Some of our favourite one-day getaways,
Go for an easy drive and enjoy the sights
Toronto is a culturally diverse and interesting city to visit and live in, but every now and then it’s nice to take a drive out of town — especially in the spring when everything’s beginning to go green.
Here’s a list of 10 one-day road trips all within about 200 kilometres of the GTA and guaranteed to make your day. 1. Prince Edward County offers an array of wineries, restaurants, breweries, cheese shops and art and antique markets on the north shore of Lake Ontario around the town of Picton and city of Belleville, about 200 kilometres east of Toronto.
You can take the fast track along Hwy. 401to get there, or else dawdle along Hwy. 2
The county is celebrating Maple in the County, a time when visitors can experience the maple syrup-making process, and the area will host several festivals and country events throughout the summer and fall. 2. Rice Lake is surrounded by rolling hills at the eastern end of the Oak Ridges Moraine and its waterfront is dotted by more than 30 resorts, fishing camps and scores of private cottages.
About an hour’s drive east of the GTA and north of Port Hope via Ontario St. (Highway 28) and Cobourg via Burnham St. (Regional Rd. 18), Rice Lake is a slender stretch of waterway with scenic, winding regional roads coming close to its shoreline between various boat landing sites.
Heading north, you can drive through communities like Harwood and then Hastings, where you can cross the Trent River at Bridge St. and explore Rice Lake’s north shore as you make your way back west. 3. Lakefield is a quaint resort town just north of Peterborough, perched on the shores of Lake Katchewanooka in the Kawarthas and well worth the 150-kilometre trip from Toronto.
Stop for lunch at the Village Fish and Chip Shop or Hamblin’s restaurant and ice cream parlour, which draw both tourists and locals.
You can drive to Peterborough from Hwy. 401 via Hwy. 115/35 east of Bowmanville, or get there along the slower and more scenic twolane Highway 28 from Port Hope. 4. Wasaga Beach has been a recreational destination drawing tourists to its 14 kilometres of white sand beach — the longest freshwater beach in the world — for more than a century.
While its cafes, bars, shops, restaurants, hotels, cottages and amusements are packed during the summer months, the pace is slower in the spring when you can stroll along the shore and take in the panoramic view across Nottawasaga Bay toward Collingwood and the Blue Mountain area.
Drive to Barrie along Hwy. 400, take Hwy. 26 north (left) to Elmvale and then left (west) on County Rd. 92. The 130-kilometre drive will take about two hours. 5. Hockley Valley is nestled in the northern reaches of the Hills of Headwaters and offers a spectacular country drive any time of the year. It’s a mere 100 kilometres from downtown Toronto and is just northeast of Orangeville.
Take Hwy. 10 (Hurontario St. in Mississauga) north until it intersects with the Hockley Rd. Go east toward the Hockley Valley Resort and enjoy panoramic views. 6. Belfountain rises above the trickling Credit River along a stretch of the winding Forks of the Credit Road just south of Caledon, an hour’s drive from Toronto and also off Hwy. 10 North.
A 10-minute drive west from Belfountain on Bush St. takes you to the town of Erin where Main St. offers an array of antique, jewellery and craft stores and restaurants. 7. Rattlesnake Point attracts rock climbers and hikers to a jagged part of the Niagara Escarpment about an hour west of Toronto.
Take the QEW west to Winston Churchill Blvd. and go north to Derry Rd. where you will want to turn left. You will see the rise of the escarpment as you head west. When you get to Appleby Line, turn right (north) and you’ll see the entrance to Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area. 8. Elora Gorge is billed as the home of “Ontario’s most beautiful village.” Perched along the limestone cliffs of the gorge surrounded by the Grand and Irvine Rivers, Elora is a quaint and historic town that has preserved its stone buildings dating back to the 1800s.
Many have been transformed into shops, galleries, artisan studios and restaurants.
Close to the neighbouring towns of Fergus and Elmira, the area’s rolling hills and Mennonite farmlands are a 115 km drive from Toronto. If you go north from Guelph along Wellington Rd. 7, you’ll soon be there. 9. The Niagara Region has much more to offer than just the world famous falls and all within less that a two-hour drive from Toronto along the QEW. Whether it’s the vineyards of the Jordan and Niagara Wine region, the heritage and culture of Niagara-on-the-lake or the rushing thunder of the Horseshoe Falls, there is a lot to take in on a one-day road trip. But it can be done. 10. Hamilton is the third largest-sized (by metropolitan area), fifth most-populated city in Ontario and it’s about half the distance from the GTA as Niagara Falls. Yet it is seldom considered to be a great oneday road trip destination. Again, it’s easiest to get to along the QEW or Hwy. 2 through Burlington but Dundas St. (Hwy. 5) west from Toronto is just as good. Known for years as our country’s “Steel Town, ” Hamilton is the home of the Royal Botanical Gar- dens and the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum.
Hamilton has a growing art scene and has a culturally diverse population, which is also reflected in the variety of its restaurants. All this and only an hour’s drive away.