Toronto Islands: Ferry, Bikes and the Skyline View

A round trip to the Toronto Islands costs C$9.57 for an adult, leaves from the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal at 9 Queens Quay West, and drops you on car-free islands with the best skyline view the city has to offer. Buy the ticket online rather than at the terminal window and you’ll get into an express line during the day’s busiest hours - a real head start, though not a guarantee of no wait at all.

That distinction matters most in the middle of the day. The city’s own ferry page says waits to board can exceed 30 to 60 minutes at the terminal between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., and again on the islands between 5 and 9 p.m. as everyone heads home at once. The express line helps with the first of those crowds. It won’t help with the second: boarding for the return trip is first come, first served with a hard cap on how many people fit per sailing, online ticket or not, so build slack into an evening departure rather than counting on skipping the line twice in one day.

Which ferry, and when it runs

Three separate routes leave from the same terminal, and they don’t all run on the same calendar. Centre Island and Hanlan’s Point operate mid-April to mid-October only; Ward’s Island runs year-round, with a reduced winter schedule from mid-October to mid-April. In the main summer season, 13 May to 15 September 2026, the first boats leave the city between 6:30 and 8:00 a.m. depending on the route, and the last ones leave the city at 11:30 p.m. on Centre Island and Ward’s Island, or 10:45 p.m. on Hanlan’s Point, arriving roughly 15 minutes later. Centre Island is by far the busiest crossing; if the terminal line looks long, the Ward’s Island boat is usually shorter, and it’s only about a 35-minute walk along the boardwalk from there to Centre Island anyway.

That summer timetable ends on 15 September 2026. A shorter fall schedule on all three routes picks up the next day and runs about a month, and from mid-October to mid-April only the Ward’s Island ferry keeps running, on a reduced winter timetable - so check which routes are actually operating before you build a day around Centre Island or Hanlan’s Point outside the summer window.

Departures aren’t evenly spaced, either, so don’t assume you can just wander down whenever. On Centre Island, city departures run as tight as 30 minutes apart first thing in the morning and again right before the last boat, but stretch to as much as 80 minutes apart around midday and during the evening rush - the opposite of what most visitors expect from a “every fifteen minutes” city ferry. On weekends and busy summer days the city prints extra sailings on the Centre Island and Ward’s Island timetables, marked on the schedule itself rather than hidden, and posts on-site advisories when that extra service is actually running - worth checking the current schedule page rather than assuming the base timetable is all there is. None of the three routes run all night, and missing the last boat back means either a long wait until morning or a private water taxi, which several small operators run out of the harbour at a real premium over the C$9.57 fare.

There’s a wrinkle worth knowing about the fare. The adult round trip is C$9.57, with a 10 per cent discount at ten or more tickets, and that number holds all year. Seniors, youth and children don’t: through August 2026 the city is running them free, ticket still required, but that’s a seasonal promotion, not the year-round rate. Travel outside August and the last confirmed fares were C$6.15 for a senior (65+) or a youth (15-19) round trip and C$4.51 for a junior (2-14) - infants under two have always ridden free - so check the city’s fare page for the current number before you plan a family day around it. Bikes, strollers and paddle craft are all welcome on board, kept on the main deck clear of the doors and stairwells, and pets travel on a leash. One exception: Bike Share Toronto bicycles aren’t allowed on the ferry at all, so a downtown bike-share rental won’t get you to the dock and back, and heavier e-bikes (roughly 40 kg and up) can be bumped to a separate vehicle ferry at staff discretion.

Three islands, three very different afternoons

The Toronto Islands aren’t one island with three ferry stops; they’re three places with almost nothing in common except the water between them.

Centre Island is the family end, home to Centreville Amusement Park. There’s no entrance fee to walk in, but the rides run on tickets: an all-day pass costs C$35.18 plus tax under four feet tall and C$44.25 over, or you can buy individual C$1.80 tickets by the sheet. A small petting-zoo corner adds animals, including an unusually striking white peacock, to the mix of carousel and kiddie coaster.

Ward’s Island is the residential one, a small community of leased cottages that has been part of the islands for generations, and it’s the quietest of the three by a wide margin. There’s no amusement park and no beach crowd, just narrow lanes, gardens and a handful of small cafes, which is exactly why it’s the pick for anyone who wants a picnic rather than a theme park.

Hanlan’s Point has taken a real hit this year, worth knowing before you plan around it: high water on Lake Ontario has closed a stretch of the beach since spring 2026, roughly three-quarters of its historical footprint by some estimates, and the city’s own remediation work isn’t proposed to start until 2027 - check the city’s beach pages before you count on a swim there. What’s still open is the clothing-optional stretch, clearly signed at the fork in the path, plus a disc golf course and the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse, the oldest surviving lighthouse on the Great Lakes, dating to around 1808.

Getting around: your bike or a rental

A boardwalk and a network of paved paths connect all three landings, and it’s an easy, mostly flat walk between them if you don’t mind roughly half an hour island to island. A personal bike travels on the ferry at no extra cost, which makes the islands one of the better car-free bike outings in the city - but that doesn’t include a Bike Share Toronto rental, since those bikes aren’t allowed on board at all. If you didn’t bring your own, rental stands operate near the Centre Island dock, and there’s a boat rental hut on the islands too if paddling appeals more than pedalling.

The choice between your own bike and a rental usually comes down to how much of the day you’re spending out there. A rental makes sense for a couple of hours pottering between Centre Island and Ward’s; if you’re planning to ride the full loop, out past Hanlan’s and back, your own bike saves you from watching the clock on a rental period. Either way, the paths are flat and well shaded, and none of the three islands has anything resembling a hill, so this isn’t a trip that needs a fitness plan.

Making a day of it

Pack a picnic if the weather cooperates. Toronto’s ferries don’t sell food on board, and while Centre Island has snack stands near Centreville, the other two landings mostly don’t, so a cooler bag beats hunting for lunch once you’re out there. Barbecue spots and picnic tables are scattered across all three islands and fill up fast on a sunny weekend, so aim for an early crossing if a specific table matters to you.

Budget for the day, not just the ferry. Two adults and two kids paying the standard round-trip fares (outside the August promotion) spend about C$28 just crossing over. Add a sheet of 30 Centreville ride tickets at C$50 plus tax and the whole day, ferry included, comes to roughly C$75 - a modest sampler of rides, not an unlimited day. Centreville’s Family Pass, C$146.90 plus tax for four with unlimited rides, is what actually gets a family into the C$150 to C$200 range once the ferry and lunch are added; two individual All Day Ride Passes land somewhere in between, closer to C$100 with the crossing. Skip Centreville entirely and the day costs nothing beyond the ferry and whatever you packed for lunch.

Half a day covers the basics: the crossing, a walk or ride between two of the three islands, and time on a beach or a bench with the skyline behind you. A full day lets you add Centreville’s rides or the paddle through the lagoons without rushing for the last ferry. Either way, book the return crossing loosely rather than to the minute, since the summer evening rush back to the city is exactly when the terminal lines get long again. Our full Toronto guide covers the rest of the city around the harbour, and the CN Tower ticket guide is the place to compare that other classic Toronto view, from six hundred metres up rather than at water level.