Toronto City Sightseeing Helicopter Tour

The island city airport: check-in and briefing

Your Toronto helicopter ride begins at the island city airport, a small airport on the western Toronto Islands, just across a narrow channel from downtown. To get there, walk from Bathurst Street through the pedestrian tunnel beneath the harbour, exit the terminal, cross the traffic circle and head to Hangar 1, where the helicopter tours are based.

Check-in is friendly and quick. On the day of your flight you call the flight team to confirm your time, and at the desk every passenger is weighed, as the seating plan depends on balance and safety: the maximum is 260 pounds per passenger and 600 pounds per flight group. After a short wait and a pre-flight briefing you put on your headset and walk out to the helicopter. Bring a passport or ID card, and leave bags behind.

The CN Tower at eye level

The CN Tower, completed in 1976, rises 553 metres above the city and has defined the Toronto skyline ever since. From the ground its observation pods seem impossibly high; from the helicopter, flying at around 2,000 feet, you are level with the second pod and can look across at the people inside.

This is the moment most guests remember: the slender concrete shaft, the round pod and the antenna seen side-on, with the city spread out below. Through the floor-to-ceiling glass and from your guaranteed window seat, it makes an unforgettable photograph. If you are deciding between going up the CN Tower or taking a helicopter tour, the flight gives you the tower itself in the view, which is impossible from the observation deck.

Downtown skyline, the domed stadium and the aquarium

The flight follows a figure-eight pattern over the city, designed so that every passenger sees the same sights equally. You pass over the glass towers of the financial district, the domed stadium with its retractable roof, the large aquarium at the foot of the CN Tower and the busy streets of the Entertainment District.

Travelling at an average of about 100 miles per hour, the helicopter covers in minutes what would take an hour in traffic. Your pilot points out landmarks through the headset, and you can talk with the other two passengers. The extended 35-kilometre route gives more time over downtown and the surroundings, while the 20-kilometre flight focuses on the city centre. Both are daytime flights, ideal for clear views and photos.

Harbourfront, the Toronto Islands and Lake Ontario

From the air you see how Toronto sits on Lake Ontario: the harbourfront with its piers and promenades, the green chain of the Toronto Islands with their beaches, lagoons and marinas, and the open lake stretching to the horizon. On a clear day you may even see the mist rising from Niagara Falls in the far distance.

The flight ends with a gentle return to the helicopter base on the island. All flights depend on suitable weather, so we recommend booking your Toronto helicopter tour on your first available day in the city; if a flight is cancelled for weather, you have time to move to another date. The best time for the flight is a clear, sunny day, when visibility over the lake is at its widest.