The Best Family Hotels in Toronto, and Who Each One Is Wrong For
Best all-round: Delta Hotels TorontoToronto is flat, so the number that matters is not the climb, it is the walk. Every distance below is a routed pedestrian path to the CN Tower, and every pool rule came from the hotel's own site.
Which Toronto hotel is best for families?
Delta Hotels Toronto is the shortest walk to the CN Tower and Ripley's Aquarium at four minutes, which is the thing that decides a day with tired children. Chelsea Hotel Toronto is the better value and has the waterslide, but it is a 31 minute walk. Ignore both if you want a resort feel, because downtown Toronto does not have one.
Which one fits how you travel
Find the row that sounds like your trip. Every pick below names the traveller it is wrong for, so you can book on fit rather than on rank.
| If you are | Book | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Here for the CN Tower and the aquarium | Delta Hotels Toronto | Four minutes on foot. Nothing else is close. |
| Watching the budget, kids want a pool | Chelsea Hotel Toronto | The waterslide and the kids' programme, at the price of a longer walk. |
| Arriving by train or UP Express | Fairmont Royal York | Directly across the road from Union Station. |
| Planning a day on the Toronto Islands | The Westin Harbour Castle | The island ferry terminal is minutes from the door. |
| Visiting in winter and still want to swim outside | Sheraton Centre Toronto | The pool crosses from indoors to outdoors through a glass wall. |
| Wanting the hotel to be the holiday | Hotel X Toronto | Space, grounds and a rooftop pool. Book the pool slot on arrival. |
| After somewhere calm and characterful | The Omni King Edward Hotel | A 1903 building by St Lawrence Market, with no pool to speak of. |
- Free cancellation on most rooms
- No booking fee
- Prices on Trip.com
What the bands mean
Rates are shown as bands, not numbers. No Toronto hotel publishes a fixed nightly price; they all run live booking engines, so a figure printed here would be wrong within days. The bands below describe where each hotel sits against the others in the city, and the live rate for your dates opens through the button on each card.
- €
- the cheapest tier in downtown Toronto
- €€
- mid-range, which is where most family rooms sit
- €€€
- upper tier, usually for the location or the pool
- €€€€
- the city's most expensive addresses
The 9 hotels, and who each one is wrong for
Walking times are to the CN Tower. Walking times are real pedestrian routes to the CN Tower, measured through OpenStreetMap foot routing at 4.5 km/h, not straight lines and not estimates. The CN Tower is the anchor because Ripley's Aquarium sits at its foot, and for most families with children those two are the reason the trip exists. Toronto's downtown is close to flat, so unlike a hillside city the distance here is the whole story.
South Core, by the CN Tower
Delta Hotels Toronto
€€€Best all-roundA modern tower in South Core, closer to the CN Tower and Ripley's Aquarium than anything else in the city.
- Walk to the CN Tower
- 4 minutes, 330 m on a flat route to the CN Tower
- Right for
- Families whose trip is built around the CN Tower and the aquarium, and who want the option of going back to the room mid-afternoon.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: Anyone who wants character. This is a glass business tower and it reads like one.
- The catch
- The catch: South Core is offices and condos. It empties in the evening and there is very little to walk out to for dinner, so you will be heading back towards King or Front Street most nights.
Financial District, opposite Union Station
Fairmont Royal York
€€€The 1929 railway hotel facing Union Station, and the most recognisable building on this list.
- Walk to the CN Tower
- 10 minutes, 740 m on a flat route to the CN Tower
- Right for
- Families arriving by train or from the airport on the UP Express, because you cross one road and you are in the lobby.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: Anyone counting every dollar. You pay for the address and the building, and the standard rooms are not large.
- The catch
- The catch: It is a very big, very busy hotel with a constant flow of conferences and events, so the lobby is rarely calm at the times you want to move a pushchair through it.
Downtown Yonge, near the ROM
Chelsea Hotel Toronto
€€Best valueA large downtown hotel long known as the family option, with a waterslide and a children's programme.
- Walk to the CN Tower
- 31 minutes, 2.3 km, or a short subway ride to the CN Tower
- Right for
- Families who want the pool and the slide to be part of the holiday rather than an afterthought, and who would rather spend the difference on the days out.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: Anyone whose plan is the CN Tower and the aquarium. At 31 minutes on foot you are committing to the subway or a fare every time.
- The catch
- The catch: It is one of the largest hotels in the country, and at peak times the lifts and the pool both feel it. Go early or go late.
Harbourfront, on the lake
The Westin Harbour Castle
€€€A waterfront tower on Harbour Square, next to the ferry terminal for the Toronto Islands.
- Walk to the CN Tower
- 17 minutes, 1.3 km along the waterfront to the CN Tower
- Right for
- Families planning a day on the Toronto Islands, because the ferry docks are a few minutes from the door.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: Anyone visiting in winter. The lake wind on that stretch of Harbourfront is genuinely unpleasant and there is no sheltered route.
- The catch
- The catch: Gardiner Expressway traffic sits between the hotel and the rest of downtown, so walking north always means crossing it.
Financial District, opposite City Hall
Sheraton Centre Toronto
€€A large downtown hotel opposite Nathan Phillips Square with an indoor and outdoor pool joined through a glass wall.
- Walk to the CN Tower
- 18 minutes, 1.3 km on a flat route to the CN Tower
- Right for
- Families who want to swim outdoors in winter. The pool is split by a glass wall so you can cross from the indoor half to the outdoor half without leaving the water.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: Anyone wanting quiet. It is a convention hotel on one of the busiest corners downtown.
- The catch
- The catch: Its size is the trade. Check-in queues at conference changeover are long, and the room you get varies a lot by floor and wing.
St Lawrence, near the market
The Omni King Edward Hotel
€€€Toronto's oldest luxury hotel, opened in 1903, a few streets from St Lawrence Market.
- Walk to the CN Tower
- 19 minutes, 1.5 km on a flat route to the CN Tower
- Right for
- Families who want somewhere calm and characterful, and who will use St Lawrence Market for breakfast rather than the hotel.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: Families whose children want a pool day. This is a historic hotel, not a leisure one.
- The catch
- The catch: A heritage building means older bathrooms and inconsistent room sizes. Two rooms at the same rate can be very different.
The Esplanade, St Lawrence
Novotel Toronto Centre
€€A mid-range hotel on The Esplanade, between the market and the waterfront.
- Walk to the CN Tower
- 18 minutes, 1.3 km on a flat route to the CN Tower
- Right for
- Families who want a straightforward, well-placed room and would rather not pay for a lobby.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: Anyone expecting much beyond the basics. It is a functional hotel and does not pretend otherwise.
- The catch
- The catch: The Esplanade backs onto the rail corridor. Ask for a room facing away from it, because trains run early.
Exhibition Place, west of downtown
Hotel X Toronto
€€€€A resort-shaped hotel out at Exhibition Place with a 55-foot rooftop pool that is partly indoors and partly outdoors.
- Walk to the CN Tower
- 36 minutes, 2.7 km, or the 509 streetcar to the CN Tower
- Right for
- Families who want the hotel to be part of the holiday, with space, grounds and a pool worth staying in for.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: Anyone on a short city break. At 36 minutes on foot you are a long way from everything downtown.
- The catch
- The catch: Pool access has to be reserved. The hotel's own site sets daily hours of 07:00 to 23:00, each booking is a two-hour slot, and 21:00 to 23:00 is adults-only swim. With children that needs planning on the day you arrive, not on the day you want to swim.
University Avenue, Financial District
Shangri-La Toronto
€€€€A high-end tower on University Avenue with a lap pool under a glass roof.
- Walk to the CN Tower
- 13 minutes, 980 m on a flat route to the CN Tower
- Right for
- Families travelling at the top of the market who want large rooms and a genuinely quiet building.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: Families wanting a splashing pool. It is a lap pool in a calm room, and children are not the point of it.
- The catch
- The catch: It is the most expensive way to solve this problem, and the pool that helps sell it is the one least suited to young children.
Where not to book in Toronto
The trap in Toronto is not a dangerous area, it is a dead one. South Core and the blocks immediately around the Rogers Centre are offices and condos that empty after six, so a hotel there is quiet in the wrong way and you will walk fifteen minutes for dinner. The other trap is booking on distance alone. Downtown is flat and walkable, but 2.3 km with a tired six-year-old at the end of a museum day is not a walk, it is a taxi, so read the minutes on each card as a real cost. If you are here between December and March, weight indoor pools heavily: an outdoor-only pool is closed water for the whole trip.
When to book
Toronto's rates are driven by its convention calendar more than by season, which is why the same room can double between two consecutive weeks in the same month. Downtown hotels fill hard around the September film festival and around large trade shows at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, which sits between the Delta and the CN Tower. Six to eight weeks out is usually enough at other times. If you need two connecting rooms rather than one family room, book considerably earlier: connecting pairs are a small share of the stock and they go first.
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Photo credits (7)
Photos via Wikimedia Commons, used under their respective licences.
- The CN Tower in Toronto's South Core, the landmark the walking times on this page are measured to: Scott Webb scottwebb - CC0 · source
- The Great Hall at Toronto Union Station, in the Financial District: Dillan Payne - CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
- Yonge-Dundas Square in downtown Toronto, the busy crossroads near the Chelsea: Unknown author - CC BY-SA 2.5 · source
- Toronto's skyline seen from the island ferry, the view from the Harbourfront hotels: timescan from Toronto, Canada - CC BY 2.0 · source
- Toronto City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square in the Financial District: Maksim Sokolov (maxergon.com) - CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
- St Lawrence Market in Toronto's Old Town, the heart of the St Lawrence area: Jacob Rens - CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
- The Princes' Gates at Exhibition Place, west of downtown Toronto: Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine - CC0 · source