HTO Beach & Park- Toronto, ON

Located on the banks of Lake Ontario, you’d expect Toronto to have an exciting waterfront. Until recently, you’d have been fairly disappointed, unless you like creepy abandoned factories. 

Historically, the city’s harbor area was mostly industrial, and even when the factories left, their pollution remained. Over the past few decades however, many sites have been remediated, and emerged as recreation areas along the lake. Completed in 2007, the six acre HtO Beach and Park is one of these reclaimed areas. 

While you can’t swim here, there is a boardwalk, sand, umbrellas, and Muskoka chairs (which are essentially the same as Adirondack chairs, but Canadian). There are also kayaks available, for those that want to venture out on the water. 

Designed to evoke Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, on a warm day, it’s certainly as popular- as both the painting and the Parisian park on the banks of the River Seine it depicts.