Whilst in Toronto we took the girls to the CN Tower. We had been up these before, but they hadn’t. We had pre-purchased tickets on the web, but there wasn’t a queue, so it wouldn’t have mattered if we hadn’t.

The elevator to the main level is very fast and you can see outside whilst you are travelling up, which is good. Once on the main level you can walk around freely to see the views, which are quite magnificent. Obviously the weather you get makes a big difference. We were in Toronto for three days, so managed to wait for a day when the weather was pretty good, especially for mid December. We had excellent views from the tower and couldn’t have asked for better.

The tower has a glass floor section that you can walk on. You can literally see straight down to the ground, which can be a little disconcerting. One of the girls was a little worried about heights but after a lot of coaxing managed to finally stop onto the glass floor and even managed to stay on long enough to have a photo taken. You can obviously take your own pictures or there is an official photographer there to take them for you, but obviously you pay for them if you want to keep them.

After this level and the glass floor we went up another elevator to the highest level. Obviously the views are the same, just from a bit higher up. Also the views are more restricted as the glass windows are not as large as on the main level. If cost is an issue, I would say, leave this level out as you get much more from the main level and it is not necessarily worth the extra. If money is not an issue, then you really have to go up there, just because you can!

When you get out of the elevator on the return to the ground you exit in the gift shop. This is quite a large shop and sells everything from clothing to replica towers as well as jewellery and many other things. The prices in the shop are pretty good and nothing is overpriced because it is in the tower like many other attractions do.

If in Toronto, you have to go up the CN Tower – it’s the law!

At $20, plus tax, this ascent needed to be worth it. In the morning it was overcast and I noticed that the top of the tower was disappearing periodically behind low clouds, so we waited for the weather to break, fearing we'd see nothing if we didn't. In the afternoon, the sun came out and we toddled along to the tower for a trip to the top of the world.

The first thing you're confronted with is your choice of options, starting at $20 for your basic trip to the observation deck, a bit more if you want to go up a few more stories to Sky Pod, and options to buy 5-day tickets, which are a good value if you're staying a few days and plan to take in more of these attractions. After checking on the length of the queue (10 minutes at 2pm), we went for the basic observation deck option. We'd heard the Sky Pod wasn't worth the extra money.

These days you get searched whenever you go to attractions like this, as though you were catching a plane, and the CN Tower is no exception. So, we got in line, passed the checks, posed for the customary rip-off photo (which we didn't bother to even look at, never mind buy), and pretty soon were packed into the alarmingly swift (22mph apparently) lift to the observation deck.

I must say that views on a clear day are impressive, and there are a few ways to appreciate them at that level. First is a panorama, where you're hemmed safely in by windows on all sides, but there's also the famous glass floor that you can stand on and look down, which is actually quite hard to force yourself to do. At this level there's also a restaurant that I noted attracts some ropey reviews so we left it alone. Go down a flight of steps and the panorama is open-air, but you're hemmed in by mesh, so your photo-taking is a bit more restricted, but it gives you more of a "feel" for what it's like to be so high.

Anyway, there are great views in all directions, out over the lake and islands, city, etc., and that's about it I suppose. When you're ready to do something else, you stand in line for the next elevator down (every couple of minutes) and you're out directly into the reasonably priced and well-stocked souvenir shop.

The final delight is the elevator operator. In his defence, he must have to say it 200 times a day, but his spectacular mastery of the indifferent closing summary was something I could only wonder at.

Here's the website that gives you all the boring facts and statistics about the tower in two languages.

The CN Tower is absolutely phenomenal. Before I visited, I had heard the hype, namely that it's the world tallest free-standing structure or, as the website (www.cntower.ca) states, the world's tallest building. I didn't necessarily get the same sense of wonder that I did the first time I saw the World Trade Center in NYC, but it was a close second!

Highlights:

1) When we first entered the lobby and told our son that it was called the CN Tower, he heard "cien" tower and asked if it was made out of 100 blocks. It looks like he actually is learning something in his kindergarten Spanish lessons!

2) The glass floor and observation deck, at 1,122 feet, were interesting, although I think I had hoped for more of a freefall sensation when viewing through the glass floor. For reasons that were obvious when I saw the glass floor, but didn't really think about in advance, the area that is actually glass is necessarily quite small.

3) The Skypod, at 1,465 feet, was amazing - I enjoyed the view from this area the best and got some interesting photos.

All in all, it's a great attraction to visit. Admittedly, though, it can get a little pricey for families. We paid for the Observation Experience (Look Out, Glass Floor, Skypod), and it cost roughly C$80 (or US$65). For a visit of less than an hour, it's not the best value in the city. But it was still worth it.

CN Tower is a popular attraction, with a height of 553.33m (1,815 ft., 5 inches). The land was undeveloped in the immediate area when I visited this attraction, but now it's all built up.

Citypass includes this attraction.

Open daily 11am-7pm to the tower top.

Refer to CN Tower's website for current prices, which start at $19.99 for adult for basic lookout and glass floor, or $31.99 for their total tower experience which includes lookout, glass floor, skypod, movie, motion simulator ride (minimum height 107cm, or 42 inches.)

360 Restaurant hours available, call for reservations (416) 362-5411.

We visited the CN Tower at the end of April 2004 and wanted to visit both the observation deck and the skypod, but unfortunately the skypod was out of bounds due to renovations. We had to make do with the main observation area called the lookout and the glass floor. The ticket for this option was £18.99CD. You can also choose to view a movie and go on simulator rides, but we just chose the lookout and glass floor.

When you enter the tower at ground level, you enter the ticket area. There were no queues when we visited as it was out of season and early in the day, however, there is plenty of evidence with ropes etc that the queues can get quite long. Once you have purchased your ticket you walk round the back to await the elevator. Again, we went straight through and were greeted by a guy dressed in white coat and looking every bit the mad professor. He put us into the elevator and went up with us himself, giving odd facts about the tower as we went. The glass fronted elevator is pretty fast at 15 miles per hour and takes just under a minute to reach the lookout level.

When you exit here you are left to your own devices, so you can take as long as you like to take in the views. The lookout covers a full 360 degrees, so you don’t miss any of the sights. Whilst we were in Toronto, we had kept an eye on the weather forecast, so chose a day with exceptionally good weather, so had excellent views. You can see the lake, the islands and of course the city itself. There is a café at this level too, so you can sip your coffee gazing out across the vastness of the Toronto skyline.

Next we went down a few steps to the glass floor. Again this had construction work going on, so only half the floor was accessible, but as there weren’t too many people there, this was fine. You can of course take your own photos, but there is also a photographer on hand to take your photo with their specially set up camera, which looks from the ceiling down onto the glass floor. We had ours done and sat on the floor and 90 degree angles from each other so there was still a good view of the floor. They actually take a couple of shots and you can then view then on the computer screen and choose which one you want. You then get a ticket to pick then out from the gift shop when you leave. They cost CDN$19 each.

You exit once again via the elevator and come out, guess where, the gift shop. You can get some of the usual tat here, such as a 3D puzzle of the tower complete with flashing light on top, but they also have clothing, cards, etc. Well worth the visit.