---
title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Toronto, Canada | Wimup"
description: "The 10 best things to do in Toronto, plus the restaurants, bars, museums, neighbourhoods and Niagara day trips worth your time. Mapped and ranked."
url: https://wimup.com/city/toronto
type: City guide
updated: 2026-10-18
publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com)
---

# Top 10 Things To Do in Toronto

Toronto, Canada · North America · By Wimup Editorial, 15 min read

Toronto is the most immigrant city in North America and it tastes like it. Nearly half its residents were born somewhere else, and the food map runs from Hakka Chinese in Scarborough to Trinidadian doubles in the east end, all of it ordinary weeknight eating. Come between May and October: winter here is real.

## Quick answer

Start at the water. The CN Tower, Ripley's Aquarium and the island ferry sit within ten minutes of each other, and the islands give you the skyline view every photograph is taken from. Day two is museums and markets: the ROM and the AGO, then St. Lawrence Market or Kensington. Keep the third for the neighbourhoods, which is where the city lives. Niagara Falls is a day trip, not an afternoon.

## Quick facts

- **Best months:** May · Jun · Sep · Oct
- **Ideal length:** 3 days
- **Budget per day:** C$180–320
- **Language:** English
- **Getting around:** Subway, streetcars & walking
- **Tourism board:** [Official site](https://www.destinationtoronto.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## The 10 best things to do in Toronto

### 1. Go up the CN Tower

Landmark · 290 Bremner Blvd, Downtown

At 553.3 metres it was the tallest free-standing structure in the world from 1975 to 2007, and it is still the thing that orients you: the lake one way, the grid running north the other, the islands below. The LookOut has a glass floor and the SkyPod sits above it. EdgeWalk is a separate booking and a separate nerve.

- **Time:** 1 to 2 hours
- **Cost:** Ticketed, timed entry
- **Best at:** The hour before sunset
- **Tip:** Book the time slot online. The queue at the base is the real price of admission.

Links: [Website](https://www.cntower.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 2. Spend a morning at the Royal Ontario Museum

Museum · 100 Queens Park, Yorkville

The largest museum in Canada, opened in 1914 and interrupted in 2007 by Daniel Libeskind's Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, aluminium and glass prisms driven into the original stone. Inside it is world cultures downstairs and natural history upstairs: dinosaurs, Chinese temple sculpture, Egypt and a bat cave. Two hours covers the highlights.

- **Time:** 2 to 3 hours
- **Cost:** Ticketed
- **Best at:** Weekday morning
- **Tip:** Enter from Queens Park rather than Bloor Street to arrive in the 1914 rotunda instead of the atrium.

Links: [Website](https://www.rom.on.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 3. Eat your way through St. Lawrence Market

Market · 93 Front St E, Old Town

The South Market is the city's oldest food hall and its most reliable lunch: cheesemongers, fishmongers, Portuguese bakeries and the peameal bacon sandwich Toronto counts as its own. The Saturday farmers' market, running since 1803, moved back into the rebuilt North Market in 2026. Go early on a Saturday.

- **Time:** 1 to 2 hours
- **Cost:** Free to walk in, pay by the stall
- **Best at:** Saturday before 9am
- **Tip:** The market is closed Mondays. Plan lunch elsewhere that day.

Links: [Website](https://www.stlawrencemarket.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 4. Take the ferry to the Toronto Islands

Islands · Jack Layton Ferry Terminal, 9 Queens Quay W

Fifteen minutes of water buys a car-free archipelago with the best view of the skyline there is. Three ferry routes run in summer: Ward's Island at the quiet eastern end, Centre Island for the beaches and the amusement park, and Hanlan's Point for the clothing-optional beach. Rent a bike and ride the length in an hour.

- **Time:** Half a day
- **Cost:** Ferry ticketed, the islands are free
- **Best at:** Late afternoon, riding back at dusk
- **Tip:** Buy the ferry ticket online before you reach the terminal. The queue on a hot Saturday is the whole afternoon.

Links: [Website](https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/toronto-island-ferries/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 5. See the Canadian collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario

Gallery · 317 Dundas St W, Grange Park

Frank Gehry grew up a few streets away and came back in 2008 to rebuild the gallery he first visited as a child, wrapping the Dundas Street front in curved glass and Douglas fir. The collection is the reason to stay: the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson, the Thomson collection, and strong Indigenous holdings.

- **Time:** 2 to 3 hours
- **Cost:** Ticketed
- **Best at:** Wednesday evening
- **Tip:** The spiral staircase in the Galleria Italia is worth climbing even if you skip the floor it lands on.

Links: [Website](https://ago.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 6. Walk the Distillery Historic District

Historic district · 55 Mill St, Corktown

Gooderham and Worts was the largest distillery in the British Empire in the 1860s, and the Victorian industrial buildings it left are the best preserved of their kind in North America. Cars are banned, the streets are cobbled, and the tenants are galleries and roasters. From mid-November it becomes the Winter Village.

- **Time:** 2 hours
- **Cost:** Free to walk in
- **Best at:** Weekday afternoon, or evening in December
- **Tip:** Come by streetcar. Parking here is a fee for the privilege of circling.

Links: [Website](https://www.thedistillerydistrict.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 7. Browse Kensington Market

Neighbourhood · Augusta Ave & Baldwin St, Kensington

A National Historic Site since 2006, and the least polished part of central Toronto by choice. Four narrow streets of Victorian houses turned into fruit stalls, Latin American grocers, vintage shops and taco windows, with Chinatown starting where the market ends. On Pedestrian Sundays the cars are cleared out.

- **Time:** 2 hours
- **Cost:** Free to walk in
- **Best at:** Saturday late morning
- **Tip:** Eat standing up. The good things here come in paper, not on plates.

Links: [Website](https://www.kensington-market.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 8. Tour Casa Loma

Historic house · 1 Austin Terrace, Casa Loma

Sir Henry Pellatt made a fortune electrifying Ontario and spent it between 1911 and 1914 on a 98-room Gothic Revival castle above the escarpment. He lost it inside a decade. What remains is an oak room, a conservatory, two towers with a view down the city, and a tunnel under the road to the stables.

- **Time:** 2 hours
- **Cost:** Ticketed
- **Best at:** Opening hour
- **Tip:** Walk down the Baldwin Steps afterwards and carry on to Spadina Museum next door.

Links: [Website](https://casaloma.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 9. Stand over the Stanley Cup at the Hockey Hall of Fame

Museum · 30 Yonge St, Financial District

The Cup sits in the Great Hall, under the stained glass dome of the 1885 Bank of Montreal building at Front and Yonge, and you are allowed to touch it. Around it are the sticks, masks and sweaters of the sport's history, plus shooting simulators. Non-believers get through it in an hour. Believers do not.

- **Time:** 1 to 2 hours
- **Cost:** Ticketed
- **Best at:** Weekday afternoon
- **Tip:** It is inside a shopping concourse below street level, so follow the PATH signs rather than the map pin.

Links: [Website](https://www.hhof.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 10. Walk the shark tunnel at Ripley's Aquarium of Canada

Aquarium · 288 Bremner Blvd, Downtown

Opened in 2013 at the foot of the CN Tower and built around Dangerous Lagoon, a moving walkway carrying you under sand tiger sharks and a sawfish. The Canadian Waters galleries at the start are the quieter half and the better one, with lobsters, wolf eels and a Pacific kelp forest.

- **Time:** 2 hours
- **Cost:** Ticketed
- **Best at:** First slot of the day
- **Tip:** Weekends fill with school-holiday crowds. A weekday evening is a different building.

Links: [Website](https://www.ripleyaquariums.com/canada/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best restaurants in Toronto

Ten kitchens worth planning a night around, from two Michelin stars on Avenue Road to a Thai counter under Duncan Street.

1. **Alo** (Restaurant · 163 Spadina Ave · Queen West): Patrick Kriss's French tasting menu above Spadina Avenue, top of the Canada's 100 Best list for five straight years. Reservations open in a batch and go quickly. [Website](https://alorestaurant.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Edulis** (Restaurant · 169 Niagara St · Niagara): Tobey Nemeth and Michael Caballo cook a menu that changes weekly around whatever is in season, which in autumn means mushrooms and truffles. Small room, long dinners. [Website](https://edulisrestaurant.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Sushi Masaki Saito** (Sushi · 88 Avenue Rd · Yorkville): The only two-star restaurant in the Toronto guide. A six-seat edomae counter with fish flown from Japan: one omakase, one sitting, no substitutions. [Website](https://www.masakisaito.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Restaurant 20 Victoria** (Restaurant · 20 Victoria St · Old Town): Twenty seats behind a coffee bar off Yonge Street, where Rafa Covarrubias cooks Ontario produce with Mexican influences. One Michelin star.
5. **Don Alfonso 1890** (Italian · 1 Harbour Sq · Harbourfront): The Iaccarino family's Amalfi Coast cooking on the 38th floor of the Westin Harbour Castle. One Michelin star, and the view does none of the work. [Website](https://www.donalfonsotoronto.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **Canoe** (Canadian · 66 Wellington St W · Financial District): On the 54th floor of the TD Bank Tower, with the lake filling the window and a menu of Canadian ingredients. Lunch is the easier reservation. [Website](https://www.canoerestaurant.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
7. **Bar Isabel** (Spanish · 797 College St · Little Italy): Grant van Gameren's Spanish room, open late, dark, tiled, and known for a whole grilled octopus that has been on the menu since 2013. The bar seats are the ones to want. [Website](https://www.barisabel.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
8. **DaiLo** (Chinese · 503 College St · Little Italy): Nick Liu cooks what he calls new Asian: Chinese technique and Cantonese memory pushed through French training. It has anchored this stretch of College for a decade. [Website](https://dailoto.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
9. **Richmond Station** (Bistro · 1 Richmond St W · Financial District): A basement dining room under Yonge Street from Carl Heinrich, doing what Toronto is short of: a proper mid-price bistro at volume. The burger is the lunch order. [Website](https://richmondstation.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
10. **Pai Northern Thai Kitchen** (Thai · 18 Duncan St · Entertainment District): Down a staircase off Adelaide, and the reason a queue forms most evenings. Nuit Regular cooks Chiang Mai food: khao soi, sai oua sausage, jungle curry. [Website](https://www.paitoronto.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best bars in Toronto

Ten rooms for a drink, from a Basque pintxos bar on College Street to a brewery taproom in Leslieville.

1. **Bar Raval** (Cocktail & pintxos bar · 505 College St · Little Italy): All standing room, all mahogany, a Gaudí-inspired interior carved by Partisans, and a counter of Basque pintxos from open to close. [Website](https://www.thisisbarraval.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Civil Liberties** (Cocktail bar · 878 Bloor St W · Bloorcourt): There is no menu. You describe what you like and the bartender builds it, which is a gimmick everywhere else and a discipline here. [Website](https://civillibertiesbar.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **BarChef** (Cocktail bar · 472 Queen St W · Queen West): Candlelight, apothecary bottles and drinks that arrive under cloches of smoke. The most theatrical bar in the city, and doing it long enough to read as craft. [Website](https://www.barcheftoronto.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Birreria Volo** (Beer bar · 612 College St · Little Italy): An Italian beer hall in a laneway off College, pouring wild ales, natural wine and cider you will not find on another list. The patio is the summer version. [Website](https://www.birreriavolo.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Bellwoods Brewery** (Brewpub · 124 Ossington Ave · Ossington): The brewery that set the tone for Toronto beer, in a converted garage across from Trinity Bellwoods. Fruited sours, hazy IPAs, and a patio that fills fast. [Website](https://bellwoodsbrewery.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **Track and Field** (Bar · 582 College St · Little Italy): A basement bar with indoor bocce courts and lawn bowling lanes, which sounds like a novelty until you have lost three hours to it. Book ahead. [Website](https://trackandfieldbar.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
7. **Reposado** (Tequila bar · Ossington Ave · Ossington): The bar that opened Ossington Avenue as a drinking street, and still the best tequila and mezcal list on it. Live jazz some nights, a long back patio in summer. [Website](https://www.reposadobar.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
8. **Pretty Ugly** (Cocktail bar · 1237 Queen St W · Parkdale): A Parkdale room that takes drinks seriously and itself lightly: classics done properly, a frozen something on the board, and a crowd that arrives after eleven. [Website](https://prettyuglybar.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
9. **Cocktail Bar** (Cocktail bar · Dundas St W · Dundas West): Small, brass-topped and named with no ambition whatsoever. It is a Grant van Gameren room, which means the classics are exact and the seats at the counter go first.
10. **Left Field Brewery** (Brewery · Wagstaff Dr · Leslieville): A baseball-obsessed brewery in a former dye factory in the east end, and one of the few genuinely family-friendly drinking rooms in the city. [Website](https://leftfieldbrewery.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best museums & galleries in Toronto

Ten collections past the two big ones, from Islamic art in Don Mills to a garrison that predates the city.

1. **Aga Khan Museum** (Museum · 77 Wynford Dr · Don Mills): Fumihiko Maki's white granite building in a formal garden off the Don Valley Parkway, holding the best collection of Islamic art in North America. [Website](https://www.agakhanmuseum.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Gardiner Museum** (Museum · 111 Queens Park · Yorkville): Ceramics only, across the road from the ROM and small enough to see properly in an hour. Ancient American pottery below, Italian maiolica above. [Website](https://www.gardinermuseum.on.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Bata Shoe Museum** (Museum · 327 Bloor St W · The Annex): Raymond Moriyama designed the building to look like a shoebox with the lid ajar, and the collection runs from 4,500-year-old sandals to Elton John's platforms. [Website](https://batashoemuseum.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto** (Gallery · 158 Sterling Rd · Junction Triangle): Five floors of a 1919 aluminium factory in the Junction Triangle, now the city's main contemporary art space. The building alone justifies the trip. [Website](https://moca.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **The Power Plant** (Gallery · 231 Queens Quay W · Harbourfront): A former power station on the waterfront showing contemporary art with no permanent collection, so every visit is different. Near the ferry terminal. [Website](https://thepowerplant.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **Textile Museum of Canada** (Museum · 55 Centre Ave · Downtown): Twelve thousand objects from more than two hundred regions, shown a few hundred at a time: batik, Andean weaving, quilts and contemporary fibre art. [Website](https://textilemuseum.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
7. **Fort York National Historic Site** (Historic site · 250 Fort York Blvd · Fort York): The garrison the town of York was built to protect, founded in 1793 and burned in 1812. Eight original buildings survive under the Gardiner Expressway.
8. **Spadina Museum** (Historic house · 285 Spadina Rd · Casa Loma): The 1866 house next door to Casa Loma, restored to the 1920s. Quieter, cheaper and more convincing as a home than the castle over the fence.
9. **Toronto Railway Museum** (Museum · 255 Bremner Blvd · Roundhouse Park): A 32-bay roundhouse from 1929 in the shadow of the CN Tower, with steam locomotives and a working turntable. [Website](https://www.torontorailwaymuseum.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
10. **Art Museum at the University of Toronto** (Gallery · 7 Hart House Cir · University): Two spaces, the Barnicke Gallery in Hart House and the U of T Art Centre, programmed together and free. Strong on Canadian and Indigenous work. [Website](https://artmuseum.utoronto.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best neighbourhoods in Toronto

Ten neighbourhoods worth an afternoon each, and the streetcar lines that connect them.

1. **West Queen West** (Neighbourhood · Queen St W · Queen West): Bathurst west to Gladstone: galleries, independent shops, Trinity Bellwoods on one side and Graffiti Alley behind it. Walk it, do not ride through.
2. **Ossington Avenue** (Neighbourhood · Ossington Ave · Ossington): Six blocks between Queen and Dundas that hold more bars and restaurants per metre than anywhere else in Toronto. It changes tenants often and rarely drops in quality.
3. **Little Italy** (Neighbourhood · College St · Little Italy): College Street between Bathurst and Ossington, still Italian in its cafes and now Spanish, Chinese and Portuguese in its kitchens.
4. **Chinatown** (Neighbourhood · Spadina Ave & Dundas St W · Chinatown): One of several Chinatowns in the region and the oldest downtown: herbalists, barbecue windows, produce spilling onto Spadina, and a dense Vietnamese layer along Dundas.
5. **Yorkville** (Neighbourhood · Bloor St W · Yorkville): A hippie village in the 1960s and the luxury end of the city ever since, with the ROM at one end and the film-festival crowd every autumn.
6. **The Danforth** (Neighbourhood · Danforth Ave · Greektown): Greektown east of the viaduct, where souvlaki shops and Greek bakeries share the street with wine bars and the Danforth Music Hall.
7. **Leslieville** (Neighbourhood · Queen St E · Leslieville): Queen Street East past the Don River: brunch rooms, antique shops, breweries and a residential calm that the west end lost. Ten minutes on the 501 from downtown.
8. **Roncesvalles** (Neighbourhood · Roncesvalles Ave · Roncesvalles): The Polish street, still selling pierogi and sausage alongside third-wave coffee, running south from High Park to the lake. The most walkable single avenue in the city.
9. **The Junction** (Neighbourhood · Dundas St W · The Junction): Dry until 1998, and consequently late to gentrify. Now furniture makers, breweries and a strong restaurant row along Dundas West.
10. **The Beaches** (Neighbourhood · Queen St E · The Beaches): Sand, a boardwalk and a three-kilometre lakefront at the eastern end of the 501 streetcar line. It feels like a lake town the city grew around.

## Best live music & sport in Toronto

Six venues that run most nights of the year, from an 1894 concert hall to the stadium that hosted the World Cup.

1. **Massey Hall** (Concert hall · 178 Victoria St · Downtown): Opened in 1894, acoustically the best room in the country, and reopened in 2021 after a restoration that uncovered stained glass bricked over for decades. [Website](https://www.mhrth.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **The Horseshoe Tavern** (Live music · 370 Queen St W · Queen West): A country bar since 1947 that turned punk in the 1970s and never looked back. The Rolling Stones played it under a false name. [Website](https://www.horseshoetavern.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **The Rex Hotel Jazz and Blues Bar** (Live music · 194 Queen St W · Queen West): Live jazz every night of the week, often twice, in a room that has resisted every attempt to smarten it up. The early sets are the ones to catch if you have dinner plans. [Website](https://www.therex.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Scotiabank Arena** (Arena · 40 Bay St · Financial District): The Maple Leafs and the Raptors share it, so something is on most nights from October to April, and it is attached to Union Station. [Website](https://www.scotiabankarena.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Rogers Centre** (Stadium · 1 Blue Jays Way · Downtown): The first stadium in the world with a fully retractable roof, opened in 1989. The Blue Jays play here April to September, with the CN Tower over the outfield. [Website](https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/ballpark?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **BMO Field** (Stadium · 170 Princes' Blvd · Exhibition Place): Home of Toronto FC, expanded to host six matches at the 2026 World Cup including Canada's opener on 12 June. The 509 streetcar reaches it. [Website](https://www.bmofield.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best parks & islands in Toronto

Six places to walk off a museum, including a quarry turned park and a headland made entirely of construction rubble.

1. **High Park** (Park · 1873 Bloor St W · High Park): Four hundred acres with a lake, a small free zoo, rare oak savannah, and the cherry trees that draw the whole city for ten days each spring.
2. **Trinity Bellwoods Park** (Park · 790 Queen St W · Queen West): The west end's back garden: a former estate on a buried creek, with a dog bowl in the old ravine and the busiest picnic lawn in Toronto on any warm Saturday.
3. **Evergreen Brick Works** (Park · 550 Bayview Ave · Don Valley): The quarry and brickworks that built Victorian Toronto, now a park, a Saturday market and trails through the Don Valley. A free shuttle runs from Broadview. [Website](https://www.evergreen.ca/evergreen-brick-works/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Scarborough Bluffs** (Cliffs · Brimley Rd S · Scarborough): Sixty-five metres of layered clay cliff running for kilometres along the lake, with a marina and beach below. The view from the top looks like a coastline.
5. **Tommy Thompson Park** (Park · 1 Leslie St · Port Lands): A five-kilometre headland built out of construction rubble since the 1950s, colonised by cormorants and terns. Walk or cycle it; there are no cars. [Website](https://tommythompsonpark.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **Rouge National Urban Park** (National park · Scarborough · Scarborough): The first national urban park in Canada: 79 square kilometres of river valley, working farms, forest and a Lake Ontario beach, reachable by GO train. [Website](https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/on/rouge?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best day trips in Toronto

Six trips inside two hours of Union Station, from the falls to a Shakespeare festival town.

1. **Niagara Falls** (Day trip · 130 km southwest · Niagara): The obvious trip, and it earns it: Horseshoe Falls is the wide one on the Canadian side, and the boat below it is the point. Two hours each way by GO. [Website](https://www.niagarafallstourism.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Niagara-on-the-Lake** (Day trip · 130 km southeast · Niagara): A preserved 19th-century main street at the mouth of the Niagara River, surrounded by the vineyards that make Ontario icewine. The Shaw Festival runs here. [Website](https://www.niagaraonthelake.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Hamilton** (Day trip · 70 km southwest · Hamilton): More than a hundred waterfalls fall off the Niagara Escarpment inside the city limits, with Dundurn Castle and the Royal Botanical Gardens too. An hour by GO. [Website](https://tourismhamilton.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Stratford** (Day trip · 150 km west · Stratford): A rail town on the Avon River that has run a Shakespeare festival since 1953, in four theatres, from April to October. Book the play first and build the day around it. [Website](https://www.stratfordfestival.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Elora** (Day trip · 120 km northwest · Elora): A limestone village on a gorge, with a 22-metre-deep canyon cut by the Grand River, a restored 1832 mill and a swimming quarry ten minutes away. Best in early autumn. [Website](https://www.centrewellington.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **Prince Edward County** (Day trip · 200 km east · The County): Ontario wine country on a peninsula in Lake Ontario: forty-odd wineries, the dunes at Sandbanks, and a food scene that pulled chefs out of the city. [Website](https://visitthecounty.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Festivals & annual events in Toronto (2026)

- **Winterlicious** (January): Two weeks of prix-fixe menus at around 200 restaurants, run by the city in the deadest stretch of the year.
- **Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival** (April): The largest documentary festival in North America, centred on the Ted Rogers Cinema on Bloor Street each spring.
- **Pride Toronto** (June): One of the largest Pride festivals in the world, with the parade down Yonge Street on the last Sunday in June.
- **Toronto Caribbean Carnival** (August): Six weeks of mas camps, calypso and steelpan, ending in the Grand Parade along Lake Shore Boulevard in August.
- **Canadian National Exhibition** (August): The CNE has closed the summer at Exhibition Place since 1879: midway rides, an air show over the lake and the food building.
- **Toronto International Film Festival** (September): Eleven days that fill King Street West with premieres and the Yorkville hotels with juries, in the middle of September.
- **Nuit Blanche Toronto** (October): Contemporary art installed across the city from sunset to sunrise, free to walk through, on one night in October.
- **Distillery Winter Village** (November): The Distillery District turns into a Christmas market with a tree lit in the central courtyard, from mid-November.

## Must-try dishes in Toronto, Canada

- **Peameal bacon sandwich**: Cured pork loin rolled in cornmeal, griddled on a soft bun with mustard. Eat it at St. Lawrence Market.
- **Jamaican beef patty**: A turmeric-yellow pastry filled with spiced beef. Order it inside folded coco bread for the local version.
- **Sushi pizza**: A crisp fried rice patty topped with salmon, avocado and spicy mayo. Invented in Toronto in the 1990s.
- **Hakka chilli chicken**: Chinese-Indian cooking brought from Kolkata to Scarborough: battered chicken in chilli, ginger and soy.
- **Doubles**: Trinidadian street food: two soft bara flatbreads around curried chickpeas with tamarind and pepper sauce.
- **Portuguese charcoal chicken**: Split and grilled over coals with piri-piri, from the churrasqueiras along Dundas West.
- **Butter tart**: Ontario's own pastry: shortcrust filled with butter, sugar and egg, baked until the centre stays liquid.
- **Poutine**: Fries, cheese curds and gravy. A Quebec dish that Toronto serves everywhere, and the curds should squeak.

## Toronto transport & airports

- **Toronto Pearson (YYZ)** (YYZ): The busiest airport in Canada, 22 km northwest of downtown. The UP Express leaves Terminal 1 every 15 minutes for Union Station and takes under half an hour. [Website](https://www.torontopearson.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) · [Website](https://www.upexpress.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ)** (YTZ): On the Toronto Islands at the foot of Bathurst Street, handling regional flights within Canada and the northeastern US. A pedestrian tunnel or a 90-second ferry gets you there. [Website](https://www.billybishopairport.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **TTC subway and streetcars** (TTC): Three subway lines and a streetcar network carrying the downtown east to west. Tap a PRESTO card or a contactless bank card, and one fare covers two hours of transfers. [Website](https://www.ttc.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **GO Transit and Union Station** (GO): Regional trains and coaches radiating from Union Station, which is also the VIA Rail terminus. GO is how you reach Hamilton and Niagara Falls, on the same PRESTO card. [Website](https://www.gotransit.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Toronto at a glance

- **Country:** Canada
- **Region:** Ontario · Greater Toronto Area
- **Population:** 2.79M in the city, 6.20M in the metro area (2021 census)
- **Founded:** 1793 as the Town of York · renamed and incorporated as Toronto in 1834
- **Nickname:** The Six · Hogtown
- **Language:** English
- **Currency:** Canadian dollar (CAD)
- **Time zone:** UTC-5 · UTC-4 from March to November
- **Calling code:** +1 416 · 647 · 437
- **Airports:** YYZ · YTZ
- **Power:** 120V · Type A & B
- **Emergency:** 911 police, ambulance and fire

## Interesting facts

- The CN Tower stands 553.3 metres tall and was the tallest free-standing structure in the world from 1975 until 2007.
- The 2021 census counted 1,286,145 Toronto residents born outside Canada, 46.6 percent of the city.
- The PATH is a Guinness record holder: over 30 kilometres of underground walkway linking more than 70 buildings and 1,200 shops.
- The Toronto Islands were a peninsula until a storm in 1858 cut a channel through the sandbar.
- Kensington Market became a National Historic Site in 2006, for the immigrant communities that have run its stalls since the 1920s.

## Watch

[Toronto Travel Guide](https://wimup.com/watch/toronto.md), 11:33

## Toronto travel FAQ

### How many days do you need in Toronto?

Three. One for the waterfront, the CN Tower and the islands, one for the ROM, the AGO and the markets, and one for the neighbourhoods and a long dinner. A fourth day buys you Niagara Falls or Hamilton without rushing either.

### What is the best way to get around Toronto?

The TTC. Three subway lines cover the spine of the city and the streetcars handle everything east to west, and one fare covers two hours of transfers. Tap a contactless card or buy a PRESTO card. Driving downtown is slower than the streetcar and parking is priced accordingly.

### When is the best time to visit Toronto?

May, June, September and October. The patios are open, the humidity of high summer has not arrived or has passed, and the festival calendar is at its densest in September. January and February are genuinely cold, which is what the underground PATH network is for.

### Can you visit Niagara Falls as a day trip from Toronto?

Yes. The falls are about 130 km southwest, and GO Transit runs a train and bus connection from Union Station that takes roughly two hours each way. Leave early, see the Canadian Horseshoe Falls and the boat below it, and add Niagara-on-the-Lake if you have a car.

### Where should you stay in Toronto?

Downtown between Queen and Front streets puts you inside walking distance of the tower, the market and the ferry. Queen West and Ossington are better if you are here for the eating and drinking, and Yorkville is the expensive, quiet option near the museums.

## Nearby guides

- [Montréal](https://wimup.com/city/montreal.md): Canada · 10 picks
- [New York City](https://wimup.com/city/new-york-city.md): United States · 10 picks
- [Chicago](https://wimup.com/city/chicago.md): United States · 10 picks
- [All of North America →](https://wimup.com/north-america): 38 cities

Part of the [Canada guide](https://wimup.com/country/canada.md) · [North America](https://wimup.com/north-america.md)

## Sources

- [Toronto tourism board](https://www.destinationtoronto.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Go up the CN Tower (official site)](https://www.cntower.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Spend a morning at the Royal Ontario Museum (official site)](https://www.rom.on.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Eat your way through St. Lawrence Market (official site)](https://www.stlawrencemarket.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Take the ferry to the Toronto Islands (official site)](https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/toronto-island-ferries/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [See the Canadian collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario (official site)](https://ago.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Walk the Distillery Historic District (official site)](https://www.thedistillerydistrict.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Browse Kensington Market (official site)](https://www.kensington-market.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Tour Casa Loma (official site)](https://casaloma.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Stand over the Stanley Cup at the Hockey Hall of Fame (official site)](https://www.hhof.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Walk the shark tunnel at Ripley's Aquarium of Canada (official site)](https://www.ripleyaquariums.com/canada/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Alo (official site)](https://alorestaurant.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Edulis (official site)](https://edulisrestaurant.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Sushi Masaki Saito (official site)](https://www.masakisaito.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Don Alfonso 1890 (official site)](https://www.donalfonsotoronto.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Canoe (official site)](https://www.canoerestaurant.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Bar Isabel (official site)](https://www.barisabel.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [DaiLo (official site)](https://dailoto.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Richmond Station (official site)](https://richmondstation.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Pai Northern Thai Kitchen (official site)](https://www.paitoronto.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Bar Raval (official site)](https://www.thisisbarraval.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Civil Liberties (official site)](https://civillibertiesbar.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [BarChef (official site)](https://www.barcheftoronto.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Birreria Volo (official site)](https://www.birreriavolo.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Bellwoods Brewery (official site)](https://bellwoodsbrewery.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Track and Field (official site)](https://trackandfieldbar.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Reposado (official site)](https://www.reposadobar.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Pretty Ugly (official site)](https://prettyuglybar.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Left Field Brewery (official site)](https://leftfieldbrewery.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Aga Khan Museum (official site)](https://www.agakhanmuseum.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Gardiner Museum (official site)](https://www.gardinermuseum.on.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Bata Shoe Museum (official site)](https://batashoemuseum.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (official site)](https://moca.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [The Power Plant (official site)](https://thepowerplant.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Textile Museum of Canada (official site)](https://textilemuseum.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Toronto Railway Museum (official site)](https://www.torontorailwaymuseum.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Art Museum at the University of Toronto (official site)](https://artmuseum.utoronto.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Massey Hall (official site)](https://www.mhrth.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [The Horseshoe Tavern (official site)](https://www.horseshoetavern.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [The Rex Hotel Jazz and Blues Bar (official site)](https://www.therex.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Scotiabank Arena (official site)](https://www.scotiabankarena.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Rogers Centre (official site)](https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/ballpark?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [BMO Field (official site)](https://www.bmofield.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Evergreen Brick Works (official site)](https://www.evergreen.ca/evergreen-brick-works/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Tommy Thompson Park (official site)](https://tommythompsonpark.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Rouge National Urban Park (official site)](https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/on/rouge?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Niagara Falls (official site)](https://www.niagarafallstourism.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Niagara-on-the-Lake (official site)](https://www.niagaraonthelake.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Hamilton (official site)](https://tourismhamilton.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Stratford (official site)](https://www.stratfordfestival.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Elora (official site)](https://www.centrewellington.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Prince Edward County (official site)](https://visitthecounty.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Toronto Pearson (YYZ) (official site)](https://www.torontopearson.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Toronto Pearson (YYZ) (official site)](https://www.upexpress.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ) (official site)](https://www.billybishopairport.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [TTC subway and streetcars (official site)](https://www.ttc.ca/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [GO Transit and Union Station (official site)](https://www.gotransit.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.