Toronto is a spot to do a bunch of stuff for fun and you have a lot of free things to do in Toronto.
Toronto, is a city of more than 6 million people, with more than 140 lingual populations with diverse dialects, meaning it has multiple cultures and is known to be one of the cosmopolitan cities of the world.
Ontario’s capital city Toronto, is a point for business, finance, arts, sports, and culture-related arenas, internationally.
If you are anywhere around Toronto or planning to be, read these 15 free things to do in Toronto.
Here are 15 things to do or 15 places to be for a free and fun experience while being in Toronto. Among these include, Canadian art places, stunning buildings, coffee shops, and activities like biking around Portland street.
Whether you are in Toronto during weekends or any time of the week like Wednesday nights or Saturday mornings, you have got it all covered here.
1. 15 Free Things to Do in Toronto
1.1. Walking Around Cherry Beach
A walking tour is still one of the free ways to travel around. Toronto’s hectic lifestyle can take a toll on your life, and that is when Cherry Beach comes to the rescue.
Cherry Beach can offer you a beautiful and serene place to be, and take a walk around, sit or maybe enjoy a picnic lunch.
Washrooms and rooms for changing are also available at the beach. On a busy day, you won’t find a crowd around.
So if you are visiting Toronto for a trip, walking around Cherry Beach on a busy day is one free thing to do.
Walking is one of the free things to do in Toronto or anywhere as a matter of fact.
1.2. Visiting Downtown Toronto
Downtown Toronto is part of the old Toronto district. You can find numerous free things to do in Toronto like gazing at Art galleries, food shops, or boutique shops.
Exploring Kensington Market Toronto will give you a view of so many Victorian houses. While wandering in the streets of Kensington Market, you can have some coffee or anything else to drink in the coffee shops around the Market.
It is a very short walk from Chinatown to Kensington Market. The market offers you a varied kind of environment including hole-in-the-wall bars, galleries, little cafe shops, and record stores.
1.3. Experience and Appreciate Art Gallery
One of the free things in Toronto would be to visit Towering Gardiner Expressway, under that, the citizens of Bentley, Toronto have turned the place into a local, open art gallery kind of a place.
You can go and experience a lot of other free things like ice skating or take a free dance class. Appreciating the Art Gallery of Ontario, won’t really make a mess with your pockets.
The area of Bentley is open all the time, you can visit anytime you feel like. Several things like community events and concerts are also available for you to enjoy without making your money suffer.
1.4. Bring Your Camera
On the Saint Lawrence Market, you can take tons of views and memories and one hell of an experience and inspiration, safe in your camera.
This market has been under construction since 1803, you may feel historical around the market. This is both an indoor and outdoor market.
You can also buy some pieces of art to take back with you or not if you are planning on a tight-budget trip. Meanwhile, it is going to be hard to resist the delicious food out there in the market.
Who would have thought that one of the simple free things to do in Toronto could be to just bring your camera?
For all the foodies, Toronto has Lawrence Market, which has food stalls, restaurants, and classic stalls selling Canadian souvenirs like bottles of Maple syrup.
1.5. Harbourfront Center
While the winter is kind of silent around Toronto, during summer Harbourfront comes into play. During Warm days, the Harbourfront locals come together to celebrate art, food, and more.
You can take a ferry and explore more about the Islands around you. Lake Ontario has around 100 islands people residing, you can explore that area as well.
You can also treat yourself to an evening at the Toronto Harbour Lighthouse. The place will provide you with an amazing scenario of Toronto City and the Lighthouse itself would be an incredible place with a great view too.
1.6. Explore High Park on a Low Budget
A place that has everything from a park to a lake to a lighthouse, High Park is one incredible place to be at, in a short time and on a low budget.
It is right outside of Downtown, so you can plan to visit the park after you walk downtown. The high park has activities to keep you busy for a whole day.
One thing to experience in the parks or gardens of Toronto is those cherry blossoms, that time of the year gives an extraordinary feeling of being grateful to be alive.
You can explore gardens, more so have a picnic area to enjoy your day for free. In the High Park Zoo, there are both paid and free shows to attend, you can opt for a free trip and can go to High Park Amphitheatre for free as well.
Parks and nature don’t add to the extra cost as well.
1.7. Click on The Toronto Sign
Talking of free things in Toronto, you can’t be charged for clicking your own selfies or pictures. Visit Nathan Phillips Square, near the City Hall of Toronto, and have a must-captured moment at the Toronto sign.
If you visit Toronto and don’t click here, you didn’t come to Toronto.
If you are an ice baby, there is also an Ice skating rink available in winter. The area around is quite warm and conveniently located so if you feel hungry, you can eat and take a break.
1.8. Gift Your Eyes, Graffiti Alley
The Graffiti Alley, again, is also very conveniently located around Downtown, making it easy for you to spend your day around.
Street Art Gallery of Ontario has room for every street art fanatic, If you consider yourself one, don’t miss out on graffiti art, for free!
Give your eyes and Instagram some Graffiti glam they deserve. Buy yourself some time, and click pictures here as well.
1.9. Don’t Disappoint Your Ears
You have gifted your eyes with the art of a lifetime, but it is time for your ears to be treated. Toronto is a big music city, with a rich music environment comes free music to enjoy for people around.
Music fanatics can find their way to the Canadian opera company-organized Opera concert series, at Richard Bradshaw Theatre, on Wednesday evenings.
You can go to Music Garden, a spot for the free jazz concert experience. Free music is also audible in Toronto Bars.
1.10. Meet People
Make connections while you are travelling, Visit a meet-up spot and meet people with similar interests. Share the trip deets of all the free things to be done, and gain some more in response.
You can also meet people at the bar or a restaurant. Join them for outings or other plans outside. Making connections will help you in the longer term as well.
1.11. Attend the Events
Schedule your Toronto plan in the times of spring and summer. This duration is a rain of free concerts, events, and more around Toronto.
In Toronto’s High Park, you can get to attend and experience Shakespeare play by a company called Canadian Stage Company. You can attend it for free.
The Seaton Village located Downtown gets decorated into a place of open music festive. This is a unique music event to happens every year in June, only for one day.
Locals wait for this one day to open their businesses, and get a profit.
1.12. Visit the Royal Ontario Museum
The largest Museum in Canada is in Ontario’s capital, Toronto. The museum named Royal Ontario Museum presents art, nature, and culture, across the ages and around the world as well.
This Toronto Museum has a section that showcases the era of dinosaurs and also the beginning of the time.
Even though the museum charges on normal days you can visit the place for free no matter your age group, every third Tuesday of every month in the duration from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
This event is named as third Tuesday Night Free. But, you will still need to book tickets for the place.
The exterior of the place is known as Crystal. The largest museum in Canada covers everything from ancient Egypt to dinosaurs.
You should also visit the Hockey Hall of Fame while being in Canada since Hockey is a religion for all Canadians.
It is a must-visit place even if you are not a hockey fanatic, you can get to learn about the sport and all the most significant players.
1.13. Biking for Some More Body Movement
You have already walked around Toronto for free, now, let’s go biking for free. Toronto also has great infrastructure for it.
Along with experiencing different Toronto city halls, Toronto islands, Toronto museums, and Toronto botanical gardens, you will get a chance to experience the Toronto neighbourhood.
There are a lot of beautiful trails around the areas of Queen Street East, and a waterfront trail at Humber Bay. Explore the city on wheels.
1.14. Spend Time at The Beaches
If you are looking for a relaxing spot to go to, the beaches are a very comforting neighbourhood. The area is a favourite for Toronto Citizens for living.
The area surrounds a lot of great cafes, but the cafe places close as early as 4 p.m., so try to visit early. Make sure to check the opening and closing hours for any cafe you might be planning to visit.
The beaches may get crowded but it is spacious so it won’t feel as much of a suffocating place. The beaches give more of an ocean kind of vibe.
You can relax at the place without spending a penny. You can bike, walk, sit, and even swim at the beaches. If you find yourself around Ontario, these are the best beaches to visit.
Talking about the neighbourhoods, the Distillery District is also among one of the best areas in Toronto. The place is surrounded by cafes, galleries, coffee houses, and restaurants, after being renovated.
The Distillery District is a distinct neighbourhood and is home to around 40 heritage buildings.
What makes the district an unusual place is that it goes back in time, The distillery historic district, welcomes you with astounding architectural beauty, and brings exciting entertainment sources, top restaurants, and amazing coffee shops to the table.
The place also once became a place for film producers to work. The area was never empty, it was also used for one or the other thing.
It was finally the time that after being a place for film production, investment was made in the place for it to become the most beautiful place it is today.
This neighbourhood is a preserved history and as soon as it was renovated and opened again, it instantly became one of the most beloved places in the city.
In December, the place also gives set to the Toronto Christmas Market. This is an incredible neighbourhood for outdoors, eateries, and more.
1.15. Explore the Toronto Botanical Garden
One spot for all age groups has to be the Botanical Gardens. It has free entry to the grounds and gardens.
The garden provides an impressive display of 17 themed gardens spread over 4 acres of land which has also been rewarded for the same.
The Botanical Garden is been designed to educate the audience and inspire too. There are both indoor and outdoor learning experiences regarding the plantations.
The Toronto Botanical Garden is also known by the name The Little Garden with Big Ideas. The place has an organic Saturday farmers’ market, garden tours, an intensive library, and nature day camps.
It is an NGO on a mission to enlighten people with nature knowledge. It takes approximately 2-3 hours to cover this 4-acre land.
The Western Family Library that this place consists of, is the biggest library Canada has on its lands. The Library has been designed in a way to depict themes like Plant species, Urban agriculture, Landscape design, and many more.
The collection library contains reference materials, historic books, magazines, journals, and some rare books as well.
You might find DVDs as well. Anyone can visit the library but only a few have the right to borrow books or other materials from the library, like the library members.
2. More Things to Do in Toronto
Even though you have a lot of free things to do in Toronto now, there are still some places that need to visit like, CN Tower, Eaton Centre, Queen Street West, Seasons Centre, and Don Valley.
Toronto can give you one big experience by including both paid and free things.
Toronto also has a masterpiece of its own called Four Seasons Centre, a theatre for performing arts. The theatre has been open since 2006 and presents opera and ballet performances with the best quality walls.
Museums, parks, and gardens rank top on the list of free things in Toronto.
On the grounds of Toronto stands an artistic building representing the art collection of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, representing art collectibles from the history of Muslim civilization to the present day; the building is known as the Aga Khan Museum.
Aga Khan Museum is a place with classrooms, reference libraries, restaurants, galleries, and an Auditorium. It is home to 1000 objects, an all-time collection including rare and extraordinary masterpieces of varied materials and styles belonging to different durations of humankind’s existence.
Well, there is also a place where you can only spend if you want to; Eaton Center! Eaton Center is a shopping mall in Toronto and welcomes the most traffic tourists daily.
Shopping may not be among the free things, but you can always go window shopping and you can also purchase anything you like. Depends on you.
If you have already been to gardens and park but hasn’t gotten enough of nature, you can visit Riverdale Farm. It is a working farm, where you can get proper exposure to farm life, like raising goats, sheep, chickens, cows, and more.
There are also varieties of flowers and herbs present, along with wood-based areas and ponds.
3. The Bottom Line
This free tour sums up pretty much everything Toronto can offer you like: the old city hall, distillery district, Nathan Phillips Square, coffee shops, Toronto islands, picnic areas, east end, and city walking tour.
And, free activities to do like, hiking trails, window shop, free admission to gardens, art galleries, and vintage clothing shops around St Lawrence Market.
One good news if you are from Italy, Toronto has an area called The Ward, where Italians started residing at the start of the 20th century. The little area, east of Bathurst is known as Little Italy.
Toronto, Canada’s biggest city, has a lot of places where you can save your money and learn about the city’s history as well.
You can do anything and everything in a budget-friendly trip to Toronto. Even if you are a resident of the city, you can use all the above free things to do in Toronto points to experience and explore the city more and elevate weekend fun.
