1. Gibson House Museum

    1. Gibson House Museum

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    North York, ON

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    Gibson House Museum

    4.6 (8 reviews)

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    Gibson House, North York, ON.

    My father is a history enthusiast and, whilst growing up, my parents took me to visit many of Toronto's historical houses that operate as museums. Now, as a fully fledged adult, I visited Gibson House, on a whim, one cold, windy afternoon in early April 2022. Located in Willowdale, steps from Mel Lastman Square/ North York Centre subway station, Gibson House is the nineteenth century farm house of the Scottish immigrant, surveyor, farmer and politico David Gibson and his family. I booked an $8 ticket online and took the guided, yet interactive tour, with one other member of the public. The experience starts with the viewing of a short film about what land acknowledgements truly mean in the larger context of a colonial history. The tour itself distances itself from any past romanticism of the early Canadian "settlers" and is clearly attempting to incorporate a 360° view of the time period, through the dismantling of a largely British and male-dominated POV. Per the City of Toronto, "Gibson House recognizes the complex settler colonial history and, beginning in 2022, will be working with Indigenous partners and staff to tell this story through an Indigenous lens." The house itself is simple. It has been stripped of a lot of the genteel decor pictured in older reviews. There is some much needed repair to be done but I am certain that current budgets do not allow for it. The Gibson House is clearly in the midst of transition to become a museum that reflects a more encompassing history. I hope that this objective is fully realized and that the house can be preserved and utilized as a vehicle for this objective. My tour guide was friendly and informative. I got a lot out of my visit and I will continue to pursue my ongoing reeducation in the history of this land. I was very lucky that the other person on the tour with me was a professional historian in his own right and so I really received a 2-for-1 tour experience. Do not book a tour of Gibson House expecting period costumes and romanticized notions of a gentler time. Go and learn something unexpected while having your eyes widened and mind opened at the same time.

    Jennifer K.

    Thanks for Doors Open, I have a chance to visit Gibson House Museum without paying an admission but without any tours available during that 2 days. The "House" itself was built in 1851 is really well maintained and decorated with furniture and details of the time period. Walking through the rooms give visitors ideas of how the life over 150 years ago! There is limited free parking on the site. Finding the actual museum though is a little tricky as it is not really located directly on Yonge Street and surrounded by condominiums.

    Entry was free. We arrived at 12:00pm on a Thursday and they had about 4 free parking spots on their driveway. It felt like we stepped back in time and enjoyed exploring the 2 floor house.

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    Pocket Planet Canada - One of the many funny details. Aw, Rats

    Pocket Planet Canada

    4.8(51 reviews)
    12.8 kmRyerson, Downtown Core

    Price: 35 CAD or so for adults, a bit less for kids or seniors…read moreTime: 60-90 minutes. Less if you're rushing, but I wouldn't. Add an extra 20/30 minutes if you're going to look at everything/use the shop or station Location: Lower basement of The Tenor Other Notes: Free Wi-Fi and scavenger hunts for kids Side note: There is a separate business page with one review and no photos for their newer name, Pocket Planet Canada. I requested a merge or similar Toronto Review 10/Many: I went to this excellent exhibition, previously known as Little Canada, with another person. They are located downstairs in the basement of The Tenor. The price was reasonable, and we stayed for around 80 minutes, but it definitely could have been longer. I have previously been to a couple of other miniature museums, but never one with this much detail and with so many moving parts. The staff was friendly, and they had some scavenger hunts and other things for kids. The first area goes over Niagara and the surrounding area. Along with showing some early movement, this also introduced one of their interesting features, where the models and room shift between day and night. Then came the largest portion, which, as expected, was the Little Toronto section. This included one of the highlights, a scaled replica of the Rogers Center, including a fully retractable roof and lights and sound that can be turned on and off. There was also, of course, the CN Tower, various squares, and other things. The remaining sections covered the remaining parts of Canada. I would go into all the details, but I honestly think that it shouldn't be spoiled. In case you do want to see, I have also posted many photos. A particular highlight for me was an appropriately wintry take on Petit Quebec. After the exhibits, there was a "Littlization Station," which we didn't take part in as we didn't have time, but apparently it makes miniatures of people using a lot of high-quality cameras. I saw something similar before at a studio in NYC, and it's a fun idea to add that here too. There was also the Miniature Maker's Studio, where a friendly woman was answering questions regarding how they make things otherwise. Finally, there was a particularly excellent gift shop that sold some items you can't buy online, such as miniatures and other things. I bought a nice cherry blossom one, but there were also some options for all different regions of Canada. For how long the experience is and how detailed it is, I found this more than worth it. Overall, this was the unexpected highlight of the trip, and I heavily recommend it for people of all ages. I can see why they've won awards.

    Interesting and educational mini Canada exhibit. They make it extra exciting for the kids with a…read moretheme to search for...right now it's Maurice the Moose. In the past, it looks like they have had Superhero's , KPop Demon Hunters and Moana. My little one enjoyed searching for Maurice in each section. Some surprise effects like watching the Skydome open and close, and the odd train or car moving, added to the fun. The whole thing took us about 90 minutes to complete and we were not rushing. We wanted to do the mini figure creation but there was a long line. I don't think we would go here again though, unless it was a completely new experience or something . Giving it four stars for that reason and also because it was pricey for what it was and there was no line up process to see each section. We kept getting 'stuck' behind a group. The only was to pass them meant skipping a large section. A briefing at the start, explaining to keep moving could help. We did make an afternoon of it though. Went to Shake Shack next door, walked down Yonge Street and then through the Eaton Center...

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    Pocket Planet Canada - Château Frontenac in Quebec City.

    Château Frontenac in Quebec City.

    Pocket Planet Canada
    Pocket Planet Canada - Little East Coast.

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    Little East Coast.

    Royal Ontario Museum - History of European design periods

    Royal Ontario Museum

    4.2(427 reviews)
    11.4 kmUniversity of Toronto, Downtown Core

    I loved my visit to the ROM. I didn't get to see all of it, but what I did see was impressive…read more Starting with the dinosaur skeletons and then on to the antiquities, it was really enjoyable. We had a 4 year old with us so we spent a lot of time on the 2nd floor with the bees and the bats and the animals, but I enjoyed it just as much. The play area they have set up for the kids is brilliant, it engages the kids while also getting them involved in 'art' and 'design'. We made a bee out of pipe cleaners and then played in the garden area. I plan on coming back to Toronto next year and I want to come back to see what I missed.

    Toronto Review 7/Many: I went to the Royal Ontario Museum as the first of many museums/exhibitions…read morewe did in the city. Apparently, tickets are cheaper if you book them online, but they were reasonable enough, with the typical discounts for seniors or kids. We added both the special exhibits, and for those interested, I would recommend one (Psychedelics) but not the other (Bees.) The first floor included the first special exhibit, "Bees: A Story of Survival," which was a collaboration/moving exhibition by the National Museums Liverpool along with Wolfgang Buttress. The exhibit covered bees in many ways, including their habits, conservation, and other topics. This was all presented in a series of corridors with many touch screens, though one of them wasn't working right. The rooms overall were pretty dark, with the whole exhibit being pretty abstract, including hives large enough for us to walk through, among other things. In the background, there was a mix of classical music and the sound of bees, but I couldn't really hear the bees, which might be a good thing, honestly. Overall, it was a bit of a letdown as it was just a bit too abstract for my liking, which was a bit of a buzzkill. Soon after, we beelined (okay, I'll stop) to the other exhibit, which was on the 4th floor. The other, much better exhibit, was "Psychedelics: Art, Culture. Science." It was a bit hard to find, as it was through an extra door which probably needs a label, but once inside, it was excellent. It was quite large and included various methods cultures have used to consume said substances, some music and other things created by said cultures, and many paintings/albums inspired by psychedelics. The exhibit also included a video portraying a "trip," which was unique and quite loud. It also ended with a nice artwork by Brian Blomerth (or should I say blometh for this exhibit/I kid,) who also has a rather trippy homepage. Outside of the two special exhibits, we went through a variety of things before getting hungry. Another exhibit I enjoyed was "Shokkan: Material Encounters in Japanese Art," which included some touchable objects and some good details and facts that I wasn't personally aware of. There was also a room that went over the various fauna and flora of Crawford Lake, and otherwise we checked out some general things. The other exhibits included suits of armor/weapons, a good mixture of dinosaurs, a more general Asian gallery (which unfortunately had a lot of background noise as they were working on another room, so we left,) and a small exhibit on Judaica. A particular highlight of the rest was a section going over various periods of European history, ranging from Baroque to Renaissance to semi-modern styles, including examples of rooms, architecture, music, and other things. While not my favorite thing we did on the trip, this was an excellent museum overall. I can see why it's so popular, and I would go back to see other exhibits so I could see the rest of the museum.

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    Royal Ontario Museum
    Royal Ontario Museum
    Royal Ontario Museum

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    Art Gallery of Ontario - Moko Jumbie

    Art Gallery of Ontario

    4.3(294 reviews)
    13.0 kmDowntown Core

    We got tickets here as part of our city pass. The staff who scanned our tickets was really lovely!…read more There's a good amount of art here and it took us a couple of hours or so to look at everything. The line for the infinity mirror gets long as a warning. Luckily we were there at the same time as a visiting impression exhibit from the Dallas museum. Don't forget about the ships display downstairs in the basement!

    Toronto Review 14/Many: While visiting Toronto not long AGO, we went to this museum. Aside from…read morethat terrible pun, the museum was excellent and quite big, with an interesting mix of modern and old artwork. Of course, we didn't love everything, but that's to be expected with modern art. Anyway, it didn't take long for us to enter, but it was a bit difficult to find everything. Part of this was because some of the hallways couldn't be accessed, as there was what looked like a wedding reception on parts of the lower floors. The first thing that we went to was their signature exhibit right now, "The Impressionist Revolution: Monet to Matisse from the Dallas Museum of Art." It was a nicely designed exhibit that took up the entire floor, with plenty of space between each artwork, allowing people to get around and look at everything. I was happy to see that it wasn't just works by the most prolific artists, but also works by Morisot, Bernard, and Munch, among others. There was also a nice gift shop for this exhibit, among other things. Also, there was a nice observation area up the stairs, even with the fifth-floor gallery being closed. Of the other special exhibits, my favorite one was "Ranbir Sidhu: No Limits." A London-born but Toronto-based sculpture creator, Sidhu created works for this exhibit that were made primarily of mirror-finished stainless steel and were fascinating to look at due to their sheer size and scale. If you want to look up one of them, Asteroid 3033 X1 is the centerpiece. Near the end of my time there, I also saw "Diego Marcon: The Bubble Boy," which had some interesting use of CGI and puppets, with one of the movies reminding me a little bit of Anomalisa from a few years ago. Outside of these works, I wasn't as big a fan of "Dawoud Bey: Material Histories, Living Landscapes." The shadows were interesting, and some of the work had interesting faces, but I found the movie inside to be on the more pointless side, even if it had some creepy/unsettling aspects to the music and otherwise. Due to the giant line, I wasn't able to see "Yayoi Kusama's INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM - LET'S SURVIVE FOREVER" either. The pictures look nice, but I wasn't planning on waiting what seemed like 45 minutes or an hour, so if you don't want to wait that long, go there immediately. The Dutch master paintings from "Painted Presence: Rembrandt and His Peers" were also nice, with some more impressionist works around the corner. Outside of this, there was some interesting Indigenous and Canadian art, some other Dutch/European works, a nice collection of snuff bottles, and a large space with sculptures by Henry Moore. I would go over everything else, but I won't, as there was a lot. Overall, it was a nice selection of works from all over, with my only complaint being that it was a bit difficult to find everything. I would highly recommend taking several hours to go to this museum.

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    Art Gallery of Ontario - [03.2026]

    [03.2026]

    Art Gallery of Ontario - Something...interesting

    Something...interesting

    Art Gallery of Ontario - Recent nice art

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    Recent nice art

    Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit - https://boeloot.com/products/van-gogh-in-summary-canvas

    Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit

    3.1(45 reviews)
    14.5 km

    This exhibit is now version 2 for 2025. I didn't go to the original, but this version was really…read morenice and fun. It was a bit overpriced, but the movie, videos and effects were very immersive and a lot of fun. I enjoyed how they tried to tell a story through video - it was art in and of itself. Customer service was also friendly, informative and helpful. Worth a trip!

    I was able to visit the Van Gogh Exhibit twice. They got 3/5 for hospitality/customer-service, but…read moreif not for that, the exhibit itself would be 2/5. The first time I went was as a Drive Through Experience during the Spring of 2021. Unfortunately the experience was very lackluster. You go through all the trouble of booking a time slot, and when you arrive, not only is there no space to enter, but there is no free parking as you have to wait for the cars ahead of you to go through. Its basically a drive through, but they should have accounted for having X number of cars during time period Y. When we finally started driving through, there was no real explanation of the exhibits or paintings, just a projected screen, and when we wanted to stop to take photos, we were told we had to keep moving. I'd previously made a review explaining this, however the manager (or someone in charge) contacted our group and offered to give complimentary tickets for the summer as they were back to in-person. Thats the only reason for the 3/5. As for the in person, yes there was social distancing circles, but they didn't do much as everyone freely moved around the whole time without staff intervening. Again, no real explanation for the photos as they were projected, just projected images accompanied by music. If the exhibit wasn't titled Van Gogh, you might not even know it was his paintings being projected.

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    Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit - The tour starts here!

    The tour starts here!

    Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit
    Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit - Wander through giant projections that highlight brushstroke, detail, and colour as you have never experienced them.

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    Wander through giant projections that highlight brushstroke, detail, and colour as you have never experienced them.

    Gibson House Museum - museums - Updated September 2026

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