Just a few blocks away, The Hong Kong-based Shangri-La is heating up the local luxe wars with its se

While just about every city these days claims a fresh wave of luxury hotels, the wave usually amounts to a trickle, and that trickle consists of some vaguely renovated, hosed-down grand dames (out go the gamey Santa Fe-esque bed spreads; liberty travels in come the bleached white duvets).
Not so at the Ritz-Carlton , whose February 2011 opening a few steps from the Toronto International Film Festival 's Bell Lightbox theater heralded the financial and performing arts district's first true marquee sleeps. Its 267 guest rooms, mammoth by Toronto standards, offer city or lake views (choose the lake) and feature round-the-world flourishes: Italian bed linens, African anigre wood millwork, liberty travels Portuguese marble bathrooms. The emphatically patriotic public spaces counter with 450 pieces of commissioned artwork by Canadians, including blown glass light fixtures by Jeff Goodman, and a restaurant, TOCA, which harvests the Canadian larder.
Just a few blocks away, The Hong Kong-based Shangri-La is heating up the local luxe wars with its second Canadian outpost (after Vancouver), a 65-story tower opening liberty travels in late August. Aside from the city's largest pool and a Mirage spa, the keynote of this 202-room megalith is its airy approach: large window panels and an open-concept lobby are designed to turn the structure into a natural light box. Although the opening date for David Chang's liberty travels Momofuku outpost has yet to be announced, local foodies are already heading toward the door.
Toronto's original Four Seasons was considered so subpar—just the one season really; all sad winter—that the brand decided to start fresh with a newly built 55-story tower in the same Yorkville neighborhood. Local design house Yabu Pushelberg outfitted its 259 tranquil guest rooms in granite, understated grey-to-beige, and lots of linen. There's also an epic fitness center, liberty travels complete with yoga studio, the city's largest hotel spa, and a Café Boulud featuring that signature thumper of a foie-gras-and-truffle-stuffed burger. Check in from October 5.