Out of all the cities I’ve lived in, Canada’s biggest city Toronto is perhaps my favorite. I went to university in Toronto, and I also visited there many times as a youngster as many of my relatives live there. Toronto has a toned-down reputation (“New York run by the Swiss” was what British actor and writer Peter Ustinov called the city in 1987), and it is modern, attractive, and spectacularly diverse with one of the world’s most multi-ethnic and multi-cultural populations.

During my most recent visit there in 2017, I spent some time downtown where I walked around and visited attractions like the Royal Ontario Museum. It felt a little strange playing tourist in a city I’d lived in for several years, but it was good to see that Toronto was still as laid-back as before, if not a bit more sleek and shiny.

This is the city’s iconic name-sign in front of its distinctive town hall with its two curved towers.

Toronto’s best museum is the Royal Ontario Museum or ROM, which features a world-class collection of Egyptian artifacts, Chinese treasures, and dinosaur fossils, like the T-Rex below.

The Eaton Centre is downtown Toronto’s best place to shop.

Union Station on the left is Toronto’s main train station while the CN Tower looming over it is Toronto’s most well-known landmark and one of the world’s tallest structures. Union Station is also where to take the airport train.

Toronto’s downtown Chinatown