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Fort York
Established by the British in 1793 to protect the town of York, as Toronto was then known, Fort York was almost entirely destroyed during the War of 1812, when a small band of Ojibwa warriors and British and local troops couldn't halt the US incursion. The Americans went on to raze and loot the city but left of their own accord after just six days. The fort was rebuilt between 1813 and 1815.
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Gardiner Museum Of Ceramic Art
Opposite the Royal Ontario Museum, this recently renovated museum was founded by philanthropists who were passionate collectors themselves. The external esthetic is late-20th century modern, but inside the collections cover several millennia.
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Gibson House
Scottish immigrant David Gibson, a successful surveyor and politician, built this refined Georgian-style house in 1851 after his return from an 11-year exile in the USA, the unfortunate result of his role in the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. Costumed workers run house tours between and , as well as occasional weekend hearth cooking demonstrations.
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Goethe-Institut Gallery
This esteemed German cultural centre presents temporary exhibitions of contemporary fine arts emphasizing the avant-garde from Europe and across Canada. German language courses, German film screenings with English subtitles (around C$5 per person), concerts and dramatic readings are also on the agenda. Check the online schedule.
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Great Lakes Schooner Company
The dashing, black three-master Kajama, a 1930 trading schooner launched in Germany, towers 55m above water. It's moored behind the Power Plant at the foot of Lower Simcoe St, but there's usually a summer ticket kiosk beside Queen's Quay Terminal. Food and drinks are available onboard.
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Guild Inn
A 15-minute drive east of the Scarborough Bluffs is the quirky Guild Inn, an Arts & Crafts-style mansion dating from 1914 set amongst quiet lakefront parklands. An artists' colony formed here during The Depression; the garden contains a collection of sculptures, Ionic columns and gargoyles rescued from condemned city buildings during the '50s.
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Harbourfront Centre
Throughout the summer, especially during the weekends, the Harbourfront Centre puts on a kaleidoscopic variety of performing arts events at the York Quay Centre; many are aimed at kids, some are free. Performances sometimes take place on the covered outdoor Concert Stage beside the lake. Also outside are a lakeside ice-skating rink where you can learn to slice up the winter ice, and a ramshackle series of Artists' Gardens - seasonally-rotating raised planter beds constructed by local artists in a spirit of 'guerilla gardening.' The idea here is to inspire people to reclaim abandoned corners of the city with native species and heritage food plants. Sculptural elements include everything from smashed crockery to broken hockey sticks and caved-in televisions.
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High Park
Delightfully unkempt, Toronto's biggest park (398 acres) is a heavenly escape - unfurl a picnic lunch, cycle around, ice-skate or just sit amongst great stands of oaks and watch the sunset. Near the north gates are tennis courts and an outdoor swimming pool. The main road weaves south through the park; another road branching to the east takes you to the Dream in High Park stage. Further south are the Hillside Gardens overlooking Grenadier Pond where people ice-skate in winter.
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Hockey Hall Of Fame
Inside an ornate, gray stone rococo Bank of Montréal building (c 1885), this shrine to the great game gives hockey fans everything they could possibly want. Check out the collection of Texas Chainsaw Massacre -esque goalkeeping masks, attempt to stop Wayne Gretzky's virtual shot or have your photo taken with hockey's biggest prize - the hefty Stanley Cup (no trifling shield or pint-sized urn for these boys, oh no, no, no…).
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Japan Foundation
Jostling for respect amongst the Bloor St embassies, this Japanese cultural centre offers temporary multimedia exhibitions, special events (like dramatic readings of medieval Japanese comedies and film retrospectives) and artistically inspired rest rooms that deserve design awards. Their library drifts between arts, literature, history, geography and Manga. Reservations required for some events.
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Mackenzie House
Built in 1858, this brown brick rowhouse was owned by William Lyon Mackenzie, the city's first mayor and the leader of the failed Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. Inside is a museum, a recreated printshop and gallery featuring changing exhibitions. Check out the brass door knocker, presented to Mackenzie in 1859 after his return from exile in America.
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Mariposa Cruises
Narrated harbor tours are the standard offering here, but they also run two-hour buffet lunch (adult/child around C$40 /around C$20 ) and Sunday brunch (adult/child around C$45 /around C$24 ) cruises, plus three-hour dinner-and-dance evening cruises ($70). Check the website or call for times and dates.
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Massey Hall
Landmark redbrick Massey Hall, festooned with fire escapes, was given to the city in 1894 by industrial baron Hart Massey. Orators, explorers and other famous faces (including Oscar Wilde, George Gershwin, Charlie Mingus and the Dalai Lama) have all appeared on its stage. The acoustics are superb, a fact not lost on occasional performers the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
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Montgomery's Inn
Built in 1832 by an Irish military captain of the same name, the gracious stone symmetry of Montgomery's Inn is a fine example of Loyalist architecture, faithfully restored to its late-1840s heyday. It functioned as a hotel for 25 years then a farm until the 1940s. Staff in period dress answer questions and serve afternoon tea. Contemporary and traditional art exhibits, cooking classes and wine-and-cheese tastings are often hosted here.
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Mt Pleasant Cemetery
'Rest assured, we have space' is the slogan here, and indeed, it's hard to imagine a more pleasantly assuring place for the ultimate rest. Since the 19th-century, many of Toronto's brilliant and best (or at least richest) citizens have concurred, including classical musician Glenn Gould, Mackenzie, Eaton's founder Timothy Eaton, and Foster Hewitt, Canada's 'Voice of Hockey,' who coined the phrase, 'He shoots, he scores!'
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Museum Of Contemporary Canadian Art
The new MOCCA, recently relocated from far northern Yonge St, is the city's only museum mandated to collect and promote works by living Canadian visual artists. It says a lot about West Queen West's consolidation as an arts and design strip that the museum chose this district for their new facility.
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Native Canadian Centre Of Toronto
As well as managing the onsite Cedar Basket gift shop, this community centre hosts Thursday night drum socials, seasonal powwows and elders' cultural events that promote harmony and conversation between tribal members and non-First Nations peoples. You can also drop by the Toronto Native Community History Project, or ask about their 'Great Indian Bus Tours' of Toronto which give you a better understanding of the area's Aboriginal history.
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Old City Hall
Across Bay St from City Hall is the Romanesque Old City Hall (1899), the definitive work of Toronto architect EJ Lennox, the same man who built Casa Loma. Lennox was chastised for inscribing his name just below the eaves here, tainting what was then the largest municipal building in North America. Now housing legal courtrooms, the hall has an off-centre bell tower, interesting murals, grimacing gargoyles and an allegorical stained-glass window.
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Ontario Place
Built in 1971 on three artificial islands offshore from Exhibition Place, this 40-hectare recreation complex is an easy way to beat the summer heat. It is starting to feel a little dated, but Ontario Place still offers something for everybody. A 'Play All Day' pass gets you to most of the rides and attractions, including Soak City waterpark and walk-up seating at the Cinesphere, where 70mm IMAX films screen on a six-storey curved screen.
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Ontario Science Centre
Climb a rock wall, catch a criminal with DNA fingerprinting and race an Olympic bobsled - this excellent, interactive museum (designed by innovative architects Moriyama & Teshima) lets you do it all. Over 800 high-tech exhibits and live demonstrations wow the kids (and the adults at the back, pretending not to be interested).
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Osgoode Hall
Built in phases through the Victorian era, this august classic (named after Ontario's first Chief Justice) became a showcase for elite colonials, many of whom were lawyers. Inside a grand staircase rises from a gorgeous tiled atrium to the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Great Library, with miles of books, twisting stairways and 12m-high vaulted ceilings.
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Paramount Canada's Wonderland
Wonderland is a state-of-the-art amusement park with over 60 rides, including some killer rollercoasters with lunch-losing names like 'The Cliffhanger,' 'Drop Zone' and 'Sky Rider.' There's also an exploding volcano, a 20-hectare Splash Works water park, Jimmy Neutron's Brainwasher, and the Fantastic World of Hanna-Barbera for the young 'uns. Queues can be lengthy, except on overcast days; most rides operate rain or shine.
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Police Museum & Discovery Centre
Inside the monumental Toronto Police HQ, this nonprofit museum has a small but diverting collection of equipment, uniforms, vehicles and crime-related paraphernalia from 1834 to the present day. Aspiring CSIs can learn how to trace a murderer's DNA from a cigarette butt, while an antique (if a little morbid) billboard clocks traffic deaths in Toronto and A/V exhibits convey the evils of various narcotics.
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Power Plant
Under the protective umbrella of the Harbourfront Centre, the Power Plant is a big-reputation art gallery celebrating contemporary Canadian art. The focus is on sculpture and large-scale installations, with live performances, lectures and Power Kids art sessions thrown into the formula. The gallery occupies a renovated ice house and coal store next to the Harbourfront Theatre, which is inside an old power generator.
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Provincial Legislature
The seat of Ontario's Provincial Legislature resides in a fabulously ornate 1893 sandstone building in Queen's Park. Hospital employees lunch on the lawns as a few stray demonstrators write up sandwich boards and picket the front steps. Formidable oils of early colonials like Simcoe, Brock and Wolfe hang in the lobby, alongside Ontario's first parliamentary mace. For some homegrown entertainment, head for the visitors' gallery when the adversarial legislative assembly is in session. Viewing is free, but security regulations are in full force. You can't write, read or applaud as the honorable members heatedly debate such pressing issues as ski-doo safety. Free tours depart from the information desk - call or check the website for exact times, which are subject to change.
