The largest cemetery in Canada and one of Toronto's most beautiful spaces — a sprawling Victorian-era park of extraordinary trees, classical monuments, ponds, and 160 years of history. Glenn Gould, Foster Hewitt, and Timothy Eaton are buried here.
Neighbourhood: Midtown · Address: 375 Mt Pleasant Rd, Toronto, ON · Hours: Mon–Sun 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM · Price Range: Free · Editorial status: Not yet verified
Explore a Victorian-era cemetery that's also one of Toronto's finest urban arboretums, with winding paths, rare trees, and elaborate mausoleums. It's incredibly photogenic, especially in autumn when the foliage is wild.
Unlike other cemeteries or parks in Toronto, Mount Pleasant is massive and full of both natural beauty and historic gravestones—think centuries-old oaks next to the resting places of Canadian legends. The heritage map turns your walk into a scavenger hunt of city lore, not just a stroll.
If you want that full, postcard Toronto skyline shot without fighting your way through a crowd, Polson Pier is the move. Right at the end of the pier in the Port Lands, you get this huge, open, 180-degree view across the inner harbour, and the whole downtown skyline just lines up in front of you. The CN Tower sits dead in the mix, the bank towers catch the light, and on a clear evening the glass looks like it’s glowing from the inside. It’s one of those places that feels oddly simple when you get there. No gates, no ticket booth, no lookout deck theatrics. You just pull up, walk out, and there it is. This is where a lot of Toronto photographers go when they want the skyline without distractions. The angle is clean, the distance is right, and the industrial setting in the foreground gives the view some edge. You’ve got concrete, dock infrastructure, bits of fencing, water, and working-port atmosphere framing all that polished downtown glass. That contrast is a big part of why the spot works so well. It doesn’t try to make Toronto look like some generic waterfront city. It looks like Toronto: a little rough around the edges, a little industrial, and somehow still really beautiful when the light hits. Golden hour is absolutely the time to go. If you arrive a bit before sunset, you can watch the skyline shift from bright and sharp to warm and reflective, then into that brief blue-hour window when the office towers start lighting up and the whole city looks crisp against the darkening sky. That’s usually when people start setting up tripods, leaning on their car hoods, or just standing quietly staring across the water. It’s not packed in the way the more famous lookout spots are, but you probably won’t be totally alone either. Expect a mix of photographers, couples, friends hanging out, and the occasional person who clearly came just to sit in the car and take in the view. A practical tip: don’t stop at the first decent-looking place to stand. Walk all the way to the very tip of the pier for the cleanest sightlines. That’s where the clutter drops away and the skyline opens up properly. If you’re shooting on a phone, you’ll still get great photos, especially around sunset. If you’ve got a proper camera, even better. Bring a jacket if you’re going in the evening because the wind off the water can be colder than you expect, even when the rest of the city feels warm. Polson Pier is open all the time, and it’s free, which honestly is part of its charm. It feels unpolished in the best way. You’re not there for amenities or atmosphere in the curated sense. You’re there because this is one of the best straight-on skyline views in the city, full stop. If you only have time for one dedicated skyline stop in Toronto, I’d send you here.
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