TimeOut

With the help of local Time Out editors and experts, we reveal the 50 neighbourhoods you have to visit right now.

No one wants to feel like a tourist these days. Savvy travellers want to live like locals, and that means looking beyond the sights and finding the coolest neighbourhoods to stay, eat, drink and hang out in. But  that gives an area that indefinable cool factor? That’s what we asked ourselves when we started to rank the areas that should be on everyone’s travel bucket list right now. And since Time Out is 50 this year, we decided to go big and find the 50 coolest neighbourhoods in the world.

To help us out, we went to the experts: local Time Out editors and writers across the world, who know the city like nobody else. We also asked more than 15,000 people around the world about the best (and most overrated) neighbourhoods in their city as part of our City Life Index survey. We wanted to know: is there a buzz about the area, with cool new venues opening? Can most people actually afford to live there? Is it a great place to stay for someone visiting the city? Most importantly, does it feel like a place that’s on the up?

Then we crunched the numbers, argued the toss and came up with what we reckon is the definitive list of the planet’s cultural and culinary hotspots – the places to be in 2018. Get ready for some serious wanderlust.

Dufferin Grove made it to Time Out list as number 39!

Dufferin Grove is one of Toronto’s last affordable and centrally located neighbourhoods, hence the eclectic new restaurants and cafés regularly cropping up. Both locals and visitors appreciate the area’s unique, small-town charm while enjoying the proximity to the city’s downtown core. With inhabitants spanning avant-garde artists to young professional families, Dufferin Grove is a neighbourhood that embraces its chill, tight-knit community – and is reminiscent of Toronto before the city’s condo-crazed expansion.



EAT SoSo Food Club, a culinary newcomer to Dufferin Grove, has perfectly captured the essence of why this area is so cool. The bold-coloured, Chinese-inspired restaurant is trendy without being intimidating and exciting without being too extra.

DRINK Burdock Brewery is the ideal place to hang after a busy work week or a long day exploring the city. Chat with locals, enjoy live music and try the seasonal brews on tap.

DO Dufferin Grove has plenty of green spaces, making it a unique destination within the concrete jungle of Toronto. Picnic and people-watch in Dufferin Grove Park or hip hangout Trinity Bellwoods Park.

STAY A short walk from Dufferin Grove’s boundaries, the boutique Gladstone Hotel combines artsy vibes with first-rate hospitality, making it the perfect place to crash after a day exploring. —Sandra Osojnik