Since ground was first broken in 2003, Canadians living in and around Toronto have watched the ongoing renovations to the Royal Ontario Museum, the city’s grand showcase of the arts, with awe and amusement. Opened in 1914, the museum is about to be expanded with a bejeweled crystalline addition designed by the renowned Polish-born architect Daniel Libeskind.

The ROM’s expansion follows last fall’s opening of a new opera house, as well as the unveiling of the renovated Gardiner Museum, which displays ceramic art. It’s all part of a combined $1 billion arts-and-culture building boom that also includes a Frank Gehry–designed expansion of the Art Gallery of Ontario and a new 1,140-seat concert hall for the Royal Conservatory of Music, set to open next spring.

The city’s arty overhaul hits a high note on June 2 with the unveiling of the ROM’s new look. Construction will continue on parts, but the weekend opening will mark the first chance to see Libeskind’s addition (named the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal galleries) up close. Built of sharp, aggressive angles that cut deeply into the existing brick building, it embodies this venerable city’s new face: old crashing into new in beautiful and surprising combinations. As a city spokesperson said, “The champagne cork is about to get popped for Toronto.”

This same juxtaposition of old and new can be seen throughout the city, from posh Yorkville to the cool funk of Queen Street West. But the dynamic is particularly acute in the renovated Distillery District, where industrial buildings from the Victorian age are being reborn as galleries, shops, restaurants and performance spaces.

Toronto’s multicultural personality is found in its neighborhoods, from the laid-back Beaches to “downtown” Chinatown (not to be confused with the city’s five other distinct Chinatowns). If you’re a numbers person, consider this: Roughly 100 different languages and dialects are spoken in Toronto. You can dine on dishes representative of a different country every day for weeks, sampling sushi, falafel, jerk chicken, tapas, cannoli and on and on.

SHOPPING
Nicknamed the Mink Mile, the chic Bloor-Yorkville area is for those with deep pockets and a taste for Chanel, Tiffany, Cartier and Gucci. Yorkville’s see-and-be-seen restaurants and clubs are a must for stargazing during the Toronto International Film Festival, held each September (bell.ca/filmfest).

Queen Street West (between Yonge and Bathurst Streets) and West Queen West deliver some of the city’s coolest shopping. It gets edgier the farther west you go, with funky shoe stores, jewelry shops and cutting-edge design.

In a vibrant downtown, the Eaton Centre lures customers into its multi-level maze of glass with some 300 shops and restaurants.

Don’t forget that favorable exchange rates make the U.S. dollar worth about 15 percent more in Canada. 

ATTRACTIONS
Many first-time visitors take in the city from the top of the world’s tallest free-standing structure, the 1,815-foot CN Tower (cntower.ca). On a clear day you can see across Lake Ontario. For a more harrowing view, descend one story from the Lookout level to gaze straight down through a glass floor.

Families should consider a visit to Ontario Place, a waterfront amusement park with more than 30 rides and attractions including bumper boats, IMAX films and a jumbo-size maze. An amphitheater hosts big-name concerts in summer (ontarioplace.com).

At the Ontario Science Centre (ontariosciencecentre.ca), hundreds of exhibits and live demonstrations make science fun. Families can explore a cave, ride a bobsled simulator and learn about sports technology. A new show, Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, opens June 2 with 250 recovered artifacts from the Titanic as well as recreations of berths and the ship’s boiler room. Titanica, a 40-minute IMAX film, shows a journey to the fabled wreck site, 12,000 feet beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.

ENTERTAINMENT & EVENTS
For sports fans, there’s plenty going on even after the Toronto Maple Leafs have hung up their skates for the season. You can take in a Blue Jays baseball game at the Rogers Centre (bluejays.com) or check out the Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (argonauts.ca). The Grand Prix of Toronto is celebrating its 21st year of racing, with a high-octane, three-day festival that brings some of the world’s finest drivers to town from July 6 to 8 (grandprixtoronto.com).

The city loves music, which means that there’s a different festival almost every weekend. Among the most popular: the free Distillery Blues Festival, June 15–17, in the heart of the Distillery District (distilleryblues.com); the Toronto Jazz Festival, which has top jazz musicians performing all over town June 22–July 1 (torontojazz.com); and another event for jazz fans, the Beaches International Jazz Festival, July 20–29, in the Beaches neighborhood (beachesjazz.com).

For the sounds of calypso, soca and reggae, there’s no better party than the venerable Caribana Festival (July 8–Aug. 12), a riotous, costumed celebration of Caribbean food and culture (wejumpinghigher.com).

ARTS & THEATER
Toronto has plenty of big-budget musicals, like Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot (June 27–30; hummingbirdcentre.com) and We Will Rock You (wewillrockyou.ca), the hit from playwright Ben Elton and Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor that’s rockin’ the Canon Theatre through Sept. 2. But there are many smaller troupes to be found. You can sample some at Toronto’s Fringe Festival (July 4–15; fringetoronto.com).

At the Royal Ontario Museum, Ancient Peru Unearthed: Golden Treasures of a Lost Civilization is on display through Aug. 6 (rom.on.ca).