Discover Toronto's Parks Tour.

Explore Toronto's beautiful park system with me. (It's better than New York City's.)

I wouldn't be from Toronto if I didn't try to bash New York, even just a little. Toronto features an incredible park system, earning it the slogan, "A city within a park." While most tours of Toronto focus on the downtown history and urban environment, my, "Park Tour" will take you through the city's greenspace, leaving you doubting that you are surrounded by over four million people.

The tour starts at the historic North Station, now converted into an LCBO, just off Yonge Street and Summer Hill Subway station. It includes the history of the neighborhood as well as the city's railway system, and Toronto's affluent citizens.
From there, we pass through one of Toronto's hidden parks, a small cozy neighborhood, and into David Balfour Park, a hiking and walking trail that takes you through a perfectly preserved forest and ecosystem. There is beautiful scenery here, including serene streams and tall bridges that illustrate some of Toronto's talented graffiti artists. As well as touching on the history of this beautiful and hidden gem, there will be many opportunities to see the city's wildlife, including over a dozen species of birds, racoons, foxes, black squirrels, and the occasional coyote.
The park then leads directly into Mt.Pleasent cemetery, a historically significant spot in mid-town, Toronto. We will pass by beautiful trees and flowers, making our way towards some important graves and monuments of Toronto's elite founders and businessmen.
This then transitions smoothly into Toronto's beltline path system, a linear trail miles long that connects different neighborhoods of Toronto together through an intricate walkway and bike lane. Utilizing this forest path, we will be lead towards our final destination, the brickworks, a former digging site for clay which has been relclaimed by nature. There, we will discover a unique and vibrant wetland, observing many new animals including frogs, turtles, cranes, hawks, fish, and ducks. Beautiful small pools and wooden bridges make this an ideal spot to talk about Toronto's wildlife conservation efforts and the laws within the city that were set up to include greenspace within a growing urban environment.

If you are passionate about nature, animals, the environment, or just good outdoor exercise, this tour is a good choice for you. It offers less 'tourist-y' spots, while still giving you insight into Toronto's history and development.
The difficulty of this tour is medium, as there are a couple of parts (totaling no more than five minutes in length each) that include steepish hills and pathways. Good walking or hiking shoes would be essential, and due to the nature of the tour, it will only operate on days where it has not rained the day before or the day of, due to any mud, which makes part of the tour slippery. I don't want anyone getting injured, even if it is not that advanced of a walking tour.

The approximate length of the tour is about two hours, and almost entirely consists of being within some kind of park or greenspace. The ending of the tour, at Brickworks, also has a FREE shuttle bus that takes you to nearby Broadview Subway Station. In addition to this, Brickworks has repurposed some of its buildings into a marketplace, a gift shop, restaurant and bar. There are bathrooms there as well, and at the beginning of the tour at the historic LCBO station.

If you enjoy a guide with a sense of humor, and a passion for people, I'm sure we will get along great. I look forward to walking with you.

NOTE: This tour is a free walking tour. If you liked the tour, no one got lost, and didn't totally hate me, you can choose to tip at the end. It is appreciated and always welcome, but there is no strict obligation. 

ATTENTION: You must confirm your booking with me the night before the tour is scheduled, otherwise, your reservation may be cancelled. I do this because there are no booking fees for these tours, and it is easy for people to not show up because of this fact. Out of respect for my time and energy, I want to make sure I know I am going to be leading a tour with guests the next day. Thank you for understanding.