Toronto is at the heart of a region home to 8 million people and known as the Golden Horseshoe (named after the shape of Lake Ontario's shoreline).  There's a huge variety of activities to be found just a short distance from downtown Toronto.

Southwest

Niagara Falls

The most popular day trip from Toronto is to Niagara Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world, and only a 90 minute drive.  The cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Niagara Falls, New York (across the U.S. border) are also home to many tourist attractions, hotels, restaurants, and several casinos.

From Toronto, it's easy to get to Niagara Falls by train, bus or, car -- see Inside Niagara Falls: Arriving and Departing.

West

Milton  

Halton County Radial Railway  - Canada ’s Operating Streetcar Museum

St. Jacobs

St. Jacobs is an hour and a half's drive west of the city and is well known for its antique shops, Mennonite community, and farmer's market.  You can take a ride on the Waterloo Central Railway, or soar into the sky in a Hot Air Balloon.

 

Northwest

Vaughan

Kleinburg Village, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, and Vaughan Mills outlet mall are all northwest of the city, a short drive from each other.

Tottenham

Home to the South Simcoe Railway, Tottenham is 20 km west of Hwy. 400, on Hwy. 9, about 1 hours drive from Toronto .    Ride Ontario ’s Steam Train !

Northeast

Unionville

Unionville is northeast of the city and has a historic Main Street with interesting shops.

Uxbridge

Experience a leisurely train trip through the Oak Ridges Moraine aboard the York-Durham Heritage Railway.

 

East

Oshawa

Parkwood Historic Estate

Parkwood is one of Canada’s finest and last remaining grand estates, featuring architectural, landscape and interior designs of the 1920’s and 1930’s. Once home to auto baron R. Samuel McLaughlin (founder of General Motors of Canada), Parkwood is praised by Canada’s Historic Site and Monuments Board as “a rare surviving example of the type of estate developed in Canada during the inter-war years, and is rarer still by its essentially intact condition, furnished and run to illustrate as it was lived within.”