Still a young city by international standards, Toronto is growing up rapidly and attractively. It is Canada's biggest and most important metropolis, and its cosmopolitan makeup is serving as an impressive example to the rest of the world. French novelist turned cabinet minister Azouz Begag recently called Toronto 'the capital of diversity, the incarnation of modernity.'

These characteristics make Toronto a highly appealing tourist destination. The fact that it is far safer, cleaner and greener than most urban centres its size ensures the visitor a stress-free experience. Whether your prime pursuits are shopping, eating, soaking up some culture or sport, or sightseeing, you'll find plenty to sustain your interest here. Don't let those exaggerated reports of harsh winters in the Great White North deter you; Toronto actually sits at the same latitude as Florence and northern California, and the mild spring and autumn seasons are delightful. That white stuff rarely covers the ground before December, and exits by early April. And besides, the city is very well-equipped to cope with wintry storms, as shown by the extensive downtown shopping areas situated underground.

Toronto's burgeoning self-confidence is being dramatically illustrated with an unprecedented burst of major new cultural construction projects, featuring some of the world's most acclaimed architects.

The Toronto-raised Frank Gehry is currently applying his magical touch to a revamped Art Gallery of Ontario (317 Dundas Street West, +14169796648, www.ago.net), while Daniel Libeskind's radical 'crystal' addition to the Royal Ontario Museum (100 Queen's Park, +14165868000, www.rom.on.ca) is due to be unveiled in 2006. Then there's a redesigned Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art (111 Queen's Park, +14165868080 www.gardinermuseum.on.ca), and a new Four Seasons Centre For The Performing Arts that will house the Canadian Opera Company and National Ballet of Canada. Controversial English architect Will Alsop has won kudos for his Sharp Centre for Design building, and is so impressed by the city's potential that he is setting up his own office here.

New hotels (both of the boutique and chain variety) are sprouting like mushrooms after a warm shower, and the centre of the city pulses with an energy that will invigorate those visitors staying there. Within a few blocks of a shopping mecca, the famed Eaton Centre (on Yonge Street, between Queen and Dundas West), you can (in winter) skate on the rink at City Hall, be dazzled by the neon-illuminated glow surrounding Dundas Square, catch some high-calibre theatre, or shake your booty in one of dozens of dance clubs. Running north and south, Yonge Street, reportedly the longest street in the world (running from Toronto's harbour area up to the Northern Ontario wilderness), is often used for orientation by both locals and visitors.

As well as boasting a vibrant downtown core, Toronto is also a city of neighbourhoods. Here, you can virtually tour the world without leaving the city limits, and food is a perfect aid to the exploration of the city's thriving ethnic communities.

East of Yonge you'll find spicy samosas amidst the sari stores in Little India (on Gerard Street), while Danforth Avenue, between Broadview and Pape, hosts a Greektown that features Greek restaurants ranging from the basic to sophisticated. Gerard and Broadview is the hub of a newer Chinatown area, though the city's original Chinatown, centred on Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street West, still bustles, energized by a growing Vietnamese component.

Just a little further west and a couple of blocks north, you'll find Little Italy, now home to a wide variety of chic restaurants and clubs. If you're craving kimchee, Travel directly north up to Bloor Street West and you'll come across fast-growing Koreatown.

It may lack an ethnic identity, but the east end's Distillery District (55 Mill Street, www.thedistillerydistrict.com) is well worth a visit. North America's largest remaining Victorian-era industrial complex of cobblestone lanes and warehouses, it has proven popular with visitors since opening for business a few years ago. Galleries, restaurants, craft boutiques and outdoor music festivals enhance its unique charm.

If contemporary art is your thing, check out the storefront galleries along Queen Street west of Bathurst Street. New galleries seem to open weekly on this strip. One recommended recent arrival here is the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA, 952 Queen Street West, +14163950067, www.mocca.toronto.on.ca). The Olga Korper Gallery (17 Morrow Street, +14165388220, www.olgakorpergallery.com) has showcased Canadian and international artists for over 30 years. And the avant-garde finds a lakeside home at the Power Plant Gallery (231 Queens Quay West, +14169734949, www.thepowerplant.org).

Sports enthusiasts will find lots to love in Toronto. Hockey is still king, and tickets to a Maple Leafs game at the Air Canada Centre are hard (and expensive) to come by. Up the street, you'll find the sport's prime prize, the Stanley Cup, at the Hockey Hall of Fame (BCE Place, 30 Yonge Street, +14163607765, www.hhof.com). For basketball, the NBA Raptors draw a raucous crowd to the ACC, while the Toronto Argonauts bring lovers of this Canadian-rules version of American football to The Rogers Centre, formerly called SkyDome (1 Blue Jays Way, +14163412770, www.rogerscentre.com). Toronto Lynx give professional soccer a kick at suburban Centennial Park and the Toronto Rock, the city's most successful pro sports team in recent years, hammer away at the centuries-old native sport of lacrosse, also at the ACC.