Bravo Toronto, Canada's answer to Cannes

London got a sense of the power of TIFF (as the Toronto International Film Festival is known locally) when

Most film festivals aren't accessible to the public, but Toronto loves film. It's a city whose glittering skyline is frequently passed off as Manhattan, and it's the largest film production centre in North America, outside LA and New York. The Canadian film industry has an annual turnover of $1.7 billion (CAD) and the festival alone brings $185 million (CAD) to the city. Over its 11 days, the festival even gets its own TV channel. But not everyone approves: as one grumpy critic was heard to moan, queueing with 500-plus people to watch homegrown director David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method, 'Just because I love driving, doesn't mean I get to go to f***ing Le Mans.'

In fact, although the grizzled critic may moan, this audience footfall is precisely the appeal. Over breakfast at the Renaissance Hotel (from where you can look down into the Rogers Centre stadium and watch the Blue Jays baseball team training), Toronto's film commissioner Peter Finestone explains, 'Studios and film-makers see Toronto as somewhere they can bring their films to test them out on audiences. It used to be that they would see what happened at Cannes, see what happened at Venice and then think about Toronto. Now Toronto is programmed completely independently.'

I stayed in the Art Deco splendour of the Fairmont Royal York, which is often used as a movie location - most recently for Dream House, the film on which Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz got together. But even if you're in town for the festival, it feels wrong to sit in a darkened room, or your fabulous hotel, for the duration of your stay. For shopping or just to soak up the atmosphere, Queen Street West is a must. The area's hipness was kickstarted by The Drake Hotel, a former doss house, which opened in 2004 (these days it's the perfect spot for a Bloody Mary after a late night of festival larks), and the area is the setting for Sarah Polley's new film Take This Waltz - which showed at TIFF, naturally - starring Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen as married writers whose domestic bliss is threatened by a handsome artist/rickshaw driver who lives across the street. You can only hope the area doesn't become too fashionable. Domestic rents have almost doubled in recent years, but it's still a comparatively affordable city. And as Michael Rachmel, co-founder of local tea boutique Tealish (tealish.com), told me as he taught me to make iced tea, 'You get almost all of the good things about New York or LA but with none of the bad in Toronto' - not least, attitude, pollution and the frenetic pace.

Once the city's slum, the area's architecture is low-rise with streets of impossibly sweet porch-fronted houses and an amazing number of quirky, independent shops. A foodie tour with Trina Hendry (chowbellaconcierge.com) introduced me to Delight's handmade organic chocolates, ice cream and artisan cheeses, the Spice Market, and the perfect cakes and macaroons at Nadège (nadege-patisserie.com), where I sat in the sunny garden and people-watched while reading the resiliently highbrow The Globe and Mail newspaper.

For fashion, Cabaret vintage (cabaret vintage.com), which started life as a film costumier, is a must-visit, as is Preloved, which sells handmade pieces that are made using rescued material - fans include Julia Roberts and Anne Hathaway (preloved.ca). Nearby, Charlie is another affordable little boutique with a fun mix of almost entirely Canadian designers - ideal for tapping into the local style.

Those spoilt by Cannes and Venice might say that it's not a film festival without a beach and, even in September, Toronto can answer that need. A boat from Toronto harbour to the nature reserve of Centre Island, a little way out into Lake Ontario, takes half an hour, passing lagoons and yacht clubs and giving you an excellent view of the city skyline. Once there, you can sunbathe on the spotlessly clean and quiet Chelsea Beach, or visit the tiny and very innocent children's amusement park.

It's not hard to see why Toronto con-sistently tops polls of the happiest cities to live in. But perhaps I am biased since Toronto is the city where I finally met George Clooney. Yes, I'd like to write that line again... He's a member of Soho House in LA and - testament to the fact that most of Hollywood decamps to TIFF for the week - the club has run a pop-up here for the past couple of years. I dropped in for a nightcap, following dinner at the spectacular rooftop restaurant of the Royal Ontario Museum, and there he was, fresh from the premiere of his film The Descendants. Thank goodness I'd had time to get the sand out of my hair and my feet into a pair of high heels. Our eyes met, we shook hands... blinking in the full beam of the Clooney charm has to come high on any happiness index. There was a studiously cool crowd, but even there the party moved like a tidal wave with Clooney, swirling upstairs when he did, where he remained until the early hours, nursing a vodka.

On Sunday night I dragged myself out for the fifth night on the trot. Burroughes, a famous old furniture store on Queen Street West, had been temporarily face-lifted by Bungalow 8 for talent agency CAA's party. It looked great, but the only food was a table laden with pick'n'mix - welcome to Hollywood. Gerard Butler (Gerry to his friends) bounced around the room, dancing to the Rolling Stones, excited about the standing ovation he'd got for Machine Gun Preacher, but also admitting to being 'terrified' about what audiences would make of their action hero in Ralph Fiennes's forthcoming Coriolanus.

Perhaps it's a Dantean metaphor for Hollywood that when you get to the hottest party, there will always be a velvet rope blocking off the next circle of hell. Guests were gathered in the stairwell, determined to make it up to the 'over-capacity' roof where the A-listers were doing their partying. Gael Garcia Bernal smiled patiently at the foot of the stairs until he was recognised and whisked upstairs and, ignoring the baying producers circling around me, I followed his lead and did the same. As if by magic, with much talking on walkie-talkies, I was escorted upstairs. I have no idea who they thought I was.

Upstairs, looking out over the skyline, things were even more surreal. I had to down non- alcoholic vitamin drinks for the first hour or so, just to be able to take it all in. I found myself sharing strawberry jellies with Clive Owen, while everyone danced beneath outdoor heaters, and later chatted to man of the moment Michael Fassbender. I was surprised to learn that he still lives in Hackney and refuses to move to LA. But while the endless promoting must get tiresome, he seemed surprised that anyone could get bored of the festival circuit: 'Are you joking? I'm having too much fun,' he said, straight off a plane from Venice. He claimed to be taking some time off next year - 'to have a break, and so everyone can have a break from me' - but with the level of Oscar speculation around his performances in A Dangerous Method and Shame, that seems highly unlikely.

I was finally thrown out at 4am, leaving time for one final stop at Cherry Cola's, a favourite Queen Street West nightspot with a deep red interior and fabulous chandeliers, that gets a special late licence for the duration of the festival, where we partied until the sun came up. Roll on TIFF 2012. ES

Kuoni offers three nights at the Fairmont Royal York, Toronto, on a room-only basis, including flights with Air Canada, in 2012 from £910 per person, based on two sharing (0844 488 0563; kuoni.co.uk). For more information on Toronto, visit seetorontonow.com