You can do the tourist traps for cheaper by getting the City Pass http://www.citypass.com/toronto. At least you could when we went for our anniversary 8 years ago. We were there without a child, but we went to the CN Tower, the Zoo, the Castle at the edge of town, the science center and the art museum. We had our car, but the only one of those places we took the car to was the zoo - everything else we walked or used the subway.

Niagara Falls would be about 3 hours away. I recommend a lovely city called Niagara on Lake -- it's about 2 hour drive from Toronoto and then another hour on to Niagara Falls.

Niagara on Lake feels a little like England and is lovely small town with homes, B & B's if you wanted to stay there for day or two after Toronto. They have an amazing theatre festival (the Shaw Festival) with shows all over town. In pre-kid days I used to go there for long weekend and see 4-5 different plays in one weekend.

would your reccomend that we rent a car? Also how far is Niagra Falls? Is that a fairly easy day trip?

I visited Toronto twice and found the city incredibly dull. CN Tower is an expensive tourist trap. On top of that, Canadian border officers were incredibly rude for no reason.

Anonymous wrote:http://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/

YES!! Was just going to post this.

Anonymous wrote:Have to travel to Toronto in June for work and am considering making a vacation out of it and inviting my parents along with my husband and 3 year old DS.

In full disclosure, Toronto has never been on my list of places to go - but should it be? What can we do there? Where should we stay? What would be fun for my almost 3 year old son?

Thanks for any ideas!

I could have written this 8 years ago. DH and young sons did tag along. We had a blast. Very diverse city. Great food. Check out their Chinatown. Lots of other things to do. Of course go up the CN Tower. I seem to recall some caste like visit - Casa Loma. Take one of the Duck Tours. Fair amount of shopping. Have fun.

I would like to rely on public transportation if possible

I love Toronto! Def a great vacation spot.

Toronto is a massive city. There is tons to do with kids there. Are you going to rent a car or rely on public transportation?

Toronto is a really fun city. Very multicultural. Lot's of good restaurants, cultural attractions, etc. I wouldn't know what to do with a 3-year-old though.

My suggestion would be to consider flying Porter Airlines-- it is a propeller plane but they are nice planes and you land on an island in downtown Toronto, and take a very short ferry ride.

Have to travel to Toronto in June for work and am considering making a vacation out of it and inviting my parents along with my husband and 3 year old DS.

In full disclosure, Toronto has never been on my list of places to go - but should it be? What can we do there? Where should we stay? What would be fun for my almost 3 year old son?

Thanks for any ideas!