Ultimate Toronto Checklist

By Zarina Patel, University of Toronto, Canada

Are you studying in Toronto? Or maybe just visiting the city from a North American university? You’ve come to the right place. I spent my year abroad slowly compiling this list of things to do in Toronto…

Please feel free to refer to this as and when you fancy, so you can make sure you see the best of the big 6ix. I also found this checklist helpful for making an itinerary for when any friends or family came to visit!

In this blog, we will do a whistlestop tour of Toronto, covering:

Landmarks and ‘Tourist-y’ things to do
Parks and City Viewpoints
Shopping
Food Spots
Sports

1. Landmarks and ‘tourist-y’ things to do

CN Tower
Toronto sign at Nathan-Phillips Square
Gooderham Building (& Berczy Park Dog Fountain)
St Lawrence Market
St James Cathedral
Yonge-Dundas square
Bloor St (between Bloor St-Yonge St and Bloor St-Saint George St
Wander around: Yorkville / Kensington Market / Distillery District
Toronto Reference Library
Osgoode Hall
CTV Car-in-Wall
Suits locations (Bay-Adelaide, 3 Church St etc.)
UofT Campus
- Hart House
- Thomas Fisher Rare Book library
- University College
- King’s College Circle
- Trinity College
- Cherry-blossom trees outside Robarts Library
Ripley’s Aquarium (free ticket with a Toronto Public Library card!)
Royal Ontario Museum (free on the Third Tuesday of each month)
The Clay Room for pottery painting (student discount)
Canada’s Wonderland
Day trip to Niagara Falls (pictured above – we got soaked from the boat, so worth doing on a warm day!)

2. Parks and city viewpoints

Toronto Islands (pictured above)
Roundhouse Park, at the base of the CN Tower
Toronto Music Garden
Trillium Park (my favourite spot in the city!)
Riverdale Park
High Park
R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant
Scarborough Bluffs Park
Tommy Thompson Park
Trinity Bellwoods Park
Allan Gardens Conservatory

3. Shopping

Dufferin Mall (ft. Walmart)
Eaton Centre
Yorkdale Shopping Centre
Vaughan Mills
The Well (ft. Crumbl Cookies)
Dollarama (my absolute favourite)

4. Food spots (too many to fit into this blog!)

BeaverTails (pictured above)
Cactus Club Cafe
Ramen Isshin
Udupi Palace
Karahi Boys
NomNomNom Poutine
The Morning After (amazing Red Velvet pancakes!)
Real Fruit Bubble Tea
Popeyes / Wingstop (both of which we have in the UK, but the Canadian version is better!)
The Captain’s Boil
Shelby’s
Ozzy’s Burgers
Grandma Loves You
Chiang Mai
Amal
Old Spaghetti Factory (you can eat in an old streetcar!)
Backyard Smokehouse
Laissez-Faire
For dessert: HolyChoco / Mizzica / La Diperie
For drinks or a boogie: “The Maddy” (Madison Avenue Pub – UofT’s student bar) / PizzaWineDisco

and so many more…..

5. Sports

Basketball: Toronto Raptors (at Scotiabank Arena; pictured above)
Ice Hockey: Toronto Maple Leafs / Toronto Marlies (Scotiabank Arena / Coca Cola Colosseum)
Baseball: Toronto Blue Jays
‘Soccer‘: Toronto FC (at BMO Field)
Everything else (e.g. American Football): UofT Varsity —> free tickets for UofT students!

Hopefully you find this summary helpful and come to love the city as much as I do – enjoy!