Tap to ride. Tap a bank card, phone or PRESTO card on any TTC reader: C$3.30 a ride, with a two-hour transfer tied to whatever you tapped, so tap the same one each time. Cash is C$3.35 with no transfer. A day pass is C$13.50; a plastic PRESTO card is C$4, a digital one free.
The UP Express. Pearson to Union in 28 minutes, every 15 minutes: C$12.35 on a ticket, around C$9 when you tap PRESTO or a bank card, children 12 and under free. The TTC alternative, the 900 bus to Kipling and Line 2, is one C$3.30 fare and about an hour.
The island ferry. Boats leave the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal at 9 Queens Quay West; the adult round trip is C$9.57; buy online for the express line. Ward’s Island runs all year from 6:30 a.m.; Centre Island and Hanlan’s Point only from mid-April to mid-October. On summer weekends the Centre Island line runs 30 to 60 minutes from mid-morning and again after 5 p.m.; take the Ward’s boat and walk 35 minutes along the boardwalk.
The museums. The ROM is closed Monday and around C$26; the third Tuesday of the month is free from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., tickets online two weeks ahead, no walk-ins. The AGO is closed Monday, open to 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday, around C$30, free under 25, and free for all on the first Wednesday evening from 6 p.m.
The tower. The CN Tower sells only timed general admission, C$47, online, up to 30 days ahead; the slot fixes your entry, not your exit, and the Top is C$12 more. The EdgeWalk, a harnessed lap of the roof, is from C$199: 90 minutes, 30 of them on the ledge, from age 13, warmer months only.
Niagara by GO. The train from Union reaches Niagara Falls in about two hours, every day of the year, for roughly C$20 to C$25 each way; off-peak it is a train to Burlington and a GO bus on. The station is in the north of town; a GO and WEGO combo or a WEGO 24-hour pass (C$16) covers the bus to the falls.
The PATH. Thirty kilometers of walkways link 75 buildings, six subway stations and Union under the Financial District, signed with color-coded letters. It keeps you out of the January cold between the subway, the stores and the tower; office stretches close with their towers in the evening and on weekends.
Tax and tips. Every price is before 13 percent tax, and the card machine suggests 15 to 20 percent, often on the total after tax.
At the pier. Keep the ferry and tower QR codes in Waystop’s Documents and check the island schedule that morning.