Presto Pass <\/a>for making these payments. It won\u2019t save you any money. A Presto Day Pass, however, can save you a few bucks if you plan to ride the train at least five times in a single day.<\/p>\nThe cheap seats<\/p>\n
No ticket, no problem. BMO Field isn\u2019t the only place to experience World Cup madness in Toronto. And the alternatives won\u2019t require selling one of your kidneys.<\/p>\n
One place to join the throngs is at one of the public watch parties taking place across the city. While admission to these events is generally free, you may have to reserve a spot in advance. Check an event\u2019s website for details.<\/p>\n
Some of the bigger watch parties include:<\/p>\n
The official FIFA Fan Festival at Fort York. The free passes have all been claimed, so you\u2019ll have to buy a premium ticket to get in. Premium experiences start at $100.<\/p>\n
Adidas\u2019s takeover of Stackt Market. This outdoor mall constructed of shipping containers is just down the street from the official Fan Festival.<\/p>\n
Canada Soccer\u2019s World Cup headquarters. The Harbourfront Centre will be hosting Canada Soccer House Toronto, a hybrid watch party\/market\/fan zone, on select nights during the tournament.<\/p>\n
The watch parties are sure to fill up, so you might need an alternative place to watch the games with an enthusiastic crowd. One inexpensive option is to head to a local Cineplex movie theatre. <\/p>\n
Several Cineplex locations around the Greater Toronto Area will be showing TSN\u2019s coverage of more than a dozen matches. And yes, Cineplexes in Toronto serve booze.<\/p>\n
Tickets are currently on sale through the Cineplex website for $9.95 plus a $1.50 online booking fee. Plug \u201cFIFA\u201d into the search bar and you\u2019ll see a list of what\u2019s available.<\/p>\n
The cheap eats<\/p>\n
Toronto\u2019s food scene is known more for quality than affordability. If you\u2019re here for more than a few days, consider heading to some less expensive, though still accessible, parts of town for meals. You\u2019ll soak up some culture, treat your tastebuds and give your credit card a temporary rest.<\/p>\n
Little Jamaica<\/p>\n
Located on Eglinton Avenue West between Marlee Avenue and Keele Street, you\u2019ll find a hub of Caribbean and West Indian culture \u2014 bars, shops and some of Toronto\u2019s most beloved local Jamaican restaurants. <\/p>\n
Little Jamaica is generally a glitz-free zone, but there is magic behind some of those simple storefronts. Near Dufferin Street, you\u2019ll find a bunch of good Mexican spots, too. <\/p>\n
Chinatown(s)<\/p>\n
Toronto is blessed to have multiple Chinatowns. There\u2019s a gut-busting selection of affordable noodles, dim sum, hot pot and barbecue in each one.<\/p>\n
The area near Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street West is the city\u2019s largest and best known Chinatown. (It\u2019s also by Kensington Market, where there\u2019s no shortage of places to grab something tasty on the cheap.) Head east on Dundas and get ready to drool.<\/p>\n
Venture over to East Chinatown, near the intersection of Gerrard Street East and Broadview Avenue, to find equally excellent Asian grub. You\u2019ll generally pay a little less for it, too.<\/p>\n
Little India and the \u201cother\u201d Danforth<\/p>\n
Gerrard Street East, between Coxwell and Greenwood Avenues, is arguably Toronto\u2019s premier spot for South Asian food (residents of Scarborough may disagree). No need to ask the restaurants here to make the food spicy. They know what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n
Another excellent hub for Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi food is on Danforth Avenue. You might know the Danforth as the Greek part of town, but if you head east toward Victoria Park you\u2019ll find yourself surrounded by mouthwatering options in what\u2019s been dubbed Banglatown.<\/p>\n
We get it. Budgeting isn’t Priority One when you\u2019re attending one of the biggest parties on the planet. It\u2019s not necessary, realistic or fun to examine every decision through a financial lens. <\/p>\n
But it doesn\u2019t hurt to prepare for what\u2019s awaiting you in Toronto. In exchange for witnessing all that fancy footwork, the city is probably going to kick a gaping hole in your finances.<\/p>\n
If you plan to pay for most of your expenses with credit, that debt<\/a> could weigh on you long after the last chant fades. A few judicious choices here and there can lighten that burden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As someone visiting the city during the World Cup, you\u2019re about to see Toronto at its best \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,49,48,133,131,132],"class_list":["post-729243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}