Shawn Micallef is senior editor at Spacing magazine, columnist for Eye Weekly and author of Stroll: Psychogeographic Walking Tours of Toronto (Coach House, 2010), which celebrates the city’s details.

Here’s his idea of a perfect $24 day in Toronto:

Breakfast - $5

Pick up breakfast at historic Union Station for a commuter-friendly $5 or less in the basement’s Go Train area. Eat upstairs amidst the human traffic of the main departure hall built in 1927.

Morning - $6.50

Walk five minutes south to the water and take the $6.50 (round trip) Toronto Island Ferry to Wards Island for a view of the skyline and great beaches.

Lunch - $2

Back in town, head to Chinatown and Kensington Market for lunch. Pick up a $2 Vietnamese sub (called Banh Mi) at Nguyên Hu’ong, or forage Kensington for a similarly priced empanada. Eat it on the benches by the Al Waxman statue in Bellevue Square Park.

Afternoon - FREE

Head south to Spadina and Queen and walk an hour west to Parkdale. Take your time and visit the dozens of galleries along the way. Nearly all are free and West Queen West may be one of the densest linear collections of galleries in the world.

Dinner - $10

On your walk, stop at Fresh on Crawford and get one of the inexpensive vegetarian bowls for around $10.

Evening - $3

Walk along the rest of Queen Street to Roncesvalles Avenue and get on the 501 Queen streetcar ($3). Take it back east for the cheapest and smoothest Toronto tour going. Ride it to the end of the line and walk the grounds of the massive art deco water filtration plant as dusk falls.