Making Toronto Managable For Visitors
By Habeeb Salloum
 ‘An exciting and clean city’; ‘a pleasant and safe tourist
mecca’; ‘a great place to spend one's vacation’, ‘a North American urban centre
where travellers feel at home’, and ‘ a place where there is always something
new to see and do, are some of the descriptive phrases with which visitors have
labelled Metropolitan Toronto - Canada's largest city and the capital of Ontario
- the country's most populous province.
Yet, when visitors arrive in the city they are usually
overwhelmed by its size and its some 5 million mass of humanity. As well, just
being able to make their visit enjoyable and fruitful without having to waste
time researching its innumerable places of interest is often difficult. To solve
this problem Toronto’s welcoming officials have come up with a discounted
CityPass. At a cost of $56.00 CDN visitors can visit six of the most visited
tourist attractions in the city. Usually with only a few days to become
familiar with Metropolitan Toronto, the pass will save visitors the anxiety of
planning ‘what to do and see’.
 One of the most cosmopolitan metropolises in the world,
Toronto is a fascinating and entertaining place - considered the best-run large
urban centre in the western hemisphere. It is the largest city in Canada and is
connected by some of the best highways in North America and has one of the
busiest airports in the world, allowing of easy inflow and outflow of visitors
who, on the whole consider it ‘a city which works and has much to offer’.
 Tourist and sports landmarks, soaring apartment buildings,
sky-reaching office towers, scores of parks and forested ravines, up-to-date
museums, dozens of theatres and other night spots, ethnic stores, exotic
restaurants and some of the finest shopping malls in the world make it a town
which caters to all tastes. Of course visitors cannot hope to see or partake of
the all offered goodies. However, with a CityPass a sample of the city and its
attributes is possible.
CityPass bundles the top most-visited attractions in a city
into one convenient, value-packed offering. It is a simple concept that allows
well-known destinations to spotlight their premier attractions and deliver
tremendous value to visitors. It provides up to 50% savings and frees up
valuable time for visitors wishing to experience more of a great urban centre
rather than wait in ticket line-ups, and it also provides a terrific product to
use as a hospitality item for visiting friends and relatives. Of course there is
much more to see and do in Toronto but what the CityPass offers is a fair
portion of the city’s offerings.
 Visitors holding a Toronto CityPass will enjoy the city’s
six major attractions at one excellent price, doing away with the worries of
what to see and do when tourists or visitors and friends travel to this city.
At the top of these attractions is the CN Tower, Toronto’s top landmark. Known
as The World's Tallest Building and a Wonder of the Modern World, it provides
its more than 2 million annual visitors with three observation levels and a
360-degree view of Toronto, Lake Ontario, and a horizon that stretches to the
mists of Niagara Falls.
Vying for visitors with the CN Tower is the Royal Ontario
Museum, Canada's premiere museum, boasting internationally renowned collections
of human culture and natural history. One can stroll among colossal dinosaurs
from the Jurassic era or discover the richness of Earth's modern bio-diversity
and explore the many fascinating artefacts from the ancient world.
 Even more important to many tourists is the Ontario Science
Centre, notable for its commitment to tantalizing and informing minds with an
eye to future accomplishment in a wide range of disciplines. Hundreds of
exhibits encourage visitors to see and think about the world around them.
Enjoyed by all ages, the Science Centre features mind-expanding exhibits on
space, sports, the human body and the living earth.
For sport lovers, the Hockey Hall of Fame, full of exhibits
and testimonials to the history of hockey is an exciting mecca. Called by some
writers as a hockey-mad land, here Canada pays tribute to this game and its
history.
 For many, especially for travellers with children, the
Toronto Zoo has a magnetic appeal. It houses over 5,000 animals in a spectacular
710-acre zoological park. A visit will be a dynamic interactive children's
wildlife experience, especially visiting the 30-acre ‘African Savanna’ and the
‘Gorilla Rainforest’, the largest indoor Gorilla exhibit in North America.
Travellers interested in history will find that visiting
the castle of Casa Loma, a fairytale castle that was once a renowned palatial
home, is an interesting experience. This 98-room majestic landmark features
unique architecture and beautifully decorated suites complete with soaring
ceilings, rich woodcarving and sumptuous marble. The castle is complete with
secret passages, climb twisting towers, and an 800-foot tunnel leading to
luxurious stables.
 After visiting these sites, CityPass customers can say that
they have really seen the city. Without doubt, they have likely used the
efficient public transportation, strolled the streets, relished the food in
neighbourhood restaurants, enjoyed their evenings in the innumerable discos and
nightclubs and perhaps, viewed more art, history, science and urban culture than
they thought they could afford, and, in the process, saved time and money.
Above all they would have enjoyed the Toronto – a
cosmopolitan metropolis whose inhabitants are a mixture of many creeds and
races, giving the city vitality and an appealing international flavour.
 Reflecting their cultural heritages they have filled the town with eating-places
and entertainment establishments, offering most of the foods, music, and dances
to found in the world. These have given the city an aura of mystery and romance,
the most all-encompassing of any Canadian urban centre. There is a saying that
‘to travel to Toronto is to journey to every land on the globe’.
Toronto boasts some of the world's most remarkable
attractions and offers some of the best city experiences in the world. Taking
part of the CityPass program helps visitors to say that they have really seen
and enjoyed this fascinating city
 IF YOU GO
Facts About CityPass and Toronto:
For more information about CityPass call: Toll free
(US & Canada): 888-330-5008. Fax: 208-787-4306 or visit citypass.com. For
prices check:
http://www.citypass.com/price/toronto.html
CityPass is valid for 9 days. The validity period begins
the first day you use your CityPass at the first attraction.
The Toronto Transportation (TTC) with its buses,
streetcars, and subways, is the easiest way to get around the city - cost of
single fare - CN$2.25. Limos and taxis to and from airport to downtown cost
CN$39. GO Transit links the surrounding regions of the Greater Toronto Area.
VIA Rail Canada and Greyhound buses connect Toronto to the rest of Canada and
the United States.
Toronto is one of the safest large cities in North America.
Toronto has a multitude of ethnic neighbourhoods such as
the Arab Strip, at least three Chinatowns, Greektown, Little Italy, Corso
Italia, Korea Town, Little Poland, Little India, Portugal Village and others –
all replicas of the immigrant’s former homelands.
Fashion, art and ethnic foods from the entire world are
offered in Toronto's some7000 restaurants. There is a saying that one can eat a
different ethnic meal in these restaurants 365 days of the year and run out of
different ethnic restaurants.
Some of the areas and spots in Toronto not covered by
CityPass but worth a visit:
Art Gallery of Ontario, one of the best art centres in the
world to visit. Ontario's premiere art museum, it presents an outstanding
collection of 38,000 works.
Black Creek Pioneer Village, a restored living Ontario town
which takes one back a hundred years in time.
Canada's Wonderland, the country's premier theme park
Exhibition Place, offering the oldest annual exhibition in
the world, held every year in August.
Harbourfront, here one finds boat cruises, as well as art,
theatre and music venues;
Historic Fort York, the birth spot of Toronto and the site
of the Battle of York during the War 1812;
Metropolitan Toronto Library, one of the largest public
reference libraries in North America.
Ontario Place, a cultural, leisure and entertainment
complex.
SkyDome - a domed stadium featuring the world's largest
retractable roof is considered a marvel of modern architecture and a massive
awe-inspiring structure.
Toronto Islands, a complex of beaches and flower-filled
parks.
Royal Alexandra Theatre, O'Keefe Centre, St. Lawrence
Centre, and the Massey and Roy Thomson Halls are the homes to the finest of
performing arts - from ballets, symphonies, folk singing to rock entertainment.
For further information About Toronto, Contact:
Toronto Convention & Visitors Association - P.O. Box 126,
207 Queens Quay West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5J 1A7. Tel: 416-203-2600 or
toll-free 1800-499-2514. Fax: 416-203-6753. E-mail:
toronto@torcvb.com Website:
http://www.torontotourism.com/visitor/ |
