The Ultimate Toronto Four Day Itinerary for First Timers!

September 24th, 2018 by Evan | Tagged in: Canada, itinerary, Toronto

Toronto is a fun Canadian city that has much to offer. When I was planning my holiday here, I realised that there are so many restaurants and attractions that it can be quite confusing for first time visitors. Therefore, I decided to create this concise four-days itinerary for tourists. This article was last updated on 27 January 2020.

Day 1 Map (click to enlarge)

Day 1 Morning

Sunset Grill

We woke up early on our first day in Toronto, excited to explore this interesting city. From our hotel, the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto, we took a public bus to go for breakfast at Sunset Grill in the Entertainment District.

This American-style diner serves classic breakfast dishes like pancakes, bacon, eggs, etc. We ordered the Sunset Super ($10.99) which consisted of three eggs, two pancakes and fries. It was delicious! This was an awesome place to have an affordable breakfast in the otherwise expensive Entertainment District.

Sunset Grill
Address: 205 Wellington St W, Toronto, ON M5V 3G7, Canada
Opening Hours: | Mon to Fri: 6.30am – 3pm | Sat & Sun: 7am – 4pm |
Other locations: https://sunsetgrill.ca/locations
Phone: +1 416 340 2755

Entertainment District

Raevian doing the CN Tower Edgewalk!

After breakfast, we set out to explore the famed Entertainment District, a food and entertainment district that is home to many tourist attractions, restaurants, sports venues, performing arts centres and more.

Our first stop was at the world famous CN Tower, the iconic feature of Toronto’s skyline. We were impressed by this huge concrete communications tower that is over 500 metres tall. Raevian even did the thrilling Edgewalk on her previous trip here!

Right beside the tower is Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada, a public aquarium perfect for families with children. Visitors will get to see sharks, stingrays, and turtles swimming around them in a beautiful underwater tunnel. We also saw well-known landmarks in the area like Rogers Centre and Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Next, we walked to the nearby Roundhouse Park, a small public park that houses an awesome local brewery, a restaurant/ entertainment centre, and a railway museum with many historic steam locomotives on display.

I loved the delicious pilsner beer at the brewery (Steam Whistle Brewing), which is brewed using pure spring water, malted barley, hops, and yeast. There are no artificial ingredients at all! The beer was given as a free sample. The staff was extremely friendly even though they knew we were just tourists coming in to take a quick look around.

After finishing the beer, we made our way to the famous Air Canada Centre (now known as the Scotiabank Arena), home of three major league teams: Toronto Raptors (NBA), Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL) and Toronto Rock (NLL). I enjoy watching NBA, so it was pretty cool to see the actual place where the Raptors played.

For our final stop in the Entertainment District, we walked to the Roy Thomson Hall, home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. The structure had a beautiful curved glass exterior. It was too bad that we didn’t have time to attend a concert here.

The concert hall is located in David Pecaut Square, which also has an elegant sculpture consisting of a fountain and reflecting pool.

Day 1 Afternoon

Wilbur Mexicana

After an entire morning of exploring the Entertainment District, we were famished. We walked for about 15 minutes to Wilbur Mexicana, a Mexican restaurant located along King Street West. I liked that the restaurant had a counter with rows of salsa to go along with our tortilla chips. We ordered the Chicken Tinga ($4.25), which consisted of chicken, guacamole and cotija (cheese) served with crispy corn tortilla. The tacos came with a small portion of tortilla chips. This simple chicken tacos was delicious! I really enjoyed the tender chicken, luscious guacamole and corn tortilla. After downing the tacos, I dipped the crispy tortilla chips in four different types of salsas (yes I am greedy), and they all tasted great.

Wilbur Mexicana
Address: 552 King St W, Toronto, ON M5V 1M3, Canada
Opening Hours: | Mon to Sat: 11.30am – 10pm | Sun: 12pm – 9pm |
Full Menu: http://wilburmexicana.com/pdf/wilbur-nov-menu-2017.pdf

Porchetta & Co.

Since we are gluttons were still pretty hungry, we went to Porchetta & Co., a sandwich joint located just opposite Wilbur Mexicana. We had the O.G. Fried Chicken Sandwich ($9.95), which comprised fried chicken, hot sauce, lettuce, pickles, and ranch dressing. I loved tasting the savoury juices oozing out of the fried chicken as I bit into the sandwich. The chicken went perfectly with the feisty sauce and tangy ranch dressing!

Porchetta & Co.
Address: 545 King St W, Toronto, ON M5V 1M1, Canada
Opening Hours: Daily 11.30am to 10pm
Full Menu: http://porchettaco.com/king-st-west-menus
Phone: +1 647 351 8844

Graffiti Alley / Queen Street West

After our satisfying lunch(es), we walked for about 7 minutes to Graffiti Alley, a short alley that has many beautiful graffiti painted on the walls. It is located near Queen Street West, a teeming street with many trendy boutiques, artisan shops, galleries, eateries and pubs. The graffiti murals here were pretty spectacular, and we took many great photos. This colourful alley is definitely worth visiting, especially since it’s located near Queen Street West.

Kensington Market

From Graffiti alley, we walked for about 15 minutes to Kensington Market. This is not really a “market”, but is actually a colourful neighbourhood famous for its outdoor market. The streets here are lined with historic Victorian-era houses, and is home to mostly working-class immigrants. We saw a variety of fresh produce stores, cheese shops, meat stores, eateries and bars. Most of the stores open during normal business hours, while restaurants and pubs may open till later. This was an interesting neighbourhood though it wasn’t as lively as we had expected it to be.

Hibiscus

And then we were hungry again! We went to Hibiscus, a vegetarian cafe in Kensington Market known for its organic and gluten-free crepes, soups, and desserts. Initially I was a little skeptical if such healthy food could taste good, but I was proven that it could indeed. Our Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread Banana ($13.50) was super delicious! This sweet crepe is made with vegan buckwheat batter and served with icing sugar and maple syrup. It felt awesome savouring the warm crepe together with the sweet nutella, maple syrup, and juicy chunks of banana. We sat at a table by the window to slowly enjoy our delicious meal while people watching.

Day 1 Evening

Chinatown

After finishing the crepe, we went to the adjacent district of Chinatown. We saw many Chinese herbal remedy shops, restaurants and fresh produce shops in this bustling district. We walked around the neighbourhood for a while to soak in the lively atmosphere.

The Dumpling House

By now, it was getting late and we decided to grab dinner at The Dumpling House, a dumpling specialty restaurant. This Chinese joint definitely exuded a strong oriental vibe with its traditional Chinese lanterns, bright red tables, and Chinese opera masks on the walls. Since we were pretty full from our previous meals, we shared a Fried Pork & Chive Dumpling ($7.99), which had 12 pieces of dumplings in all. They were delicious! I enjoyed the savoury crispy dumpling skin and succulent pork meat very much. (If you prefer to eat Dim Sum, you can check out Rol San, a well-known Chinese restaurant that serves all day dim sum.) After dinner, we went back to our hotel, tired after a whole day of exploring Downtown Toronto.

The Dumpling House
Address: 328 Spadina Ave, Toronto, ON M5T 2E7, Canada
Opening Hours: | Daily 11am to 11pm, Closed on Tuesdays |
Full Menu: The Dumpling House Menu
Phone: +1 416 596 8898

Day 2 Map (Click to enlarge)

Day 2 Morning

Distillery District

The next morning, we explored Distillery District, a historic district lined with Victorian-era industrial buildings. It was originally the site of the Gooderham and Worts Distillery, a Canadian distiller of alcoholic beverages. Within the industrial buildings, we saw many restaurants, cafes, vintage shops, jewelry stores, galleries and performing arts studios. It was a nice experience to walk on the dark cobblestone streets amidst the 19th century industrial architecture.

Soma Chocolatemaker

After a while, we decided to take a break at SOMA Chocolatemaker, a popular chocolate factory / shop that sells delicious chocolate cookies, gelato, beverages, etc. We ordered a freshly-produced Classic Chocolate with Milk ($4.43) and it was delicious! We loved the rich chocolate fragrance and the drink had a really smooth texture. And it was interesting to see the cool chocolate machines grinding cacao beans.

SOMA Chocolatemaker
Address: 32 Tank House Lane, Toronto, ON M5A 3C4, Canada
Opening Hours: | Mon to Sat: 10am – 8pm | Sun: 11am – 6pm |
Other Locations: Click here
Phone: +1 416 815 7662

Cacao 70

After drinking the delicious chocolate, we went to another chocolate specialty cafe: Cacao 70. This pretty cafe also offers a variety of chocolate desserts and beverages. I liked the atmosphere here because the cafe was quite spacious and the there were plenty of natural light coming in through the glass windows. We ordered the quarter-inch Chocolate Marshmallow Pizza ($13.95), which consisted of warm pizza crust topped with melted milk chocolate and roasted marshmallows, and served with fresh strawberries, bananas, and melted chocolate. We almost couldn’t bear to eat this pretty dessert! The pizza crust and marshmallow tasted great with the luscious melted chocolate, and we also dipped the fresh fruits into the chocolate for a delicious treat.

Cacao 70
Address: 28 Gristmill Lane, Toronto, ON M5A 3C4, Canada
Opening Hours: | Sun to Thurs: 10am -11pm | Fri & Sat: 10am – 12am |
Other Locations: https://cacao70.com/en/our-locations
Phone: +1 416 216 8686

Day 2 Afternoon

St. Lawrence Market

Our next destination was the St. Lawrence Market and we decided to take a Lyft ride to save time. The ride took just five minutes. This two-storey farmer’s market is very popular with the locals in Toronto. We saw many local purveyors selling a wide variety of fresh produce, cheeses, baked goods, fresh meat, and more! We walked around the market for a while to experience the local culture. There are many eateries here too and you can check out this list of things to eat at St Lawrence Market.

Leaving the market, we saw the iconic Gooderham Building. This is an office building that has a unique triangular structure. It is also called the Flatiron Building (not to be confused with the Flatiron Building in Manhattan New York City).

Toronto Islands

From the market, we made our way to Jack Layton Ferry Terminal to catch a boat ride to the Toronto Islands, a group of 15 smalls islands just offshore of Downtown Toronto. It is also known as the “Island” or “Toronto Island Park”. The islands are all connected to each other by pathways and bridges, so it is possible to walk from one end to the other.

After about 15 minutes, we reached Ward’s Island, one of the 15 islands of Toronto Islands. Getting off the boat, I was amazed that such a tranquil island existed just minutes away from the bustling city. There was lush greenery everywhere and it was beautiful.

We decided to stroll from Ward’s Island to Hanlan’s Point, which is located on the other end of Toronto Islands around 5km away. Along the nature trail, we saw serene beaches, cyclists, a marina with yachts, restaurants, open green spaces, playgrounds, a small amusement park, and even a small enclave of quaint houses. There were plenty of photo ops along the way and we took many great pictures.

After reaching Hanlan’s Point, we congratulated ourselves on having walked 5km, and then proceeded to walk another 5km back to the dock to catch the ferry. In total, we spent over three hours on the Island but it was time well spent!

Toronto Islands
Directions: Take a 13-minute ferry ride from Jack Layton Ferry Terminal. You can click here for detailed instructions on getting to Toronto Islands.

Day 2 Evening

Khao San Road

Evan visibly pleased with the food

Arriving back in Downtown, we made our way to Khao San Road, a cozy Thai food restaurant. We ordered the Pad Gra Prao ($16), which comprised stir fried minced pork with holy basil and chilli, served with hot jasmine rice and and a pretty fried egg. It was super delicious! The stir fried pork had a great savoury taste and went perfectly with the steamed rice. We also really enjoyed the Red Curry with Chicken ($16) and Thai Iced Tea ($4.50). Check out our full review of Khao San Road. After the sumptuous dinner, we went back to our hotel to have an early night, because we would be waking up really early the next day.

Khao San Road
Address: 11 Charlotte St, Toronto, ON M5V 2H5, Canada
Opening Hours: | Mon to Sat: Lunch 11.30pm – 2.30pm | Mon to Sun: Dinner 5pm – 10pm |
Full Menu: http://www.khaosanroad.ca/main
Phone: +1 647 352 5773 (KSRd), press 1 for khao san road (takeout)

Day 3 Map

Day 3 Morning and Afternoon

Niagara Falls

I woke up in the morning feeling REALLY excited because we were going to visit Niagara Falls today! It consists of three majestic waterfalls: the Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls. This was THE attraction that I had been most looking forward to visiting!

We had signed up for a day tour package with Niagara Day Tour, and were supposed to gather at 8am in front of the The Strathcona Hotel. We didn’t have time to get a proper breakfast, so we grabbed a quick bite from Tim Hortons and then quickly made our way to the gathering point. The shuttle bus ride was very comfortable and it took about 1.5 hours to reach our destination.

Our first stop was at Niagara-on-The-Lake, a quaint lakeside town with knockout views of Lake Ontario. We explored the beautiful town for a short while and then boarded the bus again to Reif Estate Winery for our winery tour. I enjoyed the winery tour very much because of the informative and interesting wine-tasting lesson. I liked that the wine educator made it easy enough for wine amateurs like me to understand. We also got to sample three complimentary wines, which included Niagara’s famous ice wine. This luscious wine has rich fruity flavours and just the right balance of acidity. It was delicious and I even bought a small bottle. From the winery, we went to check out the Living Water Wayside Chapel (smallest church in the world), the pretty Floral Clock, and a huge hydroelectric power station. And then finally, we went to see the majestic waterfalls.

As our shuttle bus arrived at the site of the legendary Niagara Falls, I was immediately awestruck by the raw power and beauty of the majestic waterfalls. It was everything I had imagined it to be, and more! The massive amount of cascading waters was both beautiful and awe-inspiring at the same time. Even though there were plenty of tourists, we still managed to get good views of the waterfalls because the surrounding area was large. This was definitely a tick off my bucket list!

Our day tour included tickets for the Hornblower Niagara Cruise, a ferry ride that brings passengers up close to the waterfalls. After queuing for about 20 minutes, we finally went up the ferry. Getting closer to the waterfalls, I could sense the excitement of everyone on the boat building up. I was going to hold up my camera to take some close up photos of the waterfalls but before I could do so, I was suddenly doused with water. Luckily we had put on ponchos! We could tell that Niagara Falls were powerful from afar, but now that we were so close we could REALLY feel its immense power! And we couldn’t hear each other because of the deafening roar of the waterfall. As the ferry sailed away and we stopped being splashed with water, Raevian and I looked at each other and started laughing because we were both drenched.

After the boat ride, we went for a quick tour of Clifton Hill’s Street of Fun by the Falls, which is basically a touristy area with many restaurants, souvenir shops and amusement park games. There is a casino here as well. We decided to buy some food here but immediately regretted it because it was VERY expensive. Shortly after, we took the shuttle bus back to Downtown Toronto. I slept on the ride back, feeling exhausted but really grateful that I had finally seen this incredible work of nature. Directions: we booked a day tour with Niagara Day Tour. You can also check out other ways to get to Niagara Falls.

Day 3 Evening

PAI

We arrived back in Downtown at about 6pm and went for dinner at PAI, a popular Northern Thai cuisine restaurant. After a long day, it felt really good to indulge in the Starter bowl of Tom Yum Soup ($6.50), a classic Thai soup cooked with shrimp, lemongrass, long leaf coriander, shallots, mushrooms, tomatoes and green onions. We loved the wonderful savoury, spicy and sour flavours! We also ate the Pad Gra Prow ($15.50), which consisted of chicken stir fried with basil and served on jasmine rice, and topped with a fried egg. This was a delicious dish too! I really enjoyed eating the savoury stir fried chicken with the fragrant steamed rice.

PAI
Address: 18 Duncan St, Toronto, ON M5H 3G8, Canada
Opening Hours: | Mon to Thur: 11.30am – 10pm | Fri & Sat: 11.30am – 10.30pm | Sun: 5pm – 10pm |
Full Menu: http://www.paitoronto.com/menu
Phone: +1 416 901 4724

Sweet Jesus

After dinner, we went for ice cream at Sweet Jesus just down the street. This is a well-known ice-cream chain. Reaching the shop, we exclaimed “Sweet Jesus!” – not because we saw the shop name but because we were shocked to see the long snaking queue. We had to queue for about 20 minutes before getting our hands on the Rocky Road Rage ($4.95). This was chocolate soft serve with marshmallows, walnuts, cashew, and Oreo cookie crumble toppings. We enjoyed the sweet flavour of the luscious soft serve, punctuated by the crunch of lightly musky walnuts and cashew nuts. After taking some Instagram-worthy pictures of the ice-cream, we finished it up and went back to our hotel to rest for the night.

Sweet Jesus
Address: 106 John St, Toronto, ON M5H 1X9, Canada
Opening Hours: | Sun to Mon: 11am – 10pm | Tue to Sat: 11am – 11pm |
Other locations: http://www.sweetjesus4life.com/locations
Phone: +1 647 348 2266

Day 4 Map

Day 4 Morning

Eggspectation

The next morning, we went for breakfast at Eggspectation at Bell Trinity Square. This popular restaurant chain offers a variety of comfort food such as pancakes, poutines, egg benedicts, burgers, etc. I liked the bright and spacious interior of the restaurant. We ordered the signature Eggstravaganza ($13.95), which consisted of two eggs, brioche french toast with maple syrup, sausages, and potatoes. The portion was huge! Luckily we had ordered to share. The sunny-side up eggs were done perfectly, and we enjoyed the french toast with the sweet maple syrup. The tender savoury potatoes were great too. You can check out our full review of Eggspectation.

Eggspectation
Address: South Tower, Bell Trinity 483 Bay Street, Toronto, ON M5G 2C9, Canada
Opening Hours: | Mon to Fri: 7am – 4pm | Sat to Sun: 7am – 5pm |
Full Menu: Eggspectation Bell Trinity Square Full Menu
Phone Number: +1 416 979 3447

Nathan Philip Square

After the sumptuous breakfast, we went to Nathan Phillips Square, which was just a short walk down the street. This public square is home to the popular 3D Toronto sign, and is surrounded by the old and new Toronto City Halls. The square also has a pretty fountain. We came here mainly because we wanted to take a touristy photo of the 3D Toronto sign. We had also read that there are concerts, art displays, a weekly farmers’ market and other events in the square, though there was nothing much going on when we visited.

Yonge – Dundas Square

Next, we walked for about 10 minutes to Dundas Square (also known as “Yonge-Dundas Square”), a vibrant public square sometimes called the “mini Times Square“. The square is surrounded by shopping malls, commercial buildings, fast food restaurants, a cinema complex, an art theatre, and an electronic billboard tower. Having been to New York’s Times Square, I could see that Dundas Square was indeed a little similar. This was honestly quite a “touristy” attraction, but we wanted to visit it since we were in Toronto for the first time.

After taking some photos, we went to Toronto Eaton Centre, a huge shopping mall beside the square. We saw plenty of luxury boutiques and popular retail chains here. There was free WiFi too. We walked around the mall for a while but didn’t stay very long.

Day 4 Afternoon

Yorkville
From the mall, we took the subway back to the Yorkville district, which is where our hotel was located. This is Toronto’s high end shopping district. Walking around the upscale neighbourhood, we saw many luxury boutiques such as Chanel, Prada, Hermès, Gucci, etc. Holt Renfrew, the Canadian high end departmental store, is located here too. This was definitely a good place to indulge in luxury retail therapy, though our pockets were not deep enough to do so. After window shopping for a short while, we went back to the hotel to finish packing up, before catching our evening flight to Philadelphia.

Conclusion

And that was the end of our holiday in Toronto! We had a loads of fun in this diverse and vibrant city. The above four-day itinerary will definitely be helpful if you are a tourist visiting Toronto for the first time. Make sure you leave any questions in the comments section below. Thank you for reading!

This article is part of our completely free and fantastic Ultimate Toronto Travel Guide for First Timers. Why spend days researching when all your holiday information is simply a click away?

Itinerary Summary

Time	Day 1	Day 2
Morning	Sunset Grill	Distillery District
Morning	Entertainment District	Soma Chocolatemaker
Morning	Entertainment District	Cacao 70
Afternoon	Wilbur Mexicana	St. Lawrence Market
Afternoon	Porchetta & Co.	Toronto Islands
Afternoon	Graffiti Alley	Toronto Islands
Afternoon	Kensington Market	Toronto Islands
Afternoon	Hibiscus	Toronto Islands
Evening	Chinatown	Khao San Road
Evening	Dumpling House

Time	Day 3	Day 4
Morning	Niagara	Eggspectation
Morning	Niagara	Nathan Philip Square
Morning	Niagara	Dundas Square
Afternoon	Niagara	Yorkville
Afternoon	Niagara	Flight to Philly
Afternoon	Niagara
Afternoon	Niagara
Afternoon	Niagara
Evening	PAI
Evening	Sweet Jesus