Sunnybrook Park

Neighbourhood: Midtown · Address: 1132 Leslie St, Toronto, ON · Hours: Mon–Sun 24 hours · Price Range: Free

Why Visit

If you want a true forest escape without leaving Midtown, Sunnybrook Park delivers unexpected wildlife, sprawling trails, and diverse activities, all tucked along the Don River. It's the rare city park where trails feel wild but the next latte is only a short bike ride away.

What Makes It Unique

Sunnybrook is one of the only Toronto parks where you can watch horses train at the equestrian centre and play a round of disc golf before heading for picnic tables in a dog-friendly meadow. The trail system here actually connects to the city’s best off-road cycling route, running all the way to Edwards Gardens through the ravine.

Sunnybrook Park feels like one of Toronto’s best little glitches. You’re in Midtown, not far from Yonge and Bloor, and then suddenly you’re looking at open fields, steep ravine slopes, horse paddocks, gravel trails, and people carrying disc golf bags through the trees like that’s the most normal thing in the world. It doesn’t really make sense as a city park, which is exactly why it works so well. Toronto is full of parks that are either neatly manicured or heavily programmed, but Sunnybrook has this loose, slightly odd shape to it. It feels like several different outdoor spaces got stitched together and then left a little unfinished in the best possible way.

The park is huge — 226 acres spread through the Don Valley — so it never has that tidy, single-purpose feel. One section is all open grass where families spread out blankets, dogs sprint in wide loops, and people toss a ball around with the kind of low-effort enthusiasm that only happens when the weather finally cooperates. Another section drops into wooded ravine trails that feel cooler, quieter, and much more removed from the city than you’d expect so close to the core. Then there’s the equestrian centre, which gives the whole place a slightly surreal edge. You can be walking along a trail under a canopy of trees and hear hoofbeats before you even see the riders. It’s one of those details that makes Sunnybrook feel distinctly Toronto: a place where a normal afternoon walk can suddenly include horses, cyclists, dogs, and a disc golf tournament all at once.

If you’re coming here for the trails, that’s really where Sunnybrook earns its reputation. The valley paths are excellent year-round, and they change character in a way that makes repeat visits worthwhile. In spring, everything is muddy and bright green, with swollen creeks, wet leaves, and birds making a lot of noise in the trees. It can feel a little raw and untamed after the thaw, which is part of the appeal. Summer is when the shade matters most. The ravine closes in, traffic noise fades, and the trail surface changes from dry gravel to packed dirt and the occasional rooty stretch. It’s not a wilderness hike, obviously, but it’s enough of a break from the city to make you feel like you’ve properly left it behind for a while. Fall is probably the most dramatic season here. The canopy turns yellow, orange, and rusty red, and the long sightlines through the valley get especially good in late afternoon. Winter changes the mood again. If the trails are snow-covered or even just lightly glazed with frost, everything goes quiet and muffled in a way that makes the park feel much larger than it is. You hear your own footsteps, the occasional cyclist crunching by, and not much else.

Sunnybrook also has one of the more lively off-leash dog areas in the city, and it can be chaotic in a very Toronto way. On a good day, it’s a parade of muddy paws, tennis balls, zip-up jackets, and owners standing around chatting while their dogs absolutely lose their minds. There’s a lot of social energy there, even if you’re just passing through. If you’ve got a dog, they’ll probably love it. If you don’t, it’s still entertaining to watch for a minute because the whole thing has that slightly scrappy community-park feel that a lot of Toronto spaces have lost. The disc golf course adds another layer of weirdness. You’ll see people taking it very seriously, lining up throws in the middle of a ravine landscape, and somehow it fits perfectly with the place’s loose, multi-use identity. Sunnybrook never acts like it’s trying to be one thing, and that’s part of its charm.

There’s also a war memorial in the park, which shifts the tone for a moment. It’s not the loudest feature here, and that’s probably the point. Sunnybrook is a place where people come to walk, run, cycle, throw a frisbee, train a dog, ride a horse, or just get some air, but the memorial gives it a more reflective side. It reminds you that this isn’t only recreational land. It’s also a place where people pause, read, and slow down for a minute before getting back on the trail. That contrast — between everyday activity and quiet remembrance — feels very in keeping with the park overall.

The neighbourhood context matters too. Sunnybrook sits in Midtown, but it doesn’t feel like a typical Midtown park where you can step out of a condo and immediately land on a lawn. It’s more connected to the Don Valley landscape than to the surrounding streets, which makes it feel a bit removed from the pace of nearby neighbourhoods. You’re still close to Lawrence, Eglinton, and the bigger arterial roads, and the park is easy to reach by car or bike, but once you’re inside it, the urban grid slips away. That’s a big part of why people come here instead of to some of the more polished, more central options. It’s not trying to be a destination park with perfect sightlines and a single obvious attraction. It’s more useful than that. It’s where you go when you want space, movement, and a little unpredictability.

That unpredictability is also what makes Sunnybrook different from a lot of its competitors. If you compare it with the city’s nicer formal parks, Sunnybrook is much less controlled. It doesn’t have the manicured botanical feel of some garden spaces, and it doesn’t have the big, obvious public-program energy of a waterfront park. What it does have is variety. You can walk for a while and the environment keeps changing on you. Open field, then woods, then trail, then horse activity, then dog chaos, then a stretch of stillness. It never settles into one tone for long. That makes it especially good if you don’t want a park visit to feel too planned or too precious. It’s not polished, and that’s the point. It feels lived in.

If you’re cycling, the ravine trail connecting Sunnybrook to Edwards Gardens is one of the best off-road routes in Toronto. It’s scenic, mostly away from traffic, and actually feels like a proper ride instead of a commute shortcut. The surface can be a little uneven in places, so it’s not the kind of route where you can just relax completely and zone out, but that’s part of the fun. It’s ideal for a casual ride, a loop through the valley, or a longer outing if you want to combine it with other east-midtown trails. Walkers use the same route too, and it’s especially pleasant when it’s dry and the light filters through the trees. Weekday mornings are the sweet spot if you want the calmest version of the park. The light is softer, the dog crowds are thinner, and you’re more likely to hear birds than people. By late afternoon, you’ll see more runners, cyclists, and people killing time after work. Weekends are still nice, but they’re busier around the parking lots, dog areas, and the more accessible trailheads.

The honest reality is that Sunnybrook can get muddier and more chaotic than people expect, especially after rain or snowmelt. This is not a place for pristine shoes if you plan on doing any real walking. Some parts of the trail network are easy and friendly; others get a bit slick, uneven, or churned up by bikes and foot traffic. Parking is usually manageable, but on good weather weekends you may need to circle a bit, especially if there’s an event, a dog crowd, or just one of those Toronto days when everyone had the same idea. If you want the best experience, come earlier than you think you need to, wear shoes you don’t mind getting dirty, and accept that part of the charm here is the lack of perfection. It’s one of the few places in the city where a little inconvenience actually improves the atmosphere.

Sunnybrook is free, open all day, and strangely good at making Toronto feel bigger than it is. You can show up expecting a quick walk and end up staying for an hour and a half because the light changes, the dogs are entertaining, the trails keep pulling you forward, and the whole place has that slightly unreal feeling of being in the middle of the city while also somehow not being in it at all. It’s not flashy, and it doesn’t need to be. It’s the kind of park that keeps reminding you Toronto still has places where things can feel a little wild, a little scattered, and much better for it.