Toronto Pearson International Airport to Yorkville & Midtown
Take the UP Express to Bloor station rather than riding to Union: it is one stop short and puts you on Line 2, a few minutes from Yorkville. Around 20 minutes plus a short subway hop.
Toronto's expensive quarter โ galleries, the Royal Ontario Museum on the corner, and Victorian terraces converted into boutiques. It sits on the subway just north of the university, which makes the train from the airport genuinely competitive here.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Yorkville & Midtown, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from C$75). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from C$3.3) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car โ so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo ยท 1 traveller | C$3.3 | C$75 | Bus |
| Couple ยท 2 travellers | C$6.6 | C$75 | Bus |
| Family of 4 ยท 4 travellers | C$13 | C$75 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority isโฆ | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From C$3.3, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3โ4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Train
Get off at Bloor, not Union โ it is the stop before and connects straight to Line 2 eastbound for Bay and Bloor-Yonge. Riding on to Union and doubling back adds twenty minutes for no reason. A separate TTC fare of CAD 3.30 covers the subway leg.
Where to catch it: UP Express platform at Terminal 1; from Terminal 3 ride the free Link train across first.
Best for budget travellers near a stationTaxi
Same zone as downtown, so the same CAD 60-75 band. Yorkville's streets are narrow and one-way in places and hotel entrances are often on a side road rather than Bloor itself.
Where to catch it: Ground transportation level, waybill issued at the rank.
Best for small groups in a hurryPrivate transfer
The CAD 15 exit fee for pre-arranged vehicles applies here too. Chosen mostly for the luggage โ the alternative involves a train, a platform change and a subway with stairs at the far end.
Where to catch it: Terminal meeting point.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsBus / shuttle
Bus to Kipling then Line 2 straight east to Bay โ no second change, which makes this less painful than most budget routes across the city. Still over an hour.
Where to catch it: TTC bus platforms, ground level at both terminals.
Best for solo & budget travellersCar rental
Among the worst places in the city to keep a car. Street parking is metered and scarce, hotel valet runs CAD 45-60 a night, and everything in the neighbourhood is walkable once you are there.
Where to catch it: Terminal counters.
Best for travellers who want to exploreGetting from YYZ to Yorkville & Midtown
Get off one stop early
This is the whole trick for Yorkville, and it saves about twenty minutes. The UP Express is marketed as the airport train to Union Station, and most people ride it to the end of the line because that is what the signs say. But it calls at Bloor on the way, and Bloor connects directly to subway Line 2 โ which runs east along Bloor Street through Bay station, a few minutes' walk from anywhere in Yorkville.
Ride to Union and you then have to travel back north on Line 1, through the busiest interchange in the city, to arrive roughly where the train already passed. Getting off at Bloor turns a thirty-five minute journey into something closer to twenty-five, with one fewer set of platforms.
The mechanics
The UP Express platform is at Terminal 1. Landing at Terminal 3 means taking the free Terminal Link train across first โ two to eight minutes, running around the clock. Trains leave every fifteen minutes, every day.
The fare is CAD 12.35 at the machine or CAD 9.25 tapping a PRESTO card, with under-twelves free. The subway leg from Bloor is a separate TTC fare of CAD 3.30, which the same PRESTO card covers. Buying the card on arrival is worth it here precisely because this journey uses two systems.
What you are arriving into
Yorkville is Toronto's expensive quarter and it wears it lightly โ Victorian terraces converted into boutiques, galleries on side streets, and the Royal Ontario Museum sitting on the corner of Bloor and Avenue like a piece of broken glass, which is more or less what the architect intended. The university campus begins a block south. Bloor Street itself is the luxury retail strip.
The practical consequence is that once you are here, you walk. Almost everything worth reaching in the neighbourhood is within ten minutes on foot, and the subway handles anything further.
Cars, and why the streets resist them
Airport taxis price Yorkville in the same zone as downtown: CAD 60 to 75, fixed by waybill before departure, with the usual CAD 10 airport surcharge. A car booked beforehand is CAD 75-110, and the airport bills a further CAD 15 on reserved pickups.
The case for either is luggage rather than time. The train-and-subway combination involves a platform change and stairs at the far end, which is fine with a cabin bag and tiresome with two large cases. The case against is the last hundred metres: Yorkville's residential streets are narrow, several are one-way, and a number of the hotels have their entrance on a side road rather than on Bloor. A driver will find it; you, with a map and a suitcase, may not enjoy the search.
The budget route, which is unusually painless here
The TTC's 900 bus to Kipling then Line 2 straight east to Bay is one fare of CAD 3.30 and โ rare for a cross-city budget route in Toronto โ involves no second change. Bus, subway, arrive. It takes over an hour, but it is a single line the whole way once you are underground, which makes it considerably less punishing than the equivalent trip to North York or Scarborough.
If you are counting every dollar and travelling light, this is a better deal here than almost anywhere else on this page.
Arriving late, and what stays open
The UP Express runs from early morning until around one, so most evening arrivals are covered. After that the choice narrows to a taxi or a booked car, and the flat zone rate does not change with the hour โ the CAD 60 to 75 you would pay at noon is the CAD 60 to 75 you pay at two in the morning, which is a rarer thing than it sounds in a city with surge pricing.
Worth knowing for the return leg too. Yorkville hotels are twenty-five to thirty-five minutes from Pearson without traffic and an hour with it, and the morning westbound run on the Gardiner starts earlier than visitors expect. For a flight before ten, leaving at six is not excessive.
Do not hire a car
Yorkville is among the worst places in Toronto to keep one. Street parking is metered, tightly enforced and almost never available. Hotel valet runs CAD 45 to 60 a night. The neighbourhood is walkable end to end in fifteen minutes and sits on top of two subway lines.
Hire at Pearson only if you are leaving the city โ Niagara, the escarpment, cottage country north of Barrie. For a stay in Yorkville itself the car will cost more parked than it would to take a cab everywhere you actually went.