What's it like living in Toronto?

[hermioneweasley]

I might have the chance to move there in the near future. I have 2 kids. We're not particularly outdoorsy, but could learn to be. We are a same sex couple. I like eating out, museums, parks. Are there nice areas with good schools for families? What's the lifestyle like? How horrific are the winters?

Thanks in advance.

I don't think you need to be outdoorsy to live in Toronto. Its major city. But its utterly frozen during winter. You will be driving in snow every year. But as I say its a city and like any other it has multi-cultural aspects, plenty to do.

You should visit first, to be sure its right for you. Don't whatever you do, move anywhere blind (as it were)!

Thanks for your help

We came to live in Toronto four years ago and really enjoy the lifestyle. Although it is a big city it doesn't feel hectic or pressured.

There are nice family areas with good schools - where you live determines the school so the better areas tend to go with the good schools (as far as I can see). We live in mid-town Toronto in an area with lots of families. Others choose to move out to the suburbs - depending on where you are working that can lead to a longish commute. For us it is about 20-30 minutes to get downtown either driving or on the subway. The subway is quite limited though and it tends to mean that if you are close to the subway it is a more expensive area.

I don't find the winters too bad. This week has been really cold (-15C with windchill taking it to -25C) but we usually only get a couple of weeks like that a year. The temperature fluctuates a lot - next week we are forecast to be 6C. It is a dryer cold than in the UK so I find that freezing in the UK is a lot colder than freezing here. You do get snow - the last lot we had melted and we are now getting some more which I guess might melt next week. It is much brighter than winters in the UK - you get more of those crisp, blue sky days. I find the summer worse as July and August can be really humid which can be oppressive. Lots of people decamp to cottage country (2+ hours north) in the summer.

Toronto is very diverse and prides itself on that. There a lots of different restaurants with a real variety of food. They are quite sport obsessed (especially hockey) and you hear less about the arts. It is there if you look though - for museums there is the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) which has a lot of travelling exhibitions, Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), Gardiner museum (art) and others. There is also a great opera house which the Canadian National Opera share with the National Ballet and a few orchestras.

Toronto is built around a lot of ravines so you don't tend to be too far from some green space. Most neighbourhoods have a park nearby and they open skating rinks in the winter and wading pools in the summer.

Sorry for the essay! Hope that it helps

A great city, very liveable and easy to get around. Very culturally diverse and cosmopolitan. How old are your kids?

There are some pretty boring dormitory towns though (very suburban). Would recommend renting first to get your head round where you would like to settle longer term.

Do go and visit though. I've only been there in the summer, but it seems very set-up for harsh winters. Downtown there's lots of underground access to buildings, between offices/malls etc.

Yes, you will love it but there is a bad thing about it: BEDBUGS. especially downtown