Leisure, Sports & Entertainment

Entertainment | Parks and Natural Areas | Sporting Activities

The multicultural makeup of the Greater Toronto Area is reflected in the array of cultural, sports, entertainment and culinary choices available. The GTA is renowned in North America for the variety and quality of its cultural and recreational attractions.

Entertainment

The Greater Toronto Area is the third largest centre of live English-language theatrical stage productions in the world, after London and New York. The annual Fringe Theater Festival gives over 100 small theater companies an opportunity to stage their alternative productions to a large audience in the Toronto area. Local professional and amateur theater seasons can also be found across the region.

Toronto is the third largest film and television production centre in North America and has come to be known as “Hollywood North”. Many of the municipalities in the region serve as locations for major feature films and television series.

Toronto’s music scene caters to all tastes. Roy Thomson Hall is home to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO), a world-class orchestra that maintains a strong international presence. The Canadian Opera Company (COC) and the National Ballet of Canada (NBC) are also world-class companies producing the classic operas and ballets. The new Four Seasons Centre, scheduled to open in 2006, will be home to the COC and NBC. This 2,000-seat theater is specifically designed for opera and ballet and features the highest level of acoustics.

Jazz lovers can see and hear international musicians in Toronto clubs and at the annual International Jazz Festival. For popular music, Toronto is regular stop for major touring acts. Smaller clubs and large venues such as the Molson Amphitheatre, the Air Canada Centre, and Massey Hall feature some of the most impressive line-ups on the live circuit.

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Parks and Natural Areas

While it is a major urban region, the Greater Toronto Area provides its residents with a healthy infrastructure of parks, green spaces and protected natural areas. The GTA has1,400 square km designated green out of the region’s 7,042 square km landmass. These green lands include Rouge Park, the largest natural environment ‘in-city’ park in North America, as well as 60,000 acres of publicly owned green lands, wetlands, parks and conservation areas.

There are also many recreational ravines and riverside hiking trails. The Martin Goodman Trail, designed for biking, jogging, and inline skating runs along shore of Lake Ontario. In the winter, the Toronto region offers abundant ice-skating facilities, groomed snowmobile trails, and alpine and cross-country ski resorts.

Sporting Activities

Sporting activities for adults and children are available at a multitude of local community centres. A fast-growing sport is rock and wall climbing, with a number of facilities throughout the Toronto area that offer instruction and practice space. There are also many semi-professional and amateur athletic clubs that have nurtured generations of Canadian Olympic athletes.

For Sports fans, Toronto is home to six professional sports teams:

In addition to professional sports, there are many opportunities in every community to join local hockey, baseball, and soccer associations.

Golf lovers can practice this popular sport at over 100 courses in the Greater Toronto Area, mostly at reasonable prices. Toronto Harbor, one of the most beautiful leisure areas on the Great Lakes, is home to professional and amateur sail boat racers, and is a destination for tour boaters and those who enjoy walking, inline skating and cycling along Toronto’s picturesque lakefront. Oakville and Bronte Harbors also accommodate several hundred sail and power boats as well as recreational facilities.

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Halton

Burlington is one of many cities that are part of the Waterfront Regeneration Trust's 740 km waterfront trail system, connected to Brockville in the east and Niagara-on-the-Lake in the west along this trail. Burlington's waterfront provides residents and visitors with a unique opportunity to participate in a variety of waterfront activities such as cycling and roller blading, or playing volleyball at the beach.

Durham

The fresh blooms of spring can be enjoyed in the Region of Durham while walking trails along the Oak Ridges Moraine or the waterfronts of lake Scugog, Simcoe or Ontario. Second Marsh Wildlife Area in Oshawa offers walking and hiking trails as well as the opportunity to do some bird watching in this 123-hectare wetland. For added excitement, spring also heralds in a new season of racing at Mosport International Speedway.

York

The history of Ontario’s peoples, explorers and settlers are entwined in the network of York Region trails, telling a story of ancestral travel and trade. The south shore of Lake Simcoe and just south of it, the Holland River, both feature many full service marinas. Or, Gallop, canter or trot... ...your way around wide open fields or through the shade of a wooded path. York Region's 20,000 horses make it one of Canada's riding capitals.

Peel

The City of Mississauga’s continuous Trail passes 11 parks and Rattray Marsh, one of the few remaining wetlands along Lake Ontario. There are plenty of cafes and restaurants along Lakeshore Rd. particularly the Port Credit area. St. Lawrence Park a beautifully designed stretch of waterfront that features historic artifacts from the area's former industrial days.

For detailed information on all the socio-cultural and entertainment activities within the Greater Toronto Area, visit the regions’ and municipalities’ websites.

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