Things to Do in Toronto in December

The Distillery District, a preserved Victorian industrial complex, transforms in December into a maze of timber-framed stalls selling mulled wine, hand-knit woolens, and ornaments. The scent of pine boughs, cinnamon, and woodsmoke hangs in the cold air. Cobblestones glow under thousands of tiny white lights. It's packed on weekends. A weekday afternoon visit feels like stepping into a living snow globe. The cold makes the hot chocolate taste better.

December unlocks a whole other culinary layer in Toronto. This is the month for tourtière (a spiced meat pie) at the St. Lawrence Market. Grab butter tarts from the Carousel Bakery. Sip hot toddies in the wood-paneled snugs of historic pubs like the Wheat Sheaf. A guided food tour in December focuses on these warming, seasonal staples you simply can't find in July. Tours weave through the steamy, fragrant lanes of Kensington Market or the grand, tiled hall of the St. Lawrence Market. Come hungry.

December is when Toronto's museums come into their own. The steam-heated halls of the Royal Ontario Museum feel like a sanctuary, its dinosaur skeletons and Ming vases offering a dry, warm contrast to the slush outside. The Art Gallery of Ontario's spiraling Frank Gehry staircase is quieter, letting you contemplate the Group of Seven landscapes of frozen Canadian wilderness with appropriate atmosphere. The light through the AGO's glass façade is a pale, wintery gold, good for slow contemplation. Stay all day.

There is no more well-known Toronto December experience than lacing up skates under the glowing Toronto sign, with City Hall's twin towers looming overhead. The rink at Nathan Phillips Square is the heart of the city's winter, a whirring, laughing cacophony under the night sky. For a more serene, scenic skate, the Natrel Rink at Harbourfront offers views across the frozen, dark expanse of Lake Ontario towards the islands. The sound here is the rhythmic scrape of blades and the distant hum of the Gardiner Expressway. Skate both.

Toronto's theatre district on King Street West is in full swing in December, offering a glittering, indoor alternative to the cold. This is when you'll find classic holiday productions like 'The Nutcracker' at the Four Seasons Centre. But also the regular, sharp shows at the Mirvish theatres. The experience is pure Toronto: emerging from a darkened auditorium after a show into the crisp night, the neon signs of restaurants and bars reflecting off wet pavement, your breath making little clouds as you debate where to go for a post-show drink. Dress well.