If your team drew the Leafs or Raptors this playoff season and you’re thinking about coming up to Toronto to watch your team battle it out against ours, you can enjoy your stay here at the Strathcona Hotel, the official home for visiting fans.
The Strathcona Hotel is located at 60 York Street, right in the heart of downtown Toronto. You’ll be walking distance from Scotiabank Place (home of the Leafs and Raptors) and close to many of the best things to do while you’re not watching your team play ours.
Before game day
The Strathcona Hotel is steps from the CN Tower, and if you’ve never been up to the top, you should really go. This time of year offers great views of the city’s spring bloom, and if you’re really brave you can walk on the glass floor, look down and try to keep your vertigo in check. While you’re at the top of the city, book a table at The 360, the tower’s revolving restaurant. Over the course of a meal, you’ll get to see the city from every angle.
If heights aren’t your thing and you’d prefer to keep your feet on the ground, you can explore the best of Toronto by foot from the Strathcona. Of particular note is the newly renovated Union Station (Toronto’s main train station), and the strip on John Street lined with pubs, bars, restaurants and people to watch. At the top of John Street is Grange Park, another newly renovated Toronto feature featuring one of the most peaceful greens downtown. And at the top of the park is the Art Gallery of Ontario where you can check out one of Canada’s best collections.
Game day
Everything you’ve heard about Canadians being polite is true. You’ll have no problem walking around town sporting your team’s colours (we encourage diversity here). We recommend starting off at the Strath Pub right here in the hotel. It’s one of Toronto’s most underrated sports bars and you’ re sure to find someone to talk stats with here (and if not, the bartenders will happily engage). The beer’s cold, the food’s hot and the TVs are accessible.
From the Strath, head down York Street towards the arena, but give yourself some time for a beer or two on Bremner Blvd where playoff fever is alive and well. The bars and pubs are all into the action and the fans are rabid. The arena is at the east end of Bremner, but to get in, you’ll have to move through the swatch of fans without tickets who congregate in Maple Leaf Square to watch the game on the giant outdoor screens (Maple Leaf Square is renamed Jurassic Park for Raptors games). Some people say it’s more fun to be there than in the arena — but we’re sure they’d change their tune if they had tickets.
Post-game
If and when your team loses, come back to the Strath pub to drown your sorrows. We’ll be here waiting for you with a cold beer and shoulder to cry on.