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Kensington Market, Toronto — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Kensington Market is a compact multicultural neighbourhood in central Toronto, west of the Art Gallery of Ontario.
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Where to stay in Kensington Market
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
Kensington Market keeps few rooms of its own. The neighbourhood holds mostly small guesthouses and short-stay flats above the shops, so many visitors base themselves in the surrounding blocks of Toronto near the Art Gallery of Ontario and walk in for the stalls and cafés. Kensington Market itself keeps almost nothing to sleep in.
The core has the hotels.
Few places to stay in Kensington Market — most visitors book in Toronto nearby.
About Kensington Market
What are the main landmarks in Kensington Market?
Kensington Market is itself the draw. Its packed produce stalls, vintage shops and cafés fill the streets, while the bigger sights of Toronto sit a walk or short ride away, from the Art Gallery of Ontario just east to the Royal Ontario Museum, the CN Tower and Casa Loma across the wider city. The market is the attraction.
Sights ring it.
What is the history of Kensington Market?
Kensington Market grew as a working immigrant quarter of Toronto. Successive newcomer communities settled the narrow streets and turned front rooms into shops, building the open-air market character that still sets the neighbourhood apart from the museum district around the Art Gallery of Ontario nearby. Waves of arrivals reshaped it.
Trade filled the lanes.
Where is Kensington Market?
Kensington Market sits just west of downtown Toronto. The neighbourhood fills a tight grid of low-rise streets set back from the taller towers of the core, with the Art Gallery of Ontario a short walk to the east and Spadina House rising on the slope above to the north, wrapped by the wider fabric of Toronto. The lanes stay narrow.
Trees crowd the walk-ups.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in Kensington Market?
Around the Art Gallery of Ontario: you if you want hotel rooms a short walk east and the Art Gallery of Ontario between your bed and the market.
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Updated July 2026