Our snazzy new Swim Guide lets you locate beaches near you, figure out which ones are safe for swimming (the green ones!), and plan your next trip to the beach. It’s free, and it’s fun, and it’s available now online and for your smartphone.

If you are in the Toronto area, here’s a sample of what you can expect to find in the Swim Guide:

Bluffer’s Beach: Named for the Scarborough Bluffs that tower over it, Bluffer’s Park Beach has a ton of facilities for every beach-goer. There is a marina, parkland, swimming, fishing, and picnic areas. In 2009, an 11 year-old boy reeled in a 35lb Chinook Salmon just off the beach! Bluffer’s Park was built by fill and bringing in sand to create a flat space at the bottom of the clay cliffs. These towering bluffs are loose and crumbly, so keep your eyes peeled for falling sand. If you put your ear right up to the wall of them you might be able to hear the sand and dirt moving and shifting inside. Bluffer’s Beach used to have some of the poorest water quality in Toronto. After a 2006 study by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper and investment from the City of Toronto, the water quality improved dramatically.

Centre Island: Take the Centre Island ferry from mainland Toronto. Walk by the amusement park and take the long open walkway across the island. You will reach the old pier and Centre Island Beach, also known as “Manitou Beach”. “Manitou” refers to the spirits of the Algonquin tribes who were the first people to enjoy the island. Centre Island Beach has very calm, shallow, and slightly warmer waters because of the rock breakwater built to provide a barrier from the open lake. The rock breakwater also makes it more difficult for clean water to sweep in and increases the chances for the Beach to be posted with warnings and closures for water quality. Centre Island Beach is an ideal place for children and adults to swim, relax, picnic and enjoy the scenery. Just a short walk from the café and the bar, Centre Island Beach is wonderful place to spend the day with friends and family.

Cherry Beach: Cherry Beach has a diverse and colourful place in the history of Toronto. The 1980’s pop hit “Cherry Beach Express” tells tales of illegal and corrupt adventures on the sands. The City of Toronto has spent years improving Cherry Beach as part of the Waterfront Redevelopment Project. Today, Cherry Beach is a safe, friendly, wonderful place for kite-surfing, swimming, walking, and BBQs. It is host to the music festival “Promise Cherry Beach”every summer weekend. There is an off-leash dog park here. Cherry Beach is mostly sandy and is usually one of the cleanest beaches in mainland Toronto. It is sometimes called “Clarke Beach”.

Gibraltar Beach: Don’t be put off by ghost stories about the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse. This beach is nestled between Hanlan’s Point and Centre Island. Gibraltar Point Beach is a stretch of sand that faces out into Lake Ontario proper, seemingly a million miles away from the city over your shoulder. The sandy beach here is what remains of the Gibraltar Beach Sand Dunes. They once coated the entire south shore of the island. These dunes are actually runoff from the Scarborough Bluffs to the east. It’s still classified as an Environmentally Significant Area due to the rare species that exist here. Don’t forget to check out the woven fence at the sand dune entrance – made specifically to help prevent erosion. Take the Centre Island Ferry from the Mainland Ferry Terminal. Follow signs to Centre Beach, then walk west. You can also take the smaller, quieter Hanlan’s Point Ferry to avoid the throngs of tourists.

Hanlan’s Point: Hanlan’s Point is located on what is now Toronto Islands. This chain of islands used to be a peninsula connected to the mainland. Hanlan’s Point has long-served as a recreation spot for Torontonians. At one point it was home to an amusement park and baseball stadium where Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run (into Lake Ontario). Once you take the Hanlan’s ferry from downtown Toronto, a short walk will get you to the beach – keep to the well marked trails to protect the native flora and fauna. If you’re looking to get rid of your pesky tanlines, Hanlan’s Point is the place to go: it’s one of the only two official “clothes optional” beaches in all of Canada (the other is far away in BC). Feeling shy? Don’t worry, there’s a clothed area as well.

Kew-Balmy Beach: Kew and Balmy Beaches were first opened to Toronto in the 1930s. Torontonians would swarm the sand, the boardwalk and the amusement parks that dotted the shore. Today these beaches still hold onto some of that charm and history – with the Kew Beach lawnbowling club, and the Kew Gardens Bandstand (built on the remains of a lost river!). The bandstand hosts bands throughout the warmer months as well as the annual Jazz Festival. Right on the shore is a beach club that dates back to 1905. Members of the Beach Club have won gold and silver medals at the Olympics and their football team won the Grey Cup, twice, in 1927 and 1930. At the most eastern end of the beach is the Robert Harris Water Filtration Plant – a gorgeous art deco palace – that was memorialised in Michael Ondaatje’s novel In the Skin of a Lion. The City of Toronto merged Kew and Balmy beaches in 2006.

Marie Curtis Park: Marie Curtis Park East Beach is located on the east bank of the Etobicoke Creek where the water flows out to meet Lake Ontario. The park was once part of a community called Long Branch. Hurricane Hazel struck in 1954, destroying forty homes and claiming six lives on the beach. In order to ensure that this never happened again, the remaining houses were moved away from the shore. The area was designated parkland. The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto erected a plaque in the southwest corner of the park to commemorate Marie Curtis, the woman from Long Branch who worked tirelessly to have the park built. Children love the park playground, and there is ample space and greenery for everyone to use and appreciate. Marie Curtis Park Beach is a beautiful place to enjoy the sun and quiet near Toronto.

Rouge Beach: The Rouge River winds its way through the largest urban park in North America and meets the waters of Lake Ontario at Rouge Beach. Near the beach is a marsh that provides a home for a variety of wildlife. Any time of the year, the picturesque scenery around Rouge Beach is calming and impressive. During the summer many people spend their days fishing and swimming off of the shores of the beach and watching the trains on the CN line drone past them in the distance. Rouge Beach is near Toronto’s only camping ground and is a great spot for city dwellers to access large green space for hiking, biking and running, among many other outdoor activities. Immediately to the east of the beach you can’t help but notice the Pickering Nuclear Power Plant, one of the largest nuclear power plants in the world.

Sunnyside Beach: Opened in the roaring 1920s, Sunnyside Beach was the place Torontonians came to play for decades. This waterfront icon played host to bathers, concerts, tightrope-walkers and even an amusement park. The Palais Royale was one of Toronto’s most popular dance halls, featuring jazz greats like Duke Ellington and Count Basie. In 1954, sixteen-year old Marilyn Bell ended her historic first swim across Lake Ontario nearby. Not long after that, the Gardiner Expressway went up and the amusement park came down. Today, you can still use the Sunnyside Bathing Pavilion and swim in the pool (aka, “The Tank”), have drinks and a bite to eat on a patio overlooking the beach, and of course, have a splash in Lake Ontario.

Ward’s Beach: Take the Ward’s Island Ferry from the Toronto Ferry Docks at Queens Quay and Bay Street to get to this hidden gem. Ward’s Island Beach was named after a fisherman and his family who settled on Toronto Island in 1830. Ward’s Island Beach is a part of the small residential community on the island. It is far less touristy than the Centre Island park. Ward’s Beach is sheltered a bit by the Leslie Split, so its calm water is ideal for swimming. There is usually enough wind here for kites and wind boards, though. Ward’s Beach is a treasure trove for beach glass because the current brings wave-smoothed glass to the shore.

Woodbine-Ashbridges Bay: Woodbine Beach is the most westerly stretch of sand in Toronto’s Beaches (er, “The Beach”) community. It curls the shore from Ashbridges Park to Kew Beach with a boardwalk running alongside the entire way. That wasn’t always the case. Until Lake Shore Avenue was extended to Woodbine in the 1950s, this shoreline was known as “The Cut”. It was a dark wooded area, far from the rest of the city and fancied by rum runners and their friends. Today, Woodbine Beach is the city’s hotspot for beach volleyball. Ashbridges Bay is just to the west.