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A cheese lover’s paradise, in South Market, selling every kind of cheese imaginable, from French cantal to the most pungent of blues. Good raw-milk cheese selection.

Particularly strong in historical and contemporary Canadian works, and host to important exhibitions, this is one of the country’s top art galleries (see Art Gallery of Ontario).

This unusual, specialized museum celebrates footwear form and function throughout the ages and around the world. The building’s playful design, echoing a stylized shoebox, houses four galleries exhibiting everything from Roman sandals to Elton John’s platform boots. The exhibit of Chinese bound-foot shoes is not for the squeamish. Founded by Sonia Bata, who has scoured the world for shoes of every description, the museum also holds interesting themed exhibitions (see Bata Shoe Museum).

For an authentic taste of early settler life, visit this re-creation of a 19th-century rural Ontario community. Among the dozens of buildings – a handful original to the site, the rest moved here and restored – are a school, a church, village shops, houses, and barns. The grounds include an orchard, millpond, restored gardens, and grazing livestock. Costumed staff demonstrate pioneer crafts and carry out tasks such as tinsmithing and milling flour (the flour is available for sale). Free wagon rides are popular with the kids.

This collection of early-19th-century buildings offers a window on the past. The 1830 farmhouse was built by Lewis and Elizabeth Bradley, United Empire Loyalists who left the US and settled in Ontario, raising seven children. The restored house features period artifacts. The Anchorage, also on the grounds, is a Regency-style cottage originally home to Royal Navy officer John Skynner. It offers rotating exhibitions and, the last Sunday of the month, afternoon tea.

Lively street action is part of the charm of market Saturdays, as buskers entertain and craftspeople ply their wares outside both the north and south buildings.

The oldest remaining building from the town of York, which in 1834 became Toronto, this Georgian mansion was built in 1822 for William Campbell, an Upper Canada judge. In 1972, the 300-ton building was moved from its original location on Adelaide St to its present location, restored, and opened to the public. Guided tours are available.