The Kat Guide to Toronto

I grew up in the suburbs just North of Toronto, so to anyone who's from Toronto, I didn't grow up in Toronto... and to anyone who isn't from Toronto, I absolutely grew up in Toronto.

Anyway, I properly moved to downtown Toronto in 2016 and have spent the better part of the last decade exploring the city. I’m not really a “try the latest hot restaurant" kind of gal, but I am very much an events person. I’ve gone to more concerts, theatre shows, immersive experiences, pop-ups, talks, screenings, weird little gatherings, and community events than I can reasonably count (that's why I have a spreadsheet that does the counting for me).

One of my favourite things about Toronto is that there is always something happening if you actively seek it out. But, a lot of folks I know who visit Toronto as a tourist, aren't necessarily doing that.

I think Toronto is strangely underrepresented as a tourism city.

Part of that, honestly, is because if you look at Toronto purely through the lens of major tourist attractions, it doesn’t necessarily seem that exciting. The city’s magic is rarely the thing being advertised on the front page of tourism websites. If you search “Top 10 Things To Do in Toronto,” I honestly think you’ll come away underwhelmed. Yes, we have the CN Tower, but there are taller towers elsewhere. We have an aquarium, but there are bigger aquariums. We have Casa Loma, but it’s not actually a castle.

This is a city best experienced through neighborhoods, recurring events, strange little stores, hidden galleries, community spaces, and accidentally stumbling into things you didn’t know existed. A lot of Toronto’s best experiences are not obvious or aggressively advertised. The city rewards curiosity.

My biggest recommendation: don’t limit yourself to what is advertised to you as a "touristic must-do." Leave room to drift. Walk places. Pop into spaces that look interesting. Look up what events are happening that evening. Wander into neighborhoods without a strict agenda. Accidentally end up at a lecture series in the back room of a bar. Toronto is also one of the most multicultural cities in the world, and you can genuinely find incredible food from almost anywhere here.

In an effort to encourage friends to explore this city I love the way it was intended, I've shared recommendations with them throughout the years. A lot of the things in this list are items I've shared piecemeal with folks throughout the years, and I figured I might as well organize them into one living document that I can continue updating over time.

Here goes nothing!

A FEW NEIGHBOURHOODS I LOVE TO EXPLORE BY FOOT

Kensington Market

One of my favourite neighbourhoods in the city. Vintage stores, tiny restaurants, murals, odd little shops, musicians, community energy, and lots of delightful chaos. In the summer, Pedestrian Sundays close the streets to cars and the whole neighbourhood turns into a giant wandering festival. Don’t over-plan this one. Just walk around and see what you discover.

Leslieville

One of the neighbourhoods in Toronto that most feels like an actual neighbourhood. Less condo-heavy than downtown Toronto and much more residential. Great walking energy, lots of cafes, breweries, and small businesses, and just generally a lovely place to spend an afternoon.

It's also an excellent neighbourhood for brewery hopping, as the following spots are all comfortably walkable from each other:

• Rorschach Brewing Co.

• Godspeed Brewery

• Left Field Brewery

• Black Lab Brewing

• Avling Brewery

Geary Avenue

Creative-industrial Toronto. I mostly find myself here when there’s already some event happening, but every time I go, I end up thinking “I should spend more time here.” Artist studios, workshops, breweries, galleries, and lots of interesting creative energy. Check out Henderson Brewing Co. + Parallel for excellent Middle Eastern food and hummus

St. Lawrence Market

One of the more touristy places in Toronto, but genuinely worth visiting. Great food, fun wandering energy, and lots nearby. I especially like getting oysters there since many vendors sell them individually, which makes it easy to casually graze while walking around. If you go later in the day, especially on farmer’s market days, vendors will often discount things before closing. There’s also a weekend flea market that’s fun to browse.

While you’re nearby, grab a Portuguese sandwich from Churrasco of St. Lawrence (my favourite sandwich in the city!) and visit Wildlife Thrift Store nearby (my favourite thrifting spot in the city).

Parks, Wandering & Urban Exploration

University of Toronto 

One of my favourite places in the city to wander aimlessly. The older campus buildings are beautiful, there are beautiful hidden everywhere, and sometimes my idea of a good afternoon is literally just walking around campus trying random doors to see which buildings are open and explorable. Especially take the time to explore the Philosopher's Walk.

High Park

Huge west-end park with trails, nature, and lots to explore. If you’re lucky, Lockwood Immersive may be running The Hunt for the Brightwing Butterfly while you're there, which is a wonderful immersive puzzle hunt experience.

Christie Pits Park

Lovely relaxed neighborhood park with a very local feel. I used to live across the street from here and would my take my guitar out for weekend jam sessions.

Trinity Bellwoods Park

Probably the park in Toronto where people most go “to be seen.” Excellent people-watching and very lively in the summer. Also the park where I’ve most frequently encountered free brand samples being handed out.

Immersive Experiences

One important thing to know about immersive work in Toronto is that a lot of it is temporary. Some of the best immersive experiences in the city are one-off productions, short festival runs, pop-ups, or limited engagements that may only exist for a few weeks before disappearing entirely.

If you want to see what’s currently on, I’d recommend checking the Everything Immersive website (which I help curate... so hopefully it is up to date eek!) The recommendations below are the more consistently running or semi-permanent experiences that I regularly recommend to people.

Revo Escape

My #1 immersive recommendation in the city.

Their puzzle design philosophy is unlike anything else I’ve experienced. Their puzzles rely on real-world logic rather than arbitrary escape room logic. You solve problems the way you actually would in real life.

Their room The Tomb: Raiders of the Sword is one of my favourite escape rooms in the world. It's a very physical game that involves crawling and climbing. You literally need to wear gloves to play this game. The room is currently #96 in the world according to the 2025 Top Escape Room Project Enthusiast Choice Awards (TERPECA).

Secret City Adventures

Excellent immersive theatre and escape room company combining performance, social interaction, and puzzles.

The Perfect Bite

Murder mystery dinner where the food itself becomes part of the puzzle-solving.

The Wedding Party

A fake wedding full of secrets, puzzles, and social interaction.

Casa Loma Escape Rooms

I’ve enjoyed basically everything I’ve played from them, especially:

• Dragon Song

• Murder Mystery at the Majestic Theatre

One important heads up: many of their games are public bookings, so if you don’t have a full group, you will very likely be playing with strangers.

Activate Stockyards

Interactive physical gaming complex. Not uniquely Toronto, but the Stockyards location is the biggest one in the world. One thing I love about Activate is how broadly appealing it is. I’ve gone with my cousins under 10 years old and my parents over 60 years old, and everybody had a blast.

Other Escape Room Companies I Like

• Escape Games Canada

• Daydream Adventures

• Looking Glass Adventures

• Imaginarium

Arts, Theatre & Creative Spaces

Red Sandcastle Theatre

Wonderful black box theatre space in the east end. Their resident company, Eldritch Theatre, creates delightfully unhinged Lovecraftian puppet horror-comedy theatre. Very tongue-in-cheek, very weird, very charming. Many Sunday performances are pay-what-you-can, which I really appreciate.

InterAccess

Fantastic gallery and workshhop space exploring the intersection of art, technology, maker culture, DIY experimentation. It's worth checking what exhibitions or workshops are happening.

Toronto Reference Library

Super cool architecture. A great place to get lost. Also - they have a neat (and free!) maker space! Hurrah. for libraries!

Sweet Action Theatre

Toronto’s clown theatre. Great community space and a lot of weird and wonderful events

The Theatre Centre

Great community-oriented arts space with thoughtful programming. They also host free community meals from time to time, which I love.

Art Gallery of Ontario

The AGO is one of my favourite places in the city and absolutely worth visiting even if you’re only casually interested in art.

I also weirdly recommend it as a remote work spot. I have an annual membership and will sometimes go there just to get out of the house for the afternoon. There’s free Wi-Fi, places to sit, desks, outlets, and it’s a really lovely environment to quietly do emails or low-intensity work while occasionally wandering off to look at art for a bit. I wouldn’t recommend taking intense meetings there, but for solo work, it’s great.

Tranzac

A lot of quirky events and jazz nights. I once had tickets to a Strip Spelling Bee here, but didn't end up going because my Ex broke up with me earlier that evening. One day I will redeem myself and finally go.

401 Richmond building

One of my favourite buildings in the city. I used to work in this building, so was fortunate to explore it often. A former factory converted into creative hub full of galleries, arts organizations, nonprofits, studios, and public art. It's well worth a wander. Also home to the Spacing Store — wonderful Toronto-themed gifts and design objects

Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema

Community-run cinema with excellent documentary programming and wonderfully niche events. One of the small details I love is that the popcorn is actually affordable because it genuinely feels community-oriented rather than corporate. I once attended a cat video film festival there and had an amazing time.

Revue Cinema

Great repertory cinema with consistently interesting programming.

Lower Bay Station

Unused subway station occasionally opened for tours, events, haunted houses, fashion shows, and other strange happenings.

A very cool hidden piece of the city.

Cheap Eats

the grange food court

This food court is a gold mine for cheap eats from great one-off local spots serving food from around the world. I especially love:

• Manpuku Modern Japanese Eatery

• Nainai Indonesian Food

Okonomi House Restaurant

Classic okonomiyaki spot with fast-moving lines. My parents used to go on dates here back before they were married. It was cheap then, and still cheap now (though with inflation, a little more expensive than it was back then! A Toronto institution.

Galleria Supermarket

Prepared foods are discounted after 6pm. Usually 20% off, but if you’re lucky and hit a 50% off evening, stock up.

Too Good To Go

Useful app that pairs you with restaurants to prevent food waste. It's a Danish company, but quite excellent in Toronto if you're trying to sample some interesting stuff while saving. Just pay attention to the app ratings — some spots are much better than others. I especially like the grab bags I've gotten from

• Tagpuan (Filipino)

• Nord Lyon (pastries)

• Bakers Code (fancy asian croissants)

Badiali

Excellent pizza slices in the west end. Not really a sit-down spot, but perfect to grab while wandering around the neighborhood.

Favourite Restaurants

Lao Lao Bar

Lao food! Probably my favourite restaurant in Toronto.

Pai

Super popular Thai restaurant. Their downtown location always has a wait, but their Eglinton location you can normally walk in or get same day reservation

Drom Taberna

Eastern European community bar. They import a lot of interesting liquors. Some great jazz in the evenings (last time I went there was for a band that did video game jazz covers!) I like their pickles a lot.

Aloette / Aloette GO

Part of the Alo restaurant group (a very expensive restaurant in Toronto that is rated amongst the top in the world). Their wedge salad is genuinely my favourite salad in Toronto. It’s the salad I crave after long travel days when I feel terrible and desperately need vegetables.

Descendant Detroit Style Pizza

It is delicious.

Churrascos

Portuguese sandwich spot at St Lawrence Market. My favourite sandwich in the city.

Bars / Nightlife / Good Rooms

Bar Volo

Probably my favourite bar in Toronto. Rotating chalkboard tap list, excellent beer, and wonderful atmosphere.

Little Jerry

This is based off a Japanese-style listening bar. The sound system here is incredible. Very cozy vibes.

Bar Avelo

The upstairs speakeasy of plant-based prix fire resaturant, Avelo. Really beautiful space, wonderful atmosphere, my go-to recco to give my plant based friends.

Rorschach

My favourite craft brewery in Toronto. They do some really weird beers. One time I went and they served me a Bubble Tea Milk Stout in a glass with tapioca pearls. It was delicious.

After Seven

Speakeasy behind a vending machine at a yogurt shop. Their drinks are tasty and they do truffle (chocolate) pairing

915 Dupont

During the day, a coffee shop. In the evening they have movie nights, local DJ dance parties, and social events. Really great sound system and super cozy. The drinks here are delicious (my favourite is the Indigo Mood with is gin, Sichuan pepper, pineapple, Thai basil). Japanese listening bar inspired.

Danu Social House

A bar whose central purpose is to be community spot where people actually meet each other. Interesting community events every day.

C'est What

Bar with strong community atmosphere. They have a ridiculous number of brews on tap

Recurring Events & Communities

Trampoline Hall

People give talks about subjects they’re passionate about but not professionally knowledgeable in. Funny, heartfelt, strange, and deeply human. A wonderful community with a wonderful host (Misha Glouberman).

Puzzled Pint

Monthly social puzzle-solving event that exists in cities around the world, but Toronto’s chapter is especially lovely and run by especially wonderful people.

Speed Jigsaw Puzzling @ Snakes & Lattes

Competitive Ravensburger-sponsored puzzle events held most Sundays.

Concrete Cabaret

Experimental object puppetry and wonderfully strange performances.

Liminal Assembly

Tours and events exploring forgotten or liminal spaces around the city.

Techno Walks / No-Tech Walks

Techno Walks are public wandering events around the city.

No-Tech Walks are tech-free walks (leave your phones at home, folks). You can only get the location/start time from talking to someone else who knows. I fear by even writing about them on here I've said too much!

Finding EVENTS

Honestly, one of the best things about Toronto is that there is always something happening. For me, the challenge usually isn’t finding events, it’s preventing myself from doing things every single night and burning out.

Places/resources I check include:

• Toronto Event Generator

• BlogTO

• Luma

• OCAD / TMU / U of T / York Event Pages

• Toronto Public Library Event Listings

now, go fall in love with toronto

I hope this is helpful. I hope you refer back to it. Most of all, I hope this guide helps you experience Toronto in much the same way I’ve come to love experiencing it myself. Because I really do love this city, and I hope that by the end of your time here, you will too.