Algonquin Provincial Park

Ontario's best-known park of lakes and forests, with trails along Highway 60, canoe routes, moose and fall colours famous across Canada.

Algonquin Provincial Park lies in central Ontario, Canada. Covering about 7,600 square kilometres, it is Ontario's oldest and best-known provincial park, around a 3-hour drive from both Toronto and Ottawa. The park is famous for its countless lakes, mixed maple and conifer forests, moose and wolves, and it inspired the landscape paintings of Canada's Group of Seven. Most visitors explore the Highway 60 corridor in the south, which runs about 56 km from the West Gate to the East Gate and is lined with more than a dozen short trails, campgrounds, the Visitor Centre and the Logging Museum; the interior offers over a thousand kilometres of canoe routes. Barron Canyon on the east side, and Huntsville, Arrowhead Provincial Park and the Dorset Lookout Tower outside the West Gate, are often combined with a visit. Fall colours peak from late September to early October; June–August is ideal for canoeing and camping (with plenty of blackflies and mosquitoes in June), and winter brings snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. There is no public transport in the park, so you'll need a car; daily vehicle permits must be reserved online in advance during peak season, and campsites and cabins should also be booked early. Plan to stay 2–3 days, and watch for moose crossing the highway at dawn and dusk.

Top sights

• Lookout Trail – The most popular short trail beside Highway 60. A climb to the rocky lookout reveals hundreds of square kilometers of forests and lakes.
• Canoe Lake – Algonquin's most popular canoe launch lake, where painter Tom Thomson worked and where a memorial stands.
• Barron Canyon Trail – A granite canyon on the east side of the park, 100 meters deep. A short trail runs along the clifftop overlooking the river, and you can al…
• Lake of Two Rivers – A lake and popular campground in the middle of Highway 60, with a sandy beach, swimming, canoeing and sunrise reflections.
• Algonquin Visitor Centre – The park's main visitor centre beside Highway 60, with natural history exhibits, a wetland viewing platform, a bookstore and a restaurant.
• Algonquin Logging Museum – An outdoor logging museum near the East Gate, where a 1.3 km trail presents logging camp cabins, a dam and log-hauling boats.
• Track and Tower Trail – A loop trail following an abandoned railway and the site of a fire lookout tower, with autumn views of Cache Lake from the summit.
• Arrowhead Provincial Park – A provincial park on the northern edge of Huntsville, offering a forest skating trail in winter and waterfalls and red foliage in autumn.
• Algonquin Art Centre – A seasonal art gallery along Highway 60, showing landscape paintings and sculpture inspired by Algonquin.
• Spruce Bog Boardwalk – A 1.5 km wooden boardwalk beside the visitor centre, for observing northern spruce peat bogs and rare birds.
• Booth's Rock Trail – A loop trail on the south side of Rock Lake, climbing a high cliff to look over Rock Lake and Whitefish Lake and passing an old estate site.
• Centennial Ridges Trail – One of the most challenging day hikes along Highway 60, following two ridges with excellent views from the cliff tops.
• Hardwood Lookout Trail – An easy short loop near the West Gate through a typical sugar maple hardwood forest, ending at a lookout over Smoke Lake in autumn colors.
• Mizzy Lake Trail – A long loop linking nine small lakes and ponds, and the best trail in the park for seeing moose, beavers and birds.
• Big Pines Trail – A loop trail through centuries-old giant white pines, offering a glimpse of Algonquin's forest before logging.
• Opeongo Lake – Algonquin's largest lake, where water taxis carry visitors deep into the interior for camping, or paddlers can search for moose.
• Ragged Falls – A stepped waterfall just outside Algonquin's West Gate, a ten-minute walk away, where autumn foliage frames the rushing water.
• Dorset Lookout Tower – A 30-meter former fire lookout tower in the lake-district town of Dorset, with views from the top over Lake of Bays and endless maple fores…

Where to eat

• Arowhon Pines Dining Room – Hexagonal, handcrafted log dining room on Little Joe Lake with a central fireplace and lakeside views. It is open to no…
• Bartlett Lodge Restaurant – Island lodge founded in 1917 on a lake, reached by boat. It serves multi-course set menus and is ranked first among res…
• Killarney Lodge Log Dining Room – Long-established log dining room on a peninsula in Lake of Two Rivers. Non-guests may book lunch and dinner, with rusti…
• Portage Grill, Canoe Lake – Casual restaurant on the dock at Canoe Lake, where paddlers come back for burgers and fish and chips, with craft beer o…

Itineraries

• Eastern Canada Maple Road Self-Drive Loop – A self-drive grand loop from Toronto, connecting Algonquin, the Laurentians, La Mauricie, and historic French-speaking…