yonge/Dundas for comics goodness. I don’t know if the Shopsy’s Deli is still around but I could really go for a hotdog right now. TTC is great. You can get all over town. Maybe ride a streetcar? They are pretty cool. Don’t die getting off it.

Have a great time!

Ooo Andrew you should also check out the Toronto Reference Library. So 70s.

[jon]

@tdwebste

Queen street used to have great electronic surplus stores.

Active Surplus was the big one, and it closed outright a couple years ago, nothing left but the sign and the empty location

Store wise, Creatron is a pretty close analog to Lee’s, but wouldn’t call it particularly special? Not really sure where else would be of interest to you.

Toronto ToOoL has a meetup January 3rd at Site 3, if that’s of interest.

I like the AGO, the reference library is neat, but not sure I’d make a trip if you aren’t otherwise nearby.

if you’re downtown in the winter in bad weather, the PATH is great for avoiding being outside, but difficult to navigate.

For getting around:

• Don’t get run over boarding the streetcar, they board in the middle of the street most places.
• The cabs have been stealing debit cards recently.
• Lyft just launched a couple weeks ago, Uber’s been here a while
• car2go parking is a big problem, which cripples their usefulness.
• The train in from the airport is a good way to get downtown/to the airport
• if you’re going to be using transit, get a Presto card at the airport station, the 3$/direction discount on the train to/from downtown more than makes up for the 5$ card cost.
• Fare transfer rules are not time based, and are enforced arbitrary by the drivers.
• TTC Day passes are worth it if taking more than 3 trips/day, but can only be bought at stations, no credit for a transfer.
• if you’re driving:
  • don’t pass a streetcar with it’s doors open,
  • blinking green lights means advance left turn, not pedestrian crosswalk
  • King st. has confusing new rules through most of downtown, suggest avoiding taking it.

I think the Thai food options are generally better than Vancouver (suggestions: Pai, Khao San Road, Mengrai Thai), Indian about the same, Chinese food generally not as good.