Toronto Parks

Toronto is a city you can cross without leaving the trees. It has the largest ravine system of any city in the world, running right between the neighbourhoods, so you can walk from Mount Pleasant Cemetery almost all the way to the lake without touching a sidewalk. The best parks here aren't places you drive to. They're part of the city, and half the fun is walking out of a subway station into one you didn't know was there.

Ask Torontonians for the best park, and you'll get different answers. High Park is the one nearly everyone agrees on, big enough to lose an afternoon in. But the honest answers are local: Trinity Bellwoods on a warm Saturday, or neighbourhood favourites like Christie Pits, Withrow, and Sorauren. Downtown gets the short end, though newer spots like Love Park and Biidaasige Park are changing that.

Really, you're choosing a mood. Riverdale Park East for the skyline at sunset. Take a ferry ride to the Toronto Islands and a beach far from Bay Street. Tommy Thompson for something wild, or Edwards Gardens when you want calm and well-kept. The map below shows the parks worth a trip, and how to get to each one.