A new 7.5-acre park built entirely on reclaimed industrial land with an incredible skyline view. Rocky outcrops, prairie planting, and sweeping lake vistas that almost no tourists know about.
Neighbourhood: Port Lands · Address: Ontario Place, Toronto, ON · Hours: Open 24 hours
Why Visit
Trillium Park offers uninterrupted downtown skyline views and wild-feeling lakefront trails in a quiet part of the waterfront few Torontonians have explored. Its massive rock boulders, boardwalk, and native plants create a real escape from urban chaos.
What Makes It Unique
Unlike High Park or Tommy Thompson, Trillium Park was designed from scratch using reclaimed industrial land, incorporating Indigenous-inspired elements and natural Ontario landscaping. Its intentional lack of playgrounds and cafes means it feels peaceful, especially at dusk. The main trail hugs the edge of the lake for wide-open views you won’t get in city-centre parks.
Trillium Park opened in 2017 on reclaimed industrial land at Ontario Place on Toronto's western waterfront, and it immediately established itself as one of the most dramatically situated new public spaces in Canada. The 7.5-acre park was designed around the geology and plant communities of the Canadian Shield — the ancient rock formation that underlies most of Ontario — using actual quarried Shield rock to construct a naturalistic landscape of outcrops, pools, and plantings that feels simultaneously ancient and deliberately made. The skyline view from the park's southern edge is one of the best in the city and is almost completely unknown to visitors.
The design philosophy was ambitious: to create a public landscape that connected urban Torontonians to the Shield ecology they might otherwise only experience on a cottage weekend. The rock outcroppings are not decorative — they are functional landforms that create elevated viewing points, shelter microhabitats for native plantings, and give the park a topographic interest that flat lakefront parks typically lack. Native prairie grasses, sedges, and wildflowers fill the spaces between the rocks, creating habitat for pollinators and migratory birds.
The William G. Davis Trail runs along the waterfront adjacent to the park, connecting westward to the Humber River and eastward toward the downtown lakefront trail system. Cyclists, joggers, and walkers use the trail continuously, but many don't realize that the park itself extends inland from the trail into the rock landscape — it's worth leaving the path and climbing the outcrops to reach the elevated viewpoints. The highest point gives a clear sightline toward the CN Tower and the Financial District skyline, with no buildings or structures in between.
On non-event days, which is most of the time, the park is uncrowded in a way that feels improbable for waterfront land this close to downtown. Early morning visitors get the park to themselves, with the lake light coming in from the east and the skyline still quiet. There are no food vendors, no rental operations, and no organized programming — just the rocks, the water, the plantings, and the view.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Trillium Park in Toronto?
Trillium Park is at Ontario Place, 955 Lake Shore Blvd W. It is accessible by the 509 and 511 Exhibition Station streetcar routes. By bike, the Martin Goodman Trail runs directly through the park. By car, parking is available at the Ontario Place lots seasonally.
What is the view like from Trillium Park?
From Trillium Park's southern outcrops you can see the downtown Toronto skyline to the east, with the CN Tower, Scotiabank Arena, and the Financial District towers visible in a wide panoramic sweep. The view is unobstructed by buildings and is one of the best Toronto skyline perspectives available at ground level.
Is Trillium Park good for children?
Trillium Park is excellent for active children — the Canadian Shield-style rock outcroppings are natural climbing structures. There is no formal playground, but the landscape itself is inherently playful. The William G. Davis Trail is stroller-accessible, though the rock areas within the park require reasonable footwear.
When is Trillium Park open?
Trillium Park is open year-round during daylight hours and is free to visit. The park is quietest on weekday mornings. Summer weekends bring more visitors, particularly when Ontario Place events are running.