Top 10 Things to Do in Toronto

St. Lawrence Market is consistently named the world's best food market — a 1844 building in Old Town Toronto housing over 120 vendors on weekdays selling artisan cheeses, charcuterie, fresh pasta, flowers, and produce. The Saturday Farmers Market brings additional outdoor vendors from 5am. The signature item is the peameal bacon sandwich from Carousel Bakery — a uniquely Canadian creation involving a cornmeal-crusted back bacon patty on a kaiser roll. Budget two hours for a thorough browse; arrive hungry.

The Distillery District is the largest and best-preserved collection of Victorian-era industrial architecture in North America, a 13-acre complex of 44 heritage buildings that once housed the Gooderham and Worts Distillery. Today it's a pedestrian-only arts, culture, and dining village with galleries, independent restaurants, Theatre Passe Muraille, and the Mill Street Brewery. The annual Christmas Market (November–December) is one of Canada's most popular seasonal events. The cobblestones make it not ideal for stilettos but unmissable regardless.

Kensington Market is Toronto's bohemian heart — a declared Heritage Conservation District of Victorian houses converted into vintage clothing shops, independent grocers, cheese caves, fishmongers, international food stalls, and art galleries. It's chaotic, loud, and entirely wonderful. The Sunday Pedestrian Sundays in summer close the streets to cars and turn the neighbourhood into a giant outdoor party. Cheese Magic for raclette, Seven Lives for fish tacos, and the Baldwin Street area are essential stops. Free to explore, best on a weekday morning.

The Toronto Islands are a chain of small islands in Lake Ontario a 13-minute ferry ride from the foot of Bay Street, offering spectacular views of the downtown skyline, car-free cycling, beach swimming, and genuine nature right beside the city. Centre Island is the most developed, with an amusement park (Centreville) and formal gardens; Hanlan's Point has a clothing-optional beach. The ferry runs year-round ($10 return); rent a bike on the island for the full experience. Sunset views back to the skyline from the western islands are extraordinary.

The Royal Ontario Museum is Canada's largest museum of world culture and natural history, housing over 13 million objects across 40 galleries. The Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, Daniel Libeskind's dramatic angular addition, is one of Canada's most striking pieces of contemporary architecture. The dinosaur gallery, Egyptian collection with genuine mummies, and the Daphne Cockwell Gallery of Canada: First Peoples are exceptional. Admission is $28 for adults; free on the last Tuesday evening of each month. Allow a full day for a thorough visit.

Casa Loma is Toronto's fantasy — a 98-room Gothic Revival castle and stables built between 1911 and 1914 by financier Sir Henry Pellatt, with secret passages, a 240 m tunnel to the stables, turret towers, and extraordinary gardens. It has appeared in numerous films and X-Men in particular. Admission is $40 for adults. The nearby Spadina Historic House and Garden at the Family Compact's former estate offers a quieter and more authentic Victorian domestic experience. Both are in the Annex neighbourhood near Casa Loma subway station.

The Scarborough Bluffs are a series of dramatic white and clay bluffs rising up to 90 metres above Lake Ontario along Toronto's eastern waterfront — a geological formation unlike any other in Ontario, laid down over 70,000 years. The Bluffers Park marina at the base provides the best close-up views; the clifftop Cathedral Bluffs Park has the most dramatic outlooks. The area is free to visit and largely unknown to casual tourists — a serene escape that feels more like the Mediterranean coast than an urban lakefront.

Toronto's Chinatown on Dundas Street West is one of the largest and most vibrant in North America, a dense few blocks of roast duck shops, herbal medicine stores, produce vendors, and both Cantonese and Sichuan restaurants. The adjacent Spadina Avenue strip continues north with Vietnamese, Korean, and pan-Asian options. For dim sum, Rol San on Spadina for late-night dumplings and Crown Princess Fine Dining on Sheppard for classic Cantonese are the top picks. The area is at its best Saturday morning when the market stalls run at full volume.

The Art Gallery of Ontario is one of the largest art museums in North America, with over 95,000 works in its collection. Frank Gehry's 2008 expansion transformed the building with a dramatic staircase of golden wood and a glass-and-titanium façade along Dundas Street. The Canadian collection — including Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven — is unmatched anywhere in the world. The Henry Moore Sculpture Centre holds the largest public collection of Moore's work outside England. Admission is $30; free on Wednesday evenings (6–9pm) as part of AGO Free Wednesdays.

St. Lawrence Market is consistently named the world's best food market — a 1844 building in Old Town Toronto housing over 120 vendors on weekdays selling artisan cheeses, charcuterie, fresh pasta, flowers, and produce. The Saturday Farmers Market brings additional outdoor vendors from 5am. The signature item is the peameal bacon sandwich from Carousel Bakery — a uniquely Canadian creation involving a cornmeal-crusted back bacon patty on a kaiser roll. Budget two hours for a thorough browse; arrive hungry.

The Distillery District is the largest and best-preserved collection of Victorian-era industrial architecture in North America, a 13-acre complex of 44 heritage buildings that once housed the Gooderham and Worts Distillery. Today it's a pedestrian-only arts, culture, and dining village with galleries, independent restaurants, Theatre Passe Muraille, and the Mill Street Brewery. The annual Christmas Market (November–December) is one of Canada's most popular seasonal events. The cobblestones make it not ideal for stilettos but unmissable regardless.

Kensington Market is Toronto's bohemian heart — a declared Heritage Conservation District of Victorian houses converted into vintage clothing shops, independent grocers, cheese caves, fishmongers, international food stalls, and art galleries. It's chaotic, loud, and entirely wonderful. The Sunday Pedestrian Sundays in summer close the streets to cars and turn the neighbourhood into a giant outdoor party. Cheese Magic for raclette, Seven Lives for fish tacos, and the Baldwin Street area are essential stops. Free to explore, best on a weekday morning.

The Toronto Islands are a chain of small islands in Lake Ontario a 13-minute ferry ride from the foot of Bay Street, offering spectacular views of the downtown skyline, car-free cycling, beach swimming, and genuine nature right beside the city. Centre Island is the most developed, with an amusement park (Centreville) and formal gardens; Hanlan's Point has a clothing-optional beach. The ferry runs year-round ($10 return); rent a bike on the island for the full experience. Sunset views back to the skyline from the western islands are extraordinary.

The Royal Ontario Museum is Canada's largest museum of world culture and natural history, housing over 13 million objects across 40 galleries. The Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, Daniel Libeskind's dramatic angular addition, is one of Canada's most striking pieces of contemporary architecture. The dinosaur gallery, Egyptian collection with genuine mummies, and the Daphne Cockwell Gallery of Canada: First Peoples are exceptional. Admission is $28 for adults; free on the last Tuesday evening of each month. Allow a full day for a thorough visit.

Casa Loma is Toronto's fantasy — a 98-room Gothic Revival castle and stables built between 1911 and 1914 by financier Sir Henry Pellatt, with secret passages, a 240 m tunnel to the stables, turret towers, and extraordinary gardens. It has appeared in numerous films and X-Men in particular. Admission is $40 for adults. The nearby Spadina Historic House and Garden at the Family Compact's former estate offers a quieter and more authentic Victorian domestic experience. Both are in the Annex neighbourhood near Casa Loma subway station.

The Scarborough Bluffs are a series of dramatic white and clay bluffs rising up to 90 metres above Lake Ontario along Toronto's eastern waterfront — a geological formation unlike any other in Ontario, laid down over 70,000 years. The Bluffers Park marina at the base provides the best close-up views; the clifftop Cathedral Bluffs Park has the most dramatic outlooks. The area is free to visit and largely unknown to casual tourists — a serene escape that feels more like the Mediterranean coast than an urban lakefront.

Toronto's Chinatown on Dundas Street West is one of the largest and most vibrant in North America, a dense few blocks of roast duck shops, herbal medicine stores, produce vendors, and both Cantonese and Sichuan restaurants. The adjacent Spadina Avenue strip continues north with Vietnamese, Korean, and pan-Asian options. For dim sum, Rol San on Spadina for late-night dumplings and Crown Princess Fine Dining on Sheppard for classic Cantonese are the top picks. The area is at its best Saturday morning when the market stalls run at full volume.

The Art Gallery of Ontario is one of the largest art museums in North America, with over 95,000 works in its collection. Frank Gehry's 2008 expansion transformed the building with a dramatic staircase of golden wood and a glass-and-titanium façade along Dundas Street. The Canadian collection — including Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven — is unmatched anywhere in the world. The Henry Moore Sculpture Centre holds the largest public collection of Moore's work outside England. Admission is $30; free on Wednesday evenings (6–9pm) as part of AGO Free Wednesdays.