Hulu's The Testaments, the sequel series to The Handmaid's Tale set roughly five years on, keeps its dystopian Republic of Gilead in the same place as the original: in and around Toronto. The show follows Agnes, June Osborne's daughter played by Chase Infiniti, as she's trained to become an obedient Wife — and almost every iconic location turns out to be a real spot you can visit or even stay in.
The standout is Aunt Lydia's elite school for future Wives: Chelster Hall in Oakville, right on the Lake Ontario shoreline. This is not a film set. Built in 2006 by a former Labatt Brewing CEO, the estate has 8 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, a helipad, a 7,000-bottle wine cellar, a 12-car garage and even a guest "beer house" across more than 10 acres. It's considered one of Canada's most expensive homes, last listed at C$59 million (about US$42 million).
The MacKenzie family home is the Escarpment House in Caledon's Pulpit Ridge area — a 14,000-square-foot, five-bedroom mansion with a pool, steam room, gym and theatre that also appeared in Reacher season 3. And the purification ceremony pool? That's the heated indoor pool at the Toronto Don Valley Hotel, a three-star property where rooms typically run C$125–170 a night, so fans can literally swim in a filming location.
Toronto landmarks fill out the season. Memorial Park in Oshawa stands in for a square where children play, and Oshawa's Nondons Skatepark appears in episode three. Melanie and Neil's shop occupies a former furniture store site on Dundas Street, and Mrs. Judd's home sits in the leafy St. Andrew–Windfields (York Mills) neighbourhood. Daisy and June meet at Café Diplomatico, a Little Italy pizzeria institution on College Street. The tennis stadium in episode six is Sobeys Stadium at York University in North York, the 12,500-seat home of the National Bank Open. A pivotal scene was shot in the old Council Chamber at Toronto's Old City Hall, now used for civil weddings.
For the bigger outdoor moments, the production headed further afield: the border scene in episode seven uses Claireville Dam, a 1964 flood-control structure on the Humber River in Brampton, and the finale's extraction scene was filmed at the entrance to Hamilton Harbour, with the Burlington Canal Lift Bridge and the Skyway in the background.
Why care? Because Gilead is mostly a road trip from Toronto. Most locations are within an hour of downtown — Oakville, Oshawa, Caledon, Brampton — and a few, like the hotel pool, the café and the stadium, are regular, bookable places. If you're a fan of Margaret Atwood's world, you can string together a self-guided weekend tour of the series' real-life backdrops, then finish with dinner in Little Italy. Just remember: these are private homes and working venues, so admire from the street and save the photography for the public spots.
