British Expats - In and around Toronto

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- - In and around Toronto (https://britishexpats.com/forum/canada-56/around-toronto-599226/)

Re: In and around Toronto

I looked at Oakville, very England and seeing as I'd moved to Canada I wanted to immerse myself in a more diverse environment. So, Aurora it was, 50 minutes to Downtown via the 400 during rush hour and lot's of lovely nature trails on one hand and 10 minutes to Upper Canada Mall; good schools, doctors, dentists and 10 minutes to South Lake hospital. Multi-cultural, I'd say so, where I live there is a mixture of 2nd/3rd generation Canadians, many other nationalities who have settled here over the last year to ten years. Plenty of sports centres, baseball diamonds, cinema, restaurants etc. During winter not too far from Blue Mountain Ski resort of Ski Snow Valley up in Barrie. So far, so good!

Find a good Realtor, have a discussion about what you want regarding your work/lifestyle choices. You'll know what's right for you when you visit the towns in the GTA.

Best of British!

Re: In and around Toronto

I would say it depends what you want.

There are cities within a city and smaller centers around Toronto aswell. Also it depends what region your looking in York, Durham ect...

York

Richmond hill - is a smaller-ish city that is about a 30-45 min commute. It's connected to the subway system via Finch which is the main route. Also it has it's own mall and is close to York U Campus.

Vaughan - Is close to Canada's Wonderland but it less developed because they're just now building suburbain communities. The bus system is less reliable and complicated the commute is somewat longer and the small is about 20 mins away.

Although if your looking to settle within larger cities I would reccomend Mississauga or Scarborough.

Re: In and around Toronto

It seems a bit tragic to avoid the best parts of Toronto by deliberately planning to live an hour outside it. :confused:

As others have noted, even a few basic criteria would allow more informed suggestions about where to look.

Re: In and around Toronto

East of Toronto along the lake and access to 401 or GO Train.

Scarborough
Pickering
Ajax
Whitby (where my parents immigrated too)
Oshawa.(GO train stops here)
up north. is Brooklin, Port Perry(where i grew up), Markham, Newmarket,Aurora,(no trains but can take Hwy 400, and 401 to DonValleyPkway)

further east I prefer..nice areas as well.

Bowmanville
Port HOpe
Cobourg (amazing beach in the summer, go here often)

Not so used to the west side of Toronto..

MIssausauga
Brampton
good luck in your search

Re: In and around Toronto

Quote:

Originally Posted by gdug1 (Post 7411712)

Guys
Let me qualify my original question as it was rather open ended and I didn't really intend to spark a debate about the merits of Oakville :huh:. I'm looking for information sources on Toronto and surrounding areas (within approx 1 hour commute). The best source I have found is www.settlement.org which gives quite good community maps however the web sites it links to for each area are geared to attracting new businesses and not really to informing on the factors important to a family relocating to Canada from the UK.

Are there any good sources of information on the web which provide more detail relevant to family life such as schools, transport links, medical care, shopping, places of attraction, sports etc? Thanks

I would encourage you to give more thought to moving within Toronto. Etobicoke is very nice and within easy reach of downtown via car or TTC.

You might wish to pop out to Ajax, Pickering, Bolton, Port Credit or Stouffville.

If you want to work downtown you should consider commuting via the GO train or driving to an outlying subway station such as Finch or Wilson, parking and getting the train (Toronto Transit Commission) down.

Finally, why not avoid commuting altogether? check out Leaside around Bayview & Eglinton or the Yonge & Eglinton area. Very nice. Lots of Brits there and lots to do.

Re: In and around Toronto

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digidot (Post 7412432)

Richmond hill - is a smaller-ish city that is about a 30-45 min commute. It's connected to the subway system via Finch which is the main route. Also it has it's own mall and is close to York U Campus.

RH is at about 175,000 at last count. It is not a city, but rather a town. It is connected to the subway system, which terminates at Finch, by a bus ride or a car journey to the parking lot, which isn't quite the same thing. It has several malls (more's the pity) and is convenient for the York U campus, while not being close to it at all.

Other than that, I agree.