Ultimate Road Trip to Manitoulin Island – What To See and Do On The Way

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Road trip is another form of travel that allows you to explore multiple places with one vehicle. It’s a great way for spontaneous travelling. When I do a road trip, I try to find interesting places on the way to make the driving worth it. With good company, great tunes, and food, it’s the best way for your ultimate road trip! This guide shows you the best interesting places for a Northern Ontario road trip to Manitoulin Island. If you want to know the best things in Manitoulin Island, here’re my top things!

Going to Manitoulin Island, you’ll pass by many townships and other great places along the way. They all are awesome to check out because there’re many stuff to do! It’s a great way to stretch your legs from hours of driving, enjoy nature and scenery, and see the quaint characters of the towns you’ll pass by.

From my recent road trip to Manitoulin Island, I stopped by towns and other scenic places where I get to see their downtowns, local favourite shops, eats, and landmarks as well as waterfront since they’re all by a lake. Canada is home to about 200 million lakes. Driving for long hours, you might as well see what’s on the way! Here’s are the top places to see so you’d know where to stop and what to do.

Barrie

Though not a town, this is the last city you’ll go through before heading more north to the Canadian Northern cottage country districts. It is a popular quick getaway for GTA-ians because it’s only about an hour and 38 mins away on highway 400 depending on traffic. I highly recommend to stop here when you do a northern Ontario road trip. I enjoyed this city because it’s the start of being away from urban living. Here are my top things to do while in Barrie.

Muskoka District

Muskoka, once discovered never forgotten and dubbed as the ‘Cottage Country’, population of towns here don’t even hit 50,000 though it gets busy during the summer. Cottages and cabins are all occupied.

Summer, Canadians stay in the country and others that are out during winter come back. City folks alike escape the hectic lifestyle and slows down their pace of life. The smell of barbecue and that charcoal campfire wood is in the air.

Busy season for summer is July and August and even as early as May or June weather permitting. Temperature can be as high as plus 30s with humidity and at night as low as 24s with the trees cooling in the region.

There are many things to do in each towns and events are almost held every weekend for all ages to enjoy from water and recreational activities, camping, fishing, camping, farmer’s market, hiking trails and music festivals.

Orillia

First township stopover is Orillia, population of about 31,000 and this is the southern most town in the Muskoka District as you go north.

Buy yourself fresh local produce, crafts, and artisan goods at the farmer’s market open all year round every Saturday from 8:00 am to 12:30 pm at the Orillia Public Library.

Explore downtown Orillia spanning streets Front St., West Street, and Colborne St. Many local restaurants, ice cream parlours, markets, bakeries, and shops all aligned on the streets.

Enjoy the waters of Lake Simcoe at the Port of Orillia. Here you can do boat cruises and water activities. Walk along the waterfront and you can continue on until you hit Couchiching Beach Park to swim, enjoy the sun, and water activities.

If you’re here and hungry, stop by George’s Country Style Restaurant, a local breakfast diner for an amazing gooey eggs benedict with ham and coffee. Very friendly staff and it gets crowded during breakfast time so get here early to get your hearty breakfast meal.

Continue on Highway 11 going north and for about 27 minutes, you’ll wanna exit on 169 for the next town Gravenhurst.

Gravenhurst

Gravenhurst, population of about 11,500, is a very cute quaint tiny town perfect for a couple of hours of stop over to stretch your legs from a long drive. You’ll see great historic old architecture on the main downtown street Muskoka Road S and N. You definitely don’t want to miss out on seeing The Albion which is right on Muskoka Road.

The Albion is at the intersection of Muskoka Rd and Brock St., a nice red brick building. It is an art gallery that displays arts and crafts from local artists in the region. It’s a really pretty red brick building historically located here in Gravenhurst. Whenever I see cool looking buildings like this one, I definitely want to snap a photo!

The water is also right beside downtown. You can relax at the Gull Lake Rotary Park which is two blocks away from downtown. If you’re coming from The Albion intersection to go to the park, you’ll pass by a bakery called The Bakery (lol!). This place is super popular to locals and visitors alike. It’s so popping that their baked goods run out before lunch time. Donuts are amazing specifically the peanut butter filled banana pudding.

Bracebridge

Bracebridge is the town that’s surrounded by waterfalls so when you stop by here, make sure you check out High Falls, Wilson Falls, and Bracebridge Falls. It’s the most nature-y stop in the road trip because of the falls being its main attraction.

The famous one is Bracebridge Falls which you’ll see signs for right when you exit Highway 11.

After taking nice photos of the falls, continue more north for another half an hour for Huntsville.

Huntsvillle

Huntsville is the more crowded of the towns in Muskoka District. King William St. is busy of people browsing shops, finding eats, and enjoying ice cream parlours. Crowded because it’s one of the towns outside Algonquin Park so people who, before entering the park, most likely stops by here for last minute shopping for camp or picnic or basically to admire this town.

Lion’s Lookout is a popular spot to get the Huntsville skyline with the rivers and lakes surrounding the town. It’s an easy drive from downtown Huntsville so don’t miss this one when your in town!

Sudbury

Going to Manitoulin Island, you’ll be sure to hit Sudbury and there are many great things to do here. The main one is the Big Nickel located in science museum Dynamic Earth. Built in 1951 and standing at 9 metres in height, it’s the largest coin in the world and a great Canadian symbol.

After all that stop over to see all those great landmarks and stuffed yourself with great local eats. It’s time to head back on the road to Manitoulin Island so get back on Trans-Canada Highway 17 then Ontario Highway 6 and this drive should take about 2 hours and you’ll see Little Current Swing Bridge. The gateway to Manitoulin Island.