21 Hacks to Make Your Life Easier in Brampton
Published August 10, 2017 at 2:08 pm
1. You can park for free in downtown Brampton’s five municipal parking garages on evenings, weekends, and holidays.
1. You can park for free in downtown Brampton’s five municipal parking garages on evenings, weekends, and holidays. Here are the garage locations: City Hall at 2 Wellington Street West (entrance at George Street South), West Tower at 41 George Street South, Market Square at Theatre Lane and Union Street, John Street 16 John Street, and Nelson Square at 2 Diplock Lane.
2. Pay and display parking and metered parking in downtown Brampton are free for up to three hours after 6 p.m. and on Sundays (on Saturdays, too, if you’re parking on Thomas Street West side or Market Street South side!).
3. Garden Square holds events throughout the entire year – movie nights, farmers markets, concerts, and beyond! – so you don’t even have to leave the city for some good entertainment.
4. There are more than five bars where you can karaoke in Brampton, so you don’t have to leave the city for a fun and unique night out, either.
5. A Brampton Library card is a major key. It gets you free access to a ton of free eBooks, eAudiobooks, eMagazines and eNewspapers, and even eMusic through the library website. It also gets you access to lynda.com, a goldmine for instructional videos by experts.
Videos
6. Want to kick it old school? You can throw it back to Blockbuster days and rent a DVD from a collection of almost 19,000 DVDs in the Brampton Library system (having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card!).
7. Peel Art Gallery Museum and Archives (PAMA) is packed with arts and culture events – you don’t have to go to Toronto for some inspirational art.
8. There’s an incredible bakery hidden in an industrial area of Brampton. It also has a location in Mississauga. Click here to find it.
9. If you want to take the bus straight from Brampton Gateway Terminal to Bramalea City Centre (or vice versa), don’t take the 8 – it takes forever and winds through residential areas. Take the 502 Northbound to Theatre Lane, walk to downtown terminal, then take the 501 to Bramalea terminal – much faster.
10. The best coconut buns and some of the best ice cream in Brampton are at a little bakery inside Shoppers World – who knew! Kin-Kin Bakery and Bubble Tea sells buns and cakes for cheap, they make a mean bubble tea, and they have some delicious ice cream. Try their mango flavour, you won’t be disappointed.
11. Speaking of food, The Little Shop of Ice Cream doesn’t just sell ice cream. If you’re craving a reasonably priced grilled cheese sandwich with fun toppings or a cozy soup, this is your spot.
12. There’s a number you can call anytime for access to any and all city services: 3-1-1. Call 3-1-1 about anything city-related, like parking, taxes, building permits, and beyond.
13. Some of the best free bread in Brampton (you know, at restaurants where you get free bread before your meal) is at Cantina Fellini. So fresh, so fluffy.
14. Professor’s Lake may not be natural, but it’s a good, quick beach fix if you don’t want to drive hours to get to a beach. Prof’s even has pedal boating and beach volleyball nets.
15. You don’t have to go to High Park in Toronto or Kariya Park in Mississauga for sakura. Cherry blossoms bloom right here in Brampton at Joyce Archdekin Park on Main Street when they’re in season.
16. Can’t find parking at Shoppers World or Bramalea City Centre? There are almost always spots near the old Target locations (which now house new retail), and it’s still only a one- or two-minute walk to get to a main entrance.
17. Brampton’s thrift store scene goes beyond Value Village and Talize. Try Plato’s Closet Brampton at 30 Kennedy Road South, Restyle Consignment at 59 Main Street North, or Encore Thrift Store at 9446 McLaughlin Road North.
18. You can get fresh Indian food delivered to your door in Brampton for a month for $180 with tiffin service from Indo-Canadian Food Hut. You’ll want to go in and chat with them for details.
19. You can get up to 25 per cent off of shows at the Rose Theatre with a Rose Theatre Membership.
20. Struggling to get yourself to the gym? There are some unique and fun fitness options in Brampton, like pole dancing, aerial silks, or burlesque at Brasse Belles, or rock climbing at Brampton’s first rock climbing gym, Toprock.
21. Some restaurant gems are in more industrial areas of Brampton, you just have to drive around. Try Nancy’s Trattoria, Baba Dhaba, or AJ’s.
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