The prices on-line are deceiving. I checked all those places and more, and the prices for the dates I am going are much higher. I spent much of the afternoon yesterday working on this and finally ended up booking at the Chelsea. It's got so-so ratings but with the dollar conversion I got two rooms for less than $200/nite. That's as good as I'm going to do trying to stay downtown. My friend left the arrangements up to me, but she's okay with it, she knows it's $$$. I guess I just got sticker shock, I haven't travelled for leisure in a while and didn't realize everything jumped up that much.

I used to go to Toronto a lot when I was younger, had friends there, but so much has changed since then. I'm going to do touristy things, since when I used to go it was mainly to visit friends and hang out, go to the waterfront and shopping and stuff like that. So I'm no help with recs, Lars LOL! I need them myself. I'd like to go to the theater but will have to investigate what's showing and where. Chinatown on Spadina used to be great with all the shops and restaurants, even nightclubs but I read somewhere a lot of that has changed, it's not what it used to be. We will definitely find someplace for dim sum, though. And the shopping in the fashion district back in the day! I wonder if that's still the same. My friend isn't a shopper, though, so I'll skip that this trip.

Maybe do a dm or shout out to Toronto Vet?

The Chelsea in a great location if you're going to want to be around there for theatres or hospitals, and it's got very easy access to transit. An average hotel, but that sounds like a great price. Like many major capital cities, hotels prices are high and you often can't get a Comfort Inn for less the $200 a night.

If I was recommending what to do in Toronto on a visit, and you're not in the city for any particular festival or event, I'd recommend someone consider:

Theatre - there are big Broadway road shows in the Mirvish theatres, the Canadian Opera Company, and also some excellent small theatres like Soulpepper, Canadian Stage, Tarragon, and Factory Theatre.

Art/Museums: Art Gallery of Ontario, Royal Ontario Museum, MOCA, or even the Bata Shoe Museum. Outside of downtown, the Aga Khan Museum is small but really nice.

Neighbourhoods for lunch and (window) shopping: Distillery District, The Beach, or Chinatown & Kensington Market.

Saturdays, definitely go to see the St. Lawrence Market, which is split into 2 venues beside each other - one is open Tuesday-Sunday with permanent vendors, the other only on Saturdays with temporary and seasonal vendors. So on Saturday you can see both.

Ripley's Aquarium. I'm a sucker for aquariums, and it's a good one.

It seems that hotel rates in most urban, city center areas have gone up considerably in the last 5 years. Both domestically and abroad.

We visit the GTA but on,y occasionally go downtown. I do like going to Centre Island and Wards Island, kinda fun to stroll around and we had a nice lunch there.

I’ve been visiting since I married my husband, and it has definitely changed in nearly 40 years. It used to be like a clean and tidy version of Chicago, now the tables seem to have turned, and the traffic is horrendous. We are going in October and downtown, it will be the first time we are downtown with a car. Still have to find a hotel, near the AGO.

TorontoVet, our niece lives in the Distillery District, she really likes it.

Very helpful post, TorontoVet -- lots of recs to think about, thank you! I will check out those theater venues to see what's playing when we're in town. I love the Bata shoe museum, have been there a couple of times, always a good exhibition.

Sounds like I did ok choosing the Chelsea. As long as it's clean I can deal, although some reviews said rooms don't come with a mini-fridge, which nowadays is unusual. Maybe I can pay to have them bring one up, which I used to all the time when it was atypical for rooms to have a mini-fridge (read: back in the day...). But location is what's it's about this trip, so sounds like we're all set there.

ETA: The comment about the Comfort Inn made me chuckle -- even the Holiday Inn Express downtown was over $300 CAD/nite!!!

" Maybe I can pay to have them bring one up "

Probably - maybe they figure if you're willing to pay to have one, you're less likely to do anything stupid to it.