I love this place, it is one of my favourite places to kayak because you get the Toronto skyline view. The owners are super nice and they help you get set up and launched safely. I come back here at least once a year! read more

I have been renting kayaks with them each week all summer. Smooth and easy to use website, it's also mobile friendly. Staff are hit and miss, and there are sometimes delays because there is only one person handling the rentals even though there are clearly 3-4 staff working. It takes about 15-20 minutes to make the paddle over to centre island. read more

Harbourfront Canoe & Kayak Centre - Rafting/Kayaking Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

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I did the Scavenger Hunt on the Toronto islands as part of a work team event. Overall takeaways: - there is a lot of tasks to do in the first zone, but not enough in the later ones - they tell you you can start in any island, but the plan is actually very sequential and ideally starts at center island - the tasks where very subjective and not specific enough, for example there was a task to write what a certain statue is looking at. The statue can be seen looking at a boat, the city, the CN tower, or really anything in front of it. But there is only one right answer! - they try to incentivize you to not get a bike for "500 points" even though the bike rental is included in the price of the ticket - the person who was running the show was really rude and socially inept. He went on this weird power trip ducking points away from teams for weird reasons (e.g. taking points away for not "listening" to him or making him repeat himself. Taking points away for being asked simple questions about the event.) when I challenged him on the arbitrary point system he snapped and accused me of "demeaning" the judges. - after we were done we were eager to get our scores and hear the results, but the organizer asked us to leave and said he would text us the score later. Kind of defeating the excitement and purpose of us being together for this event Great idea, terrible execution and shady business practices. Lookup other scavenger hunts on the island and take your money elsewhere! read more

This is such activity to do in the summer! Luckily I was part of a meetup group that booked through this business to do a paddle boating experience to the Islands! It was amazing - we had the voyageur canoes and all the staff/guides were great! Life jackets and paddles were lined up for us when we got there and we got simple and easy instructions on how to paddle, safety instructions and some fun facts about the canoes themselves. While paddling they would tell us which side needed to paddle more, or when to paddle faster etc. Instructions were easy to follow which made it easy for even beginners to learn and feel safe Definitely something I would do again! read more

This is SO FUN! PARADISE at Door Step! My friend owns kayaks at cottage in Muskoka so I have done kayaking before at best cottage country in the world. But this Kayaking experience at Harborfront just blew it out of water! First of all, it's just very affordable. Single person kayak is $30 and douple seated one is $40. NO TAX! Credit care is required though to be on hold in case kayk go missing etc. And it's just convenient to get to rather than going to cottage. Secondly, the lake area at Harborfront is wide open. it's just huge wide open space with shore of sky scrapers and CN Tower. Sptacular view with blue sky. tcountry usually the lake isnt as wide or the visual surrounding just trees or cottages. You get to see huge air planes swoosh above in front of you as they land on Porter Airport. U will be equiped with life jacket n whisle, if anything just blow 3 times, the staff would come rescue. The staff is extremely patient and friendly. They understand you can be doing it first time and they help you to put on and adjust equipment. Does unnerving quite a bit! TRUST me if you feel nervous trying it out, all the stress would melt away as soon as u float in water. Only excitement to fallow. If you are going on a date, pick the two seater one instead of two single one. So u get to chat and figure out if you two work well together to paddle. Make sure wear SUNglasses! It does get bright on the late :) read more

A small place just behind the Marine Police station on the waterfront, this place has got all the kayaks and canoes you need for a nice paddle on - the steadily getting cleaner - Lake Ontario and around the Toronto Islands. You should definitely try and find the little stream that cuts through the island and passes through Centreville and the picnic areas and such - absolutely beautiful on a nice summer day. Costs $25/hour to rent a kayak or $60 for a whole day, they actually have good equipment that's been taken care of. Their staff are super friendly and will help set you up and make sure everything is okay before you go. They do have a changeroom (as well as free lockers to leave your stuff) there if you want to get those swimsuits on and get ready for flipping the kayak (highly not recommended in lake Ontario, you might find your face in the water scraping a bunch of pieces of feces - human or other). If you're looking for parking, I "think" I overheard on of their staff tell another customer that they provide discounts to the garage parking on Queens Quay. I'd personally just take public transit, Queen's Quay is a place you just have to walk along. read more

These guys are awesome! From renting boats, to kayaking to group events they cover just about everything. I have recently bought a voucher for their speedboats (not very fast) but in the last month or so I have been kayaking, voyager canoeing, and sailing with them and the one big thing that I always notice is the staff are super friendly and great instructors. They provide lockers on site so you can put your valuables away although I had no problem taking my SLR camera on a kayak and just keeping a bag by my feet, use a skirt and it prevents water coming in. Not sure how much the sailing would cost as it was a work event but our skipper, John, was awesome, instructed us well on how to sail and gave my group confidence in being able to participate in our work regatta. Recently organised a UYE to rent canoes and kayaks for the day - again reasonable price, staff instructed everyone on safety and the actual equipment was in great condition. We paddle to the centre islands where we found an area to pull our crafts up and relax at the carousal cafe for food and drink. All in all a great experience although it does get pretty tiring getting across the lake. Recommend tandem kayaks so the workload is shared. Will continue using these guys for future outings on the lake, along with the speed boat I want to go on their evening group events and maybe even try the paddle boards. Great job guys. read more

What a great day! The staff who work here are super friendly and helpful. They explained everything very well to us and we were easily able to navigate and paddle our way to the Toronto islands. They have great life vests that don't get in the way of paddling, which I was very happy with. The only thing is that I thought the prices were a bit steep. $85 (taxes in) for a two person kayak for the day. read more

I went for the sunset canoe tour and it was amazing. Noa the tour guide was great! He made the tour so much fun yet at the same time was providing a lot of information about the island. I highly recommend this tour. read more

Totally love it. Totally love it. Totally love it. The staff at this place (called Paddle Toronto too) is awesome. Very friendly and accommodating and WITHOUT attitude. The front staff is helpful with your questions from giving you maps and directions. They sell water too if you forgot to bring one (and I always do) and Gatorade cheaper than you can find on the island. There are clean washrooms for you to change or pee. A locker is provided for things you don't want to carry on canoe or kayak. Someone will assist you get off the kayak and launch. They're all helpful too. They've assisted men and women in different shapes and sizes. Though even without them, you can easily launch yourself and get back as the dock is sloped. I had my "official" kayak training here. Awesome. I didn't realize that I had been paddling the wrong way. Some techniques are useful including maneuvering the foot pedal, maneuvering to your side and some safety tips. I recommend too. The price is more expensive than American rowing but this is Toronto! If you want to save money and you think you will paddle a lot during the season... buy the prepaid pass. You'll save about $ 25. Don't be cheap and paddle for an hour. You'll only be on the harbour. Boring. Paddle to the Island. There are potentially some bird watching opportunities. The water is calm - I have paddled by myself. The water on the island is too shallow and a bit creepy because you see the plants below. Be prepared to spend the whole afternoon. Totally worth it. So I'm impressed. I'm coming back. My back hurts. But my torso loves it! Paddle away! read more

Tried a tandem kayak here. Pricey for an hourly cost, so plan to pay for the day, much more worth it. The tandem only required one person to have paddling experience. It's really easy to keep balanced as well. They have small lockers to leave anything you want behind for your trip. Upon getting geared up, we got a quick instructional and were told to do a quick isolated paddle just to make sure we were ok to get around. The instructor also repeated important points that we needed to keep in mind. Good basic rental place with all the service that would be expected of them. read more

Today was my first exerience on a nice summer afternoon and it was very good. The equipment is very clean and the instructor Cyntia was very nice and helpful. Very conveniently lcated and a great place to learn. They also have canoe and kayak social evenings on Wed, Thu and Fridays. Looing to check one out soon. read more

I've since become a regular and taken several more classes (Paddle Canada's SK1, Fall Paddling, Rolling) and have my own boat. The social paddles are a great way to get out on the water on a weeknight, and the instructors are incredibly good, patient, and generous teachers who treat us as developing members of a paddling community, not just students. My first rolling class got me from being really terrified that I'd done a very dumb thing by voluntarily signing up to spend time upside down and underwater with my legs in a boat to being able to do a paddle-float assisted roll and to feel comfortable practicing the steps leading to a full roll. My only small complaint is that some of the boat storage spots are really awkward, especially if you're short. HCKC has been doing a lot to build a paddling community on the waterfront - and to protect that waterfront. A real treasure. read more

My friend and I came here on a lovely Sunday afternoon very excited to kayak around lake Ontario. I've kayaked a couple times before and it would have been my friends first kayaking experience, so needless to say, we were both looking forward to this day. We had made reservations for the 2 person Tandem kayak which was noted on the website for individuals with no experience. Also on the website noted that we would have to pass a paddling assessment (this makes sense considering the harbour is a very busy channel). Upon arrival, reception and getting our life jackets and equipment went smoothly until we took our paddling assessment. This was my friends first time kayaking so we had a rocky start in the assessment with the turning and maneuvering. After a couple tries, the man who was assessing us did not give us the green light to go out into the harbour. We were totally understandable of this because we do not want our lives nor other peoples lives in danger and the man was simply doing his job. HOWEVER, the man who was assessing us was quite rude. He mocked us throughout the assessment, laughing and jeering at us as if he expected us to paddle like professionals. Not only was this embarrassing, he was very unprofessional. It is one thing to do your job and it is another to harass your customers. We came here to have a good time and it was ruined for us. It's quite unfortunate and disappointing that we had this experience. read more

Everyone was so friendly. Super accommodating. It's also fun to meet all the people from different places (most were tourists). COME EARLY if you are driving, because parking is near impossible. Had a great experience! Thank you Paddle Toronto! read more

Great experience! Rented a canoe here last weekend and spent 2 hours canoeing to the islands and coming back. Amazing view of the CN tower skyline! My only recommendation is to make sure you go 30-40 minutes before your scheduled time because it takes a long time to actually get your canoes/kayaks and take off. read more

Weekends and holidays are difficult to book and after making a number of attempts to book the owners cancelled the whole rental day with less than 24 hrs notice with and excuse of poor weather conditions that were none existent on any site 24 hrs before. Only a slight chance of light rain and light winds less than 40% chance of precipitation for the morning we booked. I really do not understand and although they gave a full refund it was to be the highlight of the civic holiday for us and we were very disappointed. I understand if the conditions are bad but drizzle??? You go figure. Guys I just don't get it. Really :( read more

Great staff (from the back office to the Front line) and fun tours!!

I haven't actually gone on a tour with Harbourfron Canoe & Kayak Centre, but I was very impressed with their customer service. I bought a Groupon and by poor planning on my own part left it until the last chance to reserve a spot on the sunset canoe tour. I cancelled at the last minute and then the company just said to print the groupon and keep it to use next summer. They were very friendly and helpful and a joy to deal with! read more