Large in scale, local in heart, Toronto oozes charm

TORONTO isn’t your average city. Home to more than 100 nationalities, 140 languages and 250,000 immigrants; diversity is both its cultural currency and way of life.

From winter sports to winegrowing; skyscrapers to beaches; luxury goods to local market fare, there’s a good reason why it’s ranked as one of the world’s best places to live. For visitors though, it’s a question of making like the locals (all 2.8 million of them) and sussing out the neighbourhoods that best deliver on a holiday bucket list.

Luckily, the lie of the land is fairly straightforward. Yonge, Toronto’s major north-south artery, divides the city’s east and west. Oh, and it just so happens to be the longest street in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. A helpful fact if navigating the city’s 630 square kilometres by foot.