Quick facts
- Area
- Midtown, north of Bloor between Avenue Rd and Yonge
- Best time
- Year-round; spring and autumn are ideal
- Getting there
- Bay or Bloor-Yonge subway stations
- Time needed
- Half day to full day
Yorkville occupies a specific place in Toronto’s imagination. The neighbourhood just north of Bloor Street between Avenue Road and Yonge was originally a separate Victorian village annexed by Toronto in 1883. In the 1960s it became the city’s bohemian heart — Joni Mitchell and Neil Young played the coffeehouses, and the Mynah Bird and the Riverboat were the centre of Canadian folk music. By the 1980s, property values had transformed the neighbourhood beyond recognition, and today Yorkville is Toronto’s unambiguous luxury district, with Bloor Street West here serving as the Canadian Madison Avenue. Chanel, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co, Gucci, and Prada all maintain flagship stores within a three-block stretch.
But the Victorian bones of the old village are still visible in the side streets. Cumberland Street, Yorkville Avenue, and the mews behind the main shopping strip hide the best restaurants, the most interesting boutiques, and some of the city’s most beautifully preserved 19th-century architecture. Yorkville rewards visitors who look beyond the luxury retail facade.
What to see and do in Yorkville
Royal Ontario Museum
The ROM sits at Yorkville’s southwestern corner where Bloor Street meets Queen’s Park Crescent. Canada’s largest museum is a half-day commitment on its own — see the Toronto things-to-do guide for the full description. The Michael Lee-Chin Crystal addition punctures the original Edwardian building with a striking glass-and-aluminum extension that has become one of Toronto’s architectural landmarks.
Book Royal Ontario Museum ticketsBloor Street West luxury shopping
The “Mink Mile” runs along Bloor Street between Avenue Road and Yonge Street — arguably the most concentrated luxury retail corridor in Canada. The international flagships are the main draw (Chanel, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Tiffany, Prada, Cartier, Burberry, Saint Laurent, and many others), along with Canadian luxury department store Holt Renfrew on the west end of the strip. Even window-shopping the entire stretch takes an hour.
Yorkville Village and courtyards
Behind the Bloor Street flagship stores, the side streets open onto a different-scaled neighbourhood. Yorkville Village (formerly the Hazelton Lanes mall) is a refined shopping complex with restaurants and boutiques arranged around an interior courtyard. Cumberland Court, Hazelton Lanes, and the Yorkville Park (with its famous Canadian Shield granite rock installed in the 1990s) are the pocket public spaces that give Yorkville its village feel despite the expensive surroundings.
The Village of Yorkville Park
The small park between Cumberland Street and Yorkville Avenue is one of Toronto’s most successful pieces of landscape architecture. The park was designed as a series of distinct landscape “rooms” — a pine forest room, a perennial garden room, a marsh, a clock garden, and the enormous Canadian Shield granite rock installed as the centrepiece. Each room represents a different Ontario landscape. Sit here for twenty minutes and watch Yorkville’s pedestrian rhythm pass by.
Art galleries
Yorkville has one of the densest concentrations of commercial art galleries in Canada. Several of the city’s most established dealers operate along Hazelton Avenue and Scollard Street — specialising in Canadian Group of Seven and Inuit art, contemporary Canadian painting, and international modern and contemporary work. The galleries are open to the public without appointment and provide a look at the Canadian art market at its most established.
Where to stay in Yorkville
Four Seasons Hotel Toronto on Yorkville Avenue is the neighbourhood’s most prestigious address and one of the city’s top luxury hotels. The 55-storey tower completed in 2012 includes a destination spa, a serious bar programme, and the Café Boulud restaurant on the ground floor.
Park Hyatt Toronto at the corner of Bloor and Avenue Road was fully renovated in 2021 and reopened as a flagship property for the brand. The hotel’s location immediately across Bloor from the ROM makes it the best choice for museum-focused travellers.
Hazelton Hotel on Yorkville Avenue is the boutique luxury option — 77 rooms, white-glove service, and the ONE Restaurant on the ground floor (a long-running celebrity favourite during the Toronto International Film Festival).
InterContinental Toronto Yorkville (formerly the Windsor Arms) is another historic luxury option, though with a different character than the newer anchors.
For other Toronto hotel options, see the Toronto neighborhoods guide.
Where to eat and drink in Yorkville
Yorkville’s restaurant scene rivals any neighbourhood in Canada for the concentration of serious fine dining.
Fine dining
Café Boulud at the Four Seasons is Daniel Boulud’s Toronto outpost — French-influenced contemporary cuisine, an outstanding cheese programme, and arguably the neighbourhood’s best wine list. ONE Restaurant at the Hazelton Hotel draws a consistent celebrity clientele during TIFF and year-round. Sotto Sotto on Avenue Road is a long-running Italian institution that has been serving truffle-heavy pasta to Toronto’s establishment for decades.
Contemporary
Sabai Sabai on Church Street (technically just south of Yorkville but within walking distance) does some of the best Thai in the city. Kasa Moto in the heart of Yorkville combines Japanese small plates with a rooftop patio that is a summer destination in itself.
Coffee and brunch
Boxcar Social (multiple locations including Yorkville) and Dineen Coffee on Yonge bring serious specialty coffee to the area. For brunch, Coffee Oysters Champagne at Yorkville Village is reliably excellent and the name accurately describes what is served.
Bars and cocktails
The Toronto Yorkville Club (members only, so only relevant if you are invited), DaiLo’s bar in Little Italy (a short cab ride), and the various hotel bars (the Park Hyatt’s bar is particularly good) cover the drinking end of the neighbourhood’s offering. The Four Seasons has a quiet lobby bar that has long been a discreet meeting spot for Toronto’s establishment.
The history of Yorkville
Yorkville’s evolution from separate village to bohemian centre to luxury district is worth a paragraph. The village was founded in 1830 by Joseph Bloor (the eponymous street) and Sheriff William Botsford Jarvis. It was annexed by Toronto in 1883 as the city expanded northward. Through the early 20th century it was a middle-class residential neighbourhood.
In the 1960s, Yorkville briefly became Canada’s most important folk music centre — Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Ian and Sylvia Tyson, and many others played the Riverboat, the Purple Onion, the Mynah Bird, and the other coffeehouses along Yorkville Avenue and Cumberland Street. The Summer of Love in 1967 reached Toronto through Yorkville.
Property speculation in the 1970s and 1980s transformed the neighbourhood. The coffeehouses closed, the Victorian rowhouses were converted to boutiques and offices, and the international luxury retailers began moving in. By the 1990s, Yorkville was fully established in its current form.
Getting to Yorkville
By TTC: Bay subway station and Bloor-Yonge subway station both serve Yorkville directly. Both are on the Bloor-Danforth line, with connections at Bloor-Yonge to the Yonge-University line for travel from downtown. Transit is the easiest option.
On foot: From the downtown core, Yorkville is a 20-30 minute walk north along Yonge or University. The walk is pleasant in good weather.
By car: Parking is available at several Yorkville garages but is expensive. The convenience is limited — transit is faster and cheaper.
When to visit Yorkville
Spring (April to June) is Yorkville at its most pleasant — the Victorian side streets have mature trees leafing out, the patios open, and the neighbourhood feels its village character most strongly.
Autumn (September and October) coincides with the Toronto International Film Festival (early September) when Yorkville transforms. The restaurants host industry dinners, the hotels fill with A-list talent, and the sidewalks have a noticeable buzz. Even without tickets, the atmosphere is worth experiencing.
Winter can be cold but the indoor experience — the shopping, the museums, the hotel bars — is year-round. December brings festive lights along Bloor Street.
Summer is warm and busy. The outdoor patios are at their peak, but the neighbourhood can feel quieter in August when many of its residents leave for cottage country.
Related Toronto guides
- Toronto neighborhoods for the broader orientation
- Queen West for the creative counterpoint to Yorkville
- Toronto things to do for the full attraction list
- Toronto food guide for dining citywide