The top five running trails in Toronto

If you're an avid runner in the Toronto area, it can be difficult to find places to run in peace and quiet. Luckily, there are some designated areas set aside in Toronto for jogging and bike riding that won't have you running through the centre of the city. Here are five of Toronto's best running trails.

The Beltline Trail is a particularly large trail that circles the entire city of Toronto.

Because it's so big, there are a number of different places that runners or bikers can hook onto and run as far as they want along the trail.

While this trail is inside the city, there are parts of the trail that a canopy of trees covers completely. This allows for runners to feel as though they are out in the woods while still in an urban area.

Believe it or not, there's an extremely short trail in the heart of downtown Toronto: measuring 0.9 kilometres, the trail wraps around Queens Park.

Like the Beltline, this trail has enough green that you'll be able to mentally escape the metal and glass of the city.

Also, the park this trail goes around was first built in 1860 so it is old and magnificent, offering some beautiful statuary and historic sites to see to keep you visually occupied while you run.

The Don Valley River trail is one of the longest on the list, measuring more than 20 kilometres.

This trail carries runners through a number of different parks, like Sunnybrook Park, E.T. Seton Park and Taylor Creek Park.

One of the best parts about this trail is that it's flat and well marked, so it's a nice, safe route to take with your family if you have kids that like to run, too.

This trail is a grand total of 32 kilometres long and winds around the Humber river.

The Humber River trail is made up of mostly asphalt, but has plenty of green scenery for an escape from the workaday world. Plus, this trail usually isn't too congested so you can enjoy some privacy on your run.

The Martin Goodman trail will actually link up to the Humber River trail if you follow it from Exhibition Place, all the way to its end.

This trail has painted lines that make it bi-directional. This also means that if you like skating and bicycling, the Martin Goodman trail has space for wheeled sports, too.

If you're living in Toronto and looking for a great place to go for a run in a place that will give you some respite from city life, give one of these five trails a try. As an added bonus, most of these trails can also be used if you're a cyclist.