PATH: Toronto’s underground city

What the PATH is

Picture a city underneath downtown Toronto: corridors with food courts, shops, pharmacies, banks and subway entrances, linking one building to the next. That is the PATH. The City of Toronto describes it as a "mostly underground" pedestrian walkway network more than 30 kilometres long.

It is not a separate tourist attraction: it is the everyday route of people who work and study downtown. According to the City, more than 200,000 commuters use it every business day, as well as tourists and residents.

Where the PATH takes you

According to the City, the PATH connects you to:

• Union Station, Toronto’s busiest transit hub, with the subway, trains and the airport train (UP Express);
• six subway stations;
• three major department stores and CF Toronto Eaton Centre, one of the most visited places in the city;
• nine hotels;
• the Hockey Hall of Fame;
• Roy Thomson Hall, one of the city’s major concert halls;
• the Scotiabank Arena, home of the big games and concerts;
• City Hall and Metro Hall.

You can walk from the waterfront to the Yonge Street area, and from the Entertainment District to Yonge, all through the Financial District.

How to find your way

The first time, the PATH can be confusing: the corridors change style from one building to the next and you cannot always see the street. A few tips:

1. Download the official map before you go. The City publishes a full PATH map as a PDF, updated in January 2026, showing the buildings, the stations and the streets above. The link is in the sources at the end of this article.
2. Follow the PATH signs. The PATH name and logo belong to the City, which coordinates the directional signs and maps throughout the network. The current signage system was installed in 2018.
3. Think about the streets above. The official map shows the street names over the corridors. Knowing whether you are near King, Queen or Front Street helps a lot.
4. Start at Union Station. It is the easiest place to find and it links the PATH to the subway, the trains and the SkyWalk, the walkway that leads towards the CN Tower.

When the PATH helps students

• In winter. In January, the average temperature downtown is around -3.7 °C, according to the Government of Canada’s official averages. Walking underground makes a big difference on windy and snowy days. Read more in our article on winter in Toronto.
• On rainy days. You can go from a subway station to a downtown building without getting wet.
• Arriving and leaving. From Union Station you can take the train to Pearson airport. To understand the subway, buses and streetcars, read our article on getting around Toronto.
• On game or concert days. The Scotiabank Arena is connected to the PATH.
• At lunchtime. The PATH restaurants and food courts are a practical option for lunch between classes.

A story that began in 1900

The first tunnel opened in 1900, when the T. Eaton Co. linked its main store at 178 Yonge Street to its bargain annex. By 1917 there were five tunnels downtown. When Union Station opened in 1927, a tunnel was built to connect it to the Royal York Hotel, now the Fairmont Royal York.

The real growth came in the 1970s, with a tunnel between the Richmond-Adelaide and Sheraton Centres. In 1987, City Council decided that the City would coordinate the PATH and pay for a signage program for the whole network. In 2018, the signage system in use today was installed.