Toronto is Canada’s most expensive city and sits in the upper-middle tier internationally — cheaper than New York or London, more than Montreal or Chicago.
Two things inflate the bill in ways visitors do not expect.
The tax is not on the price
Ontario charges 13 per cent HST and it is added at the till, not included in the displayed price. This applies to almost everything — restaurant meals, hotel rooms, shop goods.
A $20 restaurant main is $22.60 before service. A $200 hotel room is $226 plus a municipal accommodation tax on top.
Basic groceries are exempt.
The tip is not optional
15 to 20 per cent in restaurants and bars is the firm convention, and card terminals prompt for it. Some calculate the suggested percentages on the post-tax total, which quietly adds a couple of points.
Between tax and tip, a menu price of $20 becomes about $26 in practice. Budget accordingly.
The currency
The Canadian dollar. Canada is largely cashless — cards and contactless work everywhere including transit and market stalls.
There is no one-dollar or two-dollar note; they are coins, the loonie and toonie.
Daily budgets
Per person per day, excluding flights:
- Frugal: hostel or shared apartment, TTC two-hour transfers, groceries and Kensington Market lunches, free galleries and parks.
- Comfortable: mid-range hotel, restaurant dinners, a museum or two, UP Express from the airport.
- Generous: downtown hotel, King West and Ossington restaurants, a Leafs game, taxis.
What is free
Kensington Market, Chinatown, the Distillery District, Graffiti Alley and 401 Richmond’s galleries.
High Park, Trinity Bellwoods, the Scarborough Bluffs, the ravine system, the waterfront trail and the Evergreen Brick Works site.
Nathan Phillips Square and the winter skating rinks. High Park Zoo. Nuit Blanche in October.
Several museums run free or discounted evenings; the arrangements change, so check.
Where the money goes
Accommodation, which is the dominant cost and spikes hard during TIFF in September and over Caribana weekend.
Restaurants, after tax and tip.
The CN Tower and Casa Loma are the expensive standard attractions. The AGO annual pass costs about two single admissions and is available to visitors, which makes it the obvious buy if you are staying a few days.
Sports tickets — a Maple Leafs game is among the most expensive in the NHL. The Marlies, the Blue Jays and Toronto FC are all a fraction.
Transit
Cheap and good value: one tap gives two hours of unlimited travel including transfers and return trips. Work out whether a day pass beats that before buying one.
The UP Express from Pearson costs more than a TTC fare and much less than a taxi. The 900 bus to Kipling plus subway is a single TTC fare.
Seasons
Summer and September are peak. TIFF week is the most expensive of the year.
January to March are cheapest by a wide margin, and Toronto in winter is a perfectly good trip — see winter in Toronto.
The specific traps
Card terminals that suggest a tip on the post-tax total. The difference is small per transaction and adds up. Nobody minds if you enter a custom amount on the pre-tax figure.
Hotel parking, charged nightly downtown at a rate that surprises people.
Mobile data, which is expensive in Canada by international standards — an eSIM bought before travelling is usually much cheaper than roaming.
The UP Express for a single traveller when the 900 bus plus subway costs one TTC fare and takes twenty minutes longer.
A realistic four-day sum
Two people, mid-range hotel in the Annex, TTC throughout, the AGO annual pass, one CN Tower ticket each, eating a mix of Kensington counters and west-end restaurants, one day at Niagara by GO Transit: Toronto lands below New York and around Chicago, with the tax and tip adding roughly a quarter to every menu price.
What is worth paying for
If you are economising, do it on the CN Tower rather than the museums. The AGO and the ROM are genuinely major institutions and the AGO’s annual pass costs about two admissions.
The island ferry is a few dollars and gives you the best view of the city there is.
Conversely, Casa Loma and the CN Tower are the two most expensive standard tickets, and neither is essential — the tower’s view is available for the price of a coffee from several rooftop bars.
Sports, if you want them
The Maple Leafs have among the most expensive tickets in the NHL and sell out regardless of how the season is going. The Raptors are similar.
Much cheaper: the Toronto Marlies in the AHL, the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre — baseball tickets start very low — and Toronto FC in MLS. All three are proper live sport at a fraction of the price.