High Park and Roncesvalles Avenue

High Park is Toronto's major downtown park. Bring a picnic and some binoculars; enjoy some time in greenery. Roncesvalles is a bijou neighbourhood with independent shops, nice to look around.

A couple of warnings:

  • Toronto is generally quite flat, but High Park has hills.
  • High Park has woodland, so you might need insect repellent.

You can make your own way around the park; it's quite big, so you're unlikely to see everything. Definitely visit the zoo and Grenadier pond. The manicured gardens and nature trail at the southeast corner of Grenadier Pond are quite nice; the trail along Spring Road is also pleasant. Grenadier Cafe is disappointing, but it's central and has bathrooms.

I've suggested a route, but don't feel obliged to follow it. I'd allow 3 hours for my route, including picnic and dawdling time. It starts with a walk along Roncesvalles Avenue, but there are other options for getting to the park. You can take the Queen Streetcar to Colborne Lodge Drive, and enter the park from the south. There's transit into the High Park Loop from Dundas; and the subway stops at the north edge of the park.

A route map of High Park

  1. Start at the south corner of Queen Street and Roncesvalles Avenue, and head north up Roncesvalles. There's no perfect option for buying food to eat in the park later, but your best bet is either a burrito or a takeaway from South Indian Dosa Mahal. Dosa Mahal sells a "snack pack" of 10 assorted bhajis/samosas/pakoras/sweetbread for $10, which would be good to graze on. Cherry Bomb coffee is my favourite coffee place on Roncesvalles.

    If you're a transport nerd, before you head north up Roncesvalles cross over to The Queensway past the McDonald's. The Roncesvalles carhouse is here, where the streetcars sleep.

  2. Keep walking up Roncesvalles, looking in any interesting shops, and take a left along High Park Boulevard. This is a residential street; these are some expensive houses. Cross Parkside Drive, and head into High Park. This entrance is underwhelming but you might see some wildlife in the ponds.

  3. Your first stop is the animal display, with bison, capybaras, llamas, reindeer, and more. The capybaras once escaped.

  4. Take a left up the side trail stairs towards the end of the zoo. (If you reach the Grenadier Cafe car park you missed the turn, but it's not the end of the world.) Cross the road, and you'll be at the top of the manicured gardens which slope down towards the pond. This is a popular area of the park, but you should see some birds here. Pick your preferred route down; I've charted a fairly direct route which skips most of the garden, but there are some boardwalk lookouts that are worth the detour. This is a nice area for your picnic.

  5. As you head north along the pond the landscape switches from open park to woodland. At some point, head uphill towards the sports fields. Pass them and head towards the sculpture park.

  6. The sculpture park starts near this picnic area, nestled among trees. There's a path through which will drop you on the Spring Road trail.

  7. The tour ends here! I've suggested you continue straight on and exit the path, towards Keele subway station.

Where next

  1. The marked option on the map is to visit the Taras Shevchenko museum. I've never been, but it's close to here.
  2. Keep wandering the park. You can head south along the spring road trail - either all the way south to pick up the Queen Streetcar, or just to the High Park loop for the College streetcar.