Toronto City Tours: Green Spaces

Toronto city tours offered by Global Alliance allow our clients to experience Canada’s largest metropolis in comfort from the seat of one of our luxurious vehicles with an experience chauffeur as a guide, with the further option to be dropped off to explore Toronto’s many attractions on their own. Today we’ll mention a few of Toronto’s finest parks and green spaces to get away from the urban bustle, if only for a short time. There’s still time to make the most of these outdoor spaces before the end of the warm summer weather.

High Park

At 400 acres, High Park is the largest city park entirely within Toronto. A mixture of recreational and sporting spaces, natural stretches with walking trails, landscape architecture and arranged gardens, and historic, educational and cultural facilities, High Park has been a public park since 1876, after the land’s original owner John George Howard bequeathed the land to the City of Toronto (the Colborne Lodge Museum in the park is the Howards’ former home). High Park includes a swimming pool, playgrounds, allotment gardens, a dog park and leash-free trails, picnic and barbecue facilities, fishing and birdwatching along Grenadier Pond, a restaurant, and a zoo. It’s also home to Dream in High Park, the Canadian Stage Company’s popular summer evening Shakespearean productions in the park’s sylvan amphitheatre.

Toronto Islands

Accessible to the public via the ferry terminal on Queens Quay West at the base of Bay Street, the Islands in Toronto’s harbour are one of the most popular summertime destinations in the city. Families have flocked to the Centreville amusement park for years, and sun worshippers of all ages have made the long southern-facing beach on the open Lake Ontario one of the city’s most popular. The Islands park system also features extensive walking and biking paths, snack bars and restaurants, plenty of room on the grass for picnics, and unrivaled views of the city skyline. Two private members’ yacht clubs have their clubhouse and sailing facilities among the islands as well.

Cloud Gardens

Located among downtown Toronto’s skyscrapers, this small but peaceful space is a green oasis in the urban environment. An architecturally sophisticated combination of trees, lawns, pathways, a waterfall, and a small greenhouse, Cloud Gardens blends features of urban construction with greenery to form a thoroughly modern vision of the public park.

Evergreen Brick Works

One of Toronto’s newest and most environmentally progressive green spaces, the Evergreen Brick Works is located on the site of the former Don Valley Brick Works just west of Bayview Avenue and the Don Valley Parkway, north of the Prince Edward Viaduct. The one-time industrial site has been sensitively refurbished and adapted, and now features a network of naturalized ponds, as well as a community and cultural centre focusing on environmental awareness, gardening, and hosting frequent organic food markets.

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