How to plan the ultimate road trip to Toronto this holiday season

Whether you’re visiting family for the holidays, or just want a big-city getaway, Toronto is the perfect place to head to over the holiday season.

While there are a great number of events going on around the downtown core to keep you busy, there are plenty of holiday activities you can do, right from the moment you unpack your suitcases.

From small pit stops to afternoon events, here are a few things you can do to make your road trip in Toronto a little more festive.

Holiday lights around the city

Destination Toronto

Regardless of where you’re staying, Toronto is gleaming with festive lights you can soak in on your way to different events.

Some of the classic city stops adorned in their yearly festive string lights will be at Toronto’s landmark locations like Casa Loma, The Distillery District, and Yonge-Dundas Square. The Hudson’s Bay location in Toronto, located at Queen Street between Bay Street and Yonge Street, always puts up exciting festive displays to make your window shopping a little more eye-catching.

There’ll also be Holiday Night of Lights — a walk-through experience featuring more than 1.5 million LED lights, pop-up performances, bumper cars on ice, and more — at Assembly Park just north of the city, running from November 24 until January 7.

Shop around at a holiday market

Distillery Winter Village (seeusoontravel/Destination Toronto)

Road trips into the city are never complete unless you pick up a few souvenir stocking stuffers, or pick up those last-minute gifts (we’re not judging).

Kensington Market is one of Toronto’s main community destinations, with its Winter Solstice Festival happening on December 21, while The Distillery Winter Village is another classic holiday mainstay in the city. For a market outside the downtown core, The Junction is throwing its annual Window Wonderland, showcasing the area’s small businesses and transforming it into an outdoor art gallery — featuring 20 unique augmented reality (AR) installations.

A must-visit is also North America’s largest shipping container market, Stackt Market, for their Holiday Hills event from November 18 until December 31. The event will feature workshops, concerts, a Ferris wheel, games, food, and the city’s best small businesses. Stackt Market will also be throwing “Shop the Block” from November 29 to December 11, bringing local brands together just in time for gifting season.

Black Creek Pioneer Village

Jeff Smith/Unsplash

The holidays have a rather nostalgic quality that’ll have you longing for simpler times. Luckily for those on this path down memory lane, there’s no better place to revisit a simpler time than Black Creek Pioneer Village — located just south of Steeles Avenue West and east of Jane Street.

For the month of December, Santa will take a short break during his busiest time of year to come to Black Creek during the day. While he’s visiting, there will be an opportunity to try toy making, craft old-time holiday decorations, and get to experience a wintery puppet show. 

There’ll also be a Jingle Bell Jam Session and a few of those reindeer games Rudolph wasn’t allowed to play.

If you’re not able to make it during the day, Black Creek also hosts a few Festive Nights featuring a lot of the same activities.

Glow Christmas

Glow Christmas (Destination Toronto)

For those looking for an awesome lighting event, Glow Christmas will be happening at the Toronto Congress Centre.

The event is billed as Canada’s premium indoor Christmas festival. Outside of the lighting display, you’ll be able to visit Mrs. Claus in her kitchen to help her bake some Christmas cookies and take a ride on Glen the Glow-comotive.

With an elaborate indoor lighting display that follows this year’s “Around the World” theme, the Merry Makers’ Market provides plenty of holiday shopping and a rotating cast of performers — including the big man himself! This event is sure to be the guiding light in your holiday road trip.

To discover more about what Toronto has to offer during the Holidays, check out Discover Toronto’s free Pass TO Savings — a mobile-exclusive passport. Users can get up to 20% off of some of Toronto’s best attractions and experiences.