Toronto in a Day

I've lived in Toronto for just over 3 years now, and wow has my impressions of this city changed. On my first visit to Toronto, some locals advised me to check out the Eaton Centre, Dundas Square and Chinatown on Spadina Ave. Honestly, after doing these things, I was not impressed. Had I just seen any other place in the entire city during that visit, my first impression could have been the complete opposite.

Toronto as viewed from Tommy Thompson Park

What I mean to say, is that Toronto isn't a tourist town. Don't get me wrong, it's an amazing city to visit, - Toronto has it's own distinct Canadian culture, a bunch of beautiful parks, heaps of incredible restaurants with a diverse range of cuisines on offer, and plenty of historical buildings. But when Toronto does tourism, it can feel tacky.

There are enough websites out there to instruct you to visit the CN Tower and Nathan Phillips square. I'm not going to do that. If you want to be a tourist in Toronto, feel free to jump on the sightseeing double decker bus and join in the pilgrimage to those tourist hotspots. If you want to immerse yourself in the culture of this city, the local neighbourhoods, and some resident favourite restaurants and parks, then read on.

The Distillery District at night during the Christmas Markets

This itinerary is provided as an example of what I would do, and where I would take a friend, if I had a day to show them my favourite parts of Toronto.

This is a flexible itinerary. Go as fast, or as slow, as you want through these neighbourhoods. This itinerary is just aimed at taking the guesswork out of how to get places, and where to eat, but feel free to change it up as desired. Decide for yourself if you would rather walk between transit stops, or take the TTC (Toronto's public transport network), or if you want to skip some parts of the itinerary. Don't feel pressured to complete the itinerary in one day - I tend to skim through a lot of places briefly when I travel - go at the pace that suits you.

Of course, there's plenty more to do in Toronto, and this in no way covers everything in one day - that truly is impossible. If people like this, I will try to post some more ideas in the same style.

Historic Distillery District

Let's begin.


Start with obtaining a TTC day pass. This can be purchased at any subway station, and at some convenience stores. A day pass comes at $10.75 for unlimited travel on the TTC network - including the subway, streetcars and buses. On weekends and public holidays, one day pass will be valid for 2 adults and up to 4 kids. On a weekday, you'll need one day pass per person. Without the pass, each time you use transit it will cost about $3 per person (a bit less if you purchase tokens).

Yorkville

An easy place to start the tour is Yorkville, which is accessible from the Yonge/Bloor subway station. If you haven't had breakfast yet, walk north on Yonge St to Yorkville Ave, and drop by Crepes A Go Go for some Quebecois style crepes. The easiest way to orient yourself, is by realising that downhill invariably leads south towards Lake Ontario. So to walk north, you walk uphill.

Yorkville is a wealthy neighbourhood in Toronto, featuring some boutique brand stores on Bloor Street, and some more exclusive stores on Yorkville Ave and surrounding streets. Feel free to explore some of the residential streets north of Bloor as well, I like to walk down these streets and check out the neatly maintained town houses and gardens.

Residential streets in Yorkville

En-Route: The University of Toronto

From Yorkville, you may choose to walk to our next destination of Kensington Market through the University of Toronto. Follow Queen's Park south to Wellesley Street, find a way under the bridge and towards the front campus. You will see a beautiful old building, take a left to walk south again. Feel free to chill out in the park ground and enjoy the view of the CN tower that you will see to the south. From here you can continue to walk south, towards what looks like the regal main entrance to the university, to College Street. Turn right on College, and walk past Spadina until you reach Augusta Ave.

If you're not interested in seeing the historic buildings featured within the University, alternately you can take the subway from Yonge to College Station, then take the College tram (506 west toward High Park) to Major St (the stop after Spadina).

Kensington Market

This is a laid back outdoor market that features heaps of cheap eats, gourmet foods, and nicknacks. On Sundays, the market gets even better (and busier), with all roads being closed to car traffic, and live music being played out on the street.

The market can be found by walking south down August Ave from College Street. There are a few side streets to explore as part of the market, as well as some smaller alleys decorated with artful graffiti.

My favourite place to eat here is at the Latino Emporium, which serves El Salvadorian papusas, a traditional dish of savoury pancakes filled with beans and cheese, then served with salsa and cabbage salad. You can easily eat a lunch of this for under $10 including a drink, but you can order portions small enough to just try the delicacy if you're only interested in a snack. Try the fresh squeezed orange juice from the cart across the street - made to order.

This is an eclectic and inconsistent neighbourhood for sure, where you can get a full healthy lunch on a budget, or the most expensive grilled cheese you've ever seen.

Art Festival at Kensington Market

High Park

Make sure you've eaten well before proceeding with this part of the tour, or that you have some snack food on hand. This part will involve plenty of walking and won't have much food options available for a few hours.

Having walked through Kensington Market, eventually you'll hit the south edge of the market at Dundas Street. Turn right on Dundas, and walk until you hit the nearest tram stop. Hop on the next streetcar (505 west towards Dundas West Station), and enjoy the scenery on the way to the Bloor St West stop. Hop off at the Bloor St West stop, and continue walking west on Bloor St for just over another block. Once you pass Parkside Ave, you'll hit High Park. Enter wherever you like, and take a stroll through the park to the other side. This usually takes at least an hour, but you can spend several hours solely in this park, walking down all the larger and smaller trails that are available. There is also a community zoo within the park featuring a small selection of local and imported wildlife.

If you follow signs to the Granadier pond in springtime, you may be lucky enough to see the hill full of cherry blossoms in full bloom. Many Toronto residents go to High Park just to see these blossoms during spring.

Cherry blossom season at High Park

Detour: Sunnyside Park and Humber Bay

At the south end of High Park you will hit the Queensway road. From here you can directly go to the east end of town (The Beaches) by catching the 501 streetcar east towards Neville Park.

You may wish to first walk further south to Sunnyside beach - in doing so you will cross 3 major roads - the Queensway, underneath the Gardiner highway, and then Lakeshore Blvd.

Crossing from Sunnyside Park to Humber Bay Shores Park

Walk west through Sunnyside Park, and you will reach the iconic white bridge (you will have likely seen this driving in from Pearson airport). You can cross this bridge to a recently developed neighbourhood, where you will see some stunning views of Toronto's city skyline. The Eden Trattoria is easy to see across the road from the park, and a good place to stop for some takeout gelato and refreshments on a sunny day (I can't comment on the rest of the food because I've only stopped for gelato here).

View of Toronto from Humber Bay Shores Park

From Humber Bay Shores Park, you can walk a block inland to Lakeshore Blvd, where you can catch the 501 East tram towards Neville Park. If you didn't walk as far as the white bridge, then you will need to make your way back to the Queensway to catch the same tram (you can catch this streetcar from just about any street from Sunnyside Park that provides pedestrian crossings at Lakeshore Blvd, just keep walking back north until you hit Queensway, but don't cross the Queensway).

Humber Bay Park

The Beaches

Queen Street is a beautiful street. Enjoy the view from the streetcar, and feel free to hop off and on the street car at any time if you wish to walk part of the way and enjoy the shops.

If you're getting hungry at this point, I suggest hopping off the tram prematurely; either at Greenwood Ave to go to Chino Locos for an asian fusion burrito, or at Coxwell Ave for a Toronto famous burger at the Burger's Priest. (From Coxwell there is no reason to wait for the next tram, just continue walking east).

Finally, hop off the streetcar at Kingston Road. Walk south through Woodbine Park, and cross Lakeshore Blvd into Ashbridges Bay Park. Take a left to continue walking along the waterfront of the beaches. This is the most popular beach in Toronto. In summer, there's volleyball tournaments and nets set up for casual games. Eventually you'll reach another park (Kew Gardens) to walk up from the boardwalk. Walk through this park to reach the busy hub of Queen Street East. There's a bunch of restaurants here to eat at, icecream stores, etc. But if you want to trust me and you have a bit more energy left in you, wait a little bit for dinner. You can browse the local shops, hang at the beach, or walk through the residential streets in this trendy neighbourhood.

The Beaches (the colour of the water has not been edited)

Leslieville

As promised, a good dinner. Leslieville is an up-and-coming neighbourhood that just keeps getting better. It has the best concentration of excellent restaurants in Toronto, in my opinion anyway, and what's more is it's generally very well priced by Toronto standards for what you receive.

Take the 501 Queen St streetcar west this time from the beaches. Hop off at Leslie St.

Feel free to explore this area a bit - there's a lot of juxtaposition here of trendy and outdated buildings and businesses. My two greatest recommendations for dinner would be either the East Ender, or the next door Gio Rana's Really Really Nice Restaurant - an obviously recognisable building referred to as "the nose". The East Ender is a relatively new place, I find it excellent value, Canadian fusion comfort food and very well priced for what you receive. Gio Rana's is a bit older, a great Italian restaurant to go to when in a large group due to their tapas style menu that can be easily shared. Gio Rana's has a louder atmosphere and often has wait times to be seated without a reservation, whereas East Ender is a more relaxed dining experience and the service is better.

The Distillery

If you still have energy after all of the above, and if it's still not later than 9pm, then this is a worthwhile destination on your way back into the city. Take the 503 streetcar west (towards York) on Queen St from Leslieville. This tram will divert down King St on the way into town. (You can take the 501 too, you'll just have to walk a little further after getting off at Parliament).

Hop off the tram at Parliament St and walk a few minutes south towards the lake. Be prepared to take a left down Mill St or Distillery Lane when you see what looks like a very obvious old town. This is the Distillery District, a converted flourmill.

There's several bars and restaurants in the area, but it's really just a beautiful place to explore, especially with the soft lighting at nighttime. You can visit Soma, one of Toronto's most popular chocolate stores, where they produce their own chocolate locally. At this point, I usually grab a drink from Balzac's cafe to enjoy on their patio (I mainly like their lemonade during summer).

Christmas Markets at the Distillery District

For more current information about festivals, events, concerts, community activities, local markets and the like, it's a good idea to visit toronto.com and BlogTO during the week before your visit.