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The joy of spending the weekend in a city like Toronto is that you're going to be out all day long. There are fantastic restaurants; cool shopping streets; and a generally walkable heart of the city where you can bop from museums to vintage stores to Portuguese bakeries without missing a beat.
In looking for a place to stay, then, I've come to realize over repeat visits that there is one obvious route for me. There are great hotels (like the one-year-old Ace Hotel Toronto), but prices start around $230 per night. And knowing from experience how little time I spend “at home” while in the city, I really just need a convenient, clean, quiet base where I can walk out the front door in the morning and conk out peacefully each night. So, on an October trip, I looked to Airbnb—and found a two-story modern loft, right on King Street in the center of downtown, that checked all the right boxes.
The photos confirmed a few essential facts: Bright light streaming in. Colorful but not tiresome decor. Impeccable cleanliness. Space for four people, across two rooms, at a cost of $250 per night. And an average 4.96 rating out of 5 stars. Say no more.
Arrival was easy—and not only because I flew Porter Airlines from New York, which drops you at the ultra-convenient Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport downtown—thanks to a lockbox and clear instructions for getting in. It's especially easy to self check-in since this rental is within a big, new apartment building. Even though I'm partial to the charm of older or historic buildings wherever I go, I had looked long and hard for a centrally located bay-and-gable to no avail. The ease with which I could key fob my way into the building, ride the elevator up, and drop my luggage, with no coordinating needed, confirmed I'd made the right choice for my quick city trip. It was, for all intents and purposes, a downtown hotel at a friendlier price.
Throughout the weekend, I zipped between this loft and countless corners of the city. I walked the short 10 minutes up to Ossington, where I spent way too much money at delightfully moody wine bar (and bottle shop) Club Paris and waxed poetic about the nahm jim–topped Thai style oysters at Favorites Thai BBQ. Another 15 minutes north, past the scent—and line—that confirms Pizzeria Badiali is legit, I filled my reusable shopping bags with curated used clothing from Shoppu on College, before tasting and buying some triple-creme at La Fromagerie a couple doors down. I perused a section spotlighting Indigenous Canadian authors at Flying Books in the afternoon, and—when one martini turned into another at Poetry Jazz Cafe on Queen St W, I was pleased to realize I was, still, walking distance from the loft. (If I had made it on my morning run the next day, I probably would have loved the proximity to the waterfront. The blueberry ricotta pancakes at Mildred's, just one block away, were even better.)
There were a few quirks that I wish I had known when booking. This Toronto Airbnb is a better deal than mid-range downtown hotels—but only if you need two beds or two rooms. I was with one friend, and we liked that, instead of sharing one bed in a hotel, we each had our own space. But the Airbnb versus hotel calculation really depends on the number of people you have, and the price for your travel days. (Clicking through dates, I see this rental hits $334 per night on some, which I wouldn't personally pay for the space; but the $182/night possibility is a steal.) The place is great for traveling with people you're close to, because that “loft” detail not only means bedrooms share airspace with the living room, but they aren't fully enclosed from one another. You can be in one bedroom and stick your head out, over the living room area, to wave to your friend on the other bed. Cute, sure, but blurring the definition of “two rooms,” if you ask me.
But, the extra space—a balcony, a roomy living room, a full kitchen you can cook in—was nice to have, even though we were hardly there. We slept well each night so we could hit the ground every day and, ultimately, felt like we lived in a more convenient location in Toronto than we'll ever be able to afford in New York. Ultimately, that's what we were after—I'd stay again for exactly the same reason.
