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A Cold Winter’s Visit… and a Warm Stay at SoHo Hotel Toronto

When you’re coming in from the cold, heated bathroom floors warming your tootsies are very welcome.

It’s a small touch that’s stuck with us from our recent stay at the SoHo Hotel & Residences in Toronto (aka the SoHo Hotel Toronto).

SoHo Hotel Toronto

Choose from rooms or stylish executive suites at the SoHo Toronto
Choose from rooms or stylish executive suites at the SoHo Toronto

SoHo Toronto location in the entertainment district

You know how they say “location, location, location” is key when buying a home? It’s key for hotels too.

We wanted a hotel close to downtown Toronto so we could easily visit with our son. What we didn’t appreciate until we got there is how prime the real estate is on which the SoHo Toronto sits.

The SoHo Toronto is smack-dab in the middle of Toronto’s “entertainment district.”

This is where you find Toronto’s major live theaters; the TIFF Bell Lightbox (an entire city block that’s home to the Toronto International Film Festival, with a cinema and restaurants); and many of the city’s best clubs, lounges and restaurants.

(And had we thought ahead, we would have loved to book The Book of Mormon broadway musical, playing at the Princess of Wales Theater a couple of blocks away.)

SoHo Toronto
Toronto’s entertainment district buzzes at night with live theater, bars, restaurants and clubs

Happily, the SoHo Hotel Toronto is also a breeze to get to from Toronto’s international airport.

Toronto finally has a convenient airport-to-downtown transportation link – the new Union Pearson Express.

This hard-to-miss express train leaves the airport every 15 minutes and takes you downtown to Union Station in 25 minutes. (Opened in June 2015, it wasn’t used much until public transit officials recently decided to slash prices. Now it’s way cheaper than a taxi and faster too, given the traffic.)

From Union Station, it’s a short cab ride or about a 10-block walk to the Soho Toronto. As we were traveling with only carry-on bags and wanted to stretch our legs after the cross-country flight, we were happy to walk. The only thing is – Toronto was experiencing a particularly cold snap right when we visited.

So it was cold!

That’s maybe why the SoHo’s heated marble bathroom floors made such an impression on us…

The vibe at Toronto’s SoHo Hotel

The SoHo Hotel is sleek and contemporary – minimalist in style.

The lobby is graced by an original multi-colored Dale Chihuly glass sculpture suspended above the entrance. 

SoHo Toronto
The orange, yellow and red Dale Chihuly glass sculpture sure catches the eye when walking into the lobby

Off to one side is the airy, street-fronting, all-day restaurant, with its glass-sided entrance marked by imposing rectangular marble arches.

Rooms at the Soho Hotel Toronto

The hotel has 92 large rooms (average 600 sq. ft.) on the first four floors of its high-rise tower.

Guest room at the SoHo Hotel Toronto
Our room in the SoHo

We loved the spacious separate dressing area between the bedroom and bathroom, with hangers on two sides and built-in shelves.

And a small thing that makes a difference – the dressing area has a built-in luggage bench, big enough to store an open full-size suitcase. (Those collapsible luggage racks are so useless, don’t you think? They’re only just big enough for holding a closed suitcase, not an open two-sided suitcase.)

No cold tootsies! Rooms have marble bathrooms with heated floors

Expect electronically-operated, bronze-colored silk drapes covering wall-to-wall windows, Molton Brown bath amenities, an in-room Keurig tea and coffee maker with cream in the mini-bar fridge, and proper nightly turn-down service.

Not so good? Our view was over a parking lot. But, hey, this is a city hotel. In Toronto, your views are mostly going to be of buildings, high-rises, streets, etc .

For longer stays, fully furnished apartment-style suites with kitchens are like urban pied-a-terres.

Want a kitchen and in-suite laundry at the SoHo Hotel Toronto? Then book an apartment-style suite.
Want a kitchen and in-suite laundry? Then book an apartment-style suite

SoHo Toronto: Dining

We didn’t have a chance to try out the Moretti Restaurant and Cafe.

But if we weren’t otherwise busy, its Italian menu definitely would have wooed us in to try out some “mac-and-cheese” with black truffle cheese – or maybe a pizza.

We’re told the lounge is a popular spot for a hip urban crowd to meet and mingle after work.

Toronto's Moretti Restaurant and Cafe is a cool spot for tummy-warming Italian food.
The Moretti Restaurant and Cafe is a cool spot for tummy-warming Italian food

SoHo Toronto: Amenities

A long indoor lap pool and large hot tub also lured us in (well, more the steamy hot tub than the pool).

And if we hadn’t been lazy, we would have huffed and puffed alongside other guests in the bright well-equipped gym, staffed by an attendant.

Who’s the Toronto SoHo Hotel for?

The hotel typically caters to both business and leisure travelers (of the hip variety).

But celebrities (and CEOs) are also attracted to its mega 4,000 sq. ft. penthouse suite on the 15th floor. (Any celebs out there reading this?)

Think three floors of pure extravagance with two bedrooms, five bathrooms, two wetbars, in-suite glass elevator, 8-person hot tub on its own 1,400 sq. ft. rooftop terrace, and 270-degree views of Toronto.

No wonder Will Smith moved in here for six months while filming the 2016 super-hero flick Suicide Squad!

Booking your stay at the SoHo Toronto

Check rates and availability.


We stayed at the SoHo in Toronto as media guests for review purposes for our blog. But we always write what we think and retain complete control over our stories. 


Photo credits: 4 © Janice and George Mucalov, SandInMySuitcase | Remaining photos courtesy of the SoHo Toronto Hotel


About the authors

Luxury travel journalists and SATW, NATJA and TMAC “Best Travel Blog” award winners, Janice and George Mucalov are the publishers of Sand In My Suitcase. Between them, they’ve traveled to all 7 continents. See About.

Find destination guides, global food-and-wine stories, luxury hotel reviews, articles on cultural explorations and soft adventure trips, cruise reviews, insanely useful travel tips and more!

Irene S. Levine

Tuesday 28th of March 2017

What a beautiful property! It's at the top of my list for my next visit to Toronto!

Janice and George

Wednesday 29th of March 2017

You'd no doubt like it :-)

Maggie

Monday 27th of March 2017

Love the Dale Chihuly glass art!

Janice and George

Monday 27th of March 2017

It's pretty cool and colorful, isn't it!

Carol Perehudoff

Monday 27th of March 2017

The Soho is definitely one of Toronto's chic boutiques and was one of the first and is still one of the sleekest. Glad you could stay there ... now I just wish we could have met for a drink while you were here!

Janice and George

Monday 27th of March 2017

It would have been so nice to meet you also in person! It's ironic, as travel writers and bloggers, we have these great friendships with colleagues we've never met :-).