Your Guide to Toronto's Lake Ontario Shore

Lake Ontario stretches 7,340 square miles with 712 miles of shoreline—Toronto alone offers nearly 30 miles of beaches, marinas, and green spaces along its urban waterfront.

Quick Summary
 

Almost like an ocean—that's how enormous Lake Ontario seems. One of five North American Great Lakes, this 7,340-square-mile freshwater body has 712 miles of beautiful shoreline. Canada's largest city boasts one of the world's longest urban waterfronts with nearly 30 miles of beaches, marinas, and green spaces. There's a reason "Ontario" means "beautiful lake" in Iroquois.

Quick Facts
 

• Location: Toronto, Ontario (Lake Ontario shore)
• Lake Size: 7,340 square miles, 712 miles of shoreline
• Urban Waterfront: Nearly 30 miles (one of world's longest)
• Bluffs Age: 12,000 years old (Scarborough Bluffs)
• Bird Species: 300+ species at Leslie Street Spit

Toronto’s Waterfront

The shores are lined with tree-filled parks, sandy beaches, restaurants with a view, art galleries, concert venues, and even a BMX bike park.

• Waterfront Artisan Market: June to October, 50 vendors with produce, fresh-baked breads, artisan cheese, artwork, handmade wares
• Woodbine Beach: Popular for swimming and sunbathing
• Water activities: Sunset gourmet dinner boat cruises, sail on 19th century tall ships, windsurfing, kite surfing, canoeing, kayaking, paddle boats

Music, Concerts, and Butterflies

Toronto Music Garden: A collaboration between landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The lakeside garden portrays, in plants and blooms, the six movements of Bach's Suite No. 1 in G Major for Unaccompanied Cello. Free public concerts in summertime on Thursdays and Sundays. Free guided tours from Harbourfront Centre or self-guided audio tour.

• Molson Canadian Amphitheatre: Large stadium-style, open air concerts
• Echo Beach: Intimate concert venue
• Sunnyside Café: 1922 Art Deco café near the Martin Goodman Trail
• Humber Bay Butterfly Habitat: Watch ephemeral, fluttering insects in flower-filled meadows

Scarborough Bluffs Park

See dramatic white cliffs some 12,000 years old towering nine miles high—a sedimentary escarpment of geological interest and site of the longest sandy beach in the area. Bring a picnic lunch and hike the network of walking trails and boardwalks. Charter a fishing excursion for carp, pike, bass, salmon, and trout.

• Cathedral Bluffs Park: Features towering spires
• Bluffer's Park and Beach: Only lake access point, highest eco rating for healthy wildlife and clean water
• Bluffer's Park Restaurant: Large marina with dinner views from the patio

Budapest Park

Snap a selfie in front of gravity-defying, wooden slat Time Tunnel—a symbolic art installation created in 2016 by Hungarian designers in memory of the 1956 anti-Soviet Hungarian Revolution. At the foot of Parkside Drive, tree-filled Budapest Park sits next to a public pool and swimming beach, ideal for picnicking, jogging, or hiking along the Martin Goodman Trail. Find a nice spot by the fountain and take in the city skyline.

Ireland Park

Ireland Park tells the story of the 38,000 Irish immigrants who traveled to Canada fleeing the Great Potato Famine in the 1850s. Éireann Quay, next to large abandoned grain silos, houses five bronze sculptures and symbolic artworks on grassy lawns shaded by large oaks. The limestone wall of black stones imported from Ireland and etched with names of the deceased commemorates the hundreds who perished in ship crossings. A decade in the making, strikingly beautiful paired with downtown panoramas—the perfect place to reflect and enjoy the quiet. 

Leslie Street Spit

At the foot of Leslie Street near downtown, Leslie Street Spit juts three miles into Lake Ontario—a 1,236-acre (manmade) peninsula and portion of Tommy Thompson Park. A former dumping ground happily turned into a biodiverse urban wilderness, it's carpeted in wildflower-filled meadows, marshes, beaches, sand dunes, and cottonwood and poplar forest, crisscrossed with blissfully car-free roads and trails, plus a solar-powered lighthouse. The spit represents Toronto's biggest chunk of waterfront natural habitat. Rent a bike and cycle here, looking out for stealthy coyotes, shy muskrats, butterflies, and 300 species of birds including migrating flocks and owls. Hike, rollerblade, or fish here, too.

Follow-Up Questions

• What beaches are near downtown Toronto?
• Can I go fishing at Scarborough Bluffs?
• What is the Toronto Music Garden?
• Where can I see wildlife near Toronto's waterfront?
• What is the Time Tunnel at Budapest Park?

Associated Entities

Lake Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Great Lakes, Waterfront Artisan Market, Woodbine Beach, Toronto Music Garden, Julie Moir Messervy, Yo-Yo Ma, Bach Suite No. 1 in G Major, Harbourfront Centre, Molson Canadian Amphitheatre, Echo Beach, Sunnyside Café, Martin Goodman Trail, Humber Bay Butterfly Habitat, Scarborough Bluffs Park, Cathedral Bluffs Park, Bluffer's Park, Bluffer's Park Restaurant, Budapest Park, Time Tunnel, Hungary, Ireland Park, Éireann Quay, Great Potato Famine, Leslie Street Spit, Tommy Thompson Park, Destination Ontario, Destination Canada

Sources & Registry

Destination Canada – Your guide to Toronto's Lake Ontario shore: https://travel.destinationcanada.com/en-us/things-to-do/lake-ontario-toronto