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Neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Photo: SimonP, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The Entertainment and Financial Districts, along with Yonge-Dundas to the north, form the heart of Toronto's downtown. By day, the suits and powerbrokers of the Financial District drive the city's economy from their glass and steel towers. But as night comes, the towers empty and people pour into the Entertainment District to catch the show, see the game or party at the clubs. Whether it's day or night, many of Toronto's larger attractions are located here, so it's an essential part of any visit to Toronto.
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Toronto meets Hollywood where visitors can see plaques for most of Canada's famous names (Martin Short, for example) embedded in the sidewalk. The plaques are stylized stars that look a little like maple leaf.
The CN Tower is Toronto's most recognizable and famous feature, and was the world's tallest free-standing structure until the Burj Khalifa surpassed it in September 2007. It is still the tallest free-standing structure in the Americas. At a dizzying 553 m high, a visit is worth it for the view of the city alone. A glass elevator will take you up to where you can look out from behind glass windows or from an outside observing area through a metal screen. It attracts large numbers of tourists; best times are weekdays in the morning. You can jump up and down on the thick glass floor in parts of the observatory (the view from the floor downward essentially shows the base of the tower). 360, the revolving restaurant, is in the main deck, but isn't particularly renowned. Restaurant diners with reservations can avoid the queues for the observatory, and at night the lights from distant Rochester, New York are visible over the lake.
Draper Street is a small Heritage Conservation District. This short street is lined with over a dozen Victorian-era houses from the 1880s. The houses are private residences.
Lanes at the rear of commercial buildings have colourful displays of graffiti, a few of which are very artistic murals. A Toronto-themed mural is displayed on the west side of a building on Rush Lane.
A shrine to Canada's pastime in the heart of the city. The Stanley Cup is usually housed here – if seeing it is important, call ahead and ensure it's not in another city before you visit.
Home to 13,500 species of sea creatures from habitats around the world. Café, souvenir shop.
This public park offers has a number of preserved exhibits: roundhouse and turntable, coaling tower, water tower, signal tower, small railway station and several railway cars and locomotives including a 4-8-4 Northern-type steam locomotive.
The museum, in the roundhouse building, has railway exhibits, cars under restoration, and a gift shop. When the miniature steam trains are running in the park, you can purchase separate tickets to ride them from the old Don Station building.
Toronto Dominion Gallery of Inuit Art
Collection of Inuit art, about 100 items on display.
Union Station is the largest and most opulent railway station in Canada and a landmark in Toronto. Designed in the Beaux-Arts style and finished in 1921, this Heritage Railway Station is a National Historic Site of Canada. The main internal feature of the station is the Great Hall which is 250 ft long and 88 ft high at its highest point. Materials such as bronze, limestone, marble, tiles, and translucent glass create a sense of enduring quality. On the west side of the station, the SkyWalk, an approximately 500-metre enclosed walkway to the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre, gives railfans a view of the complex tracks serving the station.
Union, the subway station, has a major artwork in the form a glass partition running the length of the station. The art piece is called "Zones of Immersion" by Stuart Reid, a professor at the OCAD University, and comprises 166 large glass panels, each measuring more than one by two metres, extending 170 m along the length of the platform. Mostly transparent, it is visible from both the Yonge and University platforms. Each panel contains images or words, many based on sketches of commuters that Reid drew while riding the subway.
St Andrew's Presbyterian Church
Collection of uniforms and memorabilia of the 48th Highlanders Regiment dating from as early as the Boer War.
The Thimble is a sculpture representing Toronto's Fashion District, which has several multi-storey Art Deco buildings that formerly housed businesses that manufactured clothing. Three such buildings are the Fashion Building on the south side of Richmond Street, and the Tower and Balfour buildings on the NW and NE corners of Spadina Ave and Adelaide St. On the SE corner, there is a plaque describing the latter two buildings. Today, there is little or no clothing manufacturing in the Fashion District, but the name persists.
This plaza features a fountain and a three piece bronze sculpture by Derrick Stephan Hudson entitled, Tembo, Mother of Elephants completed in 2002. These near life-size sculptures of a mother elephant and her 2 cubs were installed on site in 2005 on loan from the L.L. Odette Foundation of Windsor, Ontario.
TD Centre
Seven life-size sculptures of cows, an artwork by Joe Faford titled The Pasture, lie on a small plot of grass within the TD Centre square which was a pasture long, long ago.
The small park is nestled between tall buildings away from traffic noise. It contains a number of permanent decorative art objects.
formerly Air Canada Centre
This hockey arena plays host to all Toronto Maple Leafs home games as well as Toronto Raptors basketball games. It also hosts many of Toronto's large concerts. The arena is directly adjacent to Union Station and there is a passage leading from the underground concourse into the arena, however the passage can be confusing. The facility was renamed from Air Canada Centre to Scotiabank Arena effective July 1, 2018 due to a change in sponsorship.
Modern theatre for musical productions.
formerly SkyDome, not to be confused with Rogers Stadium in North York
This large stadium is home to the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team, and also hosts large concerts. It has a retractable roof, allowing games to be played in all weather. To access the stadium from Union Station follow the Skywalk from the western waiting room.
Tours of the Rogers Centre are sometimes available, but as of September 2024, these tours are still suspended until further notice. Consult the website for details.
Home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The venue also hosts other musical events. Its distinctive round glass shape makes it a Toronto landmark.
The Royal Alex
Opulent century-old building in the beaux arts style, hosting touring plays & musicals.
formerly Paramount Theatre
This is one of central Toronto's few large cinemas. It has several screens and shows mainly major, first-run films. It also has an IMAX screen.
Nightly performances of improv and sketch comedy.
Toronto International Film Festival
TIFF Bell Lightbox is a cultural centre and the headquarters for the Toronto International Film Festival. The building contains a theatre and galleries. The fourth floor gallery is free to the public, while the larger main gallery on the first level hosts large paid exhibitions.
Tasty cheesecakes, tarts, etc. Small table area.
Chinese & Thai cuisine. Get there at least 15 minutes before noon to avoid a long line-up at this popular under-ground food-court counter.
Taqueria having a small menu with very tasty tacos; Mexican decor.
Various Danish pastries (flaky and not too sweet); take-out only.
Open to 2AM Th-Sa. Over 130 ales and lagers. The dinner menu offers a wide range of appetizers, steak frites, and mussel bowls. Patio. Also open for lunch and brunch on weekends. $26.50-38.50 dinner mains.
Breakfast restaurant.
This food hall is located within a former waterworks plant built in the 1930s, and features the brick walls, high windows and skylights from its former past. The hall houses many small vendors but no large chains such as Tim Hortons, MacDonald's, etc. It has a bar serving alcoholic beverages. There is interior and seasonal outdoor sitting.
This food hall features about 50 independent vendors including a bar serving alcoholic beverages. There are no large chains here such as Tim Hortons, MacDonald's, etc.
Serving only the finest cuts of certified Angus beef, Bardi's does not scrimp on quality. Fresh Atlantic salmon, chicken and ribs are also available and delivered to you with exceptional personalized service. Highly recommended.
Regional Canadian cuisine, breathtaking views of the city skyline. The menu offers fresh Canadian fish, game and produce.
This large-scale microbrewery provides tours every 30 minutes with options. The $10 tour includes a glass of beer.
4-star hotel with 425 rooms. Fitness centre, in-room spa services. Pet friendly rooms available.
4-star hotel in the heart of Toronto's Entertainment District, right next to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
4-star hotel centrally located in downtown. Above the King subway station. All rooms have washer/dryer and kitchenette with dishwasher. Excellent views from upper floors.
Newly built 14-storey hotel, opened in 2022, in Toronto's Fashion District.
Formerly the Trump Tower Hotel. 5-star hotel features guestrooms and suites, a spa, health club, meeting space, event locations and restaurants. Also offers Toronto vacation packages.
Fairmont Royal York
Toronto's historic grand old hotel. 4-star hotel featuring indoor pool and fitness centre, on-site restaurants and bars, business centre.
4-star hotel downtown in the theatre district and connected to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
4-star hotel, 348 rooms in total, with 70 rooms overlooking the stadium. Pet friendly.
4-star luxury hotel with rooms and suites featuring Italian Frette linens, down duvets, and Molton Brown bath products. Senses Restaurant and Bakery is on-site.
Liquor store.
Mountain Equipment Company
Large store for outdoor wear and gear.
The main feature of this 3-storey shopping mall is its irregular design with many footbridges arguably producing a well effect. Although the mall has a roof, its entrances have no doors; thus, the mall temperature is the same as outside except within the shops. A major feature is Wellington Market, a food hall.
This former factory building has a courtyard, a few shops and private art galleries.
A store having Toronto-themed souvenirs.
The PATH is the world's largest underground shopping complex with 27 km (16 miles) of shopping arcades. It is a city under a city and extends from Union Station in the south to Yonge-Dundas Square in the north. The PATH has numerous branches with alternate routes creating an underground maze.
By train
Toronto's main railway station, Union Station sits at the foot of the financial district, on Front Street between York and Bay Streets.
By subway
The financial district is well served by subway line (Yonge-University-Spadina) with Queen, King, Union, St Andrew and Osgoode stations all lying in the district.
By streetcar
Many streetcar lines run through or terminate in the financial district.
By car
Most of the major highways passing through Toronto pass through the downtown core at some point.
By bike or foot
The easiest way to find downtown Toronto is to locate the CN Tower, and head towards it.
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