The city’s most instantly recognisable symbol, it remains a hugely popular visitor attraction. Gaze out at the view from what is still the tallest free-standing structure in the western hemisphere.

A huge, all-encompassing gem of a museum, it focuses mainly on world cultures and natural history, with exhibitions on everything from dinosaurs to Canada’s First Peoples.

Billed as ‘North America’s only castle’, this Gothic Revival-style mansion was built only a century ago by a local financier. The house and gardens remain an enjoyable visitor attraction.

Open since late 2013 and occupying a plum downtown location, this is the largest indoor aquarium in Canada with more than 5 million litres of marine and freshwater habitats.

A comprehensive zoo with a substantial conservation programme, it has more than 5,000 animals from various corners of the world.

Open since the 1960s – and originally one of the world’s first look-and-touch interactive museums – the centre has modernised to offer plenty to the modern visitor.

Standing behind a strikingly modern facade designed by Frank Gehry, this excellent gallery has a collection of 80,000 works spanning various continents, styles and centuries.

A museum and hall of fame in one, this perennially popular attraction details the history of Canada’s favourite sport. It’s heaven for fans, and interesting for those curious about the local passion.

One of Toronto’s – indeed Canada’s – quirkiest attractions, the museum follows the steps of footwear from ancient Egyptian footwear to high-heeled fashion accessories. Its tagline is ‘For the Curious’.

A summer magnet for families and g-force lovers, this is a large-scale theme park with rides including Leviathan, Vortex, Shockwave and Behemoth. Planet Snoopy is on hand for younger visitors.

Does what the name suggests, and in some style, serving up everything from oak-aged gin martinez to guajillo margarita.

A mecca for craft beer fans, this small-batch brewer has an ever-changing list of beers on tap – there’s food too.

A rooftop patio aimed at a classy, mature crowd – the name stands for ‘Everything for Sale’.

Where to head for a lively house/techno experience, with regular international and local DJs.

A laid-back wine bar, perfect for those who enjoy a decent tipple without dressing to the nines.

Set within the Shangri La Hotel, this offers quality fine dining.

Long one of Toronto’s best, with elegant French cuisine.

A Portuguese restaurant with an excellent reputation for its seafood.

A much acclaimed neighbourhood restaurant with inventive dishes.

A cheese-themed menu makes it a winner with families.

“Leib” is the Estonian word for black bread. The atmosphere and food at the Leib is as simple, fresh and honest as that traditional food itself: On the menu, you’ll find traditional Estonian dishes, like cauliflower soup with cheese, lamb with stout sauerkraut, as well as crème brûlée on – guess what? – black bread. Chef Jano Lepik and sommelier Kristjan Peäske offer haute cuisine made from regional produce, their own home-smoked fish, and meat they barbecue in the restaurant garden – where a cozy terrace beckons in the summer.

This cozy restaurant in the old town serves magical dishes conjured from fresh produce. For starters, you can order mild smoked herring served warm on cottage cheese – an Estonian classic that tastes particularly good here. Most of the dishes are presented with such artistry that you almost feel you shouldn’t eat them. Happily, your appetite will ultimately win the day. After all, who would willingly send back an avocado salad with zucchini pasta?

What the chefs at this vegan restaurant (hence the “V”) cook up without resorting to meat or dairy products borders on sorcery: creamy apple, cucumber and mint soup, celeriac schnitzel with fresh beansprouts, pasta with frittered tofu and black beans, and for dessert: berry cake on a chocolate base. Right next door at the Rataskaevu, the owner of the “V” runs two more restaurants: the Aed (garden) and the Vanaema Juures (grandmother’s living room). There, too, you will find excellent classic Estonian treats, like roast beef with fried potatoes, and kama, a dessert made from rolled oats and yoghurt.

Take the streetcar over to Kadriorg, the museum and park district with all the quaint wooden houses and you will soon find yourself outside the Nop café. At 8 a.m. on weekdays, the café starts serving super-healthy breakfasts, like homemade smoothies, toasted muesli on yoghurt and sinfully sweet potato pancakes – all organic, all delicious and all lovingly prepared. In the adjoining shop, you can stock up on provisions for a walk to the castle or any other outings you may have in mind.

Never enjoyed a snack in an old factory building? Well, it’s about time you did, and on the former industrial site on Telliskivi Street that’s rapidly gaining a name for itself as a creative campus, Telliskivi Loomelinnak, you can. Not only have design and fashion stores moved in here, but also unusual restaurants, like the F-Hoone in building F, where, beneath a ceiling five meters high, patrons can tuck into traditional fare, like solyanka and borsht, or a salad with grilled goat’s cheese and fig chutney. Prices here are very fair.

A few hundred meters outside the old town walls, the otherwise picturesque Tallinn takes on a few rough edges – down by the harbor, for instance. There, at the stylish Klaus restaurant, you can order tasty snacks, like quinoa salad with beetroot and pomegranate seeds or a pulled pork sandwich of surprising proportions laced with hummus and mustard dressing. If you like, you can also browse the Estonian arts and crafts in the adjoining concept store, which also stocks some nice clothes.

A whacky place that was famous for its superb cuisine even in the Soviet era. The restaurant is built on a small hill beside Tallinn Bay. On the other side of the 25-meter-long window front, you have an excellent view of the Baltic, with just a few trees in between. The lounge music in the background is perfect, the cocktails are served in copper beakers, and the food is sensational. Take the Caesar’s Salad, for instance, which resembles a shaggy green tennis ball. The mashed potato accompanying the fish main course comes inside a caramelized leek, and the tiramisu for dessert is as flat as a pancake and arranged at the edge of the plate. It’s definitely a good idea to reserve a table.

Amber jewelry makes a perfect Lithuanian souvenir. Amber is fossilized resin and comes in variety of shades, ranging from white to dark brown. it can be opaque or transparent. Pieces with embedded insects and plant material are particularly fascinating. There’s a long tradition of amber craftsmanship in Lithuania.

The gallery and “art incubator” are located at the entrance to Užupis, the picturesque artists’ district, which has often been compared to Paris’s Montmartre and the Christiania settlement in Copenhagen. In Soviet times, Užupis was quite run down, but many artists moved into the cheap buildings there after Lithuania gained independence and gradually cleaned up and improved the area. Užupis has since been declared an artists’ republic and has its own national anthem and constitution. If you wish, you can record your entry into the republic by having your passport stamped.

The university was established in 1579 and counts among Europe’s oldest. Several Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque buildings spread across an entire neighborhood belong to the university, which is dominated by the tallest, the 68-meter-high bell tower. The medieval heart of the university comprises 13 inner courtyards framed by arcades and galleries. The library, with its magnificent reading rooms, is also truly worth seeing. Today, the university has 12 faculties, seven institutes and four study and research centers with over 20 000 students.

The medieval Jewish quarter surrounding the Great Synagogue on Žydų Street was cordoned off with barbed wire following the German invasion of Lithuania in September 1941, and initially became the small, then later the large ghetto, in which approximately 30 000 people were penned up. By the time the ghetto was evacuated in 1943, most of them had been shot dead and the survivors deported to Latvia and Estonia.

Džiugas, a hard cheese that matures for between 12 and 48 months, is one of the most popular Lithuanian specialties. Full-flavored and aromatic, its slightly salty flavor goes perfectly with red wine. At the Džiugas shop, you can also purchase other Lithuanian delicacies.

Typical Lithuanian dishes – various combinations of potatoes and meat, often with creamy mushroom sauces – are what you will find on the menu here. The decor is rustic, the atmosphere warm and welcoming, and the place is almost always full.

This restaurant is housed in a historical building in the old town. It serves mainly traditional Lithuanian fare and a wide selection of Lithuanian beers, including what comes out of its own microbrewery.

Every week, breweries from all over Lithuania deliver their best draught beers to this pub – 18 different kinds in all, so there should be one to suit every taste. In addition to these, the menu also includes around 100 imported beer labels. And if hunger strikes, you won’t be disappointed on that score, either.

The Drake Hotel has established itself as a lively mix of local trendy hangout and laid-back urban boutique hotel with just 19 attractive rooms, each with a different decor. For locals, it’s the most important meeting place in the neighborhood thanks to its program of live acts, well-frequented rooftop bar and excellent café on the ground floor. Bonus: Next to the reception desk, there’s a retro passport photo machine that’s a huge hit with Toronto’s partygoers.

Hip new restaurant serving modern Canadian fare with a good range of vegan and vegetarian options. As you sit in the large and elaborately designed dining room, you can’t help noticing that no expense was spared on the interior designer’s fee. If you’re lucky enough to have Martin from Jena in Germany waiting at your table, you can also look forward to some particularly honest and competent views on the wine list.

The neighborhood regards Doc as its philosopher and conscience. His two-story mix of motorcycle leathergoods shop, retro memorabilia and photo museum – he snaps anyone wearing a biker vest and hangs the photos on the wall for posterity – is a popular haunt for locals with a particular fascination for all things biking-related.

At this “brilliant little chocolate box for bibliophiles,” there’s a family atmosphere and a clearly organized, because rigorously curated, selection of books. The store simply wishes not to present its clients with printed trash. So it somehow makes sense that the booksellers themselves also write. Derek McCormack for one has just published a splendid collection of short stories.

Since 2008, the young designer Lawrence Blairs has been running the colorful, but style-themed furniture design store Atomic Design, which specializes in Canadian contemporary and mid-century design. Available articles include pieces by Ray & Charles Eames, Ingo Maurer and Victor Vasarely.

A temple for paper lovers. This store will even order the favorite material of designers, graphic artists and illustrators is occasionally from Japan, if the customer so wishes. From paper flowers to elegant coffee-table books, this is the place to find the most beautiful paper.

Soul food at this eatery means Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean cuisine with a modern twist. But we wouldn’t be in Toronto if it weren’t also about making a stand: “We want to celebrate the city’s ethnic and cultural diversity.” Our tip: Try the southern fried chicken and waffle …

Extremely laid-back hangout with a carelessly funky decor that since 2006 has earned itself a loyal clientele with regular DJ events and live gigs – lots of drag and burlesque, but also karaoke. Best come lightly dressed because the place is small, so it’s very, very communicative.

Before Jeff Brodawka opened his extraordinary shoe boutique in Toronto four years ago, the man with a degree in industrial design worked for John Fluevog in Vancouver. No wonder, then, that his product portfolio is very different from those of “normal” shoe stores. Sometimes garish, sometimes classic, often a little provocative, his shoes all have one thing in common: top handcrafted quality. One of his quotes tells us where his creative inspiration comes from: “When I was in London, seeing my first Paul Smith store was a revelation.”

Aside from designer Angela Phung’s The Store in Queen (719 West Queen West), Fawn, Kasha Bilobram’s original vintage-style boutique, has since 2007 established itself as a prime address for unusual women’s fashion. Fawn is often the first address for Asian and American upcoming labels, such as In God We Trust, Uzi, Markoo, and A Detacher by Polish designer Monika Kowalska.