Toronto

June is peak season for Ontario strawberries and the Saturday Farmers' Market in the North building of St. Lawrence Market is where the serious producers bring them. Get the peameal bacon sandwich from Carousel Bakery first — that's non-negotiable, that's breakfast — then work the market stalls. The Ontario strawberries are small, dark red, and taste nothing like the supermarket kind. Buy more than you think you need. You will eat them all before you get home. The farmers' market energy carries through summer; check what's fresh on an evening visit.

Sunday dim sum on Spadina Avenue is a serious institution, and Rol San — open until 4am on weekends, which tells you everything about its priorities — does the downtown version properly. Har gow, turnip cake, cheung fun. Go at 11am on a Sunday in June when the Spadina corridor is at its most alive: the market stalls spilling out onto the pavement, the Chinatown bakeries already selling out of egg tarts, the whole street smelling of roast duck and wet pavement. Bring cash. Expect to queue briefly. Worth every minute. A perfect rainy-day alternative to outdoor plans, though tonight's cool breeze might tempt you outside instead.

When Toronto hits 30°C and the humidity turns the air into a wet towel, the Art Gallery of Ontario is your friend. Free on Wednesday evenings from 6 to 9pm — which in June means arriving in golden-hour light and leaving in the cool of the evening. The Canadian collection is outstanding: the Group of Seven landscapes are extraordinary and the Emily Carr works are some of the most underrated paintings in North America. Frank Gehry's building is worth examining slowly on the way out. The AGO's cool galleries are perfect refuge during peak midday heat; free admission from 6pm.