Stratford is a small Ontario city on the Avon River, about 150 km west of Toronto. It is best known for the Stratford Festival, one of the largest and most respected classical theatre festivals in North America. Running from April to October, the festival stages a dozen or more productions each season across four venues — Shakespeare is the anchor, but the programme ranges from musicals to new Canadian plays.
The town itself is charming and punches well above its weight for a place of 33,000 people. The restaurant scene is excellent, fed by a culinary school that has produced several notable Canadian chefs. The downtown has good independent shops, the Shakespearean Gardens on the riverbank, and the parkland along the river is a pleasant walk — complete with swans, naturally.
Outside festival season Stratford is quieter but still worth a stop if you are driving between Toronto and the Lake Huron shore.