Spectacular landscapes beyond the skylines of the GTA.

Outside of campus and city life, and within minutes of leaving their respective city centres, University of Toronto students can easily explore dramatic Canadian landscapes, nearby urban areas and small historic communities. Accessible by ferry, the Toronto Islands are the largest urban car-free community in North America. Their beaches are popular destinations and the Centreville Amusement Park, kayak rentals and a frisbee golf course make for a great day’s outing. Also on the lakefront you’ll find Porter Airlines, which shuttles passengers from the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to destinations such as Montreal, New York, Chicago and Boston.

Not far from Toronto you can hike Rattlesnake Point and Nassagaweya Canyon, camp and canoe in Algonquin Park, cross-country ski through caves carved by glacial ice in Collingwood, snowmobile at Blue Mountain or experience the second largest waterfall on earth, Niagara Falls. Many of the parks, beaches and lakes in Ontario were the inspiration for The Group of Seven painters and remain pristine natural sites to explore. The Great Lakes and its 30,000 islands offer unlimited options for fishing, water skiing and sailing in the summer, and some of Canada’s most impressive cross-country skiing in the winter. The Stratford Shakespeare Festival and the Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the-Lake are in easy reach of Toronto are cultural destinations unto themselves.

The Greater Toronto Area is a point of local, national and international departure. Buses and trains provide transportation to nearby Canadian cities such as Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City which many students visit for their art galleries, libraries, festivals and academic summits. The main airport serving the GTA is Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga. It is Canada’s largest and busiest airport with 65 airlines providing service to over 150 global destinations.