Discover two of Toronto's most colorful and multicultural neighborhoods — Kensington Market and Chinatown — on this guided, 3-hour, small-group walking tour. Experience the sights, sounds and smells of Toronto’s legendary Chinatown. Then explore the unique, bohemian atmosphere of Kensington Market, one of Toronto’s most popular and eclectic neighborhoods. Learn about the history of these areas and visit the locally-owned and operated eateries, unique shops and produce markets while wandering the hidden lanes and alleyways, whose brick walls are filled with stunning graffiti and street art.

3-hour small-group walking tour of Kensington Market and Chinatown
Learn about these two eclectic neighborhoods from your professional local guide
Explore unique shops; visit historical sites; and admire stunning graffiti and street art
Small-group size with a maximum of 12 people ensures a personalized experience
Check out locally-owned and operated eateries, shops, and produce markets and make sure you keep a tally of all the places you’re going to want to come back to later (trust us)
Stop for a coffee or tea in one of the local cafes and sample one of the many international foods available in the neighbourhood at a local shop
This tour is carbon neutral, operated by the world’s largest travel B Corp accredited company.

What's Included

Local English-speaking guide
Stop for a coffee or tea in one of the local cafes
Sample a snack at a local food vendor
Experience the sights, sounds, and smells of Toronto’s legendary Chinatown
Explore the unique, bohemian atmosphere of Kensington Market
Walk the hidden lanes and alleys to discover amazing graffiti art

Hotel pickup and drop-off
Gratuities
Additional snacks and beverages

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

Dundas St West at McCaul St
Toronto, ON M5T 1G4, Canada
Meet at the SW corner of McCaul St and Dundas St West, beside the Art Gallery of Ontario

Start time

10:00 am

End point

Spadina Avenue
Spadina Ave., Toronto, ON, Canada
Dragon City Shopping Centre (SW corner of Spadina Ave. and Dundas St. West)

What To Expect

This walking tour begins at the southwest corner of McCaul Street and Dundas Street West beside the Art Gallery of Ontario. Meet and greet the guide and the rest of the small group and prepare for two hours of adventure around the Kensington Market and Chinatown neighborhoods.

Together, Chinatown and Kensington Market are often bustling, friendly places to visit. Each has its own distinctively different reputation for local and international delicacies, unique vendors and specialty shops — like nowhere else in Toronto. Because they are located right next to one another, it provides a perfect opportunity to explore both in a relatively short amount of time.

Kensington Market is a distinctively multicultural neighborhood, evolving from a working-class Jewish market into a working-class bohemian market. With so many different immigrants settling here over the past century, there is now an ample variety of colors, sounds and flavors from all over the world. Witness the vintage shops, cafes, bakeries and bars, plus the plethora of bare brick walls that have been artfully covered with stunning graffiti murals and street art.

One street over is Chinatown, an area that was first developed in the late 19th century. Enjoy learning about the local stories and interesting history of Canada's largest Chinese community and one of the largest Chinatowns in North America. It’s also one of the busiest areas of the city, with shops, restaurants, historic monuments and more extending along Dundas Street West and Spadina Avenue, located to the west of the center of the city.

The tour ends at the Dragon City Shopping Centre.

Kensington Market

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Chinatown

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
This is a child-friendly tour. Children under the age of 6 are permitted to join this tour free of charge. Please inform us if you’ll be bringing a child under the age of 6.
Tour involves a good amount of walking; comfortable shoes are recommended
Not wheelchair accessible

Near public transportation
Most travellers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 12 travellers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Traveller Photos

Reviews

5.0

105 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travellers.

Showing 1-10 of 105 reviews

Wonderful tour

Jim_H, Sept 2023

Robert is so knowledgeable and engaging. We learned so much about Chinatown and Kensington Market. He was open to any questions and took time to make sure we understood what we were seeing and doing. For anyone considering this walking tour, ask for Robert to be your guide!

Our Guide

Ike_G, June 2023

Robert, our guide was knowledgeable and engaging.Kinsington was awesome and extremely interesting.Recommend it.

A must see neighborhood and a terrific guide

Manon_C, Nov 2022

We took this tour on a cold November day and our experience was just fantastic. Jason our guide and a true local is very knowledgeable about the Kensington market neighborhood history and current make up. In addition to inviting us to Chinese pastry and coffee, he pointed out the most interesting food spots and took us to great shopping. An all around great experience that was the highlight of our 3 days stay in Toronto.

High Recommended

DeborahJestin, Oct 2022

A fantastic day with Jason-sharing his wealth of knowledge about the area with us! I I have always lived in the Toronto suburbs but learned so much I never knew. The stops for a neighbourhood treat and a drink was a great way to add to the experience.

Perfect walking tour of Chinatown and Kensington!

Barbara_K, Oct 2022

Jason was a great guide. So much history and specific knowledge of the neighborhood. Tour was nicely paced with yummy food stops along the way.

Enjoyed the great stories...

Michael_Z, Sept 2022

Enjoyed the great stories about the neighborhood and the hidden treasure. Our group was invited in to an old synagogue as a special, random treat. Our guide (Roiden- sp?)created a really fun, social experience with our other travelers.

Enlightening Tour

Diane_S, Aug 2022

Delightful easy walking tour; amazing outdoor art and murals; tastings were delicious. Guide was very knowledgeable and personable. I highly recommend this tour for a side of Toronto that most people will miss.

Great tour of 2 Toronto neighborhoods

Sarah_B, Aug 2022

We did a day trip to Toronto from Niagara on the Lake and didn’t want to just wander around aimlessly and this tour was such a great choice! Max took us through 2 neighborhoods that we likely otherwise wouldn’t have found on our own. He also gave us some suggestions for lunch after. Max was awesome! Highly recommend.

Great walking tour

Suzanne_M, July 2022

Tour guide was great. As we were the only people on the tour he really tailored it to what we found most interesting. Great way to get to know a very interesting and historic part of the city.

Kensington Market tour

Beth_W, July 2022

We enjoyed seeing the various murals and liked the Kensington Market. Neal was very informative and made for a very pleasant experience.

Wonderful walking tour....

PAUL_E, June 2022

Wonderful walking tour. Slow paced and never felt rushed. Tour guild bought pastries and drinks in China town for us to try. It was a very nice touch for our small group. Very informative about the areas we covered. Highly recommended.

Very worthwhile experience.

Lornette_P, June 2022

Great introduction to the area with a fantastic guide who had an incredible amount. of knowledge of the history of the area I went back to Kensington Market and Chinatown a further two times in my week there as a result of this tour.

Great time!

Karen_C, May 2022

Neal our guide was very knowledgeable in all the areas we visited today & he is a. Excellent tour guide! We learned a lot of Kensington market & Chinatown area & would recommend this tour to anyone visiting g Toronto for the first time

Kenningston market

Christine_V, Sept 2020

Tim, our guide was quite knowledgeable and friendly. Slow pace which was perfect 😀 he went above and behond. Ended up being a private tour which made the experience even better!

Fun and extremely educational!

vicki561, Oct 2019

Awesome guide and delicious (lots of them) snacks along the way. Our day had rain but didn't interfere in the least.

Informative and fun.

Melinda_H, Sept 2019

In addition to a great tour, Mike handled a pretty major philosophical difference with incredible tact and good humor. As a bonus, we managed to find a needed replacement men’s jacket for $20 at one of the vintage clothes stores that Mike pointed us to! Very fun hunting!

a day packed into 2.5 hours

MICHAEL_B, Sept 2019

our guide, mike, was outstanding !!! we talked,laughed, and ate our way through these historic areas. learned so much from mike and even got a bonus stop at a historic music venue since a was a music nut.

Excellent!

Sightsee139777, July 2019

The weather was with us for a wonderful walk and talk by our clear speaking leader. Highly recommended. The Chinese bakery was unique and lots of fun.

Excellent tour !!

Patricia_S, July 2018

I lived in Toronto for 40+ years before I moved to Florida. Mike, our tour guide was excellent and I discovered many new things about my home town!! I would highly recommend this tour.

We thoroughly enjoyed learning about...

Tracy L, Apr 2018

We thoroughly enjoyed learning about the history of Kensington Market and Chinatown. Well worth the tour!