Toronto LGBTQIA+ Guide

One of North America’s most dynamic cities, and an international hub of LGBTQIA+ life, Toronto has changed dramatically in recent years, with a glamorous construction boom (much of it along its attractive shoreline on Lake Ontario), the renaissance of a number of outlying neighborhoods, and a continued explosion of globally influenced cuisine, arts, and culture that reflects the fact that more than half of the city’s nearly 3 million residents were born outside Canada. As a gay destination, Toronto has always had plenty to offer. On the edge of downtown, the Church Street Village is still the heart of the LGBTQIA+ community, especially when it comes to nightlife. But plenty of other districts around the city, from Leslieville to Ossington Avenue to the Junction now attract plenty of queer folks along with other young professionals and creative types.

For more on what to see and do in this exciting metropolis, check out the excellent SeeTorontoNow.com website, the official engine of Tourism Toronto, and be sure especially to visit the site’s Diversity Page, which has a number of LGBTQ-specific articles, and also its neighborhood guide to Church Street Village.

Toronto LGBTQ Pride 2024

By some measures, Toronto hosts the largest Pride celebrations in North America. Generally drawing more than 1.6 million participants and allies over a three-day weekend in late June, Toronto Pride is unquestionably a huge event. And there are related Pride events taking place in Toronto throughout the month of June, with the big weekend falls toward the end of the month. This year, Toronto Pride’s festival weekend, including the Toronto Pride Parade, will take place June 28–30, 2024.

Other key gatherings and parties that typically take place during Toronto Pride Month include the Rainbow Flag Raising at City Hall on; queer opera, film, museum, and gallery openings and special programs; karaoke, cabaret, dance, and swimming pool parties; a gay day at Wet ‘N’ Wild water park in nearby Brampton; an AIDS Candlelight Vigil; the Toronto Dyke March; the Toronto Trans March; a Pride Night at Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada; and much more.

The heart of Toronto’s Church Street Gay Village

Most events take place in and around the Gay Village, aka Church Street Village, a stretch of Church Street that runs north to south from about Isabella Street to Carlton Street and also includes the blocks on either side (between Yonge and Jarvis streets). The neighborhood is on the northeastern edge of the City Centre and easily reached from many hotels and via public transportation. Church Street Village is where the colorful Toronto Pride Street Fair takes place, featuring live entertainment, vendors, food, and much more.

For more information on LGBTQIA+ Pride events taking place elsewhere around the country, check out the 2024-2025 Canada LGBTQIA+ Pride Calendar.

Where to Stay in Toronto

In a city rife with lodging options, from old-world grande dames to sleek and stylish contemporary design hotels, sorting through Toronto’s accommodations landscape can be a little intimidating. Here are a handful of excellent options in a variety of price ranges, including a few choices close to the main Church Street Village gay bars.

Toronto’s art-filled and LGBTQ-friendly Gladstone Hotel — Toronto’s art-filled and LGBTQIA+-friendly Gladstone Hotel

In the lively West Queen West neighborhood, west of downtown, look to the historic and creative-spirited Gladstone House for its arty vibe and a great location near tons of shops and restaurants as well as tranquil Trinity Bellwoods Park. As Canada’s only B-Corp certified accommodation, it’s also a business that works hard to give back to the community and employ environmentally responsible practices. The hotel’s 37 guest rooms have been individually designed by artists (rotating exhibits are also held in the three gallery spaces), and you’ll pretty much always detect a queer pulse in the hotel’s excellent, locavore-minded Gladstone Cafe and Melody Bar.

Two blocks away from the Gladstone, the Drake Hotel is also wonderful, with its 19 rooms cleanly designed yet plush rooms with Bose docking stations, Malin + Goetz toiletries, lofty ceilings, and fun minibar treats. There’s free yoga on-site, and the restaurant, Drake Commissary, turns out delicious, made-from-scratch meals throughout the day. The hotel’s Drake Underground also serves food and is a popular place to catch live music shows. A tip: the owners also operate the intimate Drake Devonshire and the Drake Motor Inn in the quaint eastern Ontario town of Wellington (a two-hour drive from Toronto), on Prince Edward Island. It's a wonderful weekend getaway from Toronto and a gateway to the Thousand Islands.

About 5 miles farther west in the Humber Valley, the 57-room Old Mill Toronto, with its old-fashioned Tudor-inspired design and gentile gardens, is ideal if you prefer a slightly quieter vibe and want to be near the increasingly desirable Junction district. With paneled walls and a decidedly clubby ambience, the Old Mill won’t check too many boxes if you’re aiming for a contemporary style, but it’s a refreshing change of pace if you’d rather not be right in bustle of Canada’s largest city.

A somewhat newer property well worth considering is the stylish Broadview Hotel, which is set in a stately late-19th-century building on the main drag in Leslieville, just 10-minute drive east of downtown. With 58 urbanely designed rooms and a cool restaurant, The Civic, this is an appealing hotel in its own right but even nicer because it's in the heart of such an engaging neighborhood. Tall windows let plenty of light into these rather grand rooms, some of which have terraces and vintage LP turntables.

A deep soaking tub in one of the snazzy rooms at the Kimpton Saint George. Photo by Naomi Finlay, courtesy of Mason Studio

Another great poperty that’s generated plenty of excitement, the Kimpton Saint George in Toronto’s lively Annex neighborhood, just a couple of short blocks east of Spadina subway station and west of the Royal Ontario Museum. The 188-room room property, which was designed by the city’s acclaimed Mason Studio firm, features stunning artwork and handcrafted furnishings custom-produced by local artists, and plush details—such as Atelier Bloem bath products, high-tech work stations, and graceful wood armoires—lend warmth to every room. The living room–inspired lobby is a relaxing place to read a book or mingle with friends, and the on-site restaurant, the Fortunate Fox, turns out well-crafted, internationally inspired comfort fare, from roast garlic-and-honey chicken wings to Nashville-style hot chicken.

Among the dozens of downtown Toronto hotels, a few stand out for their gorgeous rooms and sexy vibes. The LGBTQ-popular boutique brand Le Germain has two swanky locations, Le Germain Hotel Toronto Mercer and Le Germain Maple Leaf Square. The 202-room Shangri-La Hotel Toronto is another chic, soaring stunner—it’s home to one of the best hotel spas in Canada, which includes a superb fitness center. Also offering exemplary service and a cushy, hip design, the Thompson Toronto rises 16 stories over Victoria Memorial Square Park, in downtown’s desirable King West neighborhood. Features include an intimate rooftop bar and pool with panoramic views of Toronto, and a good mix of dining and drinking options on the lobby level.

The city skyline from the rooftop pool and lounge at the Thompson Toronto Hotel

At the other end of the spectrum, the Fairmont Royal York is a timeless jewel across from the train station and with an aesthetic that recalls the city's grand railroad era. Rooms retain a classy look but have been thoroughly updated, and the lobby, bars, and restaurants are all first-rate. Fun fact: the illicit-hotel scenes in The Handmaid's Tale were filmed in the Royal York. A huge business-oriented property on the waterfront, close to the Toronto Islands ferry, the twin-towered Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto has hosted major LGBTQ events (including IGLTA’s annual convention) and has a number of rooms with views of the lake. It’s big and a not especially personal, but the Westin often has some great deals when it’s not booked with meetings.

Courtyard Marriott Toronto Downtown is a five-minute walk from Church Street nightlife and has been a sponsor of Toronto Pride—it’s a great mid-priced option if you want to be in the heart of the action, especially during Pride, and it’s also close to downtown museums, shopping, and dining. Just a few blocks up Church Street from the gay bars, the Anndore House is another terrific option, and the Saint James Hotel is an appealing budget option that's well-suited to nightlife crawlers.

Top Toronto Experiences

The best way to approach even a short visit to Toronto is to divide your time between some of the city’s key museums and attractions, and some of its most intriguing and pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods. Note that you’ll find more of the key attractions downtown, while the many hip outlying neighborhoods have tons of cool shops, galleries, bars, and eateries, they aren’t as dense with museums and obvious sights. If you’re visiting from spring through fall, and especially in summer, also set aside at least a half-day to explore the Toronto Islands, easily reached by passenger ferry from downtown and home to one of Canada’s most famous clothing-optional—and gay-popular—beaches, Hanlan’s Point.

Museums and Attractions in Toronto’s City Centre

Many of the city’s key sights—including the LGBTQ heart of Toronto, Church Street Village—are centrally location, in the City Centre or in adjacent Midtown, Old Town, and Westside. City Centre is also where you’ll find many of Toronto’s hotels, one of its busiest shopping thoroughfares (Yonge Street), its pro sports arenas, elegant Union Station, and a number of prominent performing arts venues, including the home of the Canadian Opera Company, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts (the posh Four Seasons hotel brand is headquartered in Toronto and also has a stunning property here).

One of the top cultural institutions in the city, the Royal Ontario Museum is near the University of Toronto (on the north side of handsome Queen’s Park) and dates to 1912 but was expanded and updated in 2007 with a dramatic crystalline-form addition by Daniel Libeskind. Canada’s largest museum, it’s devoted to both natural and human history (the dinosaur and fossils collections are superb) as well as art from across the globe, design, costumes and textiles, Chinese architectural artifacts, and much more. Given its stature, the museum also hosts some of the country’s most dynamic and exciting temporary exhibits. The museum also transforms into a massive LGBTQ club for ROM Friday Night Live each Toronto Gay Pride season.

A visit to the Royal Ontario Museum also puts you in the center of the ecelctic Bloor Street Culture Corridor, a vibrant and eclectic stretch of Bloor Street between Bathurst and Bay streets that’s packed with artsy diversion—from cinemas to venues at the University of Toronto to music clubs. As you move a bit north into Bloor-Yorkville, you’ll find a number of high-end designer boutiques, swanky restaurants and bars, and luxury hotels.

Fans of design appreciate a pair of nearby attractions, including the world-renowned Bata Shoe Museum, with its eye-popping collection of footwear and related accessories—some 13,000 items in all, spanning more than 4,500 years. And, in a quiet neighborhood near the Dupont Metro station, give yourself at least two hours (and three during the warmer months, when you’ll want to spend time amid the gloriously landscapes terraces and grounds) to tour the over-the-top magnificent Casa Loma, a 1910s Gothic Revival mansion filled with ornate period furnishings and fine works of art.

Another must for art lovers, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) contains nearly 100,000 works of art and occupies a dramatic building that’s undergone a number of renovations and expansions, most recently in 2008 under the direction of Toronto native Frank Gehry, who added—among other features—a stunning titanium-and-glass wing as well as a sweeping wood-and-glass facade to the building’s main northern entrance. AGO’s collections are tremendously varied and impressive, from an array of priceless centuries-old ship models to Henryk Ross’s distressing but profoundly important Holocaust photographs to a phenomenal selection of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis works.

A quirky, historic neighborhood rife with ethnic restaurants, vintage clothiers, tearooms and coffeehouses, cocktail bars, street performers, public art installations, and plenty of great spots for people-watching—Bellevue Square Park among them—the Kensington Market neighborhood borders Chinatown and is just on the west side of downtown, a short walk west of the Art Gallery of Ontario. It’s a lively place to explore day or night, and it’s not a bad idea to arrive with an empty stomach, as the options for nibbling and snacking are seemingly endless, from hole-in-the-wall noodle parlors to modish mezcal bars.

Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada, hosting an LGBTQ event

Among the key attractions downtown by Roundhouse Park, Rogers Centre (home of baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays), and the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the 1,815-foot-tall CN Tower ranks among the most iconic structures in the country—taking a glass elevator to the 1,136-foot-high LookOut, with its floor-to-ceiling windows and glass floor, is a memorable way to obtain a dazzling view of the city and Lake Ontario. For an even more impressive view, you can continue 33 floors higher to the 1,465-foot SkyPod observation deck. And if you’re really up for an unforgettable, adrenaline-producing experience, consider booking an EdgeWalk experience, during which you’ll dangle from a harness alongside five other brave (crazy?) souls as you walk along the exterior ledge of the main LookOut deck. And yes, part of the experience (as you’ve no doubt witnessed in social media photos and videos) is leaning backwards—hands-free—over the bustling city beneath you.

At the foot of the CN Tower, you can also visit the excellent Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada, with its cleverly designed tanks containing some 20,000 aquatic animals, from barracudas to gigantic sharks. One night a year during Toronto Gay Pride, this popular venue hosts Night at the Aqueerium, a fun-filled LGBTQ party.

Old Toronto

Close to downtown hotels and not terribly far from Church Street Village, Old Toronto's legendary St. Lawrence Market (photo) has been a sacred community food source since a farmers market stood on this site starting in 1803. Now the grand building, which dates to 1850, is home to more than 120 vendors proffering all kinds of delicious products. You can stock up on goods to take home with you or come and create a full meal by stopping at some of the market's top vendors, including European Delight (for pierogies, blintzes, and other Eastern European foods in a fantastic assortment of flavors), Scheffler's Delicatessen & Cheese (for exceptional cheese and charcuterie plus fresh truffles, vinegars, and oils), St. Urbain Bagel (for authentic Montreal-style bagels and spreads), and Carousel Bakery (for beloved peameal bacon sandwiches), and Churrasco's (for Portuguese chicken sandwiches and, for dessert, custard tarts). For an inside look at this amazing place, book one of the 90-minute walking tours, which are given several days a week and include stops at some other historic sites in surrounding Old Toronto.

A few blocks east, the Distillery District consists of about 50 redbrick and stone 19th-century buildings that had fallen on hard times by the 1990s but have been beautifully transformed into boutiques (from John Fluevog to Blackbird Vintage), art galleries, and trendy bars and restaurants. Standouts among the dining options include Arvo Coffee, Soma Chocolatemaker (try the caramel-fig or blood-orange gelato) and Spirit of York Distillery (which produces a first-rate aquavit.

The West Side

Long one of the most eclectic and diverse neighborhoods in the city, West Queen West is now one of many parts of the city where third-wave coffeehouses, avant-garde galleries, and artisan eateries proliferate, especially the farther west you go. But it’s been something of a hub of counterculturalism for decades—a neighborhood that’s long embraced its queer identity but has also always resisted the relative uniformity of Church Street. The fun people-watching and storefront-browsing in West Queen West starts along Queen Street West at about Bathurst Street and stretches well west, past verdant Trinity Bellwoods Park, and beyond Gladstone Avenue and to the other side of the rail tracks into diverse and increasingly gentrified Parkdale. Running north from West Queen to Dundas Streets, Ossington Avenue has a similar vibe and arguably an even trendier batch of businesses.

About 4 miles west of the city center and 2 miles northwest of Queen Street West’s farther reaches, the once rough-and-tumble Junction neighborhood has rapidly become one of the city’s most interesting areas for exploring. In 2018, the excellent Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Cananda (MOCA) relocated to the neighborhood (specifically to the Lower Junction Triangle part of it)—do check out the excellent rotation exhibits in the lower half of the beautifully retrofitted 10-story 1919 Tower Automotive Building. The neighborhood also abounds with distinctive shops, craft breweries (Henderson Brewing is a highlight), and just to the south and east, Roncesvalles Village is another hub of trendy eating and distinctive shopping.

The East Side

There was a time when people referred to the once low-keyed Leslieville neighborhood as “Lesbianiville,” as it has long been a queer-welcoming part of town with a high number of women-owned households and businesses. It’s still true that this charming area just across the Don River Valley, a couple of miles east of the city center, is LGBTQ-embracing. But like its cross-town counterpart, West Queen West, Leslieville has also gentrified rapidly, becoming both extremely hipster-identified and increasingly more expensive. There’s good and bad in this development, of course, but for visitors, the clutch of stylish shops and restaurants is mostly a net positive. You’ll find the best exploring along the main drag, Queen Street East, from the bridge across the Don River clear out to Coxwell Avenue. Narrow, mostly residential streets intersect with Queen and are lovely for a stroll. To the northeast, Gerrard Street is home to Little India, known for its concentration of authentic Indian restaurants. And to the south, the Studio District has increasingly become known as a center of Toronto’s renowned film and television production industry.

North of the City Centre and curving down toward the lake between Leslieville and Corktown and Old Toronto neighborhoods, the Don Valley is home to funky Cabbagetown, a historic district filled with one-of-a-kind shops and restaurants. It’s long been popular with Toronto’s LGBTQ community, both as a place to live and pass time. As you head a bit north through Don Valley, you’ll find several of the city’s more pastoral and relaxing draws, including Riverdale Farm, a working farm operation with goats, pigs, hens, and other stock; and—a 20-minute drive north—magificent Edwards Gardens–Toronto Botanical Gardens, which offer acres of seasonal gardens of every ilk, from carefully manicured knot and terrace gardens to wilder patches of green.

The Toronto Islands and Hanlan’s Point Clothing-Optional Beach

Sunbathers at Toronto’s clothing-optional Hanlan’s Point beach

Among cities situated on North America’s Great Lake, Toronto has one of the prettiest stretches of shoreline, and the best way to experience it is by catching one of the frequent, inexpensive passenger ferries from Queens Quay (in the downtown Financial District, near the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel) to the Toronto Islands, a small cluster of isles about a mile or two offshore.

The view of Toronto’s Financial District and waterfront from the ferry to the Toronto Islands

For LGBTQ folks, and also fans of nude sunbathing, the top destination on the Toronto Islands is Hanlan’s Point, which is one of the three spots the ferries offer service to. This pretty stretch of south-facing sand offers panoramic lake views and is officially clothing optional (although public sex here and elsewhere in the city is forbidden). You can catch a ferry anytime of year, but they run more frequently from late spring through early fall, with the first departures in the morning and the last returns late in the evening. The ferry to Hanlan’s Point take maybe 15 minutes, and the round-trip fare is about $8.

It’s not hard to find the most gay-popular section of the beach. Just make sure you catch the ferry to Hanlan’s Point (and not one of the other islands), and once you dock, walk along the paved path for roughly 15 minutes. When it’s nice out, there’s usually a posse of queer folk leading the way, and the clothing-optional section of the beach is also well-signed. The sand is soft and pleasant, and because the tide is usually quite gentle, it’s a pretty popular spot for swimming, too. If you’d rather laze about wearing a swimsuit, fear not—it’s not a big deal either way, and as many as half of the folks at Hanlan’s Point Beach on any given day choose to wear clothing.

Gay-popular Hanlan’s Point has both clothing-optional and clothing-required sections

From Hanlan’s Point beach, you can also follow the paved walkway to the largest of the isles, Centre Island, which has all sort of family-friendly amusements, snack vendors, and gardens. For a change of pace, I like ending my afternoon on Centre Island and taking the ferry back downtown from here.

If you’re looking for a fun place to relax after a day visiting the Toronto Islands, or simply seeking a beautiful spot for swimming with great views of the city, consider visiting Cabana Pool Bar, an upscale roofdeck at Polson Pier, overlooking the waterfront, with private cabanas, lounge chairs, a swimming pool, and a hip restaurant. A Pride pool party takes place here each June.

Where to Eat in Toronto

When it comes to culinary diversity, Toronto is unrivaled in Canada. You’ll find entire neighborhoods abounding with the cuisine of different parts of the world, from the Danforth (Greek food) to Kensington Market (Asian, and especially Chinese, dining). The Gay Village has a handful of predominantly queer-frequented spots that have a fun vibe if not necessarily the most interesting food in town. Amid downtown’s office towers and luxury hotels, you’ll find a number of snazzy, upscale restaurant options. But the most interesting places to eat in Toronto tend to be its outlying neighborhoods, largely to the west of downtown, but also including Leslieville, to the east.

As tends to be the case in gay bar districts, Church Street Village has plenty of mostly casual and affordable dining options, but it's not really a stand-out neighborhood for food. You'll find pretty good pizza, panini, and other Italian fare at Sambucas on Church, consistently good burgers and other pub favorites (plus a nice beer selection) at Hair of the Dog, . Some of the best dining spots in Church Street Village are Asian, and they include Kintaro Izakaya, which serves excellent tuna and beef tataki, okonomiyaki pancakes, skewers, sushi, and other treats. A little south of the main bar action, Kinton Ramen is an excellent option for pork shoyu, chicken miso, fried chicken karaage, and deep-fried octopus balls.

You’ll find dozens of high-profile restaurants, including some of Toronto’s most exciting options, in the City Centre. Quite a few of these are inside hotels (you’ll see descriptions of some in Where to Stay, above). For enticing classic French fare with a Parisian-inspired ambience, consider Biff’s Bistro, which turns out superb steak tartare, moules frites, braised lamb shoulder with spatzle and mint, and duck confit with farmhouse bacon. Close to the City Centre, near Corktown and the Distillery District, inviting and romantic Mengrai Thai has earned a stellar reputation for flavorful "royal cuisine" of Sasi Meechai—the striped bass with a rich tamarind-coconut sauce is a standout. Chef Meechai also offers cooking classes. Another star when it comes to Thai dining in the City Centre, Kiin occupies a stylish, modern dining room and focuses on contemporary fare, much of it rooted in the country’s northern regions. Try the soft-shell crab with mango salad and a chili-lime garlic dressing, or braised short ribs with Bombay curry.

Expect a line out the door at Tsujiri, the Toronto outpost of the Kyoto, Japan cafe that has famous for matcha tea and related snacks (shaved ice, cake-blended ice cream, macarons, tea cakes, and more) since 1860. A few blocks west, closer to the famously eclectic dining in and around Kensington Market, Kekou Gelato is another must for Asian-inspired sweets—all of the gelato here, which comes in a range of interesting flavors like Vietnamese coffee, rosewater pistachio, and peanut-sesame—is made in-house with real fruit, teas, and other ingredients. Hip Asian bistro DaiLo is another of the neighborhood’s hot spots, with varied fare like whole-fried trout with green-curry aioli and fried winter melon with cured pork belly, while neighboring Bar Raval draws crowds with its delectable Catalonian pixtos and see-and-be-seen crowd. Raval has a few trendy sister establishments worth checking out, including the nearby mezcal bar El Rey. And with a distinctly global accent, R&D on Spadina Avenue is a must for its modern takes on Asian cuisine, including slow-cooked octopus with chimichurri, gochujang, and Sichuan cauliflower couscous, and whole-roasted Peking-style duck with roasted-garlic hoisin and steamed baos. It’s a sexy space, and the drinks list is also impressive.

North of the City Centre in Midtown, if you’re seeking a lovely special-occasion dining experience following your tour of the aptly elegant and nearby-ish Casa Loma, make a reservation for dinner at Scaramouche, an upscale French restaurant that’s as famous for its majestic hilltop views of the Toronto skyline as for expertly prepared dishes like sustainably raised BC caviar with crispy potatoes and crème fraiche, and bacon-wrapped venison loin red wine jus and a mustard cream. The wine list numbers in the 200s, and the desserts are truly decadent.

Get your coffee fix at Te Aro in Leslieville

In the city's East End, Leslieville has steadily evolved into one of Toronto's most alluring restaurant neighborhoods. Just stroll along the Queen Street East and you'll pass one inviting bistro or cafe after another. Starting nearest downtown in the Riverside section of the area, Boxcar Social—which has a few other locations around the city—is a smart little cafe with exposed brick walls and high ceilings, and a fine selection of coffee drinks and cocktails plus a short but noteworthy menu of brunch and dinner fare. In the front of the same building, drop by Chez Nous Wine Bar to sample vino produced exclusively in Ontario, much of it just across the lake in the acclaimed Niagara-on-the-Lake region. Other standouts as you make your way east along Queen Street include stylish Tabule for contemporary Middle Eastern fare, Pilot Coffee Roasters is a mod industrial space with a large patio and top-quality cold brews and hot espresso drinks using first-rate beans, plus tempting scones, cookies, and sandwiches. With fun retro vibe and locally driven comfort fare, White Lily Diner is a terrific choice for breakfast (served all day), lunch, and dinner. Smoked-trout omelets and pastrami sandwiches are among the standouts, and there’s a full bar serving up first-rate cocktails, and the diner is justly famous for its colorful doughnuts, in flavors like brown-butter cinnamon and vanilla chai.

Just a little beyond Leslieville, Gerrard Street between about Greenwood and Coxwell avenues, is a thriving Little India with several outstanding options, including the vegetarian restaurant Udupi Palace, with its savory dosas and house-made sambhar. A little farther north and about 3 miles east of Church Street Gay Village, the Danforth has several a slew of Greek restaurants and other Greek-owned businesses, especially on the blocks nearest intersecting Pape Avenue. There’s plenty to choose from in the Danforth, but I especially like Pantheon Restaurant for its extensive selection of seafood, and Mezes, where you and a few friends can create a huge, satisfying feast by ordering a bunch of small plates (garlicky skordalia, fried eggplant with kefalograviera cheese, pickled octopus) from the extensive menu.

On the Ossington strip, you'll find a clutch of stylish, modern restaurants that tend to pull in a scene-y crowd. Böehmer stands out for seasonally inspired modern Canadian fare, like pan-seared Québec foie gras with a blackcurrant puree, and Fogo Island cod and butter-poached snow crab with purple potatoes and a thyme and caper beurre blanc. It's a spendy spot, but the happy hour features nicely priced drinks and $2 oysters on the half shell. Other highlights along this strip include Côte de Bœuf, which borrows its inspiration from the neighborhood butcher shops of Paris and turns out perfectly executive steak tartare, smoked-duck salad, and rib-eye steak with duck-fat potatoes; festive Bellwoods Brewery, where you can sip dry-hopped sours and barrel-aged farmhouse ales on a breezy terrace that adjoins the brewery's own bottle shop; and Foxley Bistro and Bar, where flavorful, deftly prepared modern Asian and Latin fare keeps regulars coming back again and again. Look to trendy Superpoint for exceptional pizza and pasta (plus burrata salad with sweet anchovy—there’s a second “express” branch in Parkdale.

The superb upscale Italian eatery Buca is close to the Queen Street West action (it has two branches elsewhere in the city, and they’re also excellent. This is a terrific spot for well-curated charcuterie and cheese plates, hand-made pastas with creative sauces (such as cavatelli with braised wild boar and black kale), and hearty seafood and meat grills, like while grilled branzino fish and dry-aged steaks. The futuristic, minimalist dining room at Canis has quickly become one of the city’s hottest culinary destinations. Chef Jeff Kang’s creations are both artful and sublime—the menu changes constantly to take advantage of what’s seasonal and local, but recent gems have included beef with maitake mushrooms and pumpkin miso, and duck with celeriac and currants. With two locations along Queen Street West, one in Trinity Bellwoods and another—with a particularly inviting back patio—in Parkdale, Grand Electric Taqueria serves up reasonably authentic and unquestionably delicious albacore ceviche as well as flavorful tacos with a variety of interesting fillings (charred poblano, braised beef cheeks, smoked pork belly with pineapple).

The increasingly hip Junction neighborhood

In Roncesvalles, between Parkdale and the Junction (where you'll also find a second branch), look to Pizzeria Defina for some of the most tantalizingly tasty wood-fired pies in the city. Among the stellar offerings, the Kachka Confit is topped with fior di latte, duck confit, roasted pear, gorgonzola, arugula, pecorino, truffle honey, and Saskatoon berries; and they've won awards for the pizza with nduja sausage, San Marzano tomato sauce, bufala mozzarella, hen of the woods mushrooms, tarragon, and basil.

Toronto LGBTQ Bars

Although dozens of nightspots all over Toronto cultivate a mixed, and certainly queer-welcoming, clientele, the heart of the city’s gay clubbing sector remains Church Street Village, where you’ll find everything from cozy neighborhood bars to pulsing dance clubs, plus gay saunas and a nationally regarded queer theater space. Like many “gayborhoods,” this one has become a bit more mixed over the years, but it remains quite vibrant and queer-centric, and it’s been going strong for decades.

The neighborhood is just on the northeastern edge of downtown, within walking distance of quite a few hotels, and most of the clubs and bars are along a rainbow-bannered span of Church Street that runs several blocks between Gerrard and Bloor streets. But you’ll also find a few nightspots on the neighborhood’s cross streets, between Yonge and Jarvis streets. The neighborhood is at the center of Toronto Gay Pride festivities each June, and if you tuned in to the popular U.S. version of the TV show Queer As Folk, the neighborhood might even feel a bit familiar—in the show it stood in as a filming location for Pittsburgh’s gay bar district.

If you're looking for fun clubwear, underwear, swimwear, and Pride gifts and goodies, duck into Out on the Street, a colorful shop with everything from Andrew Christian mesh briefs to lube and dildos to Pride decals, flags, and apparel. It's just a few doors up the street from The 519, Toronto's LGBTQ community center, which is a great resource for residents and even visitors.

Woody’s, one of Canada’s most famous gay bars

Hot spots among the Village bars include the Black Eagle, which draws the sort of Scruff-oriented men bars with this name traditionally appeal to. Campy and colorful Crews & Tangos stages some of the best drag shows in Canada; a members only-club ($50 annual membership) with nude male dancers. Stylish and modern Boutique Bar has one of the most pleasant street-side terraces in the neighborhood and is known for its superbly crafted cocktails (including a bunch of over-the-top decadent options that are decidedly dessert-like).

For more than 30 years, the classic gay video bar Woody's and its adjacent sister bar, The Sailor, have stood out as arguably the de rigueur stop for drinks on Church Street. Comprising five different bars and with consistently fun music, drag shows, racy gay videos, a pool table, and good drink specials, this bubbling cauldron of male cruisiness knows its audience and consistently delivers. Flash is right next to Woody's and the Sailor and is a bit hobbled by its reputation for pricey drinks and inconsistent talent, but it can be a fun place to go to watch nude go-go boys.

For dancing into the wee hours, look to the massive (and massively popular) Fly 2.0, which offers three floors of music (mostly techno and house, spun by some of the country's top DJs) and features a stable of sexy go-go boys, a dark room, and a pulsing vibe.

Other hangouts in the neighborhood draw a more mixed crowd, such as the Church Mouse, a Firkin Pub, with its vast international beer selection and updated comfort food; and Church Street Garage is notable for its large outdoor seating area and friendly ambience. The food and drinks are pretty standard, but it's a nice place to while away an afternoon or evening with friends.

One must-visit for a bit of important queer history is Glad Day Bookshop, the longest-running LGBTQ bookshop in the world. Although it moved to its 499 Church Street location in 2016, it had operated a few minutes’ walk away at 598 Yonge Street for the previous 46 years. How has something so antiquated-sounding as an indie bookstore continued to thrive? Fortunately, the owners have augmented the retail space with a bar, coffeehouse, and restaurant, and there are all kinds of fun events, from Sunday drag brunch to book launches to weekend dance parties.

Tallaluh’s dance party, at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre

The long-running queer theater venue Buddies in Bad Times Theatre presents highly entertaining shows throughout the year and also hosts Tallulah's on Saturday evenings, a welcoming dance party with different music themes and great drag shows. Proceeds from these parties go toward supporting the venue's theater programs.

Outside Church Street Village, the city has a number of other nightspots with a queer following. Down Church Street several blocks from the Village and closer to downtown and St. Lawrence Market, Club 120 is sprawling diner by day that morphs into a huge dance club most evenings, including one of the largest T-Girl parties (on Thursdays) around, the mixed sex party Fukd on every other Sunday, and a slew of other intriguing parties, live music shows, and more.

On Queen Street West just a little west of Downtown and Old Toronto, Rivoli is a long-running, gender-fluid hangout for dining on globally inspired food, watching live-music and comedy shows (often with LGBTQ themes), and shooting pool. By the LGBTQ-popular Gladstone Hotel, whose bar and restaurants are highly popular with the gay community, the Beaver Cafe is a queer-welcoming restaurant and bar an endearingly divey, artsy ambience, excellent cocktails, RuPaul's Drag Race viewings, genderqueer dance parties, and more.

Toronto Gay Sex Clubs and Saunas

You'll find a couple of very well-established men's venues for cruising and sex in Toronto, along with above-mentioned Club 120, which has sex parties that are geared to other members of the queer community, depending on the night, from guys to trans people.

Right in the middle of Church Street Village, there's a well-maintained and very popular outpost of the well-known gay-sauna franchise Steamworks Baths, which you may also know from its locations in Chicago, Seattle, Vancouver, and—just outside San Francisco—Berkeley. Located just steps from Woody's, Pegasus Bar, and other neighborhood fixtures, Steamworks Baths is open around the clock and has a full-service gym, lockers, public play areas (including a slurp ramp and porn areas, a whirlpool, eucalyptus steam room, dry sauna, and more. Just down the street and around the corner, Spa Excess is also open 24/7 and has its own loyal following as well as a fully licensed bar. It's also quite popular and draws big crowds on weekends.

All photography at AndrewsTraveling.com is by Andrew Collins, unless otherwise noted.

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Jun 13 Toronto LGBTQIA+ Guide - 2024 Toronto LGBTQIA+ Pride