Shangri-la Toronto

Shangri-la Toronto

Check-in is 4pm, and the room, set somewhere between the sixth and seventeenth floor of this 66-floor tower, already does its work through floor-to-ceiling windows over the Financial and Entertainment District, with the CN Tower, Rogers Centre and City Hall within walking distance and the Art Gallery of Ontario and Yonge Street a short walk past that. It is a six-minute walk from Queen Street West, and closer still to Osgoode, Roy Thomson Hall and the Royal Alexandra Theatre, all close enough to reach on foot before a show starts. Inside, the 202 rooms and suites run to marble bathrooms with deep soaking tubs and rainforest showers, and the rooms themselves are soundproofed, with air conditioning and heating throughout. There is an indoor pool, a spa tub, a sauna, a steam room, massage treatments and a gym, plus a 24-hour business center and a conference hall for anyone who flew in for the meeting rather than the skyline. What sets it apart from the other downtown towers is smaller than a view: staff here speak Turkish as well as English, a detail that will matter enormously to the right guest and not at all to most others. Pets are welcome throughout. That same fine print asks for a deposit of 500 CAD a day, settled by bank transfer or card since cash is not accepted, worth knowing before arrival rather than after. This suits the guest who wants downtown Toronto handled with efficiency and a good bathtub, not the one hoping for a small, low-rise hush. Shangri-La Toronto occupies floors six through seventeen of a 66-floor downtown tower, steps from Roy Thomson Hall and the CN Tower, with marble bathrooms, an indoor pool and, unusually, Turkish-speaking staff. Good for downtown efficiency and a deep soaking tub, less so for anyone wanting a quiet low-rise.