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Toronto is about to become the centre of the world.
For six weeks this summer, the FIFA World Cup 2026 is coming to Canada’s biggest city — and with it, hundreds of thousands of international visitors, an electric street-level energy, and a city-wide buzz that hasn’t been felt since the Raptors championship parade drew two million people to the streets in 2019.
Toronto is hosting six matches at Toronto Stadium (BMO Field) from June 12 to July 2, including the historic first-ever men’s FIFA World Cup match on Canadian soil. The FIFA Fan Festival runs from June 11 through July 19. The city is predicting over 300,000 visitors in June and July alone.
But here’s the thing: matches are only 90 minutes long. And Toronto has a lot more to offer than a screen and a crowd.
Whether you’re a die-hard supporter between match days, a travel companion who isn’t particularly fussed about offside rules, or a local who wants to make the most of the city’s summer energy without fighting for a pub seat — this guide is for you.
Here’s what to do in Toronto during FIFA 2026. That isn’t watching football.
Toronto Stadium at Exhibition Place is hosting six matches across the tournament window. The match dates are June 12, June 17, June 20, June 23, June 26, and July 2. The opening match on June 12 features Canada’s Men’s National Team in their first-ever FIFA World Cup game on home soil — a genuinely historic moment for Canadian sport.
The FIFA Fan Festival Toronto runs across 22 event days from June 11 to July 19 at Fort York National Historic Site and The Bentway. It’s free to attend (with reservation), featuring live match screenings of all 104 tournament games, food vendors, live music, cultural programming, a family play area, and a mini soccer pitch designed by Indigenous artist Alanah Astehtsi’ Otsistóhkwaˀ Jewel.
Here’s what that means in practice: between matches, around matches, and on non-match days, there are a huge number of visitors with time on their hands in one of the world’s most vibrant cities — looking for something genuinely memorable to do.
That’s exactly where this list comes in.
Of all the experiences on this list, this is the one that will surprise you the most — and the one you’ll talk about longest after you leave Toronto.
ZuoZuo Studio, located at 1315 Lawrence Ave E in North York, is a hands-on creative workshop space offering three unique experiences: custom rug tufting, fluid bear painting, and pearl jewelry making. No prior experience needed. No artistic background required. Just curiosity, a few hours, and a willingness to make something that’s entirely your own.
Rug tufting is exactly what it sounds like: you design a custom rug, choose your colours, and use a tufting gun to bring your vision to life. The process is genuinely satisfying in a way that’s hard to describe until you’ve tried it — rhythmic, meditative, and deeply creative. Sessions run 3 to 6 hours, depending on the rug size you choose, making it the perfect way to fill a full afternoon between match days.
Think about it: you could tuft a rug in your country’s flag colours. Your team’s crest in miniature. A football. A trophy. A piece of Toronto street art. Something you’ll hang on your wall at home and point to for years as the thing you made the summer you watched the World Cup in Canada.
Fluid bear painting is another standout: choose your colours, pour, tilt, and watch them move together into something beautiful and uniquely yours. Visitors from across the world have been raving about this experience, and during World Cup summer, the colour combinations are limitless. Pack your flag’s palette. Let the paint do the rest.
Pearl jewelry making adds a keepsake dimension that’s hard to match. You open an actual clam, discover your pearl, and work with silver accessories to create a piece of custom jewelry. It’s a souvenir that nobody else will have — because nobody else made it.
ZuoZuo is open Thursday to Sunday, 12pm to 8pm. Booking in advance is strongly recommended during the summer months, especially with the city at World Cup capacity.
📍 1315 Lawrence Ave E, Unit 406, North York 🌐 zuozuostudio.ca 📞 226-348-4177
The Distillery District is one of Toronto’s most visually stunning neighbourhoods and a perfect half-day destination. The Victorian industrial architecture — all red brick and cobblestone — creates a setting that feels genuinely unlike anywhere else in North America.
During FIFA month, the Distillery’s patios, restaurants, galleries, and artisan shops will be in full summer swing. Grab a coffee at one of the independent cafés, browse contemporary Canadian art at the galleries, pick up handmade goods from local artisans, or simply walk the lanes with a craft beer and soak in the atmosphere. It’s about a 20-minute walk from Union Station or a short streetcar ride.
Toronto’s waterfront is one of its most underappreciated assets — and in summer, it’s extraordinary. The Martin Goodman Trail runs along the Lake Ontario shoreline for 56 kilometres, but even a short stretch between the Harbourfront Centre and Humber Bay Park delivers spectacular views of the lake, the city skyline, and the islands.
Rent a bike from Bike Share Toronto (the app makes it easy, and stations are everywhere downtown) and cycle west from the stadium area after a match, or east toward the beaches. There are food stands, patios, and green spaces along the entire route.
If you’d prefer to be on the water rather than beside it, harbour cruises operate throughout the summer from the Harbourfront, offering narrated skyline tours of the city from Lake Ontario.
A 10-minute ferry from the foot of Bay Street takes you to the Toronto Islands — a car-free cluster of parkland, beaches, and quiet paths that feels a world away from the FIFA buzz on the mainland.
Centre Island is the most developed, with an amusement park, gardens, and café. Ward’s Island and Algonquin Island are quieter and more residential — perfect for a picnic, a swim at the beach, and a few hours of genuine peace before the next match.
The skyline view of Toronto from the islands is one of the best photographs you’ll take anywhere in Canada. Go in the late afternoon for golden hour light.
Toronto is one of the most diverse food cities on earth — and FIFA month, with its influx of supporters from across the globe, makes this especially electric.
Kensington Market is a bohemian, pedestrian-friendly neighbourhood packed with independent restaurants, vintage shops, cheese mongers, fishmongers, and some of the most interesting street food in the city. It’s a sensory experience that embodies exactly what “The World in a City” means. Go on a Sunday when the streets are pedestrianized.
St. Lawrence Market has been voted one of the best food markets in the world. Open Tuesday through Saturday, the market is a sprawling cathedral of Canadian produce, international specialties, artisan goods, and extraordinary prepared food. The peameal bacon sandwich at Carousel Bakery is an obligatory Toronto rite of passage.
You may have heard of the CN Tower. You may even have written it off as a tourist trap. Don’t.
The 360 Restaurant at the top of the CN Tower is a revolving restaurant that makes a full rotation every 72 minutes, offering a continuously changing panoramic view of Toronto, Lake Ontario, and on a clear day, Niagara Falls in the distance. It’s genuinely one of the most spectacular dining experiences in the country — and during FIFA summer, booking a table during the golden hour before an evening match is the kind of move that elevates a trip from memorable to unforgettable.
If you’d rather not sit down for a full meal, the LookOut Level observation deck and the outdoor EdgeWalk (the world’s highest hands-free walk) are both extraordinary experiences.
One of the things that makes Toronto uniquely suited to host a World Cup is the fact that almost 80 percent of its residents are first- or second-generation Canadians — with large communities hailing from Italy, Portugal, Ghana, Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, Japan, and dozens of other football-passionate nations.
That means that during FIFA 2026, the city’s neighbourhoods are alive with supporters culture in the most authentic, community-rooted way possible.
Little Italy on College Street is the place to be when Italy plays. Little Portugal on Dundas West becomes a street party when Portugal is in action. Koreatown on Bloor transforms when South Korea takes the pitch. Greektown on Danforth has some of the best outdoor dining in the city regardless of who’s playing.
Pick a neighbourhood tied to a team you want to support, find a patio, and watch the match surrounded by the most passionate possible version of that country’s supporter culture. It’s a travel experience within a travel experience.
Luminato 2026 runs from June 3 to June 28 — and this year it’s celebrating its 20th anniversary with what organisers are calling their most ambitious programming ever. The festival transforms Toronto into a stage, with performances, installations, and cultural events taking place at unexpected venues across the city — train station tunnels, waterfront spaces, galleries, and parks.
Already confirmed: Penn & Teller celebrating 50 years of magic, and the acrobatic circus performance “Play Dead.” More announcements are expected. Luminato is the perfect cultural companion to FIFA month — world-class international programming running parallel to the world’s biggest sporting event.
The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) and the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) are two of Canada’s most significant cultural institutions, and both are worth significant time.
The AGO houses an extraordinary collection spanning Indigenous art, Canadian painting, European masters, and contemporary international work. The building itself — renovated by Frank Gehry — is an architectural landmark.
The ROM, just a short walk away, contains one of North America’s finest natural history collections alongside ancient Egyptian, Greek, Chinese, and Indigenous Canadian galleries. The Michael Lee-Chin Crystal addition to the building is genuinely striking.
Between them, these two institutions offer a full day of world-class culture — and both are on the subway line, making them easy to reach from anywhere in the city.
We’re coming back to this because it deserves emphasis.
The single most underrated thing any visitor can do in a new city is make something there. Not buy something. Make something.
When you go home from Toronto after FIFA 2026, you will have memories of the matches, the fan zones, the food, the bars. But if you spend three hours at ZuoZuo Studio tufting a rug in your country’s colours, or painting a fluid bear in the shades of your flag, or opening a clam and pulling out a pearl to set in silver — that physical object goes home with you. It sits on your shelf or around your neck or on your floor, and every time you look at it, you’re back in Toronto in the summer of 2026, making something with your own hands in a studio in North York.
That’s not a souvenir. That’s a story.
ZuoZuo Studio is open Thursday through Sunday, 12pm to 8pm. Sessions book out fast during the summer, and FIFA month will be especially busy. Book your spot early.
📍 ZuoZuo Studio | 1315 Lawrence Ave E, Unit 406, North York 🌐 zuozuostudio.ca 📞 226-348-4177
Getting Around: Take the TTC. The subway is fast, clean, and connects most major attractions. On match days, expect the Exhibition Place area to be very busy — plan an extra 45 minutes in each direction.
Book Everything Early: Toronto is predicting 300,000+ visitors during June and July. Restaurants, workshops, attractions, and accommodations will fill up weeks in advance. Don’t leave it until you arrive.
The Weather: Late June and early July in Toronto is warm and sunny, typically 25–30°C. Bring light layers for evening — lake breezes can make waterfront areas cooler than expected.
Connectivity: Most major attractions and the TTC accept contactless payment. Presto cards are the easiest way to pay for transit if you’re staying multiple days.
The Neighbourhoods: The Entertainment District, King West, Liberty Village, and Harbourfront are all within walking distance of the stadium. The subway takes you north to Yorkville, Kensington Market, and the museum district within 15 minutes.
Toronto Is More Than a Match
FIFA World Cup 2026 is a once-in-a-generation event for Toronto. The city is ready — the waterfront has been reimagined, the stadium expanded, the fan zones built, the neighbourhoods buzzing.
But the city was already extraordinary before the first whistle blew.
Use the time between matches to actually see it. Walk the waterfront. Eat in the neighbourhoods. Visit the galleries. And carve out an afternoon at ZuoZuo Studio to make something that’s genuinely, completely yours.
Because in 20 years, you won’t just want to say you were in Toronto for the World Cup. You’ll want something to show for it.
Book Your ZuoZuo Studio Session During FIFA Month
Spots are limited and summer is our busiest season. Book your rug tufting, fluid bear painting, or pearl jewelry session now before the city fills up.
📍 1315 Lawrence Ave E, Unit 406, North York, Toronto 🌐 zuozuostudio.ca 📞 226-348-4177 🕐 Thursday – Sunday | 12pm – 8pm
Toronto is ready. Are you?
1315 Lawrence Ave E,unit 406, M3A 3R3, North York, Ontario
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