Neighbourhood Secrets: Rediscovering Toronto on the Reopened Lower Don Trail

Aug 05, 2026

Welcome to Neighbourhood Secrets, a Mystery Day Trips series that uncovers the hidden gems tucked into Toronto, the GTA and across Ontario. These are the places that don’t always top the guidebooks but live in the stories locals tell; quiet museums, unexpected corners and spots with a personality all their own. Each post is an invitation to explore a little more deeply, wander a little further and discover the stories hiding just around the bend.

There are some places in Toronto that do not feel like attractions in the traditional sense, yet they shape the way we experience the city just as powerfully as any museum, market or landmark.

For us at Mystery Day Trips, the Lower Don Trail is one of those places. On August 1, 2026 the section between the Belleville Underpass and Queen Street East reopened after three years of reconstruction and delays.

This reopened trail section offers full access from Riverdale Park to Corktown Common and feels like one of the city’s most meaningful neighbourhood rediscoveries this Summer. With the newly opened section at Riverdale Park West, the Lower Don Trail continues connecting as far North as E.T. Seton Park in the Thorncliffe neighbourhood.

A view down a graffiti-covered underpass tunnel leading to Corktown Common with a painted ceiling featuring bold red, yellow, black and white chevron stripes, concrete walls covered in murals, and a gray path leading to the bright exit in the distance.

Because this stretch is in our neighbourhood, we had been using the small portion from Queen Street East connecting into Corktown Common for some time while the rest of the trail remained closed. Over the first weekend since reopening, we walked the new section from Queen Street East to the Belleville Underpass multiple times and it felt less like a simple trail reopening and more like the city getting one of its great shared public spaces back. The trail was full of cyclists, runners, walkers, older adults, young couples and full families all moving through the valley together.

What struck us most was how beautifully designed the new section feels. The asphalt surface is fresh and smooth with a green painted dividing line that helps organize movement and “slow” areas marked where the trail narrows, making the route feel more intuitive and considerate for everyone using it. The City of Toronto says the larger project was meant to improve accessibility, mitigate erosion and flooding, resolve drainage issues and enhance overall trail connections and that attention to both function and experience is easy to feel when you are actually on the path.

A concrete bridge abutment crossing Gerrard St. E on the Lower Don Trail with three arched openings, covered in graffiti and black metal bridge spans the center, under a dark bridge deck.

Walking through the valley

One of the pleasures of this section is how quickly it makes you forget you are in the middle of a major city. The trail slips beneath some of the East End’s most familiar crossings, including the bridges at Queen Street East, Dundas Street East, Gerrard Street East and the Riverdale Park Pedestrian Bridge. Each underpass creates its own mood. Some feel dramatic and echoing, others feel almost gallery-like thanks to the mix of street art, graffiti, texture and concrete geometry overhead.

Above you, traffic continues with all the usual Toronto urgency. Below, the atmosphere shifts. The river, the tree canopy and the slower pace of trail users create a very different rhythm. That contrast is part of what makes the Lower Don Trail so special: it is not an escape from Toronto so much as a softer, greener version of it running alongside the city we know above grade.

A group of mallards, including several ducklings, gathered on a muddy bank of the Don River on the Lower Don Trail with green foliage overhead.

A white swan with a red beak swims on calm Don River, accompanied by three gray cygnets.

The natural setting is just as compelling as the infrastructure. The Don River winds beside the trail and the new lookouts make it easier to pause and really take it in. On our walks, we watched swans gliding through the water, ducks moving in and out of the reeds and cormorants perched nearby. For anyone interested in flora and fauna, this stretch is a quiet thrill with a wide variety of trees and river-edge plant life turning an ordinary walk into something far more observant and immersive.

A trail shared by neighbourhoods

A person rides a bicycle along the Lower Don Trail under the Queen St. E steel truss bridge, with the Don River, trees and city buildings visible in the background.

What we love about this part of the Lower Don is that it does not belong to just one neighbourhood. It is a connector, tying together communities on both sides of the river and giving Torontonians a new way to move between them on foot or by bike. On one side, you have Corktown and the growing waterfront-adjacent communities that connect through Corktown Common and the Lower Don corridor, plus Moss Park, Regent Park and Cabbagetown. On the other, you have Riverside, Leslieville-adjacent edges, and the approaches toward Riverdale South and North, all linked by a path that encourages wandering instead of rushing.

Starting from the Queen Street East end, there is already a sense that you are standing at an intersection of neighbourhood identities. South of here, Corktown Common offers one of the city’s most beautiful park spaces, with its generous lawns, playground, paths and connections toward the waterfront. It has long served as an urban nature retreat for downtown residents and this reopened trail strengthens its role as a gateway to a much longer valley experience.

Heading north from Queen, the surroundings begin to shift. The built form recedes and the valley takes over, but the presence of Riverside and Riverdale is still felt through the bridges, access points and the people using the route. The Riverside side carries that blend of historic main street energy and residential calm, while Riverdale brings with it one of the East End’s most beloved park systems and lookout points. Even when you are below grade, you feel those neighbourhoods pressing gently at the edges of the experience.

The Riverdale Park Pedestrian Bridge and staircase structure over a paved path of the Lower Don Trail, surrounded by trees and landscaping under a pale sky.

The City’s improvements also include a new Dundas Street staircase and an accessible sloped connection to the Riverdale Park Pedestrian Bridge area, though the sloped path still requires a temporary closure into the Fall to complete finishing work. You can access the Riverdale Park Pedestrian Bridge through the southside staircase. The reopening of the trail and the staircase already strengthens the feeling that this corridor is not just for movement through the valley but for access into the surrounding communities as well.

What the reopening feels like

There is something very moving about watching people reclaim a public space after a long closure. The Lower Don Trail had been closed since 2023 for major improvements and along the way the project faced delays tied to poor soil conditions, difficult working conditions in the floodplain, coordination with the active rail corridor and other construction challenges. After all that, seeing the trail busy with real life again gave the reopening an energy that felt almost celebratory.

We saw parents walking with children, cyclists moving steadily through the new lanes, runners finding their pace and plenty of people who seemed to be there simply to see what had changed. There was a real mix of ages and uses, which is often the best sign that a public space is working. It did not feel exclusive to athletic users or commuters. It felt open, social and shared.

A person riding a bicycle on the Lower Don Trail under a graffiti-covered Belleville Underpass concrete bridge with greenery and a metal fence visible above.

That matters because trails like this do more than connect point A to point B. They create common ground. In a city where so many people live busy, separate lives, a well-designed trail can become one of the few places where everyone shows up together: families, solo walkers, seniors, cyclists, nature watchers, dog owners and people just looking for a bit of air and beauty at the end of the day. Even after a few walks yesterday’s strangers have become new neighbours to stop and chat with for a few minutes.

Why feature it in Neighbourhood Secrets

For a series called Neighbourhood Secrets, the Lower Don Trail might seem almost too well known at first glance. But that is exactly why it belongs here. The best neighbourhood secrets are not always places nobody has heard of. Sometimes they are places we have overlooked, underused or only partially understood until something changes and reminds us of their value.

A man sitting by the Don River viewed from behind, wearing a white long-sleeve shirt and a light gray cap while holding an art palette and sketchbook.

This reopened stretch feels like one of those reminders. It shows off a Toronto that is layered and generous: part infrastructure project, part nature walk, part community meeting place, part east-end connector. It also proves that some of the city’s most rewarding experiences are free, local and available to anyone willing to explore on foot.

After our multiple walks at different times of day we came away feeling grateful not only for the design improvements but for the atmosphere the trail creates. It is scenic without trying too hard, active without feeling frantic and urban without losing touch with the river and trees that define the valley. For anyone looking to rediscover Toronto through the places that quietly shape everyday life, the reopened Lower Don Trail is one of the East End’s most worthwhile outings this summer.

Keep up to date on the Don Valley Trail Improvements.

Learn more about Mystery Day Trips.

A scenic outdoor view of a calm Don River along the Lower Don Trail with green foliage in the foreground and a large graffiti-covered embankment in the background under a blue sky with light clouds.

A sun-dappled Lower Don Trail running through a lush green forest canopy, with a person jogging in the distance.

The Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital with a reflective blue facade, situated across the Don River as viewed from the Lower Don Trail and framed by lush green trees under a clear blue sky.

A rustic brown metal truss bridge spans the Don River on the Lower Don Trail surrounded by lush green trees and tall grasses under a clear blue sky.

A scenic view of the Don River looking South reflecting lush green trees and views of the multiple bridges under a clear blue sky.

A paved bike path runs beneath a large green Riverdale Park Pedestrian Bridge, with several cyclists and a dog riding along the path. Trees line the left side and a concrete barrier with graffiti is visible on the right.