West End Neighbourhood

Off in the city's west end, Roncesvalles Village is home to a large Polish community, with traditional bakeries, delis and restaurants where you can get borscht, homemade pierogies and kielbasa. It is a bustling residential neighbourhood, but not really worth a trip all the way out there, unless in conjunction with a visit to the nearby High Park -- which is a ten minute walk west along High Park Blvd. (Public transit: 504 King streetcar -- southbound from Dundas West subway station, or westbound from King St. downtown.) High Park is Toronto's largest greenspace and a beautiful park, with a pond (Grenadier Pond), a small zoo, and an outdoor stage which houses an annual summer Shakespeare production called "Dream in High Park." Direction signs can be sparse in the park, so you may want to print a park map (483 KB PDF) to take with you. (Public transit: the subway is the fastest but least scenic way to get there, with the High Park subway station located at the north end of the park. The wooded east side of the park is the end of the line for westbound 506 College streetcars from downtown. 501 Queen streetcars have a stop at the south end of the park, by Grenadier Pond; from downtown make sure you board a westbound streetcar with a destination sign of "Long Branch" or "Humber" and get off at Colborne Lodge Drive.)