Family Memory Builders

An hour’s drive from Ottawa, travel back 100 years. Upper Canada Village is one of the largest living history sites in Canada. Perfect for kids.

Jump into the St. Lawrence at this new 27,000 square foot aquarium and discovery centre. Your voyage takes you into an underwater tunnel, by a shipwreck, and lets you play with otters, teaching the whole family about the naturally and historically rich 1000 Islands region.

Perched high over downtown Kingston sits this 19th-century fort and National Historic Site. Once a protector, it’s now a mecca for history buffs, kids wanting to march like a soldier, and anyone into a Sunset Ceremony complete with mock battles and canons.

Drive the backroads to one of the most unique geological areas in Eastern Ontario, where a 3-kilometre trail guides you through a mini rainforest and across a gorge. Don’t forget your flashlight: you’ll need it to descend into Devil’s Horse Stable Cave.

Take a 1000 Islands cruise to this 120-room summer home on Heart Island built by hotelier George Boldt for his family. Begun in 1900 and stopped in 1904 after the death of Boldt’s wife, construction included tunnels, Italian gardens, and a children’s playhouse within a tower.

With the largest baymouth barrier dune formation in the world, three expansive sandy beaches, and daily interpretive programming, Sandbanks has to be on your family’s road trip bucket list. Cross it off, then explore Prince Edward County’s other treasures.

There are indeed thousands of lakes to fish, swim in and camp beside in this region northwest of Kingston, but more to the point: this is a land of the wild, reckoned with at every meandering turn of country road. Get up close at Frontenac Provincial Park or eight conservation areas.

Get off the road, drop in at one of hundreds of access points, and take the Rideau Canal’s true scenic route: a paddling voyage on the 202-kilometre waterway itself. Cruise through quaint villages and historic locks, and keep your ears peeled for the call of the loon.

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