Toronto’s Beaches

Toronto isn’t typically known for its beaches and sandy, picturesque landscapes. In fact, first time visitors often expect total city living. They picture towering skyscrapers, beeping horns, a sea of suits, and busy people running around. However, thanks to the great weather we had, we wanted to see something different. We also wanted to see some more relaxed (and slightly sandier) regions of the Greater Toronto Area. For this reason, we set out for Toronto’s beaches after an awesome week seeing the city and Toronto Islands.

The Beaches, Toronto

We spent our first few hours initially catching up, before hopping on a streetcar. The streetcar is a super cool and unique way of seeing the city.  Here, we travelled up to Toronto’s iconic area of The Beaches, known for its four beaches along Lake Ontario. I heard it’s a little like Vancouver’s chic Kitsilano district. After getting there, I could totally see some similarities between Vancouver and Toronto’s beaches.

We walked the length of the beach, taking in the views and variety of people enjoying a hard afternoon’s sunbathe. Actually, we were pretty surprised at how blue the water was and how far it stretched for a lake! Not bad for a Toronto beach.

Just as we reached the end of the beach, we hopped up across some rocks. There’s also a little trail that runs alongside the water offering some great views, albeit a few pesky mosquitoes.

We finished up satisfied we’d seen the most famous of Toronto’s beaches and melting in the powerful sun. Afterwards, we returned to the townhouse for a chilled evening in.

Scarborough Bluffs

Despite an awesome day at The Beaches, we hadn’t quite had our Toronto beach fix for the week! So let me introduce you to beautiful Scarborough Bluffs: an escarpment dishing out amazing views across iconic Lake Ontario. A few days after our trip to The Beaches, we Ubered over to explore the neighbourhood. It didn’t disappoint: the entire Scarborough Bluffs area sprawls with charming houses and idyllic streets.

Unfortunately, the view upon arrival wasn’t quite what we had expected! A thick layer of mist was unfortunately concealing the famous views we arrived for.

We kept wandering to see what else was around. Speaking to a few locals, they recommended heading down to the Harbour at Bluffers Park and grabbing a bite to eat at The Dogfish. As a result, we hopped on a bus and headed down for souvlaki and fish and chips.

Bluffers Park Beach

Here, our server promised the mist would soon lift as the climate is completely different to the clifftops, so we waited it out. She also recommended we go and visit the beach down the road, Bluffers Park Beach), as it’s apparently one of the best in Ontario. Feeling a little sceptical, we were pretty surprised to subsequently see such beautiful water at the beach!

Having had a quick paddle, we headed back up to the clifftops in the hopes that the mist had cleared by now. Conveniently, there’s a bus stop at the end of the beach to take guests back up there. With a little bit of luck, the fog had cleared!

The views were truly beautiful and certainly worth a visit (try to pick a clear afternoon!) Unfortunately, visitors can’t get too close to the cliff for obvious reasons, but we found a few spots to grab a picture.

As you can see, it’s a truly beautiful spot with some lovely views across the sailboats on the lake. If you’re looking for a relaxing spot outside the city, I’d highly recommend checking out Toronto’s beaches: The Beaches, Bluffers Park Beach or Scarborough Bluffs. Make sure to let me know where you go!

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Have you explored Toronto’s beaches? Where do you recommend visiting?