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| - When I initially crossed the Canadian border and the border officer asked me about my plan in Canada, the two places I told him were the CN Tower and Casa Loma. The officer recommended the Ripley's Aquarium and I just told him that my schedule was completely booked.
In hindsight, maybe I should listen to the officer's recommendation and visited the Ripley's Aquarium instead of Casa Loma. Yes Casa Loma is an iconic Toronto attraction - I mean who doesn't like castle? It is like a childhood dream turn into reality! Unfortunately, I was somewhat disappointed to learn that (1) the general admission is not only expensive, but all you are paying is the self-guided tour and (2) the castle gets more and more difficult to navigate as you go up each level (especially the 4th level where you get to access to two towers).
Price: CAD $10 for parking and CAD $27 (tax included) for one adult general admission. Casa Loma does not offer public tour, but you can rent a self-guided audio device for free and it will ping whenever an image shows up on the display screen of your audio device. Just a warning - there are limited audio devices and they do run out if the castle gets crowded (I was about to leave at 11:30 AM and my audio device was immediately passed down to the next guest because the kiosk ran out of audio devices).
Restroom is only located on the 1st level. Men and women restrooms share the same entrance, but men restrooms are all located on the right and women restroom are all located on the left (I was extremely confused when I first walked in). Restroom were super clean.
Casa Loma has five levels (basement level + 3 floors + tower level or the 4th level). 1st floor has a huge dining room and the Conservatory. 2nd floor has Sir Henry Pellatt's (the guy who used to own this castle) master bedroom as well as early 1900's bathrooms. The entire 3rd floor is the Queen's Own Rifles Museum. The 4th floor (stairway access only) are the Norman Tower and the Scottish Tower. For both towers, you will have to climb two levels of narrow and spiral stairs to get to the top. The Norman Tower provides a great outdoor view while the Scottish Tower is just a tiny enclosed room with various graffiti on the wall. The basement level has a gift shop, a cafe, and a mini-movie theater (a short film called "The Man Who Built Casa Loma"), and an underground tunnel to both the car garage / horse stables / greenhouse.
Other than somewhat interesting underground tunnel, cool car collection (e.g. Ford Model T), and crazy stairway climb to both towers, I could not get myself excited about all other collections and 1900's furnishings and decor.
P.S. - Casa Loma also offers other special tours like the Casa Loma Escape Series. You can check the website for more info.
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