Toronto Waterfront: Harbourfront to Sherbourne Common

Start around two hours before sunset. You get the Music Garden in soft light, the beaches at their liveliest, and Sherbourne Common’s light sculptures switched on as you finish. Summer weekends are busiest; weekday evenings are calmer.

The 509 and 510 streetcars leave from underground platforms at Union Station and run along Queens Quay. The 114 bus covers Queens Quay East. Walking between Union and the waterfront takes about 20 minutes; the underpasses beneath the rail corridor and the Gardiner are the only unlovely part.

All six stops cost nothing, and so do The Power Plant gallery and most outdoor programming at Harbourfront Centre. Pay-what-you-can and free concerts in summer are common; check the official site before you go.

Children tend to love the sand at HTO Park and Sugar Beach, the splash pad at Sherbourne Common and watching the island ferries dock. Harbourfront Centre runs family programming in summer, and the pond there becomes an outdoor skating rink in winter, conditions permitting.

The Farm Boy grocery inside Queen’s Quay Terminal is the simplest way to assemble a picnic for the Music Garden or HTO Park. Harbourfront Centre has seasonal food stalls, especially during weekend festivals.

The Westin Harbour Castle sits right beside the ferry terminal, and the Radisson Admiral Harbourfront is on Queens Quay West. Staying anywhere near Union Station keeps you a short walk or one streetcar stop from the lake.

Redpath still refines sugar right on the harbour, and lake freighters unload raw sugar across the slip from Sugar Beach. The Redpath Sugar Museum is at the refinery, 95 Queens Quay East; check the official site for current opening.

The Martin Goodman Trail is a busy two-way bike path running alongside the promenade, and the streetcar tracks sit in their own right-of-way in the middle of the road. Cross at the signals. The beaches are not lifeguarded and swimming is not permitted.