Great White North's summer surprise

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A reporter leans over the edge of the catwalk during the media preview for the "EdgeWalk" on the CN Tower.

People play a game of pickup soccer in downtown Toronto.

A man paraglides in front of the skyline in Toronto.

The sun rises over the CN tower and the skyline in Toronto.

Perhaps most famous for having a mayor who has admitted smoking crack cocaine, Toronto has much more than salacious headlines to offer the intrepid visitor, especially when snow is far from the collective consciousness.

With a winter that can send recent immigrants into shock, Toronto is best visited between May and September, when it is awash with festivals and events, and patios are jammed with locals enjoying a long-awaited outdoor pint.

The city is a hotbed for immigration as is made clear by the array of construction cranes working on new downtown condos designed to appeal to the 100,000 or so newcomers that arrive in Toronto each year.

But stepping past the main streets brings you to the true fruits of decades of international settlement: a network of immigrant enclaves that make the city a virtual United Nations of food, music, and street culture.

So don't get bogged down by the construction that paralyses movement around the iconic Union Station and squeezes traffic on the city's byways. Complain like a local, then get on with it.

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Great White North's summer surprise