By James Stone

I'm not a big fan of Toronto. For a start, it's in Canada which in many ways is a fantastic country, but in many ways too is pretty boring. The people are nice, relaxed and friendly. The streets are always clean. If you run out in to the middle of the road, cars stop for you, with a patient smile, and let you wander your way across to the opposite side walk. Toronto has the manners of have-a-nice-day America combined with the quiet gentile charm of an ex-British colony.

So the problem for travellers of a certain age is that Toronto can be a little bit on the dull side. But don't worry though - to a degree my open experience has shown that Toronto is only so placid on the surface. Once you dig a little deeper, things start to get a lot more interesting. So here are my top tips for the slightly more exciting things to do around town.

First, there's Little Italy. By day this now-largely Portuguese part of town is a centre for shopping middle-aged women to sit down and have an espresso at one of the many pavement cafes that vary between authentic Italian and grotesque touristy. But by night the bars really come alive, and this is the place to come for an all-night party. There's some decent Italian food for lining your stomach on offer too, if you fancy it.

Toronto even has a bit of clubbing to offer the more energetic visitor too. Try the Fluid Lounge, which may have a rubbish name, but has plenty of atmosphere to make up for it. Admittedly, as a club that was established in the mid-90s, it suffers a bit from trying to deliver a 'superclub' experience now widely snubbed in Europe. But there's enthusiasm there that you don't get from the tired clubbing crowds of London anymore, which makes for a good night.

When my friends from Canada were last in the UK, they complained that they couldn't believe that the pubs all shut at 11pm. Post 24-hour licensing laws and I suppose things have changed a bit, at least in the cities. To be honest though, there did seem to be a mass desertion of Toronto's night spots at 2am when all the bars kicked out, and I was a bit disappointed. But then I discovered a club called the Matador.

The Matador Country Music Club is a bizarre place run by an old grandmother. It has live bands (not all country music) playing all night until 5.30 am, when the sun starts to come up and everyone goes home. If there's one place you should go, this has to be it. Frankly, the mix of people, music and illicitness of late night living makes it a first class tourist attraction for the more adventurous traveller.