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Where to Stay in Toronto

Downtown Toronto is flat and walkable, so the mistake here is rarely distance. It is booking a block that empties at six.

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By Emma6 min readPublished
Table of contents
Downtown Toronto from above, with the islands and the CN Tower, showing how tightly the central neighbourhoods sit together
Photo: Taxiarchos228 · CC BY-SA 3.0

In Brief

Where should I stay in Toronto?

The Entertainment District for a first visit, because it puts the CN Tower and Ripley's Aquarium within a flat walk and still has somewhere to eat at night. St Lawrence if you want the same walk with more character. Avoid South Core unless proximity is the only thing you care about.

Key takeaways

  • First visit: the Entertainment District
  • Same walk, more life: St Lawrence and Old Town
  • The real trap is a dead block, not a dangerous one

Toronto neighborhoods at a glance

The best areas to stay in Toronto, compared for vibe, price and who each suits.

AreaBest forPriceIn a word
Entertainment Districtfirst timers, sightseeing$$$Theatres, the CN Tower and the shortest walk to everything
St Lawrence and Old Townfood, first timers$$The market, 19th-century streets, and somewhere open at night
Financial Districtfirst timers, shopping$$$Union Station on the doorstep and the PATH underneath
Yorkvilleluxury, shopping$$$The expensive end, with the museum at the bottom of the street
Queen Westfood, nightlife$$Independent shops, galleries and the city's best walking street
Kensington Market and Chinatownfood, budget$The cheapest good food in the city, and almost no hotels
Harbourfrontfamilies, sightseeing$$$On the lake, with the island ferry at the end of the road
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Best areas to stay in Toronto

Ranked best-first, with the vibe, who it suits and an honest catch for each. Tap a filter to match an area to your trip.

Find your area - what matters most?

All 7 areas in Toronto, best first.

  • Entertainment District in Toronto

    Entertainment District

    $$$ · High-end

    Theatres, the CN Tower and the shortest walk to everything

    Best for:First-timersSightseeingNightlife

    The block between King Street and the waterfront holds the theatres, the convention centre and most of the big hotels, with the CN Tower and Ripley's Aquarium at the southern edge. It is the densest concentration of things visitors actually came for, and it stays busy into the evening because the theatre crowd keeps the restaurants open.

    Good to know
    Rates here move with the convention calendar rather than the season, so the same room can double between two consecutive weeks in the same month.
    See Entertainment District hotelsLive prices for your dates
  • St Lawrence and Old Town in Toronto

    St Lawrence and Old Town

    $$ · Mid-range

    The market, 19th-century streets, and somewhere open at night

    Best for:Food & wineFirst-timersRomance

    East of Yonge around St Lawrence Market, this is the oldest surviving part of downtown and the one with the most street life per block. You are a flat fifteen to twenty minutes from the CN Tower and about five from the waterfront, with better breakfasts than anywhere else central.

    Good to know
    The market is closed on Mondays, which catches out anyone who booked the area specifically for it.
    See St Lawrence and Old Town hotelsLive prices for your dates
  • Financial District in Toronto

    Financial District

    $$$ · High-end

    Union Station on the doorstep and the PATH underneath

    Best for:First-timersShoppingSightseeing

    The towers between Front and Queen, wrapped around Union Station. Its real advantage is the PATH, the underground walkway network that connects a large share of these buildings, which in February is worth more than any view.

    Good to know
    It is a working office district. Weekday lunch is excellent and Sunday evening is close to deserted.
    See Financial District hotelsLive prices for your dates
  • Yorkville in Toronto

    Yorkville

    $$$ · High-end

    The expensive end, with the museum at the bottom of the street

    Best for:LuxuryShoppingRomance

    North of the centre around Bloor Street, this is where the designer shops and the highest room rates are, with the Royal Ontario Museum at its southern edge. Calmer and greener than downtown, and a subway ride rather than a walk from the waterfront attractions.

    Good to know
    You are roughly half an hour on foot from the CN Tower. Budget for the subway or accept that you will not be popping back to the room.
    See Yorkville hotelsLive prices for your dates
  • Queen West in Toronto

    Queen West

    $$ · Mid-range

    Independent shops, galleries and the city's best walking street

    Best for:Food & wineNightlifeShopping

    West of University Avenue, Queen Street runs through the most interesting stretch of independent Toronto: record shops, galleries, bars and the kind of restaurants locals book. It is the area that feels least like a hotel district and most like a city.

    Good to know
    Hotel stock thins out as you go west, so the further along Queen you book, the more you are relying on the 501 streetcar.
    See Queen West hotelsLive prices for your dates
  • Kensington Market and Chinatown in Toronto

    Kensington Market and Chinatown

    $ · Budget

    The cheapest good food in the city, and almost no hotels

    Best for:Food & wineBudgetNightlife

    A dense, scruffy, genuinely characterful pocket west of the university, with one of North America's largest Chinatowns beside it. Eat here whatever you book elsewhere.

    Good to know
    There are very few actual hotels. Most stays here are apartments, so check what you are booking rather than assuming a front desk.
    See Kensington Market and Chinatown hotelsLive prices for your dates
  • Harbourfront in Toronto

    Harbourfront

    $$$ · High-end

    On the lake, with the island ferry at the end of the road

    Best for:FamiliesSightseeingRomance

    The strip along Queens Quay, with the Toronto Islands ferry terminal at its centre. In summer this is the best-placed area in the city for a family: water, ferries, boardwalk and the aquarium a short walk west.

    Good to know
    In winter the wind off Lake Ontario on this stretch is the harshest downtown, and the Gardiner Expressway sits between you and everything to the north.
    See Harbourfront hotelsLive prices for your dates

Safest area to stay in Toronto

The Financial District, the Entertainment District and St Lawrence are the calmest places to sleep downtown: busy into the evening, well lit, and heavily policed because of the offices and theatres. Toronto is a low-violence city by North American standards and none of the central areas are places to avoid.

  • Financial District has round-the-clock building security and the PATH underneath, so in bad weather you can move between much of it without going outside at all.

  • Entertainment District keeps foot traffic until well after midnight because of the theatres, so the streets are never empty when you are walking back.

  • St Lawrence and Old Town is residential as well as visited, which means people on the street for ordinary reasons rather than only tourists.

The real risk downtown is not violence, it is the small number of blocks around Yonge and Dundas late at night, which can feel unpleasant without being dangerous, and opportunistic theft on transit. Neither tracks the neighbourhood you booked. Keep bags closed on the subway and streetcars wherever you are staying.

Where not to stay in Toronto

South Core, the cluster of new towers between the rail corridor and the lake, is the one to think twice about. It is the closest area to the CN Tower and Ripley's Aquarium, so it looks ideal on a map, but it is offices and condos with almost nothing at street level. It empties after six and you will walk fifteen minutes north for dinner every night. The other thing to avoid is booking on distance alone: downtown is flat, but two kilometres at the end of a museum day with children is a taxi, not a walk. And if you are here between December and March, an outdoor-only hotel pool is closed water for your whole trip.

Getting around Toronto

The subway is two useful lines: Line 1 in a U shape through downtown and up both sides, and Line 2 across the top. Streetcars cover the east-west streets the subway misses, which is most of Queen, King and Dundas, and they are slower than they look on the map. Fares are by tap on a card or contactless, and the same tap covers transfers for two hours. From Pearson airport the UP Express runs to Union Station in about 25 minutes, which is faster and more predictable than a taxi in traffic. Downtown itself is walkable and flat, and in winter the PATH lets you cross a large part of the Financial District underground.

Where to stay in Toronto: FAQ

The questions travelers ask most when choosing an area.

The Entertainment District. It puts the CN Tower and Ripley's Aquarium within a flat walk, holds most of the big hotels, and unlike the blocks immediately south of it, it still has restaurants open when you come back in the evening. St Lawrence is the alternative if you would rather have older streets and a market on your doorstep, at the cost of about ten more minutes on foot.

For visitors, seven matter: the Entertainment District for attractions, St Lawrence for character and food, the Financial District for transport, Yorkville for shopping and higher-end hotels, Queen West for independent shops and bars, Kensington Market and Chinatown for eating cheaply and well, and Harbourfront for the lake and the islands. Each suits a different trip, and the wrong one is usually chosen on price rather than fit.

Yes, and unusually so for a North American city. The core is flat, laid out on a grid, and the main sights sit close together: the CN Tower, Ripley's Aquarium and the convention centre are effectively one site, with the island ferry a short walk east. The catch is winter, when walkable becomes a different proposition. The PATH network underneath the Financial District exists for exactly that reason.

South Core is the common mistake. It is the closest area to the CN Tower, which is why people book it, but it is a district of offices and new condo towers with very little at street level, and it empties in the evening. You end up walking fifteen minutes north for dinner every night. Nowhere central is unsafe, so this is about liveliness rather than risk.

Union Station, for most people. The CN Tower is a ten-minute walk from there, you get the PATH network and the UP Express to the airport, and the Financial District has far more at street level than the towers immediately beside the tower itself. Staying closer buys you a few minutes and costs you the evenings.

Continue Planning Your Trip

Photo credits (7)

Photos via Wikimedia Commons, used under their respective licences.