139 Cool and Unusual Things to Do in Ontario - Atlas Obscura

Unusual Attractions in Ontario

Toronto, Ontario

The Monkey's Paw

A book collector's dream, this Toronto bookstore has the world's first "Biblio-Mat," a random book vending machine.

Toronto, Ontario

Winter Garden Theatre

A botanically themed auditorium blooms within the world’s last operating double-decker theater.

Toronto, Ontario

Casa Loma

A 98-room castle in the middle of Toronto that bankrupted a 19th century electricity multimillionaire.

Toronto, Ontario

Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

One of Canada's most incredible rare book collections holds hundreds of thousands of gorgeous tomes that the general public can touch.

Toronto, Ontario

Allan Gardens Conservatory

The Victorian-era greenhouse is stuffed with tropical plants, and open 365 days a year.

Toronto, Ontario

Sewers of Toronto

A well-preserved network of cavernous tunnels have spent silent centuries removing Toronto's waste.

Tobermory, Ontario

The Bruce Peninsula Grotto

This natural sea cave hides a small wonderland of natural turquoise beauty.

Toronto, Ontario

Lower Bay Station

Lost subway station nestled beneath Toronto's busy commuter line.

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Cool Places to Eat & Drink in Ontario

Saint Jacobs, Ontario

Maple Syrup Museum of Ontario

This quaint museum taps into the sweet history of the maple syrup industry.

Toronto, Ontario

Redpath Sugar Refinery Museum

In the back of a bustling factory lurks a quiet museum honoring the history of Canadian sugar manufacturing.

Colborne, Ontario

The Big Apple

This giant roadside fruit is home to an array of apple-based treats.

Mammoth Cheese Replica

A fake block of cheese remembers a feat of dairy engineering from the Chicago World's Fair.

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Stories About Ontario

Lake Superior batters a Minnesota shoreline.

Are the Great Lakes Really Inland Seas?

Well, yes. And no. Actually, it depends on where you stand, in more ways than one.

by Gemma Tarlach

"The Perfect Little Ladies" was a social club of single women in Rochester, New York, who chose friendship and careers over marriage and motherhood. They loved exploring the outdoors and several of them bought islands in Georgian Bay in the early 1900s.

A Paradise for Single Ladies

These adventurous turn-of-the-century women announced their independence by buying their own islands in Ontario's Georgian Bay.

Canoes are the traditional vehicles for gathering wild rice.

The Cross-Border Indigenous Battle for Wild Rice

In the Great Lakes region, what some consider a weed is actually a sacred seed.

February 12, 2020

An oil spill experiment from summer 2018.

Meet the Scientists Who Pollute Lakes on Purpose

For half a century, researchers have been spilling chemicals in the waters of northwestern Ontario.

by Chloe Williams

Kate Crooks, among the wildflowers.

In Ontario, a Quest to Rediscover the Work of a Groundbreaking 19th-Century Botanist

Who is Catharine McGill Crooks, and what happened to her specimen collection?

Listen up!

The Bat-Loving Naturalists Translating the Silent Language of the Night

Listen in as they swat away mosquitoes and brave a dark forest to eavesdrop on echolocation.

by Jessica Leigh Hester

August 20, 2018

Mukund Shukla, a research associate at the Gosling Research Institute for Plant Preservation, shows off a wall of micropropagated seedlings.

One of 2017’s Most Exciting Plant Conservation Moments

In Ontario this year, researchers propagated a rare species and released it back into the wild.

December 20, 2017

A glowing advertisement for kudzu—now considered to be a highly invasive plant—in a 1902 catalog.

The Treasures Blooming in Canada's Largest Seed Catalog Archive

They were once considered disposable, but the Royal Botanical Gardens is putting 30,000 horticultural periodicals to good use.

November 22, 2017

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