The best things to do in Toronto, selected with a local point of view. Find attractions, parks, tours, markets and neighbourhood finds.
Showing 25–48 of 494 experiences.
Queen Street East through Leslieville has the highest concentration of antique and vintage furniture shops in the city. Re:Modern, the Leslieville Flea, and 40+ individual dealers create an afternoon that can yield extraordinary furniture, art, and collectibles.
Time needed: 2–4 hours depending on your attention span and how many shops you want to hit.
Toronto's finest natural wine bar — Archive pours a carefully curated list of natural, biodynamic, and low-intervention wines in a beautifully minimal space. The staff are knowledgeable without being intimidating, and the small plates are exactly what natural wine needs alongside it. A quiet gem for serious wine lovers.
Time needed: 1.5–3 hours, depending on your appetite and bottle count.
Canadian and international art in a Frank Gehry-designed building. Free on the first Wednesday night of each month, 6–9pm. Book free general-admission tickets online in advance. Check the current gallery hours and free Wednesday admission details before visiting.
Time needed: 2–4 hours depending on crowds and your art stamina.
One of the largest art museums in North America with 95,000+ works. The Frank Gehry-redesigned building is an attraction in itself. Free on the first Wednesday night of each month, 6–9pm. Book free general-admission tickets online in advance. The Canadian collection is stunning.
Time needed: 2–3 hours (longer if you linger in special exhibitions or the café).
Toronto's making and innovation space — Artscape Daniels Launchpad at Regent Park provides public access to professional-grade fabrication tools: laser cutters, 3D printers, woodworking, electronics, ceramics, and recording studio equipment. Drop-in studio access, workshops, and maker programs run throughout the week.
Time needed: 2–4 hours, or longer if you're taking a workshop.
Inside the extraordinary Artscape Wychwood Barns — a converted TTC streetcar maintenance facility turned arts hub — Sunday's market combines local food vendors with artists' studios, gallery spaces, and the neighbourhood's excellent café scene. The heritage architecture alone is worth the visit.
Time needed: 1–2 hours
The original and world's best — BATL (Backyard Axe Throwing League) was invented in Toronto and remains the gold standard. Trained coaches get complete beginners burying axes in 15 minutes. Olympic-level league nights run throughout the year. Birthday parties, corporate groups, date nights — it works for all of them.
Time needed: 1.5–2 hours for a casual booking or beginner group session.
Toronto's beloved independent improv theatre running long-form improv shows since 1999. Bad Dog is where the improv community sharpens its craft — the shows are raw, experimental, and consistently brilliant. Budget-friendly tickets and a genuinely warm comedy community.
Time needed: 1.5–2 hours per show
Toronto's premier underground dance bar — Bambi's basement at Dundas and Dovercourt is where the city's best DJs play to a crowd that showed up exclusively to dance. Electronic, house, and techno fill the room with a crowd that arrives early and stays late. Grab a drink at Mr. Flamingo upstairs first.
Time needed: 2–4 hours, depending on your stamina and the DJ lineup.
Toronto's best craft beer bar — Bar Hop pours 65+ taps of Ontario and international craft beer across two King West locations (the original on King, the expanded Brewhouse next door). The rotating tap list is genuinely encyclopedic, and the kitchen food matches the ambition. A non-negotiable for beer enthusiasts.
Time needed: 1.5–3 hours, depending on crowd and taplist exploration.
One of Canada's great bars — Bar Isabel is a moody Spanish wine and tapas bar on Ossington that's been named one of Canada's best restaurants and bars since it opened. The vermut list, the pintxos, and the charcuterie are exceptional. It's dark, it's beautiful, and it fills up immediately every single night.
Time needed: 1.5–2.5 hours, depending on wait times and courses.
Toronto's most beautiful bar — Bar Raval's sinuous Gaudi-inspired woodwork curves around a standing-room crowd sipping serious cocktails and snacking on pintxos, tapas, and canned seafood conservas. The covered patio is legendary. Arrive early or face a long wait: this is everyone's favourite first stop of the night.
Time needed: 1–2 hours, depending on the crowd and wait time.
Toronto's most theatrical cocktail experience — BarChef's bartenders treat every drink as a science project, crafting all their bitters, infusions, and syrups in-house using molecular gastronomy techniques. Cocktails arrive as sensory events: smoke, fog, fire, and flavour. Book ahead. Dress well.
Time needed: 1.5–2 hours
The world's most comprehensive shoe museum with 14,000+ artifacts. From Egyptian sandals to Elton John's platforms. Smaller than you think, more interesting than you'd ever expect.
Time needed: 1–2 hours
North York's most sophisticated neighbourhood shopping centre — think Lululemon, Williams-Sonoma, specialty food shops, and the excellent Terroni restaurant anchoring the whole thing. The outdoor streetscape makes it feel like a village rather than a mall.
Time needed: 1–2 hours unless you’re planning a leisurely meal or serious shopping spree.
Toronto's premier outdoor beach volleyball — Ashbridges Bay has 40+ sand courts, organized leagues (beginners through competitive), weekend pick-up games, and the kind of active beach community that makes it the Beaches' most social destination on a summer evening. The courts are in use from May through September.
Time needed: 1–3 hours depending on game schedules and energy levels.
Toronto's cult-favourite brewery — Bellwoods makes some of the most sought-after beers in Ontario, and the Ossington taproom is the place to drink them fresh. Milk stouts, wild ales, IPAs, and seasonal one-offs flow from 30+ taps in a room that's always packed with locals who know exactly what they're getting.
Time needed: 1.5–3 hours depending on day and crowds.
Home of Canadian Stage — one of Canada's leading contemporary theatre companies programming international co-productions, new works, and major theatrical events. The Bluma Appel and Michael Young stages program a season of consistently ambitious and surprising theatre.
Time needed: 2–3 hours, depending on show length
A 4-hour small group tour covering the essential Toronto experience — a guided city tour, CN Tower observation deck, and harbour boat cruise combined into one seamless package. Rated 4.4/5 with 24 reviews so far, this small-group format gives you a much more personal experience than the larger tour operators.
Time needed: 3.5–4.5 hours, depending on traffic and CN Tower elevator times.
A 4.5-hour all-in-one Toronto experience — a guided bus tour through the city's highlights, food tastings at iconic local spots, and a harbour cruise finishing on the water with the skyline behind you. Rated 4.4/5 with 9 reviews, this combines three of the best Toronto experiences into one afternoon package.
Time needed: 4.5 hours (includes all travel, tastings, and the full cruise).
The most charming small bar in Toronto — Big Trouble is an East Asian-inspired cocktail snack bar with theme nights (Wednesday baijiu and soju nights are legendary), cheeseburger dumplings, glass noodles, and cocktails with lychee and yuzu. Quaint, cozy, and always staffed by people who love their jobs.
Time needed: 1.5–3 hours, especially if you stick around for theme nights.
Toronto's bike share system has 9,000+ bikes at 800+ stations across the city — accessible with a day pass from any station. The Martin Goodman Trail (30km waterfront) and the Don Valley trail system are both entirely serviced by Bike Share. The best value transportation in Toronto.
Time needed: 1–3 hours for a solid city loop; unlimited if you’re roaming all day.
Toronto's most sophisticated beer bar — Birreria Volo serves sours, lambics, wild yeast ales, and rare aged bottles in wine glasses, encouraging you to actually taste your beer rather than chug it. The communal table setup invites conversation, and the Cantina cellar holds the rarest bottles in Canada.
Time needed: 1.5–3 hours, depending on your thirst (and how deep you get into the bottle list).
A living history museum of 1800s rural Ontario. 40+ restored heritage buildings with costumed interpreters demonstrating blacksmithing, bread-baking, and printing. Halloween and Christmas events are legitimately spectacular.
Time needed: 2–4 hours, longer during special events or with kids.
First-timers should start with the CN Tower observation deck for city views, then walk the Distillery District and Kensington Market for culture and food. Add Ripley's Aquarium, a Harbourfront walk, and St. Lawrence Market on a Saturday morning. For a full plan, see our 48-hour first-timer itinerary.
Check our Events page for live concerts, sports, and festivals happening this weekend. Regulars include the Distillery District on weekends, Kensington Market, Saturday morning at St. Lawrence Market, and the Toronto Islands by ferry. In summer, look for outdoor festivals along the waterfront.
Toronto is excellent for families. Top picks: Ripley's Aquarium of Canada (the shark tunnel alone is worth it), the Toronto Zoo, Ontario Science Centre, High Park, the ferry to Centre Island, and the CN Tower glass floor. The waterfront and Harbourfront Centre also have excellent free kids programming in summer.
Some of the best free activities include exploring the Toronto Islands (ferry costs $9.38 return), walking the Harbourfront, visiting High Park and the Scarborough Bluffs, browsing the Distillery District and Kensington Market, and checking out the Art Gallery of Ontario on the first Wednesday of the month from 6–9pm. Graffiti Alley is always free.
Toronto is famous for the CN Tower, the Distillery District, world-class food markets like St. Lawrence Market, its multicultural neighbourhoods (Kensington Market, Little Italy, Greektown, Chinatown), and being a major sports city home to the Raptors, Maple Leafs, and Blue Jays.
3–4 days is ideal to see the main highlights including the waterfront, CN Tower, Distillery District, Kensington Market, and a few neighbourhood restaurants. A full week lets you explore more neighbourhoods, do a day trip to Niagara Falls, and enjoy live events or sports.
June to September is peak season with warm weather, patios, festivals like TIFF and Caribbean Carnival, and outdoor events. May and October offer fewer crowds with still-pleasant weather. Winter is great if you love skating, the Christmas Market, and indoor culture.
Downtown Toronto is very walkable — most major attractions, restaurants, and hotels are accessible on foot or via the TTC subway and streetcar. The PATH underground network connects many downtown buildings. The Harbourfront trail is a beautiful flat walk along the lake.
WTF Toronto creates guides using independent editorial research, official sources, local knowledge and firsthand experience where available. Commercial relationships are disclosed where applicable.