What's on in Toronto, Canada through the year

Busy — Winter / Christmas break in Canada, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Winterlicious

  23 Jan – 8 Feb · usuallyMajor festival

  A fortnight of prix-fixe menus across a couple of hundred restaurants at the bleakest point of the year, which is exactly why the city invented it. Book the good rooms the day bookings open. Source ↗

Still on: Deep freeze and ice storms (15 Dec – 28 Feb (usually))

Quiet — one of its worst months for weather

• Season

  Maple syrup season

  25 Feb – 6 Apr · usuallyHarvest

  Freezing nights and thawing days start the sap, and the sugar bushes at Bruce's Mill and Kortright open for pancakes for about six weeks. A warm February shortens the whole thing. Source ↗

Still on: Winterlicious (23 Jan – 8 Feb (usually)), Deep freeze and ice storms (15 Dec – 28 Feb (usually))

Busy — March break / semaine de relâche in Canada

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Maple syrup season (25 Feb – 6 Apr (usually))

Busy — High Park cherry blossom

• Nature

  High Park cherry blossom

  22 Apr – 10 May · usuallyCrowded

  The Somei-Yoshino grove in High Park peaks for four to ten days, usually at the turn of April into May. The park closes to cars for it and the crowd is a Toronto event in its own right.

Still on: Maple syrup season (25 Feb – 6 Apr (usually))

Peak crowds — High Park cherry blossom, Doors Open Toronto

• Festival

  Doors Open Toronto

  22–31 May · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  One free weekend at the end of May when a couple of hundred buildings that are normally shut open their doors, from water filtration plants to bank vaults. The best ones queue from opening. Source ↗

Still on: High Park cherry blossom (22 Apr – 10 May (usually))

Peak crowds — Pride Toronto, Summer break in Canada

• Festival

  Pride Toronto

  20–30 Jun · usuallyCrowdedBook early

  One of the largest Pride weekends in North America, closing Church Street and Yonge for the last weekend of June. Downtown hotels go early and the streetcars reroute. Source ↗

Peak crowds — Toronto Caribbean Carnival, Summer break in Canada

• Festival

  Toronto Caribbean Carnival

  15 Jul – 3 Aug · usuallyCrowdedBook early

  Three weeks of events ending with the Grande Parade along Lakeshore on the Saturday of the August civic long weekend. It is the biggest street event in the country and the lakeshore is closed for it. Source ↗

Peak crowds — Toronto Caribbean Carnival, Canadian National Exhibition

• Festival

  Canadian National Exhibition

  21 Aug – 7 Sep · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  Eighteen days of midway, food building and air show at Exhibition Place, ending on Labour Day. Torontonians treat it as the funeral of summer and go anyway. Source ↗

Still on: Toronto Caribbean Carnival (15 Jul – 3 Aug (usually))

Peak crowds — Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto International Film Festival

• Festival

  Toronto International Film Festival

  5–20 Sep · usuallyCrowdedBook early

  Eleven days in early September when King Street West closes and the entertainment district's hotel stock reprices. Public tickets exist but the good screenings go to package holders first. Source ↗

• Festival

  Nuit Blanche

  28 Sep – 6 Oct · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  One free all-night art event, usually the first Saturday of October, running dusk to dawn across downtown and, in recent years, the inner suburbs. Dress for a cold night standing still. Source ↗

Still on: Canadian National Exhibition (21 Aug – 7 Sep (usually))

Busy — Nuit Blanche

• Nature

  Fall colour in the ravines

  5 Oct – 5 Nov · usuallyAutumn colour

  The Don and Humber ravines and High Park turn through the middle of October, a week or so behind the Muskoka and Algonquin trees that everyone drives north for.

Still on: Nuit Blanche (28 Sep – 6 Oct (usually))

Busy — Distillery Winter Village

• Festival

  Distillery Winter Village

  14 Nov – 31 Dec · usuallyChristmas & New YearCrowdedBook early

  The Distillery District's Christmas market runs from mid-November to the end of the year and charges timed entry at weekends. Weeknights in November are the only time it is walkable. Source ↗

Still on: Fall colour in the ravines (5 Oct – 5 Nov (usually))

Peak crowds — Distillery Winter Village, Winter / Christmas break in Canada

• Hazard

  Deep freeze and ice storms

  15 Dec – 28 Feb · usuallyExtreme coldClosures

  The city issues extreme cold alerts most winters and the wind off the lake takes several degrees off whatever the thermometer says. Freezing rain is the one that closes the airport and the schools. Source ↗

Still on: Distillery Winter Village (14 Nov – 31 Dec (usually))