Toronto

Toronto is Canada's largest city and financial capital, a famously multicultural metro where more than half the population was born outside Canada, a fact locals cite with real pride. It sits on Lake Ontario and runs colder and more reserved than its size suggests, closer in pace to a mid-sized European city than to nearby New York. Unlike Montreal's French-first culture, Toronto operates almost entirely in English despite the city's ethnic diversity.

Peameal bacon sandwiches, made with a cornmeal-crusted pork loin rather than American-style bacon, are a local specialty best found at St. Lawrence Market. The city's size and diversity mean genuinely excellent food from nearly every immigrant community, particularly Chinese, Caribbean, and South Asian kitchens. Winters run long and serious here, many downtown buildings connect through the PATH underground walkway to avoid the cold.