FALL FOR TORONTO

WITH cool neighbourhoods, spectacular attractions and a feast of food and drink to savour, Toronto is a city offering every kind of travel adventure.

- SAYS RICHARD GARNETT

BLOWN AWAY: The mighty Niagara Falls

So when Sir Richard Branson resumed Virgin Atlantic's daily direct flight service from London Heathrow to Toronto Pearson in April for the first time in a decade, he declared he was delighted to return to a “city with so much spirit and energy”.

Not only a thriving financial hub, it’s one of the most diverse cities in the world, which prides itself on being home to citizens from 230 countries, speaking 140 different languages.

Sports fans have plenty to celebrate too, as the city is home to an array of pro teams including the Toronto Maple Leafs ice-hockey team, which dates back more than a century, and Toronto Raptors basketball team - Canadian rapper Drake is a super fan. There's also baseball with the Blue Jays, Canadian football with the Argonauts, and soccer with Toronto FC.

Next year Toronto will stage six matches at the FIFA World Cup 26, including Canada’s opener at Toronto Stadium on June 12.

Canada’s largest city sits upon the shore of the enormous Lake Ontario, creating a coastal illusion with giant skyscrapers dominating the skyline.

Amid the glass and steel highrises are reminders of Toronto's industrial past. None more so than 145 Front Street East, where you will find the Toronto Packing House once occupied by William Davies & Co. This shot to prominence in 1868 as a meatpacking business that became the largest pork packer in the British Empire.

It is claimed that at one time, for every person in Toronto, there were 10,000 hogs, earning the city the nickname "Hogtown", William Davies would eventually meet his maker in 1921 when he was butted by a goat, so perhaps the millions of slaughtered animals had the last laugh after all.