I have a trip coming up soon with 3+-hour layovers in Toronto and Edmonton on my way to and from Yellowknife. Any suggestions for fun ways to spend the airport time and good places to eat?
I do have a couple of books about the Yellowknife area to read but happy to get any other suggestions.
To clarify - I'm not trying to leave the airports, just fill the time while I'm there.
who are you flying with? That will determine what terminal you will be in at Pearson (Toronto)
I'm flying Air Canada.
Too bad your trip is not on or after 12/15/2017, as Air Canada Express will be flying into Vancouver.
You can catch non-stop flights out of Vancouver to London Heathrow.on 2 airlines and a number of European gateway cities seasonally.
I fly through Pearson Terminal 1 quite often. There are some better-than-average-for-airports restaurants but nothing to get super excited about. A few years ago, the airport authority invited some locally famous chefs to set up restaurants in the terminal. Naturally, they are not as good as their destination restaurants but usually edible. This article from a few years back describes the offerings. Some have changed and others have gone downhill. I usually stick to the Italian place and most of the time it's not terrible. There is lots of shopping. The time will pass pretty fast.
Edmonton has surprisingly interesting shopping in the terminal. I've never eaten there, but there are a number of restaurants and there is a Wayne Gretzky themed bar (famous hockey player who played for Edmonton if you don't know the name.) Disclaimer - I've never been in it either.
At both airports, you could buy a pass to the Maple Leaf Lounge (Air Canada's airport lounges) but the food there is truly awful (reconstituted soups and corn chips/hummus, for example). It's peaceful though, and the booze is included. That's usually where I pass the time. Buy the pass when you check in online if you want one. Not sure they sell them at the door.
Hope this helps. They're not really any more exotic than American airports but pretty efficient to get around in.
For a taste of beer made in Toronto, the Mill Street Brewery has a branch in Terminal 3 at Pearson. It's always been a middle-of-the-road microbrew, grown big enough to be bought by InBevAB, world's octopus of brewing. It seems to have maintained its identity.
http://millstreetbrewery.com/pearson-brew-pub/
By the way, Pearson has plenty of seating areas with free WIFi.
Nelly and Southampton, thanks for helpful tips! David, this trip is just Minneapolis to Yellowknife and return to Washington Dulles. But Vancouver is on my list for future travel.
