Love Lake Ontario? Here’s how to enjoy it this fall | Canada Voices

Lake Ontario, not to be mistaken for Lake America, is one of our country’s great treasures. Autumn is one of the best times to explore it — when green leaves share branches with gold, orange and red ones, summer crowds have dispersed and temperatures are comfortable.

Whether you’re in the water or on the water, there are endless ways to enjoy the lake this fall. Here are some to try before winter comes.

Visit Toronto Islands: Take the ferry from downtown Toronto at the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal or, for a speedier trip, buy tickets to a water taxi (multiple locations along the waterfront). Taxis run frequently until the end of September and then continue less regularly through October. Most take bikes and strollers. Once you’re there, there’s lots to do. Have a picnic. Take the kids to Centreville Amusement Park (open weekends until September 27). Play disc golf on Ward’s Island. Rent a kayak or stand-up paddleboard (until Sept. 30 through Toronto Island SUP, or inquire about their lessons, tours and experiences at torontoislandsup.com.) You can also enjoy the islands’ many beaches: Ward’s Island Beach and Gibraltar Point Beach are my personal favourites.

Explore quieter Lake Ontario islands Amherst Island, reached by ferry from Millhaven, is about a 20-minute drive south of Kingston. Wolfe Island connects the edge of Lake Ontario with the St. Lawrence River (it’s technically part of the Thousand Islands) and is a short ferry ride from Kingston. Explore each island’s small communities, visit the shops and check online calendars for dates and times of events, from music festivals to cultural celebrations. There’s the Wolfe Island Garden Party, running from Sept. 17 to Sept. 27 with music, art and more, and the Wolfe Island Gravel Grinder (a non-competitive gravel cycling ride) on Sept. 19. Amherst Island has their annual harvest festival on Sept. 12 and an Indigenous Drum Circle & Cultural Experience on Sept. 26.

Take a boat tour: There are many to choose from. Several cruise lines explore Lake Ontario as part of a wider Great Lakes tour (Viking’s eight-day Niagara and the Great Lakes itinerary has three more sailings leaving from Toronto in September). Other, shorter tours, many leaving from Toronto’s harbourfront, or the Port Dalhousie Cruise Line in St. Catharines, Ont., offer dinner and evening sunset cruises on Lake Ontario exclusively.

Cycle Lake Ontario: The Lake Ontario section of the Great Lakes Waterfront trail is just under 600 kilometres and runs from Niagara-on-the-Lake to the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. Toronto to Port Credit with lunch is a fun half-day cycling trip, but you can connect to many sections of this trail by car or GO Transit stations. For downloadable maps that you can print or view on your smartphone, see waterfronttrail.org.

Spend a weekend in Prince Edward County. Visitors to the County can stop at its many wineries and cideries, explore cycling trails, relax at high-end boutique hotels, cabins and B&Bs or go camping. Sandbanks Provincial Park has three popular beaches and enormous shifting dunes to play in. Outlet Beach has shallow waters and is great for kids. Nearby you can also enjoy a picnic at North Beach Provincial Park. Read more at: visitthecounty.com

Visit Niagara-on-the-Lake. Often ranked as one of the prettiest destinations in Canada, NOTL is a great weekend getaway. Go for a wine tasting. (Konzelmann Estate Winery prides itself on being Niagara’s only lakefront winery.) Go for a picnic before the theatre at Queen’s Royal Park. Play golf at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Golf Club, which runs along the lake. Or learn more about the War of 1812 at Fort George, a national historic site. Skip the drive and take the year round GO Transit train service, which connects to a local bus network in Niagara on the Lake.

Enjoy birdwatching. Spring migration gets birdwatchers excited but fall is a good time to watch birds leave. At Presqu’ile Provincial Park in Northumberland County (two hours drive east of Toronto), small birds start heading south from mid-August to mid-September, while waterfowl and shorebirds (easier to spot) can be seen until early November. Tommy Thompson Park (which extends into Lake Ontario at the bottom of Leslie Street in Toronto) is also a good spot.

Go camping. For waterfront camping, choose between Sandbanks Provincial Park, or Presqu’ile Provincial Park, both open until October 26. (Presqu’ile has the second-oldest operating lighthouse in Ontario.)

Take a hike — or a leisurely walk. The Scarborough Bluffs and Tommy Thompson Park offer sweeping views of Lake Ontario, as does Rattray Marsh Conservation Area in Mississauga (between Toronto and Burlington) and Darlington Provincial Park near Oshawa. Presqu’ile Park also has 16 kms of paths and trails.