Lights, camera, explore - The Jewish Chronicle

Forget Hollywood. For film buffs, all eyes are turning further north to Toronto, with the annual International Film Festival running from September 8-18.

Second only to Cannes in terms of big names and high-profile movies, this year's schedule includes several major premieres featuring Jewish actors, ranging from Snowden, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, to Rachel Weisz in Denial, the story of historian Deborah Lipstadt, who faced a courtroom battle to prove the Holocaust took place.

But the festival is far from Toronto's only temptation. From the flourishing arts scene to its unusual multicultural mix and beautiful setting on Lake Ontario, there's plenty to discover in this city that's home to Canada's largest Jewish population. Here are our highlights.

The art

Within its Frank Gehry-designed exterior, the Art Gallery of Ontario (ago.net) is currently showing a series of iconic Lawren Harris northern landscapes, along with its unusual collection of contemporary Inuit art and the world's largest collection of Henry Moore sculpture.

Getting there

Air Canada and British Airways both fly direct from Heathrow, but with up to 10 new flights per week from the UK to Toronto in 2016 alone, there's plenty of choice with returns costing from around £375 during September.
Air Canada rouge added a new route from London Gatwick in May, as well as a summer route from Glasgow until September 25. Returns from £343.
Air Transat also flies direct from several airports including Manchester from around £385 during September.

Or pick from the museums around the northern edge of the University of Toronto. The Bata Shoe Museum (batashoemuseum.ca) celebrates the design of footwear through the ages with more than 13,500 items in the collection, while the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art (gardinermuseum.on.ca) features ancient south and central American ceramics, plus Asian and European porcelain.

The controversial Daniel Libeskind glass addition to the nearby Royal Ontario Museum (rom.on.ca) still divides residents, but the new exhibition Tattoos: Ritual. Identity. Obsession. Art. has received rave reviews, tracing the 5,000-year history of tattooing, along with separate special collections of Japanese prints and vivid glass art.

Visit on October 1, and you can enjoy Nuit Blanche too, a contemporary art event transforming the city's streets and parks with exhibitions and live performances.

Cutting-edge design

Galleries featuring local painters and emerging artists dot arty Queen Street West, but The Junction (thejunctionbia.ca) is taking the crown for edgy design in its converted industrial and warehouse spaces, thanks to three interiors shops: Post + Beam Reclamation, Forever Interiors and Smash.

Or trace the city's design through the ages with an architecture tour (torontoarchitecturetours.com) from the grandiose Old City Hall, whose architect signed his name on the façade, to the "spaceship"on Nathan Phillips Square and quirky OCAD University building, a white and black spotted box balanced on brightly coloured stilts.

A view with history

The CN Tower celebrates its 40th birthday this year, and while it may have lost its title of world's tallest building to Dubai's Burj Khalifa, it still offers some fabulous panoramas of Toronto. Head to 360 restaurant to skip the queues for the views and eat as you gaze, with local ingredients such as Atlantic smoked salmon.

Get your heart racing with a walk across the tower's glass floor, or head to the SkyPod, one of the highest observation platforms in the world at 447 metres high. For even more of a thrill, try an EdgeWalk (edgewalkcntower.ca), strapping on a harness and stepping out onto the platform 356 metres up.

The foodie paradise

Toronto's multicultural side ensures there's something for everyone's taste. Almost half the city's population was born outside Canada, so you can nosh your way around the world while staying happily within Toronto itself. As well as Chinatown, Little India and Little Italy, you'll discover unusual fusion cuisine plus plenty of traditional favourites.

The 200-year-old St Lawrence's Market is snacking heaven - try St Urbain bagels, baked on-site, or the Portuguese tarts from Churrasco of St Clair. At Kensington Market (kensington-market.ca), you can find everything from veggie empanadas to Asian foods.

Or head to the Distillery District (thedistillerydistrict.com), where the restored Victorian-era industrial buildings feature local craft beers and history on the drinkable anti-freeze manufactured during the Prohibition - thankfully no longer on the menu. For more tastings and brewing heritage, the new Toronto Rail & Ale Beer Tour, which launched this summer, explores the city with plenty of stops to sip.

Hit the water

Beautiful Lake Ontario is unmissable, whether you'd prefer to gaze, sunbathe or explore. The Toronto Island Ferry services lead out to the peaceful islands for a tranquil escape and classic clapboard houses, with separate harbour tours taking you around the waterfront.

And half an hour outside the city centre are the beaches - hop on one of the classic streetcars to discover the 3km boardwalk running from Balmy Beach by the art deco water filtration plant to the busier Kew and Woodbine beaches.

Explore the castle

Designed in Gothic Revival style, Casa Loma (casaloma.org) may not be a traditional European fortress or palace but its ostentatious grandeur is certainly worth a visit. Created for Sir Henry Pellatt from 1911 to 1914, the stables have marble floors, there are 98 rooms, secret passages and some stunning gardens to wander around.

A walk in the park

The Toronto Music Garden's meandering paths were inspired by Bach's Suite No 1 in G Major, with each section of the garden representing a different dance movement. Designed by cellist Yo Yo Ma, you can follow the paths on the waterfront from the formal flower garden for the stately Minuet before wandering through wildflowers for the faster Courante.