A wellness weekend doesn’t always involve checking into a remote retreat. In Toronto, North America’s fourth-largest city, a restorative getaway comes with a cosmopolitan twist. The city’s expansive hotel spas, miles of waterfront trails along Lake Ontario, and fast-growing collection of boutique movement studios make it easy to build a weekend around feeling your best.
Whether you fill your itinerary with spa treatments or outdoor adventures, the city’s culinary scene is just as much a part of nurturing yourself. Toronto’s farm-to-table restaurants, natural wine bars, and afternoon teas offer plenty of ways to fold diverse food and drink experiences into a weekend of wellness. Add in cold plunges, saunas, sound baths, and time in the city’s green spaces, and you have all the ingredients for a full-body reset without sacrificing the pleasures of a great city break.
Bike, stay, and play along the waterfront
The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery at Harbourfront Centre
Courtesy of Destination Toronto
No matter the season, Toronto’s waterfront is one of the city’s best places to clear your head. More than 35 miles of continuous paved trails trace the shores of Lake Ontario, connecting to the much larger Great Lakes Waterfront Trail and giving runners, cyclists, and walkers ample room to stretch their legs. And a 13-minute ferry ride—or a longer paddle—away, the Toronto Islands feel like a mini escape of their own, with bike paths, sandy beaches, and leafy pockets perfect for slowing down.
For a wellness-focused weekend, make the waterfront your home base. Check into Hotel X Toronto at Exhibition Place, steps from Lake Ontario. The property’s 90,000-square-foot sports and fitness complex includes four professional indoor tennis courts, a rooftop pool, and a Guerlain Spa with panoramic views of the lake.
A 15-minute stroll from the water near King Street West, 1 Hotel Toronto takes its inspiration from the Canadian outdoors. Think reclaimed-wood furnishings by local artisans, granite sourced from the Canadian Shield, living plant installations, and a zero-waste approach to dining.
If it’s your first time in Toronto, start at the Harbourfront Centre just southeast of the CN Tower. The waterfront hub is busy with weekend events, from lakeside skating in the winter to food and art festivals in the warmer months. The Power Plant provides a dose of contemporary art, while waterfront terraces like Queens Harbour are ideal for a quick drink and bite with a view.
The Toronto skyline from a Lake Ontario yacht tour
Courtesy of Destination Toronto
Come dusk, take to the water. Active travelers can paddle beneath the changing light on a sunset paddleboarding or kayaking tour around the Toronto Islands, while those seeking a more relaxed pace can board a cruise, such as the historic tall ship Kajama. Either way, you’ll watch the Toronto skyline as it lights up.
For dinner, keep the waterfront in sight at Canoe, perched high above the city in the TD Bank Tower on the 54th floor. The MICHELIN-recommended restaurant pairs sweeping skyline views with a menu that puts Canadian ingredients front and center, from British Columbia halibut and Atlantic crab to wild-foraged mushrooms.
Book a spa treatment and visit fitness studios
Toronto’s indoor wellness scene also offers many ways to refresh and care for yourself. The city has embraced the idea that a workout can be as much about how you feel as how much you sweat, with a new generation of studios combining movement, recovery, and nature-inspired aesthetics.
Start at Othership, the communal contrast-therapy studio that pioneered its concept on Adelaide Street West before expanding to Yorkville. Its flagship feels more like a design-minded sanctuary than a traditional spa, with moody lighting, cedar, and river rocks setting the scene for guided sauna and cold-plunge sessions.
For something more private and expansive, Trove offers solo and group sessions in its infrared sauna, salt cave, cold plunge, and sound bath rooms. Programming ranges from massage therapy and Reiki to vitamin-rich IV drips.
To get your heart rate up, take a movement class. At Jaybird on Queen Street West, infrared-heated yoga and Pilates take place in a dimly lit studio accompanied by an immersive soundtrack.
Or head to Sweat and Tonic, a 25,000-square-foot fitness hub with studios for strength training, HIIT, cycling, boxing, and yoga, plus a recovery spa, nutrition bar, and co-working space. Its location at the Well, a multi-use development, makes it easy to work a little shopping or lunch into the itinerary.
The outdoor terrace at Shangri-La Toronto’s Miraj Hammam Spa
Courtesy of Destination Toronto
You can also slow things down at Shangri-La Toronto with its Fuel & Flow afternoon tea, a wellness-inspired take on the traditional ritual, served in the hotel’s Lobby Lounge with ingredients chosen for their nourishing qualities. Follow it with a Middle Eastern–inspired treatment at the hotel’s Miraj Hammam Spa.
Head west to Little Portugal, where you’ll find some of Toronto’s most innovative seasonal kitchens. At Antler Kitchen and Bar, chef Michael Hunter brings a “wild-to-table” approach to dining with foraged ingredients and game meats like venison, wild boar, and bison. Nearby Gia takes a plant-forward approach to Italian cooking, with house-made pastas including porcini agnolotti and vegan rigatoni bolognese.
Shop and eat local at restaurants and markets in Toronto’s East End
Relaxing in a hammock looking at the Toronto skyline from Riverdale Park
Courtesy of Destination Toronto
Toronto’s Riverside neighborhood has a laid-back feel, where mornings can start with Pilates at Solis in nearby Corktown before brunch at White Lily Diner. The area favorite takes a farm-to-table approach to diner classics, smoking its own meats, baking fresh bread and doughnuts, and growing organic produce at its White Lily Farm outside the city.
Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto
Courtesy of Destination Toronto
Evergreen Brick Works, a former industrial site in the Don River Valley, is part of the sustainable revitalization spreading through the nearby East End. On Saturdays, its year-round farmers market brings together Ontario food producers, and on most Sundays from May through October, the Ontario Artisan and Vintage markets take over, with local makers and vintage vendors selling everything from ceramics and jewelry to art and clothing.
Leave time to explore the trails surrounding Evergreen Brick Works, which connect to Toronto’s extensive ravine network. Wander through the Weston Family Quarry Garden, with its restored wetlands and wildflower meadows, or follow the paths into the Don River Valley for an easy hike or cycle through one of the city’s most unexpectedly wild landscapes.
Round out the afternoon, or ease into the evening, with a drink and bite on the rooftop of the locally loved Broadview Hotel. The restored Romanesque-style building has one of the East End’s best rooftop views, stretching across the Don River Valley toward the Toronto skyline, making it a perfect place to watch the sunset over the city.
