Thunder Bay to Ottawa: An Ontario Road Trip Combining Nature and History

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As the biggest city between the Manitoba-Ontario border and Lake Superior, Thunder Bay is the ideal spot to start your Ontario road trip. Get a taste of the magnificent wilderness of northwestern Ontario by fishing, hiking or canoeing in Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, an hour and 15 minutes from the city. The Sleeping Giant, a formation of mesas and sills, got its name because it looks like a giant lying on its back, and it’s absolutely worth seeing. After that, cool off in the spray from Kakabeka Falls—40 metres high and Ontario’s second-largest cataract—just 25 minutes from downtown.

In Thunder Bay, fuel up with thin, crisp-edged pancakes at the Hoito, one of the many restaurants run by members of the city’s large Finnish-Canadian community. Alternatively, try a persian, Thunder Bay’s famous version of an iced cinnamon bun.

Then, get your bearings from the scenic lookout halfway up Mount McKay (Anemki Wajiw in Ojibwe), a 300-metre-high outcrop on the Fort William First Nation. Visit Fort William Historical Park to learn about the experiences of the fur-trading voyageurs who were among the first Europeans to see this rocky landscape.

Thunder Bay, at the western tip of the Great Lakes, later grew into a major transit point for grain and manufactured products; a tour of a restored 1958 icebreaker called the Alexander Henry gives you a peek into life aboard a Great Lakes ship.

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From Thunder Bay, head east on the Trans-Canada Highway for the 700-kilometre drive along the windswept north shore of Lake Superior, immortalized in paintings by the Group of Seven. Along this stretch, if you see a gas station, fill up; it might be 100 kilometres or more before you see another.

Leave time to stop en route at Lake Superior Provincial Park, wherefrom late spring until early fall, you can see the red-ochre Agawa Rock Pictographs created by Ojibwe artists over generations. Once you leave the park, it’s an 80-minute drive south to Sault Ste. Marie.

As you’ve probably realized by now, settlements in this region are widely scattered. At the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, you can learn about the small planes that connect northern Ontario’s far-flung regions with urban centres. “The Soo” is also home base for the popular Agawa Canyon Tour Train, which takes passengers to a wilderness park along a 114-kilometre route through sweeping forests dotted with lakes and granite outcrops.

Although it’s surrounded by wilderness, the city also offers lots of cool urban fun. Check out the one-of-a-kind Shabby Motley, a cafe/needlework store (come for the gluten-free brunch, stay for the knitting class!), or drop into LopLops Lounge to enjoy single malts, craft beers and live music. And since one in five Soo residents can trace their roots to Italy, many restaurants serve classic Italian dishes (Muio’s has been dishing up gnocchi, spaghetti and other standards since 1961).

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The next leg of your journey, along the northern edge of Lake Huron, is much shorter than the first leg but still scenic. If you have time for a side trip off the Trans-Canada, detour to Killarney Provincial Park, where you can canoe for hours to an isolated campsite. And I do mean isolated—when my sisters and I last camped there, our only company was a mama bear and her two cubs, who (luckily for us) stayed on the other side of our small lake.

Once you get to Sudbury, you can learn about the geology of northern Ontario on the popular underground mining tour at Dynamic Earth or delve into all aspects of science at the Science North museum, which was voted Attraction of the Year at the 2017 Ontario Tourism Awards. Come in August for the quirky Up Here Urban Arts and Music Festival, which features dozens of concerts and performances in French and English. In September, Cinefest Sudbury screens more than 100 feature films. For something completely different, try flyboarding—a bit like waterskiing with a jet pack—at Ramsey Lake.

As you drive south from Sudbury, the rocky Canadian Shield gives way to rolling farmlands. For a tasty break just south of Barrie, detour off Highway 400 to the village of Thornton, which has only 1,000 people but boasts four ice cream shops (including at least one serving vegan cones). After that, you have just 100 kilometres to go to reach the skyscrapers of downtown Toronto.

Canada’s largest city offers countless things to see and do. Get a bird’s-eye view of the region from the observation deck of the CN Tower or—if you dare—from the EdgeWalk, an outdoor catwalk 356 metres above the ground. Catch a Broadway-calibre musical in the Entertainment District, shop for luxury goods along Bloor Street, sample foods of the world at the St. Lawrence Market, or explore the Art Gallery of Ontario or the Royal Ontario Museum.

And since roughly half the city’s residents were born outside Canada, you can easily sample a different cuisine every night. Try souvlaki at Mezes in Greektown, Chinese-Indian fusion dishes at Hakka Wow in Little India or the pastéis de nata (Portuguese custard tarts) at the Doce Minho Bakery. And do not miss the phenomenal 19-ingredient Singapore slaw at Susur Lee’s Lee or Kid Lee restaurants, both on King Street West. I’ve had a lifelong indifference to salad, but this sweet-salty-crunchy dish—featuring everything from microgreens to crushed peanuts and fried vermicelli—made me a believer.

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The 90-minute (in good traffic) drive from Toronto to Niagara Falls takes you through everything from densely populated suburbs to green orchards and vineyards. Along the way, you can take a restful break at the Royal Botanical Gardens. With rose gardens, waterfront hiking trails and outdoor concerts, they’re gorgeous from spring through fall, but my favourite time to visit is in late May and early June, when the gardens’ more than 700 lilacs are in full, fragrant bloom.

People come from all over the world to see the Niagara River tumble more than 50 metres over the three cataracts that make up Niagara Falls. You can see the falls from just about every perspective—from the shore, from a boat, from a walkway that runs behind them, from a helicopter or from an observation tower, among others. If you’re travelling with kids, they’ll likely drag you to so-tacky-it’s-charming Clifton Hill, four blocks of haunted houses, wax museums and theme restaurants right next to the falls.

Once you’ve seen the cataract, though, there’s lots of other fun in the Niagara region, including the Niagara Falls Butterfly Conservatory and the Mistrider Zipline above the Niagara Gorge. For a scenic 25-kilometre drive, take the Niagara Parkway to postcard-cute Niagara-on-the-Lake, where you can see a play at the Shaw theatre festival, and pick up house-made rhubarb-ginger jam or orange-lemon marmalade at Greaves.

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This leg of the drive requires a bit of backtracking through Toronto. Once you’re clear of the Greater Toronto Area, you’ll find yourself in farmland once again, but this time with frequent glimpses of Lake Ontario. For a longer but prettier trip, leave busy Highway 401 at exit 522 and meander through pretty Prince Edward County.

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You’re on the home stretch now. You can drive directly from Kingston to Ottawa on four-lane highways in two hours, but I’d advise taking the slower but prettier Rideau Heritage Route. That way, you can browse for gorgeous candles, scarves and other gifts from around the world at the Green Gecko boutique in tiny Lyndhurst, get a sweeping view of Westport and the Rideau Lakes from the hiking trails at Foley Mountain Conservation Area, or buy handmade truffles at the Perth Chocolate Works in Perth.

Once you get to Canada’s capital, make sure to take the new tour of the temporary homes of the House of Commons and the Senate. You can also visit some of the seven national museums; even if art isn’t your thing, the National Gallery of Canada is worth a visit just for the view of Parliament Hill from the glass-enclosed Great Hall.

Explore the Rideau Canal—one of only two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ontario—by canoe, kayak, pedal boat or electric tour boat. When you get hungry, head to the Westboro neighbourhood for independent restaurants like Gezellig, housed in a converted bank, where the inventive menu features dishes such as pheasant rillettes with pickled pomegranate. For something completely different, walk the 1.2-kilometre interpretive boardwalk through a section of the 3,500-hectare Mer Bleue Bog, where a subarctic microclimate typical of regions much further north supports cottongrasses, sedges, sundews and other plants.