Where to stay for Caribana weekend in Toronto

The Grand Parade is at Exhibition Place, the city fills up, and the good rooms go early. Where to base yourself, how to get to the parade without a car, and the independent places to stay.

Where to stay for Caribana weekend in Toronto

The Toronto Caribbean Carnival, which most people still call Caribana, peaks on the long weekend at the start of August, and the Grand Parade runs along Lake Shore Boulevard at Exhibition Place. It is the busiest weekend of the year for the city, hundreds of thousands of people move through the west end and the waterfront, and the rooms anywhere near it book out weeks ahead. If you are coming in for it, the time to sort a bed is not the week before.

Where to base yourself

  • Near Exhibition Place or the waterfront. Closest to the parade and to the fetes along the Lake Shore. You pay for the location on the weekend, and you book it early.
  • Downtown and the west end. A little further out but on the transit lines that run to Exhibition, and closer to the food in the old core. A sensible middle.
  • On a subway or streetcar line, wherever you are. The single most useful thing on parade day is a straight transit run to Exhibition. Driving in is a bad idea; the roads around the route close and parking vanishes.

Getting to the parade without a car

The GO train and the 509 and 511 streetcars run to Exhibition, and they run packed on parade day. Give yourself far more time than the map says, go early, and agree a meeting point with your group before you lose signal in the crowd. Coming back, expect to queue, and have a fallback route in mind.

Where to stay

These are the independent places to stay in the old core and the downtown, the part of the city closest to the parade and the fetes. On Caribana weekend they fill first, so the number on each page is worth a call the moment your dates are set.

  1. Cambridge Suites Hotel, hotel at 15 Richmond Street East in Old Toronto, Toronto
    Cambridge Suites Hotel15 Richmond Street East, Old Toronto
    +1-416-368-1990
  2. Chelsea Hotel, Toronto, hotel at 33 Gerrard Street West in Old Toronto, Toronto
    Chelsea Hotel, Toronto33 Gerrard Street West, Old Toronto
    +1-416-595-1975cstor.info@chelseatoronto.com
  3. Double Tree by Hilton Hotel, hotel at 108 Chestnut Street in Old Toronto, Toronto
    Double Tree by Hilton Hotel108 Chestnut Street, Old Toronto
    +1-416-977-5000
  4. Fairmont Royal York Hotel, hotel at 100 Front Street West in Old Toronto, Toronto
    Fairmont Royal York Hotel100 Front Street West, Old Toronto
    +1-416-368-2511
  5. Gladstone House, hotel at 1214 Queen Street West in Old Toronto, Toronto
    Gladstone House1214 Queen Street West, Old Toronto
    +1 416-531-4635info@gladstonehouse.ca
  6. Global Guest House, guest house at 9 Spadina Road in Old Toronto, Toronto
    Global Guest House9 Spadina Road, Old Toronto
    +1-416-923-4004singer@ca.inter.net
  7. Hilton Toronto, hotel at 145 Richmond Street West in Old Toronto, Toronto
    Hilton Toronto145 Richmond Street West, Old Toronto
    +1 416 869 3456TORHI_GM@hilton.com
  8. Holiday Inn, hotel at 30 Carlton Street in Old Toronto, Toronto
    Holiday Inn30 Carlton Street, Old Toronto
    +1-416-977-6655
  9. Holiday Inn Express Toronto Downtown, hotel at 111 Lombard Street in Old Toronto, Toronto
    Holiday Inn Express Toronto Downtown111 Lombard Street, Old Toronto
    +1-416-367-5555IV406.agm@innvesthotels.com
  10. Hotel Ocho, hotel at 195 Spadina Avenue in Old Toronto, Toronto
    Hotel Ocho195 Spadina Avenue, Old Toronto
    +1-416-593-0885
All 53 places to stay in Old Toronto →

Plan it early

Book the room as soon as you have the dates, not when you have the tickets. Caribana weekend is a fixed point in the calendar and the whole city knows it, so the rooms near the route are the first thing to go and the last thing to come back. Sort the bed, then sort the rest.

Written by See The Six · kept current from the directory, last checked 2026-08-24

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