The best parks in Toronto cover more than 8,000 hectares — about 13% of the city’s land area — and range from the rolling Olmsted-designed lawns of High Park to the wild Carolinian forests of the Don Valley and the Lake Ontario beaches of the Toronto Islands. Toronto has 1,500 named parks plus a continuous ravine system that few cities can match: more than 11,000 hectares of forested gully running like green fingers from the lake to the northern suburbs. This guide ranks the 15 best parks in Toronto by what they’re best for — picnics, hiking, swimming, dog walking, photography, kids, and quiet reading — and walks through the practical details (TTC stops, parking, washrooms, seasonal hours) you need before visiting.
Why the best parks in Toronto are world-class
Toronto’s parks system started in 1837 with the four-hectare Allan Gardens donation and grew exponentially after 1909, when J. C. Olmsted (the son of Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park) was retained to design High Park’s landscape framework. The city’s defining geographic feature — the Don River and Humber River ravines — has been preserved as parkland by accident more than design: the slopes were too steep to develop, so they were turned into trails.
The result is a parks system that can reasonably be called North America’s largest urban forest by canopy area, with more than 10 million trees and 1,500 hectares of forest within city limits. Toronto Parks, Forestry & Recreation manages all of these spaces, with most beaches and major parks open year-round and free.
1. High Park: Toronto’s Central Park
High Park (1873 Bloor St W, 161 hectares) is the largest public park in central Toronto and the most beloved. The Olmsted-influenced 1909 design preserved the historic Howard estate and turned the surrounding meadows and oak savannah into a public landscape — much of which remains in the rare black oak savannah ecosystem. Highlights include the Grenadier Pond (a 14-hectare lake with rowboat rentals), the High Park Zoo (free, dating to 1893), the Cherry Blossom Sakura grove (peak bloom early to mid-May), the 1,000-seat Dream in High Park amphitheatre (free Shakespeare each summer), and a 30 km network of paved paths and dirt trails. Closest TTC: High Park (Line 2). Free parking off Bloor on Sundays in summer.
2. Toronto Islands: car-free escape
The Toronto Islands (15 minutes by ferry from the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal at the foot of Bay) combine three connected islands and 240 hectares of car-free parkland with the city’s best skyline view. Centre Island has the Centreville amusement park, a 1.5 km beachfront, and the most facilities. Ward’s Island has a small residential community and quiet woodland trails. Hanlon’s Point has the city’s only clothing-optional beach (Hanlon’s Point Beach) and the best sunset spot. Bring a bike on the ferry — the Islands’ 8 km Multi-Use Trail is among Toronto’s best rides. See our full Toronto Islands guide.
3. Edwards Gardens and the Toronto Botanical Garden
Edwards Gardens (777 Lawrence Ave E, 16 hectares) is a former private estate turned public garden, a reliably gorgeous spot for photography and quiet walks. The connected Toronto Botanical Garden (free admission) showcases 17 themed gardens including the Westview Terrace, the Spiral Mound, and the Westview Terrace’s woodland trail. The Wilket Creek Trail leads from here south through the Don Valley.
4. Trinity Bellwoods Park: the city’s living room
Trinity Bellwoods (790 Queen W, 14 hectares) is the West End’s social hub — a giant rolling lawn anchored by the famous “Trinity Bellwoods White Squirrel” (an albino, not an actual species), a busy off-leash dog area, three baseball diamonds, six tennis courts, and a Saturday farmers market that is one of the city’s best. On warm summer Sundays, the entire park fills with picnickers and frisbee players from 1pm onward.
5. Riverdale Park: skyline views
Riverdale Park (550 Broadview Ave) is the most photographed view of the Toronto skyline — the long west-facing slope of Riverdale Park East provides an uninterrupted vista with the CN Tower centred and Cabbagetown rising in the foreground. The park splits into east and west halves on either side of the Don Valley Parkway and is connected by a pedestrian bridge with year-round bike-and-walking lanes.
6. Sunnybrook Park and Sherwood Park
Sunnybrook (1132 Leslie St, 154 hectares) is north Toronto’s answer to High Park — woodland, ravine paths, the Sunnybrook Stables (still operating), and a connection to the Don River cycling trail that runs all the way to Lake Ontario (16 km south). Sherwood Park (190 Sherwood Ave) is the smaller, prettier Carolinian forest just north — birding, off-leash dog area, and an excellent playground.
7. Tommy Thompson Park: the wild Spit
Tommy Thompson Park / the Leslie Street Spit (Unwin Ave at the foot of Leslie) is the city’s most ecologically interesting park — a 5 km-long man-made peninsula extending into Lake Ontario, originally built from construction debris, now a designated Important Bird Area with breeding colonies of cormorants, terns, and gulls. Open weekends and holidays only. Excellent for cycling and birdwatching. Tommy Thompson Park publishes seasonal wildlife reports.
8. Cherry Beach Park: lake swimming and sunsets
Cherry Beach (1 Cherry St) is the urban-est of Toronto’s Lake Ontario beaches and one of the safest for swimming because of consistent water-quality testing. The east side of the beach has the city’s best dog-friendly off-leash area at the lake. Limited TTC access (the 72 bus from Pape station drops at the gates).
9. Allan Gardens: the historic conservatory
Allan Gardens (19 Horticultural Ave) is the city’s oldest park (1860) and home to a stunning 1910 Edwardian conservatory with five connected greenhouses (free admission, open daily 10am–5pm). The Palm House is the centerpiece. Best visited on a snowy January day when the contrast between the tropical greenhouse and the cold city is most dramatic.
10. Cedarvale Ravine and Beltline Trail
Cedarvale Ravine starts at the eastern edge of the Cedarvale subway station (Eglinton West Line 1), runs south through 1.5 km of woodland trail, and connects to the Beltline Trail — a 9 km former railway line turned linear park that crosses much of midtown Toronto. Best parks in Toronto for a long city ravine walk without leaving the urban core.
11. Humber Bay Park
Humber Bay Park East and West (Humber Bay Park Rd, off Lake Shore Blvd) sit on a peninsula at the mouth of the Humber River. The park’s 4.5 km of waterfront is among the best skyline-photography spots in the city; the East Park has a butterfly habitat with a marked walk.
12. Rouge National Urban Park
Rouge National Urban Park (extreme east end, in Scarborough) is the largest urban park in North America at 79.5 square kilometres, more than 22 times the size of New York’s Central Park. We have a separate detailed guide — see our Rouge National Urban Park guide.
13. Mount Pleasant Cemetery
Yes, a cemetery — but Mount Pleasant Cemetery (375 Mt Pleasant Rd) is technically the city’s largest arboretum, with 1,000+ tagged tree species and 5 km of paved walking paths through a Victorian landscape. Toronto runners and dog walkers consider it one of the city’s best green spaces, and Glenn Gould’s grave is here.
14. Don Valley Brick Works Park (Evergreen Brick Works)
Evergreen Brick Works (550 Bayview Ave) reuses the 1889 Don Valley Brick Works as a sustainability centre, farmers’ market (Saturdays year-round), café, and the trailhead for the Beltline-Don Valley loop. The pond and meadow behind the buildings have been restored to native habitat.
15. Scarborough Bluffs Park
The Scarborough Bluffs (Brimley Rd or Cathedral Bluffs Park) are a 14 km stretch of 90-metre clay cliffs that drop directly into Lake Ontario — a unique Ontario landscape and the best parks in Toronto for dramatic photography. Cathedral Bluffs Park has a viewing platform; Bluffer’s Park at the bottom has a small marina, beach, and one of the city’s best fish-and-chip shacks.
Practical tips for the best parks in Toronto
Hours and seasonal access
Most Toronto parks are open dawn to 11pm year-round. Park washrooms typically operate from May 1 to October 15. Cherry blossom season (early May for High Park sakura) draws huge crowds — visit at sunrise or take the Bloor Line subway to High Park to avoid parking nightmares.
What to bring
Sunscreen, refillable water bottle, and bug spray (mosquitoes peak June–early August in ravine areas). For cycling, the city’s Bike Share Toronto network covers most parks downtown.
Internal links: build your Toronto outdoor itinerary
Pair park visits with the rest of Toronto’s outdoors: Toronto Islands guide, Distillery District, walking in Toronto, Bike Share Toronto, and things to do in Toronto. For wilder hiking, see our hiking trails Toronto guide and our Rouge National Urban Park guide.
The best parks in Toronto are free, well-maintained, and easy to reach by transit — pick two or three from this list and you’ll see a side of Toronto that most visitors miss.