There’s free yoga on-site, and the restaurant, Drake Commissary, turns out delicious, made-from-scratch meals throughout the day. Two blocks away from the Gladstone, the Drake Hotel is also wonderful, with its 19 rooms cleanly designed yet plush rooms with Bose docking stations, Malin + Goetz toiletries, lofty ceilings, and fun minibar treats.
The hotel’s 37 guest rooms have been individually designed by artists (rotating exhibits are also held in the three gallery spaces), and you’ll pretty much always detect a queer pulse in the hotel’s excellent, locavore-minded Gladstone Cafe and Melody Bar. As Canada’s only B-Corp certified accommodation, it’s also a business that works hard to give back to the community and employ environmentally responsible practices. In the lively West Queen West neighborhood, west of downtown, look to the historic and creative-spirited Gladstone Hotel for its arty vibe and a great location near tons of shops and restaurants as well as tranquil Trinity Bellwoods Park. Here are a handful of excellent options in a variety of price ranges, including a few choices close to the main Church Street Village gay bars. In a city rife with lodging options, from old-world grande dames to sleek and stylish contemporary design hotels, sorting through Toronto’s accommodations landscape can be a little intimidating. Church Street Village is where the colorful Toronto Pride Street Fair takes place, featuring live entertainment, vendors, food, and much more.įor more information on LGBTQ Pride events taking place elsewhere around the country, check out my Canada LGBTQ Pride Calendar. The neighborhood is on the northeastern edge of the City Centre and easily reached from many hotels and via public transportation.
Most events take place in and around the Gay Village, aka Church Street Village, a stretch of Church Street that runs north to south from about Isabella Street to Carlton Street and also includes the blocks on either side (between Yonge and Jarvis streets). Other key gatherings and parties that typically take place during Toronto Pride Month include the Rainbow Flag Raising at City Hall on queer opera, film, museum, and gallery openings and special programs karaoke, cabaret, dance, and swimming pool parties a gay day at Wet ‘N’ Wild water park in nearby Brampton an AIDS Candlelight Vigil the Toronto Dyke March the Toronto Trans March a Pride Night at Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada and much more. There are actually related Pride events taking place in Toronto throughout the month of June, but the big weekend falls toward the end of the month-this could change depending upon where the world is with COVID-19, but Toronto Pride’s festival weekend, including the Toronto Pride Parade, is slated this year for June 24–26, 2022. Drawing more than 1.6 million participants (these numbers have definitely changed since the onset of the pandemic) and allies over a three-day weekend in late June, Toronto Pride is unquestionably a huge event. Toronto LGBTQ Pride 2022īy some measures, Toronto hosts the largest Pride celebrations in North America. But plenty of other districts around the city, from Leslieville to Ossington Avenue to the Junction now attract plenty of queer folks along with other young professionals and creative types.įor more on what to see and do in this exciting metropolis, check out the excellent website, the official engine of Tourism Toronto, and be sure especially to visit the site’s Diversity Page, which has a number of LGBTQ-specific articles, and also its neighborhood guide to Church Street Village. On the edge of downtown, the Church Street Village is still the heart of the LGBTQ community, especially when it comes to nightlife. As a gay destination, Toronto has always had plenty to offer.
One of North America’s most dynamic cities, and an international hub of LGBTQ life, Toronto has changed dramatically in recent years, with a glamorous construction boom (much of it along its attractive shoreline on Lake Ontario), the renaissance of a number of outlying neighborhoods, and a continued explosion of globally influenced cuisine, arts, and culture that reflects the fact that more than half of the city’s nearly 3 million residents were born outside Canada.