When listing the great North American cities, Toronto often falls through the mental net. It has grown quietly and largely without incident, the epitome of Canadian niceness. But there are some surprises to be had in a city that fits 2.6 million people in without anyone noticing. A recent study showed Toronto to have the most diverse population of any city on Earth, and that shows as Greek areas turn to Chinese then Portuguese, and so on. There’s also an accumulation of likability, whereby no single neighbourhood totally enraptures, but virtually all of them are surprisingly engaging. And that accumulation of rather good ends up outweighing a one-off hit of great.

Kensington Market

The story begins in the distinctive, bay-and-gable Victorian houses on Kensington Avenue. “They were built in the late 19th century for English and Scottish immigrants,” says Jason Kucherawy, owner of tour company Toronto Urban Adventures. “So they had sitting rooms or parlours.”

The Jewish migrants that arrived later, however, could see no use for the parlours in the homes they’d worked hard to afford. So they turned them into shops, and moved kitchens upstairs, living apartment-style above their small businesses.

Then, after World War II, there was an influx of people from Italy and Portugal. Toronto wasn’t as welcoming then as it is now, but the landlords didn’t care where people were from as long as they paid the rent. Kensington Market became the logical initial settlement point for several more waves of migrants after that.

“Wherever the hotspot in the world was, the people fleeing it came here,” says Jason.