High park Toronto | Informal Campsite

September 12th, 2020 by alysesmond

We have been using this lovely spot as a hub while visiting our daughter.
As posters have mentioned before: it’s a busy place during the day; packed with park-goers with few spots available.
We’ve stayed, uneventfully, for 3 nights. Wednesday night, peaceful. Thursday night, very quiet until about 7am when the teeming hoards arrived, en mass, to jockey for parking spaces. Friday night, very quiet after the sun went down, and then oddly quiet on Saturday morning.
Extremely quiet.
Too quiet.
No other vehicles in the parking lot quiet.
No other vehicles in the PARK quiet.
Turns out: the City of Toronto has a “social distancing but get outside to exercise” initiative called ActiveTO where many major city streets are closed to vehicular traffic. While all the major roads around the park are open...
THE PARK ROADS ARE CLOSED!!!
So, here we sit, splendid in our isolation, trapped in High Park until 11pm, Sunday.
There is no information available about how much longer this initiative will continue. The only info I can find is that the city is monitoring areas for crowding There was no signage indicating the upcoming closure when we entered the park.
So, for now, I would caution anyone wishing to overnight here that it would be open from Monday through Friday morning only.

September 3rd, 2020 by claude.duguay67

Nice place. Washrooms 5 minutes walks from the parking. Sleeping in a park in Toronto and a quiet place perfect.

August 26th, 2020 by kartik.vasan.kv

There is main parking lot, which is across the leash free dog park. We spent the first night in our campervan here to test how it feels. We reached here at 11pm. The park was quite, there were cops but they didn't bother us. The space has few lights but not too bright. overall a great spot away from the noisy city traffic in Toronto.

August 11th, 2020 by titeprout

We stayed there for 2 nights in a van. You can park overnight at the big parking lot. We asked someone working there and said it is ok to park overnight all day except on friday night. A little bit noisy until 11pm but after that, was perfect. There is a free pool and a playground for kids. Because of covid situation, they close running water and shower. Wonderful place!

September 11th, 2019 by zed

Stayed here just after the parking lot. There are no “no parking” signs when looking to the right, at this spot. No problems last night. Bathrooms are nice to have near. Gonna stay here until someone says to leave.

July 4th, 2019 by Camping Canada

Tried to stay here overnight, by the south end of the zoo. Was told to leave at around 11pm because they were closing up the gates. There is lots of other parking around the park but wouldn't recommend. Such a shame as it would be the perfect place.

July 4th, 2019 by Camping Canada

Free outdoor pool and showers as well as free parking all day. Really nice place, check online for hours as it's just seasonal openings.

October 27th, 2018 by mrenard37

We spent a few nights without problem but one night the people working for the city of Toronto came knocking and explained that we could not spent the night there. actually in any car park in Toronto it is not allowed to spend the night unless you have a permit. Shame as the location is perfect to visit Toronto.

September 14th, 2018 by mc

We stayed at High Park for one night on a friday, on the 14th of september 2018. We have a 19 foot campervan and parked at the end of the principal parking. No one bodered us. Toilets were open in the morning. There were kids partying at night so it was a bit noisy but other than that very nice.

August 23rd, 2018 by LauLasCordobas

We stay one night. Everything ok, quiet place.
You can use the pool and the shower for free after 12Pm.

Dormimos una noche, seguro y tranquilo.
La piscina y las duchas se pueden usar después de las 12 pm es gratis.

March 28th, 2018 by Fabian Pickel

Signs say 'facility/park users only' and 'no parking 12:01-6:00 am' or sth. At park entrances signs say 'park open until dusk'. Didn't want to take the risk.
Definitely tricky for big rigs as there are cars stalls only.

October 28th, 2017 by simonqualmann

We stayed here for 2 nights at the south gate of the zoo. There are no signs. Only a few people during the night, but nobody bothered us. There is also a pit toilet at the zoo.

August 13th, 2017 by rambling-van.com

Parkinglot in the park. During the weekend a bit noisy but after 11 quiet. We asked the security guy if we could park here for overnight, no problem. Metro or citybikes/bike share are close. Public toilets close at night.