The 244-metre tunnel running beneath the streets from Casa Loma to the castle's stables was used by Sir Henry Pellatt for bootlegging during Prohibition. Now open to visitors, the tunnel is cold and atmospheric — but the real surprise is the castle's interior: a grand rotunda, opulent sitting rooms with floor-to-ceiling gold drapery, and turret staircases most visitors walk right past.
Neighbourhood: Casa Loma · Address: 1 Austin Terrace, Toronto, ON · Hours: Mon–Sun 9:30am–5pm · Price Range: $$ · Editorial status: Not yet verified
Explore a chilly underground tunnel used during Prohibition, then climb quirky turret stairs most people miss inside the castle. The architectural oddities and random grandeur make it unlike any other local museum.
Casa Loma’s lengthy tunnel once supported actual bootlegging, adding genuine intrigue far beyond your typical historic house tour. The castle interior hides secret doors, winding stairs, and opulent rooms usually skipped by casual visitors, so it's worth wandering off the standard path.
If you want one of those only-in-Toronto detours that feels slightly unreal even while you’re standing in it, go find the Fortune Cookie Factory in Chinatown. It’s south of Dundas, down one of those easy-to-miss little stretches where you’ll wonder if your directions are wrong, and then suddenly you’re there. Tiny storefront, not much fuss, and inside: one of the last places in North America still making fortune cookies by hand. They’ve been doing it since 1957, and it really does feel like a small piece of the city that somehow slipped past time. This isn’t a polished attraction with signs and a lineup and a gift shop. It’s a working factory, compact and warm and a bit chaotic in the best way. You walk in and the first thing that hits you is the smell: sweet vanilla, hot sugar, that toasty waffle-cone kind of scent that sticks to your jacket after. Then you see the actual process happening right in front of you. Flat, pale rounds come off the iron while they’re still soft, fortunes get slipped in, and each cookie is folded by hand in these quick, practiced motions that look simple until you imagine doing it yourself for more than 30 seconds. It’s weirdly hypnotic. That’s the whole appeal, really. It’s not slick. It’s not curated. You’re just standing a few feet away from something people usually only ever see sealed in plastic at the end of a takeout meal. And because the place is so small, it feels personal. If it isn’t too busy and you’re polite about it, they’ll sometimes let you try making your own fortune cookie. Ask nicely. That’s the move. Don’t come in acting like it’s a theme park. Definitely buy a warm bag before you leave. Fresh fortune cookies are nothing like the stale ones most people know. They’re delicate, crisp, still a little fragrant from the iron, and honestly kind of addictive. You can also ask for a custom fortune, which makes this one of my favourite places to bring out-of-town friends, kids, or anyone you need a slightly odd but memorable Toronto stop for. A dumb inside joke folded into a cookie somehow becomes a perfect souvenir. Go on a weekday morning if you can. The factory is open Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and mornings are your best shot if you actually want to watch things being made without feeling like you’re in the way. It’s cheap, too, which is part of the charm. This is not a “budget-friendly activity” in the marketed sense; it’s just genuinely affordable. And yes, it’s almost impossible to find the first time. That’s normal. Ask around in Chinatown if you need to, or request the exact address before you go. But make the effort. There really isn’t anything else like it in the city, and Toronto doesn’t have many places left that still feel this handmade, this unpolished, and this quietly wonderful.
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