Join the Canadian club – Nigel Thompson gets insider June Lin’s tips on how to ‘live like a local’ in Toronto, home to the Don River trails system and the Toronto Music Garden and Harbourfront Centre
One of the hottest getaway trends for 2025 is to live ‘like a local’ at your holiday destination – and airline cabin crew are renowned for being savvy when it comes to seeking out the best in a destination.
So we combined the two and asked June Lin – a cabin training instructor and flight attendant at award-winning Canadian leisure carrier Air Transat – for her insider tips on Toronto, Ontario, where she’s lived for the past 14 years.
Q: What’s best about Toronto?
A: It is a great city for its diversity and multicultural cuisines.
Q: What’s your favourite iconic attraction?
A:The CN Tower, especially at night with the lights on.
Q: Your favourite hidden gem to discover in any season?
A:The Don River trails system. It is a long trail running from the north of Toronto to Lake Ontario with multiple entrances to the 494 acre site. If you are feeling adventurous you can walk or bike the whole trail.
Q: The best free thing to do?
A:The Toronto Music Garden and Harbourfront Centre for free concerts and exhibitions. It’s by the waterfront boardwalk.
Q: How best to experience the indigenous culture?
A:AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) offers a great collection of indigenous arts. The gallery offers free evening entrance every first Wednesday of the month. Make sure to sign up online for the free entry in advance.
Q: Your favourite traditional Canadian foods?
A: There’s a few. Poutine (french fries and cheese curds with a brown gravy), Montreal bagel and smoked meat, butter tart and beaver tail.
Q: Where best to eat like a local?
A: St. Lawrence Market on Front Street East. There are more than 100 food, bakery and coffee vendors. On the weekends it also has a farmer’s market and antique market.
Q: Toronto is a powerhouse for breweries – where’s best to sample craft beers?
A: My choice is Bier Markt at The Esplanade but definitely try local smaller in-house breweries such as Bar Volo (St Nicholas Street) and Bellwoods Brewery (Ossington Avenue and Hafis Road).
Q: Where to meet the most interesting local characters?
A: Head to the Kensington Market and Ossington Avenue strip.
Q: Top tip for getting around?
A: I recommend on foot or by bicycle, that way you’ll be able to really embrace the different characteristics of the neighbourhoods that Toronto has to offer.
Q: Where’s your favourite place to visit from the city for a day or weekend?
A: Head out on the bus to pretty, historic Niagara-on-the-Lake and Elora for a day trip.
Both offer many varieties of activities from outdoors to culinary and the area is renowned for its ice wine ( niagarafallstourism.com ).
For a weekend getaway a little further afield, the Kawartha Lakes and Muskoka regions offer a great ‘cottage’ vibe.
Top tips
- The Royal Ontario Museum’s ROM After Dark is a curated series of events for over-19s which runs throughout the year. Each event offers a different theme such as DJs and live bands with ‘distinctive’ food and drink.
- The best way to get an amazing view of the Toronto skyline is to rent a stand-up paddle board either from Toronto Island or Sugar Beach where you can paddle through Lake Ontario and get a snapshot of the city.
Book the flights
- Air Transat was voted the World’s Best Leisure Airline at the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2024 for the sixth time. Flights to Toronto are available from Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow and Dublin, with onward connections throughout Canada.
- Economy seats offer films and TV series on personal touchscreens and a hot meal with a glass of wine and one piece of carry-on baggage included as standard. Club Class (premium economy) offers more space and comfort, gourmet meals, complimentary drinks and preferred services, at the airport and on board.
- More info and latest fares at airtransat.com