A tale of two cities: an insider’s guide to Toronto and Ottawa
Toronto’s renowned music scene and cultural allure meets Ottawa’s impressive architecture and fascinating museums in our expert city guide
Ontario’s big-hitters are a study in contrasts: Toronto is a modern metropolis, all thrilling contemporary architecture and cutting-edge culture. By comparison, Ottawa is quieter and calmer, a place of autumn colour, charming streets and a deep sense of history. Taken together, they make for a sensational twin-centre city break offering everything from high culture and heritage buildings, to a farm-to-table food scene to rival any in the world.
Toronto: The Cultural Power Player
Toronto’s spectacular lake-side skyline is one of the world’s best with its eclectic mix of handsome 19th-century buildings and spectacular modernist towers. It’s a place with that big city swagger, the hustle and bustle that gives such energy to the theatre of its streets. What really sets it apart though is its cultural life which is the rival of any of Europe’s powerhouses.
First up, there are its major institutions which include the Royal Ontario Museum, a thrilling synthesis of a century-old Romanesque revivalist building and a Daniel Libeskind-designed modern extension. And of course there’s the Art Gallery of Ontario, re-designed by world renowned architect and Torontonian Frank Gehry and home to everything from grand masters to an impressive collection of landscape paintings by Canada’s homegrown Group of Seven.
The city’s fabled live music scene ranges from the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, (home to the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet of Canada), through to a host of brilliant indie music venues like the legendary Horseshoe Tavern, which has seen fabled gigs from the Rolling Stones and the Ramones.
Best of all, though, are the city’s two major arts festivals: The Toronto International Film Festival (if you’re not in town when the festival is on then visit its home, the Lightbox, which houses five public cinemas and is open year-round), and Luminato, a 10-day arts and performance festival which runs every June and showcases hundreds from artists across a range of disciplines.
But Toronto isn’t all high-mindedness. Not only does Toronto have the famous Niagara region on its doorstep, it also has one of North America’s best bar scenes that ranges from hidden speakeasies serving great cocktails to craft beer pubs that showcase the best of Ontario’s many micro-breweries and vineyards.
Ottawa: The History-Steeped Canadian Capital
All copper turrets and gargoyles, Canada’s stunning gothic parliament sits on the banks of the Ottawa River surrounded by a thicket of trees, which perfectly frame the complex’s much-loved Peace Tower. It’s the perfect starting point for a walk down the UNESCO-protected Rideau Canal, a gorgeous tree-lined waterway studded with locks, that freezes in winter turning it into one of the world’s great urban ice rinks.
And the parliament buildings are far from the only grand heritage site in Ottawa. Other highlights include Rideau Hall, the grand Regency-style home of the Governor General of Canada, which sits in 79 acres of beautifully landscaped gardens, and Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica with its glorious interior. Fans of more modern architecture should visit the soaring windows and dramatics colonnades of the National Gallery of Canada, or the beautifully unusual Canadian Museum of History, inspired by Indigenous architectural design and renowned for its striking curved lines, domed roofs, and vast size.
Ottawa is also the place to go for history buffs. Don’t miss the Canadian War Museum, a vast contemporary space that houses among many other fascinating exhibits, the recreation of a First World War trench. And across the river in Gatineau, Québec, is the Canadian Museum of History, which includes a First Peoples Hall that explores the histories of the region’s First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, and the Canadian Children’s Museum, a wonderful interactive space for kids.
And no visit to the city would be complete with stopping in at ByWard Market, the hub of Ottawa’s thriving food scene. Here, Ontario’s passionate artisan producers sell the best of the region’s incredible produce from local cheeses to craft beers, and you can eat at everything from street food stalls selling gourmet ice cream through to buzzing restaurants that serve some of Canada’s best food.