Seen from the lake, Toronto advances like a ship's prow: a line of tightly packed towers between water and sky, dominated by the spire of the CN Tower. Great Lakes ships enter the harbour through the gaps in the island chain, pass pleasure boats and ferries, then tie up at the cruise terminal in the Port Lands, a short distance from downtown. Canada's largest city then offers passengers everything a major metropolis can: world-class museums, contrasting neighbourhoods, global cuisine and, within excursion range, one of the most famous waterfalls on the planet.

Rising to the occasion

Many start by going vertical. The CN Tower, long the tallest freestanding structure in the world at 553 metres, sends its glass elevators up to observation decks from which the city spreads out to the lake's horizon. On clear days, you can see as far as the mist of Niagara. At the foot of the tower, the aquarium and the Blue Jays' stadium complete an area entirely devoted to major urban attractions.

Markets and neighbourhoods

Toronto is best told through its neighbourhoods, reflections of a population from everywhere. St. Lawrence Market, a two-century-old institution, lines up cheesemongers, butchers and bakers beneath its brick hall; here you can grab a peameal bacon sandwich, a proudly local specialty. Farther east, the Distillery District has turned a Victorian distillery into a pedestrian enclave of galleries, workshops and cafés, among cobblestones and industrial chimneys. Kensington Market and neighbouring Chinatown add their overflowing stalls and painted façades, the exact opposite of the financial district just a few streets away.

The islands, a green counterpoint

From the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal, ferries reach the Toronto Islands in about ten minutes, a string of parks set in the harbour. Beaches, canals, bike rentals and shady lawns draw residents as soon as the weather turns fine. Above all, this is where you find the classic view of the skyline, the one in every picture of the city: the towers lined up above the water, with sailboats in the foreground.

Niagara, the legendary excursion

Niagara Falls is about 130 kilometres from the terminal, or nearly an hour and a half by road. Day excursions generally combine the falls themselves, a boat cruise at the foot of the cataract and a stop in the Niagara-on-the-Lake wine region. The day is long, but the reward speaks for itself: 2,800 cubic metres of water per second tumbling in a perpetual roar. Passengers staying in the city lose nothing in the exchange; those who go discover one of the great natural spectacles of the continent.

Practical tips

World-class museums

Collection lovers will be delighted by the Royal Ontario Museum, whose galleries range from dinosaurs to Asian art, or the Art Gallery of Ontario, rich in Canadian painting and works by the Group of Seven. Both can be reached by subway from the terminal area.

A metropolis worth the effort

The city doesn't reveal its character at first glance: you have to move from glass towers to brick market halls, from Italian terraces to Cantonese stalls, to grasp the mosaic. That is precisely the luxury of a call here: putting together your own journey around the world in a single urban day. At departure, as the shoreline shrinks behind the island parks, everyone takes away their own version of the city; there are as many as there are passengers, and all of them are accurate.