32 of the best · Toronto, Canada
The Royal Ontario Museum and the AGO, the Aga Khan, the Gardiner and the Bata, the opera and the ballet, the Toronto Symphony, Mirvish, TIFF and the festivals.
Our 32 favourites, listed A–Z · Updated November 2026
Browse by type
Three Toronto moments we keep going back to: the ferry to the islands for the skyline at dusk, a Saturday morning at St. Lawrence Market, and an afternoon in the galleries of the Royal Ontario Museum.
Eighteen million objects
Art, culture and nature under one roof, behind the crystal at Bloor and Queen’s Park.
On Dundas Street
The great art gallery of Ontario, on Dundas Street West by Grange Park.
The museums, the stages and the screens.
The back story
The Royal Ontario Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Aga Khan Museum, the shoes of the Bata, the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet, the Toronto Symphony, Mirvish’s theatres, TIFF and Hot Docs: Toronto on stage and on screen.
Visual arts
The ROM and the AGO, and museums of one subject done supremely well.
On Dundas Street
The great art gallery of Ontario, on Dundas Street West by Grange Park.
Eighteen million objects
Art, culture and nature under one roof, behind the crystal at Bloor and Queen’s Park.
Contemporary art on the lake and in a converted factory.
Canadian and international
The Museum of Contemporary Art, in a converted factory west of downtown.
Contemporary, on the lake
Contemporary art in a former power station at Harbourfront Centre; admission is free all year.
The painted laneway south of Queen West.
The tower, the station, the castle and the Victorian distillery.
EdgeWalk, 116 storeys up
The tower over the railway lands, with the Glass Floor, the SkyPod, 360 Restaurant and EdgeWalk.
Victorian brick
The Victorian distillery of Gooderham & Worts, now galleries, shops, cafés and the winter village.
Performing arts
The symphony at Roy Thomson Hall, Massey Hall and the Conservatory’s hall.
The Royal Conservatory
The concert hall of the Royal Conservatory of Music, on Bloor Street.
Mirvish’s stages, Soulpepper in the Distillery and Canadian Stage.
Toronto’s West End
The Royal Alexandra, the Princess of Wales, the Ed Mirvish and the CAA Theatre.
Both companies at the Four Seasons Centre.
At the Four Seasons Centre
Canada’s largest producer of opera, at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.
TIFF’s home on King Street and the neighbourhood picture houses; see also Toronto on film.
Documentaries
The documentary cinema on Bloor Street, home of the Hot Docs festival.
The festival’s home
The year-round home of the Toronto International Film Festival, on King Street West.
Folk & cultural traditions
Canadian gifts and the coats of the north.
Since 2008
A hotel gift shop, general store, flea-market stand and museum shop in one.
Luminato in June, Pride, Carnival and Nuit Blanche.
Sixty years in 2027
North America’s largest Caribbean festival, every summer.
