This may come as a surprise to those who live here – and Canadians who love to hate Toronto – but there are people beyond the city's limits who think its ethnic mix and burgeoning art and food scene make it a pretty hip place.

In an article posted this week on popular U.S. news site, the Huffington Post, journalist Lauri Lyons describes the city as a vibrant, artsy hub whose residents love a festival.

“If your idea of Canada is dominated by maple syrup, hockey, flannel shirts or the G-20 Summit, it's time to discover Toronto as the new capital of Cool,” she writes.

She points to Luminato, the Toronto International Film Festival and Nuit Blanche and compares the West Queen West, Ossington and Liberty Village neighbourhoods to Brooklyn.

And she marvels at the cultural diversity in Kensington Market, Chinatown and Little India that has become a cliché to residents.

“It is in these neighborhoods that you will see, feel and taste the vibrant mash-up of globalization and daily life coming together,” she says.

Recently, Niagara region launched an ad campaign that portrayed Toronto as a crowded, crime-ridden city covered in graffiti.

To read the Huffington Post article, click here.