Family Travel Bucket List: Collingwood, Ontario

Another great location to add to your Family Travel Bucket List is Collingwood, Ontario. Escaping the summer heat in Collingwood, Ontario on the beautiful Georgian triangle makes for relaxing vacation fun for the whole family. Not only is the weather great for the beach during the day and cozy bonfires at night, but also the exchange rate is easy on the American wallet. Collingwood is a two-hour car ride from Toronto and is considered summer and winter cottage country by Canadians.

Georgian Bay, Lake Huron

Collingwood features a wide variety of sporting activities from boating, swimming to rock climbing and mountain biking to golf and tennis. Summer boasts some unusual and entertaining events like the Elvis Festival, The Collingwood Arts Festival, Wakestock and the Tall Ship Celebration. In between events, you can visit one of the many beautiful beaches along the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. Wasaga Beach has wide sandy beaches and family friendly picnic grounds while Sunset Point has rocky beaches but houses the famous Chipper selling “to die for” hand cut French fries (try with vinegar) and ice cream.

Tomahawk: A very Kiddie Friendly Pitch and Put Course

Family Travel Bucket List: Day Trips from Collingwood

Using Collingwood as your home base, you can plan a variety of action packed day road trips. Hit nearby Thornbury for 9 holes of easy family friendly Par 3 golf at Tomahawk for only $5 a person. Your gang can cool down from the golf outing with a jump and swim off the Thornbury Pier followed by sandwiches at the Bakery on the main drag.

Jumping in Georgian Bay off the Pier in Thornbury

Mom should slip away from lunch for a quick stroll among the shops highlighting local artisans and reasonable décor and fashions. In the afternoon, you can canoe or kayak the Beaver river with Free Spirit tours (guaranteed to tire out the kids).

Blue Mountain Resort Village, Collingwood

Another local attraction, the Blue Mountain Resort can be a destination itself with a signature golf course, tennis, the Scandinavian Spa, mini golf, the mountain coaster, paddle boats, tons of shopping and tree top zip-lining adventures. In the summer, the Resort presents outdoor movie nights and concerts for the whole family to enjoy. Blue Mountain also ranks as one of Toronto’s top winter resorts featuring night skiing.

The paddle boats at Blue Mountain Resort

Family Travel Bucket List: Lodging & Logistics:

Most major airlines fly into Toronto but if you live on the East Coast it might be worth your while to road trip given the time it takes to travel through Customs at the airport and rent a car. Another option is to fly into Buffalo or Detroit and rent a car. Regardless, your family will need a car.
Make sure you give yourself plenty of time in advance of your trip to have passports ready.
Blue Mountain Resort: offers a range of accommodations from 4-bedroom homes on the golf course to two bedroom condos in the village to the elegant Westin Hotel.

The Westin Hotel at Blue Mountain Resort

Cranberry Village Resort: features an inn and family friendly condos on Keith Avenue, the former site of the famous Keith Family Dairy
VBRO & Dwellable: includes condo, houses and the many B&B options in the area
Camping: find sites with gorgeous views of the Georgian Bay at Craigleith provincial park by the Northwinds Beach

Keith Avenue former home of the Keith Dairy

Family Travel Bucket List: Family Friendly Restaurants:

Firehouse Restaurant at Blue Mountain: for delicious brick oven pizza
Tessoro & Azzura: for tasty Italian fare
The Red Hen: for yummy grilled cheese and diner food complete with a photo of our Father in law’s Football team

Firehouse Pizza, Blue Mountain Resort

For an adult night out:

The Huron House: enjoy dinner, live music and a lively bar scene
Tremont Hotel: located behind the library doubles as an art studio and a restaurant
The Casbah: housed in the middle of town provides live music every night

Other summer attractions to check out are the murals throughout town, the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame and The Collingwood Museum with its wonderful overview of local history. You can also catch Tuesday night jazz in the park by the museum. Finally, if you have never been to Toronto, we highly recommend spending a few days in the spectacular city to catch the Canadian National Exhibition or Wonderland (other posts soon).

Escaping the summer heat in Collingwood while on the beautiful Georgian triangle is incredible vacation fun for the whole family. Collingwood will always be a special place for us given that our husband grew up vacationing there and close family calls the picturesque town home. This wonderful area must be on your Family Travel Bucket List. What destinations are on your Family Travel Bucket List? Please comment below as we love to hear from our friends!

Collingwood on Dwellable