10 Best Museums in Toronto

The Ontario Science Centre offers ten exhibit halls with over 500 interactive stations, a planetarium, and a dedicated, domed IMAX theater, all designed for fun and education. Here you can learn about science and technology while getting hands-on with the exhibits, plus visit tons of art installations that were all built and designed in-house. You can visit an astounding planetarium, hear speakers in a 400-seat auditorium, and walk through a living rainforest with waterfalls and wildlife. You can even hit a dedicated Science Arcade with sci-tech games.

The Science Centre is a place where adults and kids can play all day and learn while doing so. It's all just 20 minutes north of town.

The Royal Ontario Museum offers an expansive collection of historic and cultural artifacts, exhibits, and displays ranging from First Nations art to dinosaur bones, to modern fashion and beyond. This museum in a building featuring eclectic, jagged postmodern architecture offers over 13 million cultural objects, artworks, and natural history exhibits spread over 40 galleries and exhibit spaces. Here you can see Arabic textiles, Japanese samurai swords, Chinese sculpture, Greek antiquities, and one of the world's finest fossil collections.

The museum also offers regular events like its Friday Night Live parties that turn it into a nightclub complete with DJ. The museum is in Queens Park, directly in the heart of downtown Toronto.

The Toronto Railway Museum in the heart of downtown Toronto's Roundhouse Park offers a look into the railway history and legacy of Toronto and how important this industry has been to the city. The museum has a mission to connect people to the history of the industry that propelled this city from a sleepy small town into an economic powerhouse. It's managed by the Toronto Railway Historical Association and showcases hundreds of exhibits, photos, artifacts, and other ephemera from the legacy of the rail industry throughout history.

The exhibit spaces are indoor and out and you can even see full historic locomotives and ride a train simulator. It's a fun and hands-on way to experience railway life.

The Hockey Hall of Fame explores the entire history of hockey from its Canadian origins to the global phenomenon of today, with uniforms and hundreds of exhibits. You can see the gear and equipment of famous players here, learn about the fact that there is more than one Stanley Cup, touch the Cup itself, and even see the original Cup, which was just a simple silver bowl. The fun thing about this particular museum is that it doesn't just focus on the NHL, but looks at the entire history of the sport.

If you're a hockey fan, this museum is a must-visit where you'll learn things you never knew. It's right in the heart of downtown Toronto.

The Aga Khan Museum offers an examination of the history of Islamic civilizations and the effect and influence they have had on the entire world throughout time. The museum's expansive complex is located in North York and features a lavish outdoor park with formal, tended gardens, and is named for its founder, His Highness the Aga Khan. It's famed not just for its astounding collection, one of the most expansive outside of an Islamic nation, but for its astonishing architecture by award-winning architect Fumihiko Maki.

Some featured exhibits include a 10th-century prayer amulet, a planispheric astrolabe made of bronze, and a vast collection of illuminated manuscripts. It's just a 30-minute drive north of town.

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Toronto empowers and exploits the contemporary art scene across every medium, and provides a hip and vibrant cultural atmosphere for artists of every stripe. While it focuses on Canadian artists, the museum and its galleries showcase the works of important modern artists from all over the world. Here you will see paintings, graphic art, sculpture, photos, video, and every kind of multimedia presentation you can imagine. All of the permanent and rotating exhibitions here showcase the way that art is rocketing into the future.

The museum is right in the middle of the Junction Triangle area. It's about 25 minutes from the center of downtown.

The Bata Shoe Museum showcases the one-of-a-kind private collection of Sonja Bata, shoe industry executive and world traveler, offering a hidden gem look at famous footwear the world over. Just a few of the exhibits here include high heels worn by Madonna, slippers worn by the Queen herself, the boots of John Lennon, and even the sandals of the Dalai Lama. This museum is lesser-known so it's easy to get into, but it's frequented by shoe collectors and aficionados. The overall collection includes more than 13,000 shoes ranging from ancient foot coverings to the most popular collector shoes of today.

The building showcases award-winning architecture from Raymond Moriyama. It's 11 minutes north of central downtown.

The Gardiner Museum is a hidden gem in the city, dedicated to showcasing thousands of pieces of ceramic art from dishes to sculpture in an award-winning architectural wonder. The museum was originally designed just to house the private collection of George and Helen Gardiner but was later expanded to the facility it is today. In addition to its expansive collection of statuary, figurines, pots, vases, plates, cups, and other creations, the museum offers classes in wheel throwing, hand-building, and slip casting so you can get your hands dirty learning how it's all done.

While here, be sure you wander up to the third-floor terrace for astounding city views. It's in Queens Park right in the heart of downtown.

The Textile Museum of Canada is unique and the first of its kind, offering over 13,000 exhibits tracing the story of fabric, clothing, and textiles over 2,000 years of history. The museum has a vast permanent collection and also offers regular rotating exhibitions showcasing the works of important contemporary artists from clothing designers to graphic artists that work in fabrics. The collection also covers the traditions of more than 200 different countries, cultures, and regions. You'll be amazed at the important role that cloth and fabric have played throughout society.

From ancient and modern art to high fashion, this lesser-known museum covers it all. It's also directly in the heart of downtown Toronto.

The Art Gallery of Ontario showcases tens of thousands of works of art from sculpture and statuary to paintings and graphic design over thousands of years of history. The permanent collection contains over 95,000 works, many of which are of Canadian origin and trace all the way back to the First Nations people. You can also see the works of famous European Masters alongside artists from Central Africa, the Far East, and beyond.

The museum also offers dining facilities, a gift shop, art studios, and libraries. It's a place where you can completely immerse yourself in the world of art. It's also in the heart of downtown Toronto.