If someone says “downtown Mississauga,” they usually mean the area around Square One — the city’s civic and commercial core, built up around one of the largest shopping malls in Canada. It’s a different kind of downtown than what you’d find in an older city: newer, denser than the rest of Mississauga, and still actively under construction as more residential towers go up around it.
Square One is the anchor — a large enclosed shopping centre with the usual mix of major retailers, a food court, and a movie theatre. It’s also the hub MiWay bus routes converge on, making it the practical starting point for getting to most other parts of the city by transit.
The blocks immediately around Square One make up Mississauga City Centre:
City Centre is Mississauga’s best-connected area by transit — it’s the convergence point for most MiWay routes, with the Mississauga Transitway bus rapid transit corridor running nearby. It’s also one of the more walkable pockets of the city once you’re there, with the mall, Celebration Square, City Hall, and the library all within a few minutes of each other on foot. See our transit guide for the wider picture on getting to and from the area.