Toronto Business Travel Guide: Airports, Venues, Roads and Meeting Etiquette

How should you plan a business trip to Toronto?

Toronto is a straightforward business destination with a few traps. The airport that suits your itinerary is not always the lowest-cost one. The highways are efficient when empty and punishing when full. The convention venues are in three different parts of the region. And a meeting that starts at 9:00 in the Financial District can be in danger by 7:30 if you misjudge your inbound traffic.

This guide covers what an experienced dispatcher would tell a colleague flying in for the first time. It is based on distances and timings, official venue information and the facts of how Enroutz.ca works, not on lists of awards or numbers of clients.

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Choosing the airport: Pearson or Billy Bishop

Toronto Pearson (YYZ) is the international hub, in Mississauga about 27 km (17 miles) north-west of the downtown core. If you fly in from Europe, the Gulf or most of the USA, Pearson is likely where you land. Its international arrivals process, with immigration, baggage and customs, can take a long time on a busy evening, so do not schedule a meeting within two hours of landing unless you must. Details of the airport are on our Pearson airport limo page.

Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ) is on Toronto Island at 2 Eireann Quay, at the foot of Bathurst Street. Its website describes it as just minutes from downtown, offers service to more than 20 cities in Canada and the USA, and links to a ferry and a pedestrian tunnel for the mainland connection. For short-haul flights between Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and a few US cities, it can save an hour. Read our Billy Bishop page and the airport's own website for current routes.

Others: Hamilton and Waterloo airports serve specific corridors. The airports hub lists every airport the desk covers.

Pearson to the Financial District: how long does it take?

The distance is about 27 km (17 miles). Off-peak, expect 30 to 40 minutes. At the weekday peaks it can take 50 minutes or more, and a snowstorm can add considerably.

There is also a train. The UP Express goes from Pearson to Union Station, which is the heart of the downtown business district, in a stated 28 minutes, stopping at Weston, Mount Dennis and Bloor. For one traveller with a carry-on and a hotel beside Union, it is a very good option. For two or more executives, a late landing or luggage, a car is more practical.

The booker shows the exact fare for your address and vehicle before you confirm. See the Toronto airport transfer page for the full process.

Timing the 401, the Gardiner and the DVP

Toronto's road network is easier to understand once you know the three arteries.

• Highway 401 runs east to west across the north of the city and carries much of the airport traffic. In rough terms, weekday mornings are heaviest from about 7 to 9:30 a.m. and late afternoons from about 3:30 to 7 p.m.
• The Gardiner Expressway is the raised road along the waterfront, linking the QEW and the west end with downtown. It backs up quickly, and road works are common.
• The Don Valley Parkway (DVP) links the 401 in the north-east with downtown. It is prone to slow patches.

If the 401 is slow, the chauffeur may choose a different route, which is another reason a driver who does this daily is useful. The 407 ETR is an electronic toll highway that runs around the north of the city; it has no toll booths, so if you rent a car, ask the rental company how it bills.

A good rule of thumb: leave twice the off-peak time for any meeting that cannot move. Travelling out of the city on a Friday afternoon is slower still, especially in summer, when cottage traffic heads north.

The Financial District and Union Station

Most Toronto business happens in a compact area: the Financial District around Bay Street and King Street, Union Station and the waterfront. Many buildings connect through an underground pedestrian network, which is useful in winter, and Union Station is also the hub for GO Transit, the regional rail and bus network that links the outer suburbs, and for the UP Express.

Distances here are short. Union Station to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre is a few minutes' walk, and the Financial District is about 1 km (0.6 miles) from the waterfront. A car matters less for these hops than for reaching the airport or the suburbs.

Convention and meeting venues

Toronto's main venues sit in different places, and the right drop-off point saves half an hour.

• Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC), downtown. Its website describes a North Building and a South Building, indoor access to public transit, and a direct air-rail link to the airport. See the MTCC website and our MTCC page.
• Exhibition Place west of downtown, home to the Enercare Centre, is a large exhibition complex, and it is where Hotel X is located.
• Toronto Congress Centre is in the west of the city, close to the airport; see the Toronto Congress Centre page.
• The International Centre is in Mississauga, also near Pearson; see The International Centre page.

Venue names change, and events can use different doors and loading areas. Give the chauffeur the exact building, hall or door from your organiser's information pack. The trade shows hub and events hub list further venues, and the trade show transportation and meetings, incentives and conferences pages explain how group movements are handled.

Where to stay for meetings

Stay close to your meetings and you can walk. Stay far away and you add traffic.

• For the Financial District: the Fairmont Royal York is beside Union Station, the St. Regis Toronto sits in the financial core and the Shangri-La Toronto is a short distance away.
• For the MTCC: the InterContinental Toronto Centre and the Westin Harbour Castle are in the same part of downtown.
• For Yorkville and midtown meetings: the Four Seasons Toronto, Park Hyatt Toronto and W Toronto.
• For an early flight: Pearson airport hotels.
• Also: the Ritz-Carlton Toronto and Sheraton Centre Toronto.

Confirm the street address on your reservation. The hub at hotels lists the rest.

Meeting etiquette in Toronto

Canadian business culture is polite, direct and relatively informal. These points cover most situations:

• Punctuality matters. Arrive a few minutes early. If you will be late, call; a short message beats silence.
• Greetings are friendly and brief. A handshake and first names are normal. Titles are used less than in many countries.
• Business cards are exchanged but not ritualised.
• Dress is generally smart business or business casual. Banks and law firms are more formal; technology firms less so.
• Lunches and dinners often have a business purpose; restaurants add tax to the bill, and a tip of 15 to 20 per cent of the pre-tax bill is common.
• Alcohol is allowed at business dinners but not expected; local law governs it.
• Language: English is standard in Toronto. If you continue to Montreal or Quebec City, French is the dominant language.
• Time zone: Toronto uses Eastern Time. A call with London is usually at a five-hour offset and with Dubai at eight or nine hours, depending on the season.

Entry rules for business visitors

Business visitors fall under the same entry rules as tourists, with extra rules for some work activities. Visa-exempt foreign nationals who fly in need an eTA, while US citizens are exempt from the eTA requirement and must carry proper identification; the Government of Canada eTA page gives details. If your trip involves more than ordinary meetings, check the government's visitor information before you travel; border officers decide admission.

Using a chauffeur for business

A chauffeur earns its place in business travel when time has a value. The practical features are:

• Flight tracking on every airport pickup, so a late landing changes nothing.
• 60 minutes of free waiting after an international landing, 30 minutes on domestic arrivals and 15 minutes elsewhere.
• A fixed fare, quoted before you book, which is useful for expense reports.
• Corporate accounts with monthly invoicing, so a month of rides becomes one statement. See corporate accounts and the corporate chauffeur service.
• Hourly bookings for a day of back-to-back meetings; see hourly chauffeur.
• Discretion. Chauffeurs do not photograph clients or post about trips, and NDAs are signed on request.
• Calls and work. Most vehicles have Wi-Fi, water and phone chargers.

For executives travelling with their own security, we are a chauffeur service, not a security company, and work alongside the client's team; see executive protection transport. For aircraft arrivals at the FBO, see private aviation.

Beyond downtown: where the other business happens

A lot of business takes place outside the core. These distances are approximate figures from downtown.

For cross-border business, Buffalo is about 160 km (100 miles) from downtown, usually two hours before the border; see the Buffalo airport page and the cross-border car service page.

Reserve your chauffeur

A sample two-day schedule

Day 1, arrival. Land at Pearson at 17:00 on an international flight. Allow for immigration and baggage, with the chauffeur tracking the flight and free waiting for up to 60 minutes. Drive to the hotel in 30 to 50 minutes outside the worst of the evening peak. Dinner within walking distance.

Day 2, meetings. Pick-up from the hotel at 07:45 for a 09:00 meeting that is only a few kilometres away, which allows for road works and drop-off. An hourly booking covers the day's meetings across the Financial District and Yorkville, and a return to Pearson at 18:00 builds in a margin for the rush.