Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown Centre With Kids Review
I stayed at Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown Centre on a recent trip to Toronto with 3 kids, ages 3, 5, and 9, and it ended up being a really great fit for the kind of city trip we were taking.
We were only in Toronto for a couple of days, so I wanted a hotel that would make it easy to get out and explore without creating a lot of extra work when we came back. That ended up being exactly what this stay gave us.
The rooms are definitely on the smaller side, especially once you put 4 people, luggage, and a double stroller inside. But the central location, indoor pool, breakfast, restaurant, parking garage, and little things like accessible entrances and daily housekeeping made the hotel feel very manageable with kids.
And judging by the fact that all 3 kids came away talking about the pool and breakfast as some of their favorite parts of the trip, they clearly agreed.
Note: Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown Centre hosted our 2-night stay, including breakfast and parking. All opinions and experiences shared here are my own.
Is Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown Centre Good With Kids?
Yes. I think Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown Centre is a really great option with kids if you want to stay in downtown Toronto, spend most of your trip exploring the city, and still have a few family-friendly hotel amenities to come back to.
It’s a great fit if:
- You want a central downtown Toronto location
- You want easy access to walking and public transportation
- Your kids will use an indoor pool
- Having breakfast available in the hotel makes mornings easier
- You like having an on-site restaurant for easy dinners
- You’re driving and want parking directly below the hotel
- You want a straightforward city hotel rather than somewhere you’ll spend the entire trip
It might not be the best fit if:
- Your family needs a lot of room to spread out
- You want separate sleeping spaces
- You plan to eat a lot of meals inside your room
- You want a more resort-style hotel experience
- You need a rollaway bed
Overall, it was just a really easy hotel to stay at with the kids, which is exactly what I was hoping for on a short city trip.
Location: Downtown Toronto and Easy Access to the City
The Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown Centre is located at 30 Carlton Street, right in the middle of a busy part of downtown Toronto.
This was probably the biggest reason the hotel worked so well for our trip.
There were stores, restaurants, and other businesses everywhere around us, and the neighborhood felt active without feeling overwhelming. I felt completely safe and comfortable walking around with the kids, and we saw plenty of other families doing the same thing.
One of the first things we did after checking in was walk over to IKEA from the hotel. We don’t have an IKEA at home, and my niece was really excited about visiting one for the first time. Once I realized how close it was to the hotel, I knew we had to check it out.
We had also talked about walking over to Cabbagetown that evening. It’s right next to the hotel area, and I had found several things there that sounded fun with kids. But by the time we got back to the hotel, the kids voted to stay in and swim instead.
The hotel is also about 2 miles from the CN Tower, Ripley’s Aquarium, and the Harbourfront area, where several of Toronto’s biggest family attractions are clustered.
Getting Around From the Hotel
College Station is just a short walk from the hotel, which gives you an easy public transportation option for getting farther around the city.
We didn’t actually use the subway on this trip because we already had City Sightseeing Toronto hop-on hop-off bus tickets for our full day. We walked about 9 minutes from the hotel to Sankofa Square to start at the main departure point, although there was another stop at Yonge and Wellesley that was even closer.
The hop-on hop-off bus worked really well for us because we wanted the sightseeing experience anyway, but I wouldn’t choose it purely as an efficient way to get around. It’s a tour first, so it takes its time moving through the city. If transportation is your main goal, Toronto’s regular public transit would likely make more sense.
How much you walk from the hotel is also going to depend on your kids.
If I had been traveling with only my own younger kids, I probably would have put them in the double stroller and walked all the way to the CN Tower and aquarium area. But with my 9-year-old niece, asking her to walk about 2 miles there, spend hours sightseeing, and then potentially walk another 2 miles back felt like too much.
That area also felt farther away once we were actually in Toronto than it had when I was looking at maps while planning.
For us, having several options worked best. We could walk when things were close, use the sightseeing bus on our full day, and drive when the logistics made more sense.
Why Staying Downtown Mattered
Once we experienced Toronto traffic firsthand, I was even more grateful that we were staying downtown.
When we first entered the city, it took us more than 30 minutes to drive roughly the final 3 miles to the hotel. When we left Toronto, traffic was stop-and-go from downtown well past Mississauga.
If we had stayed farther outside the city and planned to drive in and out every day, we would have spent a lot more of the trip sitting in traffic.
Being able to arrive, park the car, and mostly leave it there was a huge advantage for us.
The Room: Small, But Completely Functional for Us
We stayed in a standard room with 2 double beds.
My 2 kids slept together in one bed, and my niece and I shared the other.
The room was definitely small, but honestly, it felt pretty normal to me for a downtown hotel in a major city. Space is tight in places like this.
It never felt unusable, though. We had enough room to unpack, sleep, get ready, and even let the kids run around and be kids.
They somehow turned the narrow stretch between the door and the window into their own running track and spent a surprising amount of time making “bridges” with their legs that everyone else needed passwords to pass through.
At one point, we even brought ice cream upstairs and put towels down on the floor so the kids could have an ice cream picnic and they had a blast.
Storage Helped More Than I Expected
Because the room itself was tight, I appreciated that there was enough storage to get things out of the way.
There was a closet area with 4 drawers.
Conveniently, that worked perfectly for our group. My niece used 1 drawer, I used 1, my kids shared 1, and the final drawer became our dirty laundry drawer.
We kept the suitcases tucked away in the closet instead of leaving them open around the room, which helped the space feel much less cluttered.
There was also a mini-fridge, coffee maker, TV, desk with 1 chair, USB charging ports beside the beds, and plenty of outlets along the walls and near the desk.
Nothing was especially fancy.
It was just a very standard, functional hotel room.
What About a Double Stroller?
This was probably the biggest room logistics issue for us. Our double stroller would not fit through the doorway while open, so I had to fold it in the hallway and store it folded against the wall near the mirror.
I technically could have opened it back up once it was inside, but there would not have been anywhere to actually push it around. When we were heading out, I would just bring it into the hallway, open it there, and then have the kids climb in.
That worked fine for us at 3 and 5, since they were old enough to wait until we were in the hallway to get into the stroller. When they were younger, though, I would have found this setup a lot more frustrating because I often wanted to get them settled into the stroller before we even left the room.
The Beds, Bathroom, and Sleep
Despite the room feeling a little cramped, we all slept really well. The beds were very comfortable, the temperature was easy to control with the thermostat on the wall, and the room stayed surprisingly quiet overnight.
We occasionally heard people talking as they passed our door, but that was about it. There were also signs near the elevators reminding guests about quiet hours, which I appreciated because the guest floors really did stay calm at night.
I had asked at check-in whether the hotel had a rollaway bed because I was hoping to give my 9-year-old niece her own sleeping space. They do not offer rollaways, though, so she and I shared one bed while my 2 kids shared the other.
Once I saw the size of the room, that made sense. I honestly do not know where a rollaway would have fit. The hotel does offer cribs, but even that would make a standard room feel pretty tight.
The bathroom was a standard hotel setup with the sink, toilet, and shower all together inside. There was no bathtub, which worked perfectly fine for us at these ages, but when my kids were younger I definitely preferred having one in hotel rooms.
So if you are traveling with a baby, toddler, or child who really needs a bath, that is something I would keep in mind.
For us, though, the sleeping setup worked fine. We had enough space to get everyone settled at night, and everyone slept comfortably, which was really what mattered most.
I also really appreciated that the hotel offers daily housekeeping. I ran into the housekeeping team as we were coming into the room on our first day and they were incredibly kind, and the next day they did a full cleaning while we were out exploring. I love coming back to a freshly cleaned hotel room, especially with kids, and daily housekeeping is something I notice more now that so many hotels only service rooms every other day.
If you do need more space, the hotel also lists premium rooms and suites. We did not stay in either of those room types, so I cannot speak to how much larger they feel, but they may be worth looking at if a standard room sounds too tight for your family.
If you want to see what the room actually looked like with 2 double beds and how the space was laid out, here’s a quick room tour from our stay:
What It Actually Feels Like to Stay Here With Kids
This was one of those hotel stays where the overall experience mattered more than any one feature. Everything felt really straightforward.
Check-in was quick, and the person helping us was friendly and attentive.
The lobby was large and open, which made arriving with luggage and a double stroller easy. There are accessible entrances at both the front and back of the hotel, so I never felt like I was struggling to get everyone inside.
There is also a small gift shop in the lobby that sells snacks, ice cream, and little toys, which my kids were very excited to discover.
Toronto in general was surprisingly easy with the stroller too.
The sidewalks around the hotel were wide and well maintained, and almost every store, restaurant, and building we entered had an accessible entrance. A lot of them even had wave sensors that automatically opened the doors.
The Staff Made the Little Things Easier
What stood out to me most about the staff was how helpful they were in those moments when I was clearly juggling a lot.
One afternoon, I came back to the hotel pushing the stroller up one of the ramps. The employee near the entrance opened the door for me, then walked all the way down the long corridor with us, opening the additional doors along the way and showing us directly to the elevator. He absolutely did not need to do that, but it was one of those small gestures that makes a big difference when your hands are full.
Another night, we ordered Chinese food through Uber Eats. There were plenty of delivery options around the hotel and the food came quickly, but once it arrived I realized there was nowhere in our room where I really wanted 3 kids eating rice and sauce near the beds.
I asked downstairs if there was somewhere we could sit, and an employee who I think may have been some kind of manager brought us over to a quieter area of the lobby with a table. When we realized the restaurant had not included plates or utensils, he went and found plates and plasticware for all of us, then came back later to make sure we had everything we needed.
That felt pretty representative of our experience with the staff throughout the stay. They were consistently kind, attentive, and willing to help in ways that made things easier without making a big production out of it.
Elevators, Noise, and Security
Most of the time, the elevators were fast and easy to use, and our double stroller fit comfortably inside. The only time we really had an issue was during peak morning hours, when breakfast and checkout seemed to overlap and there was actually a line of people waiting to go back upstairs.
Outside of those busy windows, though, we barely waited at all.
The hotel also felt very secure. You needed a room key in the elevator to access the guest-room floors, and there always seemed to be employees near the entrances greeting people as they came and went.
Once we were upstairs, everything felt surprisingly quiet. We hardly ever saw anyone else in the hallway, and we never had any issues with noise during our stay.
Overall, the hotel felt like a pretty typical Holiday Inn in a good way. We saw families, business travelers, couples, and all kinds of other guests, and while it was not a hotel specifically designed around kids, it still felt completely comfortable and easy to stay there as a family.
The Indoor Pool Became the Kids’ Favorite Hotel Activity
The pool was easily one of the biggest wins for us. We used it both evenings, and the kids wanted to stay down there for quite a while each time.
It is larger than many standard hotel pools we have visited, and it is heated. I am very sensitive to cold pool water, and even I thought the temperature felt great.
The pool ranges from about 3 feet 6 inches in the shallow end to 5 feet 8 inches in the deeper section, with a rope separating the deeper portion. There is not a true kiddie pool, which mattered for my son because he is nervous around water and really only likes pools where he can stand comfortably with plenty of room above the surface. Since even the shallow end was deeper than he prefers, he sat this one out.
My 3-year-old daughter had the exact opposite reaction and happily swam with me in her life jacket. My 9-year-old niece loved it too. She could stand comfortably in much of the pool and used the time to practice swimming, jumping in, and doing things she is still pretty new to.
There are also large steps leading into the shallow end that younger kids could sit and play on. There is no lifeguard on duty, so parents need to supervise accordingly.
Both times we visited, there were a few other families there, but it never felt crowded. The entire pool area was very clean, and there were plenty of towels in the separate men’s and women’s locker rooms.
For families with older or stronger swimmers, I could also see the pool area being somewhere parents could actually relax a little. I saw several parents sitting and reading while their kids played.
That was definitely not my situation yet. My daughter is only 3 and my niece is still getting comfortable in deeper water, so I was very much actively supervising the whole time.
The locker rooms also had toilets and showers stocked with shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. Seating directly around the pool is somewhat limited, but there is a large outdoor patio right outside with additional seating and space to sit in the sun.
One of the most random parts of our stay ended up being the outdoor patio beside the pool. Part of it has a raised area that almost feels like a little stage, and on our first night the kids spent more than an hour up there dancing, making up shows, and performing for me.
It was completely unplanned, but they loved it. After all the time I had spent researching museums, neighborhoods, attractions, and transportation for Toronto, apparently all they really needed was a stage.
Breakfast and Dining at Thirty Restaurant & Lounge
Food ended up being another huge reason this hotel worked so well for us.
Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown Centre has an on-site restaurant called Thirty Restaurant & Lounge, and we used it for both breakfast and dinner.
Having everything right downstairs took away several little travel decisions I otherwise would have had to make.
Buffet Breakfast Made Mornings Easy
Breakfast was included as part of our hosted stay. Normally it is an additional charge, although the hotel does offer room rates that include breakfast if you want to book it that way.
The buffet was much more substantial than I expected, with pastries, toast, bagels, eggs, bacon, sausage, oatmeal with toppings, French toast, cereal, yogurt, and a large fruit selection. There was also a section with toppings for the eggs, including salsa, cheese, and, somewhat randomly, olives.
That was very exciting for my son because he loves olives and proceeded to eat what felt like an entire cup of them for breakfast. The rest of us had a more traditional mix of eggs, bacon, fruit, and French toast.
There was also coffee, orange juice, and apple juice. The food itself was very good. It was not an elaborate brunch, but it was definitely better than a lot of standard hotel breakfast buffets we have tried.
We went down around 8 AM both mornings, and it was busy, but we never had to wait for a table. There were some lines at the buffet, and on our second morning the main breakfast area filled up, so the staff started seating guests in the more formal dinner side of the restaurant and quickly set up a second buffet there.
I was really impressed by how smoothly they handled the crowd.
For me, though, the biggest benefit was simply having breakfast right in the hotel. When I am traveling with kids, especially when I am the only adult managing everyone, every extra transition adds more time and effort.
Instead of having to find a restaurant, get everyone there, wait for a table, and hope the menu worked for all 3 kids, we could just get dressed, take the elevator downstairs, and feed everyone something they actually liked before starting the day.
That made our mornings noticeably easier.
Dinner at Thirty Restaurant & Lounge
We also had dinner at Thirty Restaurant & Lounge on our first night, which ended up being perfect after a long day of driving and exploring Toronto. Nobody really wanted to head back out into the city, so we ate downstairs, went swimming afterward, and had a really easy evening.
My niece and I both ordered French onion soup and salmon, and everything was very good. My son had a cheeseburger and fries from the kids menu, and my daughter ordered chicken fingers and fries.
The restaurant felt nice enough to feel like we were having an actual dinner out, but still relaxed enough that I never felt uncomfortable bringing young kids. Our waitress was also incredibly patient with my daughter, who has apparently reached an age where ordering from a menu is a very serious process and had quite a few opinions about it.
She humored the whole thing, which I appreciated, and overall dinner felt easy and genuinely enjoyable for all 4 of us.
Kids Eat Free Is a Really Good Family Benefit
One of the biggest perks of staying here with younger kids is Holiday Inn’s Kids Eat Free program. At this hotel, children age 11 and under can eat free from the kids menu when dining with a paying adult, for up to 2 children per adult.
That applied to both breakfast and dinner at Thirty Restaurant & Lounge during our stay, which can make a pretty meaningful difference for a family.
The menu prices felt normal to me for a downtown hotel restaurant. They were not cheap, but they also were not unusually expensive, and once I factored in the fact that I was not paying for meals for my 2 younger kids, the restaurant felt like a really reasonable option.
It also made our arrival-night dinner especially easy because we could stay in the hotel, have a nice meal, and keep the evening simple after a long travel day.
I would absolutely eat there again.
Parking Was Surprisingly Easy for Downtown Toronto
We drove into Toronto, so parking was one of the things I was thinking about before we ever arrived. The hotel’s parking garage entrance is at 33 Wood Street and leads directly underneath the property.
When we pulled in, there was an employee at the entrance checking that vehicles were connected to hotel stays and directing drivers where to go, which immediately made the garage feel more secure to me.
Parking is self-park, and I was pleasantly surprised by how roomy the spaces were. I parked next to another vehicle and still had enough room to get the kids, stroller, luggage, and everything else out of the car without squeezing through tiny gaps.
The one thing I would watch is the ceiling height. I drive a Toyota 4Runner, and there were a few moments where it felt like we were getting very close to the ceiling. We fit without a problem, but if you have a taller vehicle, I would definitely check the garage clearance before arriving.
Once we were parked, the rest of the setup was really easy. Elevators from the garage go directly into the hotel and can take you to the lobby or guest-room floors, so I did not have to unload everyone on the street or carry bags through a separate building. I could just get everybody out, load the stroller, and roll straight inside.
Parking was included as part of our hosted stay. Normally there is a daily fee, and hotel parking includes in-and-out privileges, although we did not end up using them. Once I parked the car, I left it there until checkout.
How We Actually Got Around Toronto
Our transportation looked a little different each day. We walked around the hotel area on our first afternoon, used the City Sightseeing Toronto hop-on hop-off bus on our full day, and then drove on our last day.
We never ended up using Toronto’s regular public transportation, even though I think it would probably be one of the easiest and least expensive ways to get around from this hotel. It just did not line up with the way our itinerary worked.
On our departure day, we wanted to visit the Royal Ontario Museum, do a boat tour at the Harbourfront, and then leave Toronto to drive home. I did not want to spend the whole day moving around the city only to backtrack to the hotel for the car, so I decided to drive instead.
We parked near the ROM, then drove to the Harbourfront and parked again before leaving the city from there. Each garage was around $30 CAD, which was definitely not cheap, but in that situation it was worth it for the convenience.
Both garages were surprisingly easy to access, and once our boat tour ended, we could just get in the car and start the drive home.
If I stayed here again, I would probably use the same general approach: leave the car parked most of the time, then drive only when the day’s logistics make it easier.
Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown Centre With Kids: Pros and Cons
What I Loved
- Central downtown Toronto location
- Easy access to walking and transportation
- Indoor heated pool
- Kids Eat Free benefit at Thirty Restaurant & Lounge
- Full breakfast buffet with plenty of kid-friendly options
- Easy arrival-night dinner without leaving the hotel
- Secure-feeling parking garage directly below the hotel
- Direct elevator access from the garage
- Accessible entrances that worked well with our double stroller
- Clean, modern, and well-maintained common areas
- Daily housekeeping
- Comfortable beds
- Quiet hallways and room
- Helpful staff
- Large, easy-to-navigate lobby
- Outdoor patio beside the pool
- Gift shop with toys, snacks, and ice cream
What I Didn’t Love
- Standard rooms are small for a family of 4
- No rollaway beds
- No bathtub in our room
- Very little space for eating meals inside the room
- Our double stroller had to be folded to fit through the doorway
- Elevators could get crowded during busy morning hours
- Pool does not have a true shallow kiddie area
- Parking garage ceiling felt low with our SUV
None of those things would stop me from staying here again. The room size was the biggest limitation, but it never really took away from how well the hotel worked for us. For this trip, the location, pool, breakfast, parking, and overall convenience mattered much more than having extra space.
Is Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown Centre Worth It With Kids?
Yes, I would absolutely stay at Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown Centre again with kids.
For me, the biggest strength of this hotel is how easy it made the trip feel. We could spend the day out exploring Toronto, then come back to a hotel where the kids were excited to swim, breakfast was easy in the morning, dinner was right downstairs if we wanted it, and the car could stay parked safely underneath the hotel.
The standard room was definitely on the smaller side for 1 adult and 3 kids, so that is the main thing I would think about before booking. If you need separate sleeping spaces or want a room where your family can really spread out and spend a lot of time, I would look closely at the hotel’s larger room categories.
For the kind of trip we were taking, though, the room worked just fine. We were mostly using it to sleep, get ready, and reset between everything else we were doing, and I would much rather have had the central location and all of the family-friendly conveniences than a larger room farther outside the city.
The kids were genuinely happy here too. They loved the pool, talked about breakfast constantly, and even chose staying at the hotel to swim over going back out to explore Cabbagetown one evening.
For a downtown Toronto trip where you want to spend your days seeing the city but still have a hotel that feels easy and comfortable to come back to with kids, I think Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown Centre is a really strong option.
Have questions about this post or want help thinking through the logistics for your own trip? Join my free Facebook community for parents planning family travel. You can ask questions, share what you’re working through, and get real-life advice from other parents who understand how many little details go into traveling with kids.
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