TORONTO WALKING TOUR COMPANIES
Muddy York Walking Tours
Muddy York offers over a dozen different theme tours and several neighborhood tours. Public tours are scheduled regularly, but you should call in advance to let them know you're coming. Groups are encouraged to call to book tours at times that suit them, with group rates available.
- Average tour price: $20, with discounts for groups of two or more
- Visit MuddyYorkTours.com
Genova Tours
Along with Bill Genova's many walking tours, there are additional services such as bike tours (the bike's included!) and van tours outside Toronto. Call to schedule a tour for two or more people, or to discuss the creation of a specialty tour for your group.
- Average tour price: $25 per person (up to $75 for longer tours)
- Visit BillGenova.tripod.com
Bruce Bell Tours
Four two-hour tours are offered, centered around the St. Lawrence Market, the Distillery District, Chinatown and the University of Toronto. Customized tours can also be created, and accommodations may be made for car tours. Bell has also written on the history of Toronto and is available as a speaker.
- Average tour price: $25 per person (group discounts available)
- Visit BruceBellTours.ca
FREE TORONTO WALKING TOURS
ROMwalks
From May to October volunteers from the Royal Ontario Museum provide free walking tours exploring architecture, art and history all over the city. Most tours take place on Wednesday evenings or Sunday afternoons. Walks do NOT begin at the ROM - check individual walk listings for where to meet.
- Visit the ROM.on.ca website
- Go directly to the ROM's programming webpage for the current walk schedule
- Please note: The museum has another program called ROMwalks PLUS, for which there is a $10 fee and tickets must be paid for in advance.
Heritage Toronto Walking Tours
Mostly taking place on weekend afternoons, Heritage Toronto tours run from April to June. No reservations are required - just show up to any tour that interests you and let the Heritage Toronto volunteer guides share the history and culture of a neighborhood.
Lost River Walks
Lost River Walks are conducted by volunteers and follow both current and former waterways of Toronto. Some walks focus on other aspects of nature within the city, such as urban gardening.
- Visit the Lostrivers.ca homepage
- Go directly to the Lostrivers.ca current walk schedule
SELF-GUIDED TOURS
Discovery Walks
Created by the city, there are Discovery Walk routes to lead you through eleven Toronto neighborhoods. Signs at the starting point of each walk denote the route and highlights to look for, or you can look at PDFs of the routes online. Most Discovery Walks are centered around a green area of Toronto, such as a large park or ravine.
- Visit the toronto.ca Discovery Walks webpage
[murmur]
A different sort of tour, the [murmur] project is a series of recorded personal stories that you can access by phone. Signs are dotted around six areas of the city, with a phone number on them you can call to access the story tied to the spot where you're standing. Visit the website to find a route map of one of the areas, with indications of where signs are located. If you don't have a cell phone you can listen to the stories online then take the walk afterwards.
- Visit murmurtoronto.ca
Water in the City Walk
Riversides is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing awareness of how damaging pollution created by urban run-off can be to rivers and other waterways. The Water in the City Walk is provided on their website as a two-part printable PDF (guide and map) and focuses on educating the walker, rather than sight-seeing.
- Tour begins at Chester Subway Station
- Visit the Riversides.org homepage
- Go directly to the Water in the City page
