Toronto, Canada

Evergreen city guide with quick facts, travel, business, and culture.

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Overview

Toronto is the capital of Ontario, the largest city in Canada and the centre of one of the most multicultural metro regions in the world — around three million people in the city itself and roughly 6.5 million across the Greater Toronto Area. The city sits on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario in a long ribbon along the waterfront, with the CN Tower as its skyline anchor, a dense network of ethnic neighbourhoods around the centre and BMO Field, the lakeshore stadium on Exhibition Place.

CN Tower and Downtown

553-metre tower, Rogers Centre at its base, the bank-tower Financial District, Brookfield Place atrium and the 30-kilometre underground PATH.

Distillery District and St. Lawrence Market

Preserved Victorian industrial brick district plus Toronto's main public market since 1803 — peameal-bacon sandwiches and 19th-century heritage in one walk.

Toronto Islands and Waterfront

Ten-minute ferry from the foot of Bay Street to car-free islands with the iconic skyline view, beaches and the harbourfront cultural programme.

Kensington, Chinatown and Neighbourhoods

Kensington Market, Spadina Avenue Chinatown, Little Italy on College, Little Portugal and the Danforth's Greektown — Toronto's distinct ethnic-neighbourhood mosaic.

ROM, AGO and Bloor-Yorkville

Libeskind-extended Royal Ontario Museum, Gehry-redesigned Art Gallery of Ontario and the Bloor-Yorkville cultural and retail corridor.

Pearson Gateway, Niagara and BMO Field

UP Express to YYZ in 25 minutes, Niagara Falls reachable in 90 minutes, and BMO Field, the lakeshore stadium on Exhibition Place.
Travel Overview

Toronto runs as a long urban ribbon along the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario, with the Don and Humber river valleys cutting green corridors through the grid and a downtown core that has densified sharply over the last twenty years. Three layers structure the experience: the dense Downtown and Financial District (CN Tower, the bank towers of King and Bay, the Rogers Centre, the Distillery District and St. Lawrence Market a few blocks east, the waterfront and the Toronto Islands ferry); the residential and ethnic-neighbourhood mosaic that surrounds it (Chinatown and Kensington Market just west of downtown, Little Italy on College Street, Greektown on the Danforth, Little Portugal and Little India on Gerrard, Koreatown along Bloor); and the Bloor-Yorkville corridor where most of the city's cultural institutions cluster — the Royal Ontario Museum, the Bata Shoe Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario a short distance south. The TTC subway and streetcar network is the spine of everyday movement: the 501 Queen and 504 King streetcars are among the longest routes in North America, the Line 1 Yonge-University subway loops the central business district, and Line 2 Bloor-Danforth runs east-west through most of the inner-city neighbourhoods. Toronto's annual festival calendar is unusually rich for a North American city — the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September is a major global event, the Toronto Caribbean Carnival (Caribana) draws large summer crowds, Pride in June is one of the biggest in the world, and Doors Open Toronto in May opens normally closed buildings to free public visits. Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) is Canada's largest hub; Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ) on the Toronto Islands handles regional service from the downtown waterfront. BMO Field on Exhibition Place — home of Toronto FC (MLS) and the Toronto Argonauts (CFL) — sits directly on the lake about ten minutes from Union Station by the 509 Harbourfront streetcar or one stop west on the GO Lakeshore West line.

Discover Toronto

The CN Tower — 553 metres tall, completed in 1976 and the tallest free-standing structure in the world until 2007 — anchors the city's skyline and the downtown visitor cluster. Its main observation deck at 346 metres has a glass floor with a 360-degree view across Lake Ontario; the EdgeWalk hands-free walk around the exterior at 356 metres operates in summer. At the base of the tower, Ripley's Aquarium of Canada, the Rogers Centre (home of the Toronto Blue Jays) and the BMO Centre for international conferences sit in one compact zone. The Financial District north and east — with the Royal Bank Plaza's gold towers, the TD Centre's Mies van der Rohe black-glass cluster, the Brookfield Place atrium and the underground PATH network (a 30-kilometre concourse system connecting downtown towers) — gives the city its winter-functional core.

Frequently asked questions

The CN Tower rises 553 metres and is still the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere — it held the world record for 32 years, until 2007. The main deck at 346 metres has a glass floor you can stand on, and the EdgeWalk — a hands-free, harness-secured walk around the rim at 356 metres — holds the Guinness World Record as the highest external walk on a building.

Around half of all Torontonians were born outside Canada, and the region counts more than 200 ethnic origins and over 160 languages — one of the most diverse cities anywhere. It shows up block by block: Kensington Market and the Spadina Chinatown, Little Italy on College Street, Greektown on the Danforth, Little India on Gerrard and Koreatown along Bloor.

Ferries cross from the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal at the foot of Bay Street in about 13 minutes. The islands are car-free — cycling, beaches (including clothing-optional Hanlan's Point), the small Centreville amusement park, and the single best view of the downtown skyline back across the harbour.

Diplomatic missions in Toronto

7 embassies based in this city, grouped by region.