Downtown Guelph, designed by John Galt and his companions, was one of the earliest instances of town planning in Ontario. The story of how he determined the layout of the downtown core is said to have come from laying his outstretched hand on a tree stump and basing the street design on how his fingers radiated out from his palm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Guelph).
Nowadays, Guelph’s downtown core is one of the most exciting and vibrant parts of the community. Being able to live in this highly sought after area is a privilege and comes with endless perks.

The amount of activities available in the downtown core are far reaching. If you’re a fan of vintage clothing and shopping, then places like The Patch, Kennedy Park or the Quebec Street Mall are for you. Quebec Street Mall also boasts your everyday needs like medical, dental and legal offices, along with being the home to local Guelph businesses and the box office for Guelph Storm Hockey!
If you have kids or an adventurous spirit, then activities like the Farmer’s Market, the Splash Pad in summer, skating in winter and the numerous concerts and activities in St. George Square will keep you and your family busy.

Night time Guelph (Image courtesy of Blog Guelph)
The downtown area is also a huge hot spot for enjoying the night life in Guelph. Starting from grabbing a delicious dinner at some of the great available restaurants like Buon Gusto or La Cucina and then moving onto drinks or live music at places like McCabe’s, NV or Royal Electric. One of the greatest part of enjoying the night life is that you can park or take a cab downtown and all the options available are within walking distance of one another. So you can change locations as often as your tastes do!
The area even has you covered for the morning after your nights out with unbeatable breakfast spots like Viennaand Balzac’s.
Even with the businesses mentioned we have barely scratched the surface of all the things to do in Guelph’s core. The history is still strong downtown with the civic museum and Guelph’s most famous Church, Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate giving the area an active, yet home town feel. Moving forward, we are excited to see what the future brings with additions like Fusion’s MetalWorks development, which will breathe new life into the area.
Needless to say, we are pretty proud to have such a fantastic area so close to home to enjoy.
Want to see an example of great downtown living? Check out our newest listing of a gorgeous new condo in the city’s core.
1408-160 Macdonell Street