Side Trips

Toronto has plenty to offer visitors, but if you can afford to take the time to add a side trip, there are some excursions worth considering. Within just a 2-hour drive beyond the sprawling suburbs, you'll find pretty scenery, quaint towns, superb theater, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, and tempting culinary tourism destinations, including winery tours. Add another hour or so to your travel, and you'll be experiencing the wilderness of Algonquin Park.

Four of the best-known destinations are the theater town of Stratford, the wine region of Niagara-on-the-Lake and the unparalleled Niagara Falls, the great outdoors of Muskoka Lakes and Algonquin Park, and the rich culinary bounty of Prince Edward County.

For information about the areas surrounding Toronto, contact Ontario Tourism (tel. 800/ONTARIO [800/668-2746]; www.ontariotravel.net) or visit its travel information center in the Atrium on Bay (street level) at 20 Dundas St. W. -- it's just across Dundas Street from the Sears store at the northern edge of the Eaton Centre. It's open daily from 8:30am to 4:30pm; hours are extended during the summer, often to 8pm.