Pearson Airport to Radisson Hotels in Toronto & Ontario

Which Radisson hotels are on the Pearson transfer map?

Radisson's footprint in Ontario is small and specific, which makes each door worth describing properly. The Blu on the harbourfront is a leisure and convention hotel with a waterfront drop-off that most chauffeurs get wrong the first time; the Toronto East is a highway hotel serving Scarborough's offices and the Toronto Zoo; the Kitchener Waterloo property serves the universities and the tech campuses; and the Niagara and Ottawa hotels are long-distance runs on routes we drive weekly.

Radisson Blu Toronto Downtown: the harbourfront door

The Radisson Blu stands on Queens Quay West between Rees Street and Lower Simcoe, opposite the harbour and a ten-minute walk from the Rogers Centre, the CN Tower and Ripley's Aquarium. Its drop-off is on Queens Quay itself, a waterfront boulevard with a streetcar line down the middle, so the chauffeur approaches from the west along Queens Quay or from Lower Simcoe and stops in the hotel's lane rather than crossing the tracks. From Pearson the drive is the 427, the Gardiner and the Spadina exit down to the water — thirty minutes off-peak, forty-five to fifty in the evening rush and longer on a summer weekend when the waterfront is busy; the live traffic board decides between the Gardiner and Lake Shore. The downtown route page covers the alternatives; from Union Station the Blu is a fifteen-minute walk or the Harbourfront streetcar, which with luggage is the argument for the car.

Radisson Toronto East and the 401 corridor

The Radisson Hotel Toronto East sits beside the 401 at the Don Valley Parkway, the hotel for Scarborough's offices, the Toronto Zoo's visitors and the families with a wedding at one of the east end's banquet halls. From Pearson the chauffeur crosses the top of the city on the 401 — thirty minutes at 10 pm, forty-five at 5 pm — or uses the 407 with the toll inside the fare when the 401 is stopped; the Oshawa route page explains that choice for the whole east end.

From the hotel: the harbourfront, the Zoo and the day

Attractions. From the Blu: Ripley's Aquarium, the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre are a ten-minute walk; the Toronto Islands ferry, Harbourfront Centre and the Music Garden are on the doorstep; the Hockey Hall of Fame and the St. Lawrence Market fifteen minutes east; the Distillery District a five-minute drive. From the Toronto East: the Toronto Zoo fifteen minutes, the Ontario Science Centre ten, the Scarborough Bluffs fifteen, the Aga Khan Museum five. From Kitchener: St. Jacobs, the Waterloo tech campuses and the Stratford Festival. From Niagara: the Falls and the wineries.

Stations and the other airports. Union Station is a five-minute drive from the Blu — the chauffeur takes guests with luggage to the Front Street doors — for VIA to Ottawa, Montréal and Kingston and the UP Express to Pearson. Billy Bishop is five minutes west along Queens Quay for Porter flights, the closest of any hotel on this site. From the Toronto East, Scarborough's GO stations are ten minutes; from Kitchener, the VIA/GO station ten.

City tours. From the Blu a chauffeured half-day runs the Distillery District, the Beaches, Cabbagetown and the Brick Works, then Casa Loma and Yorkville — the waterfront itself is at the door; a full day adds the Islands ferry or a Niagara day from the Queens Quay door at nine.

Company meetings. The Blu's convention guests walk to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in ten minutes; the Bay Street towers are fifteen minutes on foot or five by car. The Toronto East's guests are at Scarborough's and Markham's offices along the 401 and 404; the Kitchener hotel's at the universities and the tech campuses. Each meeting day is an hourly booking on the corporate account.

Conventions, weddings and the Blu's ballroom

The Radisson Blu's waterfront ballroom hosts weddings and conventions that bring guests from across the country; the group shuttle meets the flights on one manifest and the wedding transport plan meets each arriving guest at Pearson across the week and runs the couple's car on the day. The Toronto East's banquet halls draw the east end's South Asian and Chinese wedding communities, for whom the stretch limousine and the Sprinter are the vehicles of the day.

Booking the transfer

Enter the Radisson hotel's name or address as the drop-off with the flight number, the date and the vehicle class; the fare is fixed for that door and shown before you pay. Add the return to the right terminal on the same booking through the departures page.

Booking through the hotel or booking direct

Radisson hotels arrange cars through the front desk, and the Blu's concierge knows the harbourfront's taxi economics. Booking direct before you fly gives the fixed fare on the confirmation, a pickup tracked against the flight, curbside collection at the GTAA pre-arranged area included, and one booking carrying the return and the week's moves. For the Blu, the UP Express to Union and the fifteen-minute walk or the Harbourfront streetcar west along Queens Quay is the honest alternative for a solo traveller with a carry-on; the streetcar is slow and the walk is exposed in winter, which is why the hotel's guests with luggage book the car.

The Blu in summer: the waterfront's busiest weeks

From June to September the harbourfront around the Radisson Blu is the city's front lawn: the Islands ferry queues, the Harbourfront Centre festivals, the Redpath Waterfront Festival with its tall ships, Canada Day fireworks, and the Toronto Caribbean Carnival parade along Lake Shore in August. Queens Quay is closed or restricted for several of them, and the City's closure notices are the chauffeur's morning reading; the live traffic board shows the Gardiner and Lake Shore. On those weekends the pickup point may move to Lower Simcoe or Rees Street, and the chauffeur tells you the door by text before the car arrives.

Weddings and banquets at the Toronto East

The Radisson Hotel Toronto East and the banquet halls around it host the east end's largest weddings — South Asian celebrations across three days, Chinese banquets of forty tables — with guests flying into Pearson from Vancouver, London, Delhi and Hong Kong across a week. The wedding transport plan meets each arriving guest at the curb, runs the stretch limousine and the Sprinters on the day, and returns the family to the airport afterwards; the chauffeurs know the 401 and 407 across the top of the city at every hour and check Ontario 511 for the DVP before a Saturday-evening run. The same account covers the couple's honeymoon departure the following morning.

The departure: Queens Quay to the right terminal

From the Radisson Blu the morning drive to Pearson is Lake Shore west to the Gardiner and the 427 north — twenty-five minutes at 6 am and forty-five at 5 pm — and the chauffeur is in the Queens Quay lane five minutes early with the luggage handled from the bell desk. The pickup is timed backwards from the check-in cut-off on the departures page; the terminal finder settles Terminal 1 or 3. Guests leaving from Billy Bishop instead are five minutes west along Queens Quay, and Porter's short check-in window makes the timing forgiving. From the Toronto East the departure crosses the top of the city on the 401 or the 407, thirty to forty-five minutes.

Book a transfer to your Radisson