The Wandering Adventurer

Toronto is Canada at full scale — a lakefront metropolis of glass towers and red-brick Victorian neighbourhoods, where the CN Tower pierces the skyline above a city of 140-plus distinct communities, world-class museums, and one of the most diverse food scenes in North America. It’s polished and ambitious, but it’s also genuinely livable: a half-hour ferry ride lands you on a car-free island beach, a streetcar ride drops you in the middle of a market that’s been feeding the city since 1803, and the most famous waterfall in the world is just over an hour down the highway.

📢 Affiliate Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to Viator. If you book through our links, The Wandering Adventurer earns a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting independent travel content!

This guide covers the top things to do in Toronto — with Viator booking links, costs, transport, and insider tips for every experience.

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🗼 1. The CN Tower

🕐 Time needed: 1.5–2 hours | 💶 Cost: LookOut Level from $45; SkyPod and EdgeWalk extra | 🚌 Getting there: Union Station is a 5-minute walk; streetcars 509/510 stop nearby | 📍 Address: 290 Bremner Blvd, Toronto, ON M5V 3L9

At 553 metres, the CN Tower was the tallest free-standing structure in the world for over three decades, and it’s still the single image most people picture when they think of Toronto. The LookOut Level gives sweeping views across Lake Ontario, the Toronto Islands, and on a clear day all the way to Niagara Falls and Rochester, New York. The glass floor 342 metres above the ground is the moment everyone photographs, and for the genuinely fearless, the EdgeWalk lets you walk a hands-free loop around the outside of the tower, harnessed to an overhead rail.

💡 Insider Tip: Book timed-entry tickets online in advance — walk-up queues at the ticket office can run over an hour in summer. Go at sunset if you can: you get daylight views on the way up and the city lighting up below as you head back down, all in one visit.

🎟️ Book CN Tower Tickets via Viator

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🌊 2. Niagara Falls Day Trip

🕐 Time needed: Full day (9–12 hours) | 💶 Cost: Guided day tours from $130; boat cruise upgrades extra | 🚌 Getting there: ~1.5 hours by car or organised tour bus from downtown Toronto | 📍 Address: Niagara Falls, ON, Canada

Niagara Falls is one of the most famous natural landmarks on earth, and it’s an easy day trip from Toronto — close enough that the vast majority of visitors do it without an overnight stay. The Canadian side gives you the postcard view straight onto the Horseshoe Falls, and the Hornblower Niagara Cruise (the Canadian equivalent of the Maid of the Mist) takes you right into the mist at the base of the falls. The drive itself passes through Niagara wine country and the genuinely lovely town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, both worth a stop if your tour includes them.

💡 Insider Tip: Choose a tour that includes the boat cruise rather than booking it separately — it’s the single best way to experience the falls and queues at the dock can be long if you arrive without a ticket. Visit in winter if you can stomach the cold: the falls partially freeze into extraordinary ice formations and the crowds disappear almost entirely.

🎟️ Book a Niagara Falls Day Trip via Viator

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🚤 3. Toronto Islands & Harbour Cruise

🕐 Time needed: Half day | 💶 Cost: Ferry ~$10 return; guided harbour cruise from $30 | 🚌 Getting there: Ferry departs from the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal, a 10-minute walk from Union Station | 📍 Address: 9 Queens Quay W, Toronto, ON M5J 2H3

The Toronto Islands are a cluster of small car-free islands a 15-minute ferry ride from downtown, and they’re the best-kept secret in the city’s tourism scene — quiet beaches, cycling paths, the Centreville amusement park for families, and what is genuinely the best view of the Toronto skyline anywhere. Ward’s Island has a sleepy, cottage-like residential community; Centre Island has the beaches and the boardwalk; Hanlan’s Point has the city’s only legal clothing-optional beach if that’s of interest. A guided harbour cruise covers the same skyline views without the legwork and works well combined with a CN Tower visit.

💡 Insider Tip: Rent a bike on the islands rather than walking — the network of car-free paths covers the full archipelago and a loop takes under two hours. Photograph the skyline from the Centre Island boardwalk in the late afternoon, when the sun is behind you and the glass towers catch the light.

🎟️ Book a Toronto Islands & Harbour Cruise via Viator

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🏰 4. Casa Loma

🕐 Time needed: 2–3 hours | 💶 Cost: From $40 | 🚌 Getting there: Dupont subway station, then a short uphill walk; or streetcar | 📍 Address: 1 Austin Terrace, Toronto, ON M5R 1X8

Casa Loma is North America’s only full-scale castle — a genuine Gothic Revival pile built between 1911 and 1914 for financier Sir Henry Pellatt, complete with secret passages, an 800-foot underground tunnel, turrets, stables, and 5 acres of formal gardens. It bankrupted its original owner within a decade of completion, and the city has run it as a museum and event space ever since. The interior rooms — the oak-panelled library, the conservatory, the suit-of-armour-lined Great Hall — are genuinely atmospheric, and the towers give one of the better elevated views of midtown Toronto outside the CN Tower.

💡 Insider Tip: The gardens are free to view from outside the fence if you just want the photo, but the underground tunnel and tower access are only included with a paid ticket and are worth it. Casa Loma runs seasonal themed light and escape-room events (especially around Halloween and Christmas) that sell out — check the calendar before you go if you want one of these.

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🦣 5. Royal Ontario Museum

🕐 Time needed: 2–4 hours | 💶 Cost: From $28 | 🚌 Getting there: Museum subway station is directly outside | 📍 Address: 100 Queens Park, Toronto, ON M5S 2C6

The ROM is Canada’s largest museum and one of the biggest in North America — over 18 million artifacts and specimens spanning dinosaurs, Egyptian mummies, Chinese imperial art, Canadian First Nations history, and a genuinely excellent gem and mineral collection. The building itself is part of the appeal: the angular, crystalline Michael Lee-Chin Crystal addition, jutting out from the original 1914 heritage building, is one of the more divisive pieces of architecture in the city and worth seeing regardless of which side of the debate you land on.

💡 Insider Tip: The dinosaur galleries are the single biggest draw and get crowded with school groups on weekday mornings — visit weekday afternoons or any time on weekends for a calmer experience. Friday Night Live (seasonal, 19+) turns part of the museum into a ticketed evening event with music and a cash bar, a different way to experience the space.

🎟️ Book ROM Tickets via Viator

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🎨 6. Art Gallery of Ontario

🕐 Time needed: 2–3 hours | 💶 Cost: From $25 | 🚌 Getting there: St. Patrick subway station, short walk; streetcar 505 stops outside | 📍 Address: 317 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M5T 1G4

The AGO holds one of the largest art collections in North America — over 90,000 works spanning 2,000 years, with particular strength in Canadian art (including the largest public collection of Group of Seven paintings anywhere) alongside European masters, Indigenous art, and a striking Frank Gehry-redesigned building that’s an attraction in its own right. The free-form spiral staircase in the south atrium and the Galleria Italia’s curved wooden ceiling are two of the most photographed interior spaces in Toronto.

💡 Insider Tip: Admission is free every Wednesday evening from 6–9pm — arrive early as it gets busy. The Group of Seven and Indigenous and Canadian art galleries are the AGO’s genuine strength and the most worthwhile if your time is limited.

🎟️ Book AGO Tickets via Viator

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🥃 7. The Distillery Historic District

🕐 Time needed: 2–3 hours | 💶 Cost: Free to walk; Segway tours from $70 | 🚌 Getting there: Streetcar 504 King to Parliament St, then short walk; ~15 mins from downtown | 📍 Address: 55 Mill St, Toronto, ON M5A 3C4

Once the largest distillery in the British Empire, the Gooderham and Worts complex is now a pedestrian-only village of Victorian industrial brick buildings, cobblestone lanes, and well over a hundred galleries, boutiques, cafes, and restaurants. It’s one of the best-preserved collections of Victorian-era industrial architecture in North America and has become a genuine cultural hub — public art installations, a rotating roster of seasonal markets, and the city’s biggest Christmas market take over the district every winter.

💡 Insider Tip: The cobblestones are charming but genuinely uneven — wear comfortable shoes. Mill Street Brewery, the district’s original on-site brewer, has an outdoor patio that’s one of the best spots in the area for a drink between gallery stops.

🎟️ Book a Distillery District Segway Tour via Viator

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🥟 8. Kensington Market & Chinatown

🕐 Time needed: 2–3 hours | 💶 Cost: Free to walk | 🚌 Getting there: Streetcar 510 Spadina or 506 College; ~15-minute walk from downtown | 📍 Address: Kensington Market, Toronto, ON M5T

Kensington Market is Toronto’s most distinctive neighbourhood — a dense, bohemian, graffiti-covered grid of independent grocers, vintage shops, and restaurants representing virtually every immigrant community that’s passed through the city since the early 1900s. It backs directly onto Chinatown along Spadina Avenue, and the two together form the single best place in Toronto to eat your way through an afternoon without a fixed plan. Neither neighbourhood is polished for tourists, which is exactly the appeal — this is the most authentic cross-section of the city’s character available without leaving downtown.

💡 Insider Tip: Go hungry and graze rather than committing to one sit-down meal — the market rewards wandering between bakeries, taco stands, and dumpling counters. Pedestrian Sundays (warm months, last Sunday of the month) close the market to cars entirely, with street performers and a genuine block-party atmosphere.

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🍁 9. St. Lawrence Market & Food Tour

🕐 Time needed: 2–3 hours | 💶 Cost: Free to browse; guided food tours from $79 | 🚌 Getting there: 10-minute walk from Union Station | 📍 Address: 93 Front St E, Toronto, ON M5E 1C3

St. Lawrence Market has been feeding Toronto since 1803 and was once named the world’s best food market by National Geographic. The main building houses over 120 vendors across two floors — butchers, cheesemongers, bakers, and the stall selling Toronto’s signature peameal bacon sandwich, a thick slice of cornmeal-crusted back bacon on a fresh bun that’s worth the trip on its own. The Saturday farmers’ market and Sunday antique market in the adjacent North Market building add another layer worth timing your visit around.

💡 Insider Tip: The market is closed on Mondays — plan around it. A guided food tour is worth the cost here specifically because the market is large enough that self-navigating to the actually good stalls (rather than the busiest ones) takes local knowledge.

🎟️ Book a St. Lawrence Market Food Tour via Viator

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🚌 10. Hop-On Hop-Off City Tour

🕐 Time needed: Full day (24 or 48-hour pass) | 💶 Cost: From $55 | 🚌 Getting there: Multiple stops downtown; main departure near Union Station | 📍 Address: 55 York St, Toronto, ON M5J 1R7

For a first visit, a hop-on hop-off double-decker bus is the most efficient way to get oriented — the route loops past the CN Tower, Casa Loma, the Distillery District, Kensington Market, and the Financial District, with live or audio commentary and the freedom to hop off wherever something catches your eye. Many passes bundle in a seasonal harbour and island cruise, effectively combining two of the entries on this list into one ticket.

💡 Insider Tip: Buy the 48-hour pass rather than the 24-hour if your schedule allows — Toronto’s attractions are spread out enough that a single day rarely covers everything you’ll want to hop off for. Sit on the upper deck for photos, but bring a layer; it’s exposed in the wind off the lake.

🎟️ Book a Hop-On Hop-Off Toronto Tour via Viator

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💡 Practical Tips for Toronto

• Best time to visit: May–June and September–October offer the most comfortable weather (15–25°C/59–77°F) and lighter crowds. July–August is warm and busy with festivals; winters (December–February) are genuinely cold, often well below freezing, but hotel rates drop and Casa Loma’s Christmas light displays are excellent.
• Getting around: The TTC (subway, streetcars, buses) covers the city well — a single fare is about $3.35 CAD, or get a Presto card for tap-and-go convenience. The downtown core is highly walkable, and the underground PATH network (the world’s largest underground shopping concourse) is a useful way to get around in bad weather.
• Currency: Canadian dollars (CAD). Cards are accepted almost everywhere; tap payment is standard.
• Tipping: 15–20% at restaurants is standard and usually prompted on the card machine.
• From the airport: The UP Express train runs from Pearson Airport to Union Station downtown in 25 minutes; it’s faster and more reliable than a taxi or rideshare in traffic.
• Book ahead: CN Tower timed tickets, the Niagara Falls day trip, and Casa Loma’s seasonal events all sell out on summer weekends — book before you arrive.

🎟️ Browse all Toronto tours and experiences on Viator

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🍽️ What to Eat & Drink in Toronto

• A peameal bacon sandwich at St. Lawrence Market — Carousel Bakery’s version is the original and still the benchmark: thick-cut cornmeal-crusted back bacon piled on a soft bun. It’s the closest thing Toronto has to a signature dish, and the market is the place to have it.
• Dim sum in Chinatown or Markham — Toronto has one of the largest Chinese diaspora populations in North America, and the dim sum scene reflects it. Downtown Chinatown along Spadina Avenue has solid, affordable options; if you have a car and an extra hour, the suburb of Markham has some of the best Chinese food in the country.
• Butter tarts — A genuinely Canadian invention: a flaky pastry shell filled with a gooey, buttery, brown-sugar filling, sometimes with raisins or pecans. Bakeries across the city sell them; St. Lawrence Market and Distillery District cafes are reliable places to try one.
• Craft beer in the Distillery District or Junction — Toronto’s craft brewing scene has grown enormously over the past decade. Mill Street Brewery in the Distillery District is the most convenient stop for visitors; the Junction neighbourhood further west has a denser cluster of breweries for a dedicated crawl.
• A patio meal in Kensington Market — The neighbourhood’s density of small, independent kitchens means you can eat Jamaican patties, Mexican tacos, Hungarian goulash, and Vietnamese banh mi within a five-minute walk of each other. Pick whatever has the longest local queue.

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This post contains affiliate links to Viator. The Wandering Adventurer may earn a small commission if you book through our links, at no extra cost to you.