Toronto’s favourite spots and timeless attractions – your go-to travel guide

Toronto is a city that in a very literal sense offers everything to everyone. Great sightseeing that can easily be done on foot? Check. A buzzing cultural and theatre scene? Check. The chance to be entertained by the world’s best athletes in multiple sports? Check.

With so many options available, but holiday time a valuable and limited commodity, Toronto is absolutely a destination where it’s good to plan ahead so you get the most out of your stay. With that in mind, here’s a “Toronto starter kit” that, while in no way exhaustive, hopefully kick-starts your thinking as you plan your visit – and perhaps the next visit as well!

To make for easier reading, we’ve broken up the list into three categories: The classics, the big-ticket items and a fresh view of the city.

The Classics

Let’s start off with the two big attractions that you may have heard about already, one man-made and the other a true natural wonder.

You might have already seen the CN Tower as your plane descends into Toronto. At over 550 metres high, it dominates Toronto’s skyline and therefore offers an unmatched view of this city of over 3 million people. If you’re not afraid of heights, hop in the glass-fronted elevator and take the high-speed (22 km/hour) elevator ride to the top, where you get an impressive 360-degree view of the city and Lake Ontario. For the real thrill-seekers, be sure to sign up for the EdgeWalk, where you get to walk along the edge of the tower’s main pod, a dizzying 116 storeys above the ground.

Niagara Falls isn’t part of Toronto, but it’s only a 2-hour trip from the city and easily accessible by car, train and multiple bus tours, reflecting its overwhelming popularity with both tourists and locals alike – the falls attract around 12 million visitors annually. Plan to spend a whole day at Niagara, where every minute the equivalent of one million bathtubs full of water plunge some 60 metres over the falls. You can take a boat ride to see the falls up close – with a mist shower added at no extra charge! Niagara Falls really is a must-see, and if you have the extra time, be sure to visit nearby and historic Niagara-on-the-Lake or one of the many vineyards in the area.

Must-sees

A city Toronto’s size certainly will give your legs a great workout, but if you’re also looking to simulate your mind, Toronto’s cultural and sports offerings are a great way to do it. And if your legs need a rest the subway is a superb way to get around quickly.

There are multiple museums and galleries to visit, but the two heavyweights are the Royal Ontario Museum (or ROM, as the locals call it) and the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). Both are easily accessible by foot and subway and easy to spot with their distinctive, stunning facades of stone, metal and glass. Plan to spend hours at both, with the ROM’s natural history and ancient Egypt permanent exhibits and the AGO’s Thomson Collection well worth seeing. An added bonus for the ROM is its proximity to the downtown campus of the University of Toronto, which offers a fresh university feel right in the middle of the city.

Toronto also has a vibrant theatre district that rivals those seen in London and New York, with most theatres clustered in an area marked by Adelaide Street in the north, University Avenue in the east, King Street in the south and Bathurst Street in the west. The biggest houses include the Princess of Wales Theatre and the Royal Alexandra Theatre, with the Ed Mirvish Theatre and Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres also close to the district.

If you’re looking to see some of the top athletes in the world, Toronto is home to the Maple Leafs (ice hockey, which is the passion of most Canadians), Raptors (basketball), Blue Jays (baseball) and Toronto FC (football/soccer). Some tickets can be hard to get, especially for the Maple Leafs, but if you’re a true hockey fan, you can always visit the extensive Hockey Hall of Fame, located right in the downtown core.

A fresh view on things

The City of Toronto’s motto is “Diversity our Strength”, and there’s no better way to see that than by walking through the city’s wide variety of neighbourhoods, all easily reachable by subway. Different communities include Greektown on the Danforth; Chinatown, mainly in the Spadina Street area and with roots that go back to 1878; or Little Italy, which is in the block bordered by Bathurst Street and Ossington Avenue, and stretching from Dundas to Harbord Street. These neighbourhoods are packed with all kinds of shops and restaurants to discover.

If you really want to give your legs a workout and see how Toronto is constantly changing – Torontonians joke that their city has two seasons, winter and construction – start walking north on Yonge Street from Lake Ontario. Along the way, you can visit the shops and boutiques on Queen Street West, pop into the massive Eaton’s Centre shopping mall, or check out the iconic Toronto City Hall at Bay and Queen Street, which was designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell. During the winter, there’s a popular outdoor skating rink in Nathan Phillips Square, which sits just in front of the city hall.

Off the Yonge Street axis, two sights (of many!) to visit include the Distillery District, a collection of shops, boutiques and restaurants located on the grounds of the former Gooderham & Worts distillery, which was founded in 1832. And if you’re looking for nature and a break from the big city bustle, High Park is Toronto's largest public park, packed with hiking trails, sports facilities, picnic areas and the kilometre-long Grenadier Pond, home to various birds, fish, turtles and other wildlife.

But as we said at the beginning, this is only a starter kit, and we’ve barely scratched the surface of all the things to sample and see in Toronto. Given this, perhaps one last planning suggestion could be to not plan – just get yourself somewhere central and start walking. That’s always a great way to discover something new.