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Brilliant Vietnamese restaurant. The noodle soup dish - Pho - is amazing.
On Spadina at St Andrews street - near Kensington Market. I think it is next to the flagpole which has the cat at the top of it!
Our first stay at Atmosphere was enchanting from all points of view. Rooms are arranged with refinement and nothing disturbed our tranquillity. An accommodation not to be missed for a moderate price.
Atmosphère
1933 Panet
Montreal, Québec
H2L 3A1
Canada
Tél: 514-510-7976
www.atmospherebb.com
Don’t be put off by the name – this is a classy joint in downtown Toronto! There are, however, brilliant discounts on offer with happy-hour drinks and a half-price dinner menu every day between 5 and 8 p.m.
I enjoyed watching office workers hurrying home, sat on one of the bar’s terraces with a nice cold beer…
A great place to relax with your shopping and soak up the city’s vibe.
539 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON, M5S1Y6
Toronto has some of the best shopping in North America – at least it seems that way among the boutiques and the department stores!
Far from just housing run-of-the-mill stores, the city had some great and unusual wares on sale. Honest Ed’s is the city’s first budget department store and there are some real fashion bargains to be had in here!
My only advice – make sure you have enough room in your backpack to get all those purchases home!
581 Bloor St. W., Toronto, Canada M6G 1K3
The Toronto Blue Jays are the city’s pro baseball team and, as Toronto has the most professional sports teams in Canada, its worth hitting a game to soak up the atmosphere and see how much the residents enjoy their competitive league sport!
For Europeans who, like me, are less clear about the rules of baseball, don’t worry – there are drinks and hotdogs on offer to keep you entertained too!
The season runs April through September.
One Blue Jays Way., Ste. 3200. Toronto, Canada, M5V 1J1
A bit of a local secret in the heart of Toronto. Two floors offering a surprisingly diverse and reasonable range of foods, from sandwich shops stuffed with meat (which is everywhere in Canada and about the closest thing I could find to a national dish) to Japanese and Ukrainian cuisine.
I recommend the veal and aubergine (eggplant for Americans) sandwich. Definitely worth a taste!
95 Front Street East, Toronto, Ontario M5E 1C2
A great, cheap place to stay right in the centre of Toronto. This budget hostel has a fantastic community feel and is a fun, lively place to meet other travelers. As a girl visiting Canada on my own, I felt right at home here – especially on Saturday nights where the free barbecue attracts a large proportion of the guests for a beer and a burger!
It’s located in Kensington market, about five minutes from the entertainment and shopping districts – and there’s no curfew so you can stay out exploring as late as you please.
This is a friendly place but its real selling point is the combination of the low price of a bed of the night set against their great facilities…
175 Augusta Avenue, Toronto, ON, M5T 2L4, Canada
www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/canada/toronto/7339/
This bright green bus leaves from the airport and goes downtown at the fraction of the cost of a taxi.
Hotel and restaurant. Great service and the food is five-star. The toilet had broken in our room - we went to the shops and came back in 20 minutes, and it was fixed.
Banff Avenue
Crowne Plaza is one of the oldest hotels at the falls.
See details of my stay there at: writeronthestorm.wordpress.com
Vancouver is consistently voted by tourists as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is also one of the most accessible!
Buses, SkyTrain and ferries are all great ways to explore. Take a ferry to Victoria and look out for killer whales!
North America's Disabled Adventurer
www.bluechairbook.com
Vancouver Tourism info.
Tofino is on the Pacific coast of Vancouver Island. The area is formed of temperate rainforest and white sandy beaches which stretch for miles. Beyond its unbelievable natural beauty, it offers a rare thing in North America: harmony. The indigenous First Nations people, aided by eco-warriors, made a stand against the loggers in the 1980s and since then it has been given UN status as a natural wilderness.
The high-priced resorts dotted along the beaches are best avoided, especially in summer. To see the real Tofino go there in May (shoulder season) and stay in the town. The Tofino Motel offers great views at around $85 (£40) a night per room. If you like seafood Shelter and Schooner restaurants are a must, but for something more funky try Raincoast.
There are three impressive beaches nearby. Tonquin is but a short walk from the town and is good for a post-prandial stroll. Chesterman beach is a short drive away and is full of spirits and driftwood and as the site of First Nations resistance has great historical resonance. Long Beach is, well, just long. The caveats to all this are that because this is the raincoast it rains a lot. However, much natural beauty comes from this rain.
The First Nations people run several businesses in town offering whale watching, bear watching (you park near a beach and watch the bears forage for food) as well as trips to hot springs. The botanical garden are like nothing else, blending sculpture and nature. Getting to Tofino is easy. You can fly from downtown Vancouver from around $250 (£120) return by sea-plane, but the best way to travel is to take the Harbour Lynx from downtown Vancouver and then the Tofino bus across the island. Even though this journey takes around six hours, don't fall asleep. Remember you're going to paradise.
This isn't the cheapest B&B option in this wonderful city (other than the weather, what's not to like about Montreal?), but it is certainly a great place to stay if you want to relax.
Kent and Stephane, the owners, are wonderful hosts. Their rooms are clean, and luxuriously comfortable.
Their location is handy for just about everything in this small but universally interesting city.
They are both straight- and gay-friendly.
But the best thing about staying at Absolument is their breakfasts, which are four-course, one hour affairs (only drawback is they don't leave much room for eating more during the day) served in your room anytime from 8-12. Jolly nice.
I love Montreal, and though I don't speak French, didn't find being in this largely francophone city intimidating: everyone was very friendly and accommodated my need to communicate in English with ease.
This was my closest ever brush with foot and mouth - a shot of Yukon jack whisky with a shrivelled human toe in the bottom.
To join the Sourtoe Cocktail Club in the Downtown Hotel, Dawson City, Yukon, I had to let its gnarled blackened nail touch my lip, a tradition that started in the 1970s when a local discovered the frozen tootsie of a rum runner who'd had to amputate it in a log cabin when he got frostbite.
Occasionally toes are accidentally swallowed by visiting drunks - they re-emerge painfully a few days later but they aren't really toes you can use again (unless you're really flying), so a steady supply have been donated over the years including ones from diabetics and people who decide to use a lawnmower while wearing sandals. Last time I went they had a full donated set of five toes, all preserved in salt.
It's not as bad as it sounds and you do get to become a member of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club, the only club I've been a member of in my life.
A gem, to an ex-pat Brit, found it very difficult to locate great bars in Vancouver, this more than makes up for it. Tiny place, best staff in town, and the best cocktails by a country mile, (pretty good food too!).
1326 Davie Street, Vancouver, @ Broughton
Kootenay follows the Great Divide, west of Banff, bought up for a railway scheme but eventually sold to the government. It's a long winding valley with fine mountains and lots of local as well as backcountry trails.
It's largely ignored compared to Banff and Louise probably because it doesn't have big hotels and tourist infrastructure. But what it does have is fantastic mountain scenery and some quirky sights like the old paint pots, iron laden clays used for dyes, and marble canyon where the river rushes through tight gorges.
The hike up to Stanley glacier is magical, and you'll have plenty of pikas (rock rabbits) whistling you on the way. Kootenay Park Lodge has 10 historic but simple log cabins and good home cooking at affordable rates. Waking up to the sun rising on the mountains here is worth any journey.
Kootenay national park, 2 hours west from Banff, follow the quieter scenic Highway 1a before turning west towards Radium Hot Springs and you're soon in the Park. Lodge details at www.kootenayparklodge.com/
Lake Louise is stunningly beautiful, if only you can ignore the enormous and ugly Fairmont Chateau hotel and its $65m refurbishment, the car lot the size of several hypermarkets and the crowds. If you walk for an hour or two up one of the well-laid trails you might get some tranquility.
But my tip, if you're still reading, is to stay on Highway 1, just a few more miles over the Great Divide, and visit Yoho Park across the provincial border. If you can get on the parks bus (book in advance) up to Lake O'Hara, or walk the car-free 11km trail in, you will have delightful lakes and mountains to share with a handful of campers and the lucky few at the lodge built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in Swiss chalet style.
There are miles of beautiful trails and more challenging alpine routes, glaciers and waterfalls, and the odd bear. Bliss! And if you've time to spare, Emerald Lake is great too.
Highway 1 from Banff heading west to Lake Louise, good tourist office for advice on everything. But right next door is Yoho and its well worth the few miles extra
It is a massive park in northern Ontario - it is absolutely beautiful. My wife and I stayed in a cabin there in 2002 and loved it. Loads of lakes, ecological reserves, birds, fantastic Parks Canada visitor centres.
You go up from Toronto, past Barrie, and just keep going.
Lots of excellent beers often in the British style locally brewed, available in bars (such as the Sport Bar on Main St) and stores to take back to the bungalow/cabin/camper. Mind the elk if you're walking back late. Burgers the size of an elk.
Jasper town, on the Athabasca River
Is it the best second hand record store in the world? Probably not, but it is easily the best in Toronto. Jazz, soul, funk, hip hop, Brazilian, boogie, Blue Note originals, Salsoul 12s. The lot.
607 Queen Street West
+1 416-603-0254
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