Toronto

Getting there

US passport required. That's it — no visa, no eTA, just a passport that isn't about to expire. Canada treats Americans the same way Americans treat Canadians, which is to say warmly but with a mandatory document check. Bring the passport. Don't forget the passport. Your driver's license will not get you on the plane.

Flying in: American (AA), Delta, United, and WestJet all run DFW–YYZ direct in roughly 3 hours. Pearson (YYZ) is the international airport, a 25-minute UP Express train ride to Union Station downtown ($12.35 CAD). Billy Bishop (YTZ) on Toronto Island is the downtown option on Porter Airlines — more expensive, vastly more civilized, and you land five minutes from your hotel on a ferry.

Phone: T-Mobile and Verizon both include Canada in their standard North America plans at this point — check your specific line before you fly. If you're on AT&T or anyone else, an eSIM from Airalo or Roam runs about $15 for a week of data and will save you from the surprise $80 roaming bill.

Money: Canadian dollars. Roughly $1 USD = $1.38 CAD this spring, which means everything feels about 25% off when you read the menu and then 25% more than you thought when the bill comes. Tap to pay is universal. ATMs are everywhere. You'll use cash maybe twice.

To the stadium: You do not drive to Toronto Stadium. No parking at Exhibition Place or in the surrounding neighborhoods on match days. TTC is running the 509 Harbourfront and 511 Bathurst streetcars every five minutes from June 7 through July 24, terminating at the new Fleet Street Transit Hub on match days. From Union Station it's a 15–20 minute ride. From Bathurst subway, transfer to the 511 southbound. GO Transit will run extra service from the suburbs. PRESTO card or a tap credit card — same as New York.

The fan zone

The official FIFA Fan Festival is split between Fort York National Historic Site and The Bentway — two connected spaces tucked under the Gardiner Expressway and across an old military parade ground, about a ten-minute walk east of the stadium. Up to 20,000 people a day, running from June 11 through July 19 on approximately 22 operational days (meaning not every single day — check the schedule). Big screens, live music, food vendors, free admission, every game of the tournament.

This is a better site than it sounds. The Bentway is a genuinely cool piece of urban design — a linear park stitched beneath a highway — and Fort York is a 43-acre historic site with real War of 1812 buildings on it. It's the kind of location you'd want to visit anyway, now with 40 screens and a DJ.

The 509 or 511 streetcar drops you there. Or walk from Bathurst Station — 15 minutes south.

Where to watch without tickets

Toronto's secret weapon is that every immigrant community brought its football with it, and the pubs map straight onto the neighborhoods. Pick your country, find its street.

• Cafe Diplomatico (College & Clinton, Little Italy) — The patio institution. 1968 vintage. Azzurri central when Italy plays; on other days it's just the best people-watching spot on College Street. Get the veal sandwich.
• Bar Hop (King West, 391 King St W) — Thirty-plus taps, every match on somewhere, the downtown default when you can't be bothered to pick a theme. Busy. Loud. Exactly what it should be.
• The Football Factory (Dundas West) — Toronto's take on the concept. Each national section has its corner; get there ninety minutes before kickoff for anything involving Portugal, England, Mexico, or Argentina.
• The Queen & Beaver Public House (Elm St, Downtown) — The English expat pub. Proper Sunday roast, proper pints, proper despair when England goes out on penalties. Calm, civilized. Book ahead for big matches.
• Churrasco of St. Clair (Corso Italia) — Not a pub, a chicken joint, but Portuguese matches here are an event. Televisions on, flags up, the smell of piri-piri. Watch the match, eat the chicken, walk it off along St. Clair.
• Bairrada Churrasqueira (Little Portugal, College & Ossington) — The other Portuguese option — rotisserie chicken and a TV crowd that rivals any stadium. Casual, cheap, correct.

Eat & drink

Toronto's food scene is the angle. This is the most multicultural city in North America by almost any measure, which means on a match day you can eat the cuisine of whoever is playing and still have three better options left over.

Caribbean: Get a doubles and a curry goat roti at Rasta Pasta (Kensington Market) or Gandhi Roti (Queen West). The Jamaican patty is Toronto's unofficial snack — grab one from Patty King on Bathurst or any bakery that looks right.

Portuguese: Churrasco chicken on St. Clair — Churrasco of St. Clair is the institution, but every corner place on Dundas West or St. Clair does a version. Order the full bird, get the piri-piri sauce, eat with your hands.

Dim sum: The serious move is driving up to Richmond Hill (20 min north) — Dragon Boat Fusion Cuisine or Casa Victoria — but downtown, Rol San on Spadina is loud, cheap, and correct.

Mexican: Yes, in Toronto. Seven Lives in Kensington Market does a fish taco that wouldn't embarrass anyone in Baja. Playa Cabana has four locations and is reliably good.

Vietnamese: Pho Hung on Spadina has been feeding Torontonians for decades. Banh Mi Boys on Queen West is the sandwich answer.

The Toronto move: Breakfast at Carousel Bakery inside the St. Lawrence Market — peameal bacon sandwich on a kaiser roll, the unofficial city food. Line out the door by 9am. Worth it.

Drinking: Canadian beer is mostly fine, local craft is genuinely good. Look for Steam Whistle (brewery right next to the stadium, tours available), Left Field, or Blood Brothers. Caesars — Canada's answer to the Bloody Mary, made with Clamato — are a rite of passage.

Things to do

CN Tower. Go. Do the EdgeWalk if you have the stomach and the budget. Go at sunset. It's touristy and it's worth it.

Toronto Islands. Ferry from Jack Layton Terminal, 15 minutes across the harbor. Rent bikes at Centre Island, ride to Hanlan's Point, swim if the weather's right. Best day off from soccer you can have.

Kensington Market. Walk it. Eat at four places. Buy a vintage jacket. Pass through on any off-day.

Distillery District. Pedestrianized Victorian industrial site, cobblestones, cocktail bars, patios. Evening move.

Royal Ontario Museum. Crystal-wrapped, genuinely good collections. The dinosaurs and the Asian galleries are the highlights.

Niagara Falls. 90 minutes by car or 2 hours by GO Transit from Union. Spectacular, kitschy, unavoidable. If you want the better view you have to cross into Niagara Falls, New York — which means a border crossing back into the US and then another one returning. Wait times can be 30 minutes or 3 hours. For a day trip, stay on the Canadian side.

St. Lawrence Market. Breakfast. Lunch. Anything. National Geographic once called it the best market in the world; on a Saturday morning it's hard to argue.

Neighborhoods to base yourself

If you're staying for one match, downtown (King West, Entertainment District, or Queen West) puts you walking distance to the stadium, the fan festival, and the best bars. If you're staying longer and want character, Little Italy, Ossington, or Roncesvalles give you the neighborhood-restaurant-and-patio version of Toronto. Cabbagetown for Victorian row houses and a slower pace. Avoid the far east end — beautiful beaches at the Beaches neighborhood, but a long trip back after a late match.

Toronto in June: 70s during the day, can spike to 85, humid, thunderstorms roll through fast and hard. Bring a light rain shell. Afternoon matches will be hot; evening matches are perfect.