Time to hit the beach!
Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation (2012)
Some of the world’s most beautiful parks and beaches are right here in Ontario. Ontario has nearly three hundred public beaches along our Great Lakes shorelines. Here are a few to put on your bucket and pail list.
Lake Huron: Every year 1.5 million people visit Wasaga Beach Provincial Park on the shores of Georgian Bay, just north of Barrie. The park’s 14-kilometre sandy beach is the longest freshwater beach in the world.
Just outside of Sarnia, you’ll find the Pinery Provincial Park. Walk the shifting sand dunes and the many hiking trails that wind their way through the largest oak savanna woodlands left in North America to see rare butterflies, songbirds and other wildlife in this unique ecosystem.
Lake Ontario: Sandbanks Provincial Park in Prince Edward County gives visitors four beaches to choose from: long and sandy Outlet Beach, the aptly-named Dunes Beach, quiet and remote Sandbanks Beach and the rocky cove of West Point.
Presqu’ile Provincial Parkis a small (9.37 square kilometre) park that juts into Lake Ontario. It is a major flyway for migrating birds, home to waterfowl and shorebirds, and a staging point for Mexico-bound monarch butterflies. At the tip of the park is Ontario's second-oldest operating lighthouse and the original lighthouse keeper's cottage.
Lake Erie: Located on the shores of Lake Erie, Long Point is the second longest freshwater peninsula in the world. Long, uninterrupted beaches, undisturbed sand dunes, grassy ridges, wet meadows, woodlands, marshes and ponds, coldwater streams, and the shallow Inner Bay host a wide array of flora and fauna. The Long Point area is a UNESCO-designated Biosphere Reserve.
Pelee Island is Canada’s southernmost populated point. The island, accessible mainly by ferry, features Point Pelee National Park, which is internationally known for its spring and fall migrations of birds and its stunning autumn monarch butterfly migration.
Lake Superior: Rugged northern Ontario also has its share of gems. Sleeping Giant Provincial Park gets its name from the legendary natural formation that is its main feature. Great hiking trails through a boreal forest packed with deer, moose and other wildlife are the main attractions here.
Learn how the Ontario government is keeping the Great Lakes swimmable, drinkable and fishable by checking out the proposed Great Lakes Protection Act and providing your comments on the draft Great Lakes Strategy.
For more examples of what the Great Lakes have to offer, check out Ontario Parks or Outdoor Ontario.
Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation (2012)
