Toronto Pearson Airport Map, in Words

What does the Pearson airport map show, in plain words?

Most people who search for a Toronto Pearson airport map, or a plain Toronto airport map, are somewhere unfamiliar or about to be, and need a short list of answers rather than a floor plan: which building, which level, which door. For a decision such as "I land at Terminal 1, where do I go?", a tabulated text version is faster, and it is what this page gives you.

Every layout fact below comes from the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), which runs the airport, either from its public web pages, its downloadable PDF maps or its own planning documents, all linked in the sources at the foot of the page. Where those pages do not say something, such as a walking time between two doors, we have left it out rather than guess. Pickup arrangements change, so recent changes are dated. Checked against the airport's published material on 4 October 2026.

Where are Terminal 1 and Terminal 3, and how do they connect?

The map in your head should be two buildings with a railway between them. Terminal 1 is the larger building and the home of the UP Express station. Terminal 3 has its own arrivals and departures levels and a walkway to the Sheraton Gateway hotel. Between them runs the Terminal Link, a free automated train that the airport describes as accessible and capable of carrying a non-folding or non-collapsible mobility aid.

The Terminal Link has stations at both terminals and at Viscount Station, which sits on Level 4 of the Value Park Garage. The airport also points travellers to it for the Sheraton Gateway Hotel and the ALT Hotel. The airport says it runs 24 hours a day with two to eight minutes of travel time between stations, and its Terminal Link page posts maximum waiting times through the day. One of its UP Express directions sheets describes the Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 ride as two minutes.

You never need a car or a bus to move between terminals, and the train is also the way to the UP Express from Terminal 3. The Pearson complete guide has the wider picture of the airport, and the terminal finder tells you which building your airline uses.

What is on each level? A Toronto airport terminal map, level by level

A Toronto airport terminal map is mostly a stack of levels, and the confusing part is that the two terminals number theirs differently. The table below combines the GTAA's own planning document for the terminals (its tenant design standards, revised in September 2016), its downloadable terminal maps and its published pickup pages. The design document describes how the buildings were laid out to work; the signs on the day have the final word.

If you are reading a Pearson Terminal 1 map for the first time, the single idea to hold on to is that Level 3 is the departures end and Level 1 is the arrivals end, with Level 2 in the middle doing two jobs: arrivals immigration landside, and gates airside. At Terminal 3 Pearson the same split is simpler: departures upstairs, arrivals below, and the train platform above both.

The airport's own plan also explains why an international arrival at Terminal 1 can feel like a long walk. Passengers get off the aircraft on Level 2, are taken up to Level 3 along separate walkways, come back down to Level 2 for primary immigration, and descend again to Level 1 for baggage claim, customs and the exit. A domestic arrival goes from the gate straight toward the baggage hall on a simpler route. If someone is meeting you, this is why an international arrival takes longer to appear than the schedule suggests.

How do I read a Pearson airport gate map?

Gates carry a letter and a number, and the letter tells you roughly which part of the building you will be walking to. The table below lists the gate numbers printed on the airport's own downloadable Terminal 1 departures map. That PDF carries an April 2019 file date and is the one the airport still links from its terminal maps page, so treat the numbers as a guide to the shape of the building and confirm your gate on your boarding pass or the airport's flight page.

The same number can appear under two letters on the map - for example 32, 34 and 36 under both D and F, and 66 to 69 under both E and F - because one physical gate can be used for more than one type of flight. The types are domestic (inside Canada), transborder (to the United States, cleared through US pre-clearance before you board) and international (everywhere else), and the letter printed on your boarding pass is the one to follow on the signs.

YYZ Terminal 1 has the longest walks of the two buildings, which is the practical reason to know your letter before you leave check-in: every route starts from the same hall on Level 3 and ends on a different pier.

The GTAA's planning document says Terminal 3 serves the same three sectors, with US pre-clearance at the west end of the central building on the departures level. The airport's dining directory gives the practical answer: it lists the outlets near the A gates as "after security (USA)" and those near the B and C gates as "after security (Canada and international)". Your boarding pass or the airport's flight page gives the gate; the pier letter tells you which way to walk.

Where do pick-ups happen at each terminal?

This is the part of the map most travellers actually need. The doors below are those posted by the GTAA on its pickup, taxi and limo, pre-arranged, rideshare and hotel shuttle pages, as posted on 4 October 2026. Doors are lettered along the curb, and the level matters as much as the letter.

Rideshare moves more often than the others. At Terminal 1 the airport posts pick-up on the ground level, not the arrivals level, with Zone 3 for Lyft and Hopp (Doors P and Q) and Zones 4 and 5 for Uber (Doors Q to S); the app assigns the bay. At Terminal 3 it posts rideshare along Doors B and D on the arrivals level, with Zone 2 for Lyft and Hopp, Zone 3 for Uber, Lyft and Hopp, and Zones 4, 5 and 6 for Uber. The zones are rearranged from time to time, so the app beats any printed map.

Courtesy phones on the arrivals level of both terminals connect you to the hotels directly. For which hotels run shuttles, use the airport's hotel shuttle page or our airport hotels guide.

At the curb itself, the airport says you may stop briefly to load or unload but not wait, and that vehicles must be under 4.5 metres to use the arrivals and departures curbs at both terminals. For how the options compare on effort, our limo versus Uber or taxi page is the honest comparison.

Where is the UP Express, and how far is it from the doors?

The UP Express station is in Terminal 1, directly beside the Terminal Link platform, and the airport's own directions sheets describe how to reach it from each arrivals hall. From Terminal 1 you leave baggage claim, find the UP Express service counter next to the international arrivals hall, take the escalator or the elevator to Level 2, follow the "Train to City" signs through the walkway toward the parking garage (to its Level 5), turn left before entering the garage and take the escalators up to the Terminal Link and UP platforms. The UP platform is a few steps beyond the Terminal Link one.

From Terminal 3 the sheet says to follow the train icon and "Train to City" signs, take the elevator near Door D (or the escalator near Door F) up to Level 3, and ride the free blue Terminal Link train to Terminal 1. The UP platform is beside where the train arrives.

UP Express publishes the timetable on its Pearson Station page: the first weekday train is at 5:27 a.m., the first weekend and holiday train at 6:24 a.m., and the last train each night at 12:54 a.m. It lists Weston at 12 minutes, Mount Dennis at 15, Bloor at 19 and Union Station at 28 minutes from Pearson. That page is the source for current fares, which we do not repeat here because they change. The airport pages we checked give no door-to-platform walking time, so we give none; the interactive map below draws the route.

If you are weighing the train against a door-to-door car, the downtown Toronto route page sets out the options side by side.

Where is the official YYZ map, interactive and PDF?

The airport hosts the maps and we do not reproduce them:

• The airport's terminal maps page, which carries digital and downloadable maps for Terminal 1 and Terminal 3, including arrivals and gate maps.
• The airport's interactive map, which covers amenities, restaurants, retail and security checkpoints from the curb to the gate, and can search for a service and build step-by-step directions.
• The PDF maps themselves: Terminal 1 departures, Terminal 1 arrivals, Terminal 3 departures and Terminal 3 arrivals and baggage claim. The file dates in the addresses read April 2019, so use them for the shape of the building, not for a current tenant list.

A free tip: save the Pearson airport Terminal 1 map for arrivals (the second PDF above) to your phone before you fly, if you are landing in YYZ Terminal 1 for the first time. Its legend marks the gates, baggage claim, the taxi area and the elevators and escalators on one page.

Using the map: three common trips

Landing in Terminal 1 from overseas. You deplane on Level 2, follow the international arrivals route up and back down, collect bags on Level 1 and exit through customs into the greeters hall. The pre-arranged desk is at Door A on the arrivals level, the taxi and limo doors are C and D, hotel shuttles are at Door E, and the rideshare zones are one level down at Doors P to S. A booked car is the one choice that asks you to find nothing but a person with a sign.

Landing in Terminal 3 from the United States. At Terminal 3 Pearson the arrivals level is below departures. After baggage claim you walk out onto the arrivals level, where the doors are lettered along the curb: A for the pre-arranged desk, B and D for rideshare, B and G for hotel shuttles, E for walk-up taxis and limousines. Check the airport's rideshare page before you leave your seat, since the zones are rearranged from time to time.

Connecting between terminals. Follow the train-icon signs to the Terminal Link at Terminal 3, or the parking garage Level 5 route at Terminal 1, and ride between two and eight minutes. Whether you must clear security again, and what happens to your bags, depends on your tickets and airline, so follow your airline's connection instructions rather than this map.

Where does a PearsonAirportTransfer.com chauffeur meet you in each terminal?

At Terminal 1, your chauffeur meets you inside the arrivals hall beside the pre-arranged desk near Door A. At Terminal 3, they meet you inside the arrivals hall by baggage claim. At either terminal the booking includes sixty minutes of waiting from touchdown on an international arrival and thirty on a domestic one. The reservation asks for your flight number rather than your terminal, and the terminal and meeting point follow from the airline's own data on the day. The pickup page shows both meeting points in detail.

Nothing on this map needs to be memorised if you book ahead: no parking to pay for, no zone to find in an app, no door letter to remember, and the aircraft is tracked, so a late or early arrival does not move the meeting. Choose the car from the fleet, see the Pearson airport limo service page, and for departures, the departures service page explains the drop-off at the departures door nearest your airline. When you are ready, the reservation engine quotes a fixed fare for your exact address before you book.

Reserve your Pearson transfer