Great area for a diverse collection of unique stores, boutiques, restaurants and home of the legendary Horseshoe Tavern!!

Check out Pages for a great alt-bookstore, black market in 2 locations near each other for good vintage and cheap hipster clothes, the back room of the Rivoli for live music or comedy, Fressen for upscale vegetarian food, STORM for gadget watches, speaker's corner at the CityTV/MuchMusic Building so you can rant and rave on the popular broadcast tv show, the wierd food court building across the street from Much Music for a dozen great little places to eat (there's currently a Ben and Jerry's in the front window but don't let that throw you- all kinds of unique treats inside), the Friendly Stranger for hempl clothing and accessories, cheap street meat (due to a price war among competing hotdog carts) at Queen and Spadina, the best video shop in town Queen Video, the sci-fi fantasy bookshop Bakka Phoenix, upscale dining in an old retro diner at the Rosebud... it goes on and on.

this is a great walk through the city.
a little gritty but decently safe for those with common sense, not entirely spoiled by the arrival of the mall stores (the gap, mcdonalds and etcetera), and one of the places tourists can successfully see something approaching the real (albeit overgroomed and oh-so-hip) Toronto.

it also is connected to some other serious neighbourhood explorations.

North on Spadina takes you to ChinaTown
and once you're there, if you can find the sculpture of a cat on an armchair up on a telephone pole, you can find the wonders of Kensington Market.

Between University and Yonge right on Queen West you'll find the new Opera House, Toronto City Hall and the ice rink/fountain at Nathan Phillips Square, some of the Big Towers of the Financial District, and the Eaton Centre, where you can mallshop till you drop and hop on the subway once you're done.

Queen West is a great way for visitors to this great city to see a slice of life here... and it beats milling around the base of the CN Tower and the SkyDome for 4 days.

Also Baldwin Village is a short walk from Queen West. If you can find it is worth a trip for lunch or dinner (and the legendary 1 dollar stuffed buns at Yung Sing Bakery are worth a trip at any time of the day).