Things to do · Toronto · Canada
19 best things to do in Toronto
19 sights and experiences ranked for a first visit, with honest notes on time, cost and crowds.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Quick answer
The essential sights in Toronto are CN Tower, Ripley's Aquarium of Canada and Royal Ontario Museum. Of the 19 picks below, 8 are free, 9 work on a rainy day and 9 suit children. Allow about 4 days to see the highlights without rushing.
Key facts
- Top sight
- CN Tower
- Free sights
- 8
- Good on a rainy day
- Ripley's Aquarium of Canada
- Time to see the highlights
- 4 days
At a glance
| Sight | Area | Time needed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN Tower | Entertainment District | 1.5–2 hours | Mid-priced |
| Ripley's Aquarium of Canada | Entertainment District | 2–3 hours | Mid-priced |
| Royal Ontario Museum | Yorkville | 3 hours | Mid-priced |
| Art Gallery of Ontario | Grange Park | 2–3 hours | Mid-priced |
| St. Lawrence Market | Old Town | 1–2 hours | Low cost |
| Distillery District | Distillery District | 1.5–2 hours | Free |
| Toronto Islands | Toronto Harbour | Half a day to a full day | Low cost |
| Kensington Market | Kensington Market | 2 hours | Free |
| Casa Loma | The Annex | 2 hours | Mid-priced |
| High Park | High Park | 2–3 hours | Free |
| Hockey Hall of Fame | Financial District | 1.5–2 hours | Mid-priced |
| Nathan Phillips Square | Downtown | 30 minutes | Free |
| Evergreen Brick Works | Don Valley | 2 hours | Free |
| Bata Shoe Museum | The Annex | 1–1.5 hours | Low cost |
| Graffiti Alley | Queen West | 30–45 minutes | Free |
| Scarborough Bluffs | Scarborough | 2–3 hours | Free |
| Aga Khan Museum | Don Mills | 2 hours | Mid-priced |
| Allan Gardens Conservatory | Garden District | 45 minutes | Free |
| Toronto Zoo | Rouge Valley | Full day | Mid-priced |
The 19 best things to do
Landmark · Entertainment District
1.CN Tower
At 553 metres, the CN Tower was the world's tallest free-standing structure for more than 30 years after it opened in 1976. Lifts reach the LookOut level, with its glass floor, in about a minute, and the SkyPod higher up looks across Lake Ontario. Thrill-seekers can book EdgeWalk, a harnessed walk around the outside ledge at 356 metres.
Go about an hour before sunset to see the city by day and lit up, and skip it on hazy or low-cloud days.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Book ahead
- Timed tickets bought online avoid the longest queues; EdgeWalk must be booked well ahead.
- Iconic
- Views
- Kids
- After dark
- Photo spot
Aquarium · Entertainment District
2.Ripley's Aquarium of Canada
At the foot of the CN Tower, Ripley's Aquarium holds around 20,000 animals, with a moving walkway through the Dangerous Lagoon shark tunnel, a gallery of glowing jellyfish and touch pools of rays and horseshoe crabs.
Late-evening sessions and weekday mornings are much quieter than weekend afternoons.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Book ahead
- Book a timed ticket online for weekends and school holidays.
- Kids
- Rainy day
- Iconic
Museum · Yorkville
3.Royal Ontario Museum
Canada's largest museum mixes natural history and world cultures, from dinosaur skeletons and a walk-through bat cave to Chinese temple murals, Egyptian mummies and First Nations art. Daniel Libeskind's crystal-shaped extension, added in 2007, juts out over Bloor Street.
Start with the dinosaur gallery before school groups arrive, then pick two or three other galleries rather than trying to see everything.
- Time needed
- 3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Iconic
- History
- Kids
- Rainy day
- Architecture
Gallery · Grange Park
4.Art Gallery of Ontario
The AGO holds one of North America's larger art collections, strong on Canadian painting, including the Group of Seven and Indigenous artists, alongside European works and the Thomson Collection. Frank Gehry, who grew up nearby, redesigned the building in 2008, adding the timber-lined Galleria Italia and a sculptural spiral staircase.
Head first for the Group of Seven rooms, then climb Gehry's spiral staircase at the back of the building.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Art
- Architecture
- Rainy day
- Iconic
Market · Old Town
5.St. Lawrence Market
Toronto has had a market on this site since 1803. The South Market hall is packed with butchers, cheesemongers, bakeries and fishmongers, and the peameal bacon sandwich from Carousel Bakery is the classic order. On Saturdays local farmers sell produce at the North Market across Front Street.
Come hungry on a weekday morning or early on Saturday, before the lunchtime crowds.
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Food
- History
- Rainy day
- Shopping
Historic site · Distillery District
6.Distillery District
The Victorian brick buildings of the former Gooderham and Worts distillery, once among the largest in the world, form a car-free quarter of galleries, cafés, chocolate shops and a craft brewery on cobbled lanes. From mid-November to late December it hosts a winter village with stalls and lights.
Visit on a weekday in the winter-village season; weekend evenings are extremely crowded.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Architecture
- History
- Shopping
- Couples
Island · Toronto Harbour
7.Toronto Islands
A short ferry ride across the harbour, the car-free Toronto Islands have lake beaches, picnic lawns, bike paths, the 1808 Gibraltar Point lighthouse and the Centreville amusement park for young children. The ferry deck gives the classic view of the downtown skyline.
Take the ferry to Ward's Island in the morning, walk or cycle west along the boardwalk, and return from Centre Island or Hanlan's Point at sunset for skyline photos.
- Time needed
- Half a day to a full day
- Cost
- Low cost
- Book ahead
- On summer weekends buy ferry tickets online to skip the ticket-office queue.
- Outdoors
- Kids
- Views
- Photo spot
- Couples
Neighbourhood · Kensington Market
8.Kensington Market
A tangle of streets west of Spadina Avenue, Kensington Market mixes vintage clothing shops, cheese and spice stores and food counters from Jamaica, El Salvador, Portugal and beyond, in Victorian houses painted every colour. On some summer Sundays the streets close to traffic for Pedestrian Sundays.
Graze rather than sit down: patties, empanadas, tacos and churros from different counters make a cheap lunch.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Food
- Shopping
- Photo spot
Castle · The Annex
1.Casa Loma
Financier Sir Henry Pellatt built this Gothic Revival castle between 1911 and 1914, complete with towers, secret passages, an 800-foot tunnel to the stables and a glass-domed conservatory. Rooms are furnished in period style, and the terraced gardens look out over the city.
Climb the towers for the view, and approach on foot up the Baldwin Steps from Spadina Avenue.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Architecture
- History
- Kids
- Rainy day
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Park · High Park
2.High Park
Toronto's largest park covers about 160 hectares of oak savannah, ravines and Grenadier Pond, with a free small zoo of bison, llamas and capybaras, an adventure playground and cherry trees that draw crowds when they bloom, usually in late April or early May.
Take Line 2 to High Park station and walk south through the park to Grenadier Pond and the zoo.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Nature
- Couples
Museum · Financial District
3.Hockey Hall of Fame
The Hockey Hall of Fame fills the lower level of Brookfield Place and the 1885 former Bank of Montreal building at Front and Yonge, where the Stanley Cup sits beneath a stained-glass dome. Interactive zones let visitors shoot pucks and face virtual shots in goal.
Pair it with a Maple Leafs or Raptors game at nearby Scotiabank Arena if your dates line up.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Rainy day
- History
Landmark · Downtown
4.Nathan Phillips Square
The square in front of New City Hall — two curved towers by Viljo Revell, opened in 1965 — holds the illuminated Toronto sign and a reflecting pool that becomes a free skating rink in winter, with concerts and markets in summer. Old City Hall's Romanesque clock tower stands across Bay Street.
Come after dark for photos of the lit sign, and bring or rent skates in winter.
- Time needed
- 30 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- After dark
- Kids
- Architecture
- Photo spot
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Park · Don Valley
5.Evergreen Brick Works
A former quarry and brickworks in the Don Valley has become a park and community hub with restored kilns, wetlands, walking trails and a Saturday farmers' market. Trails climb to a lookout with views of the downtown skyline over the treetops.
Come on a Saturday morning for the market, then walk the valley trails up to the lookout.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Nature
- Outdoors
- Food
- Off the beaten path
Museum · The Annex
6.Bata Shoe Museum
Designed by Raymond Moriyama to evoke a shoebox, this museum on Bloor Street holds more than 13,000 shoes and related objects spanning about 4,500 years, from ancient Egyptian sandals and Inuit boots to celebrity footwear.
Combine it with the ROM, a short walk east along Bloor Street.
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- History
- Rainy day
- Off the beaten path
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Street · Queen West
7.Graffiti Alley
Rush Lane, running behind Queen Street West between Spadina Avenue and Portland Street, is an alley of about a kilometre covered in murals and graffiti that change constantly. It is free, open-air and one of the city's most photographed spots.
Enter from Spadina, walk west and come out at Portland for the shops and cafés of Queen West.
- Time needed
- 30–45 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Art
- Photo spot
- Off the beaten path
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Nature · Scarborough
8.Scarborough Bluffs
Pale cliffs of glacial sediment rise up to about 90 metres above Lake Ontario along some 15 km of shoreline in the east of the city. Bluffer's Park has a beach and marina at the foot of the cliffs, and the Doris McCarthy Trail descends a wooded ravine to the shore.
Admire the cliffs from below at Bluffer's Park; never climb the eroding cliff faces, which are unstable.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Nature
- Outdoors
- Views
- Photo spot
Museum · Don Mills
9.Aga Khan Museum
Opened in 2014, the Aga Khan Museum presents the arts of Muslim civilisations from Spain to China — manuscripts, ceramics, textiles and scientific instruments — in a white granite building by Fumihiko Maki, set in formal gardens with reflecting pools.
It is about 25 minutes by car from downtown, so plan lunch at the museum and time in the gardens.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Art
- History
- Architecture
- Rainy day
Garden · Garden District
10.Allan Gardens Conservatory
This downtown park's conservatory, centred on a domed 1910 Palm House, links six greenhouses of tropical plants, cacti and seasonal flower displays, and entry is free. It makes a warm escape on a cold winter day.
Visit during the winter or spring flower shows, when the greenhouses are at their most colourful.
- Time needed
- 45 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Rainy day
- Nature
- Off the beaten path
Zoo · Rouge Valley
11.Toronto Zoo
Canada's largest zoo covers about 287 hectares on the city's eastern edge, with animals grouped by world region, including polar bears on the Tundra Trek and indoor pavilions for African and Indo-Malayan species.
Plan a full day, wear comfortable shoes and use the seasonal Zoomobile if young children tire.
- Time needed
- Full day
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Nature
Pick by interest
| Interest | Best picks |
|---|---|
| Art and museums | Royal Ontario Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, Hockey Hall of Fame and Bata Shoe Museum |
| History | Royal Ontario Museum, St. Lawrence Market, Distillery District and Casa Loma |
| Views | CN Tower, Toronto Islands and Scarborough Bluffs |
| Outdoors and nature | Toronto Islands, High Park, Evergreen Brick Works and Scarborough Bluffs |
| Food and markets | St. Lawrence Market, Kensington Market and Evergreen Brick Works |
| After dark | CN Tower and Nathan Phillips Square |
| With children | CN Tower, Ripley's Aquarium of Canada, Royal Ontario Museum and Toronto Islands |
| On a rainy day | Ripley's Aquarium of Canada, Royal Ontario Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario and St. Lawrence Market |
What to book ahead
- CN Tower: Timed tickets bought online avoid the longest queues; EdgeWalk must be booked well ahead.
- Ripley's Aquarium of Canada: Book a timed ticket online for weekends and school holidays.
- Toronto Islands: On summer weekends buy ferry tickets online to skip the ticket-office queue.
Plan the rest of your trip
Questions travellers ask
+What is the number one thing to do in Toronto?
CN Tower. At 553 metres, the CN Tower was the world's tallest free-standing structure for more than 30 years after it opened in 1976.
+What can you do for free in Toronto?
Distillery District, Kensington Market, High Park, Nathan Phillips Square and Evergreen Brick Works. More free things to do.
+What is there to do in Toronto when it rains?
Head indoors to Ripley's Aquarium of Canada, Royal Ontario Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario and St. Lawrence Market.
+What is there to do in Toronto at night?
CN Tower and Nathan Phillips Square are best after dark.