Yonge Street
Every Toronto address east or west is measured from this single line — the city's original spine, planned in the 1790s and still running the show.
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Laid out by John Graves Simcoe in the 1790s for the planning and settlement of western Upper Canada, Yonge Street became the north-south zero line from which all of Toronto's street numbering radiates. Its construction is an Event of National Historic Significance. For decades the Guinness Book of World Records mistakenly called it the world's longest street at 1,896 km — a conflation with Highway 11. It's actually 86 km, which is still enough to anchor a city.
What to look for
- Sankofa Square and the Eaton Centre in the Downtown Yonge commercial strip — the street's commercial heartbeat
- The southern foot at Queens Quay where the street meets Toronto Bay, built out on industrial landfill turned residential high-rises
- SkyTower at Pinnacle One Yonge near the street's origin — slated to be Canada's tallest building
Subway Line 1 Yonge-University runs beneath nearly the entire Toronto length — board it to travel the street's full urban stretch without the surface congestion.
Yonge Street is one of 19 sights worth the detour in Toronto, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Toronto pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Toronto
- CN TowerFor 32 years, a railway company's broadcast antenna was the tallest free-standing structure on Earth.
- BMO FieldThe 2007 soccer-specific stadium that grew into Toronto's outdoor dual-sport arena — and now holds 45,736 for the 2026 FIFA World Cup under the temporary name Toronto Stadium.
- Scotiabank ArenaA 1941 postal sorting depot on Bay Street that became Canada's busiest arena — and the most photographed spot in the country on Instagram.
- Royal Ontario MuseumCanada's largest museum packs 18 million objects — Cambrian sea creatures, East Asian art, and Art Deco clothing and design objects — into 40 galleries on Bloor Street.
- Rogers CentreThe world's first fully retractable motorized roof opened here in 1989 — and 70 hotel rooms still peer straight down onto the field.
- First Canadian PlaceFor 50 years it was Canada's tallest building — until a fellow Toronto skyscraper finally beat it in June 2025.