Things YOU GOTTA SEE when visiting Oshawa-Durham, the Kawarthas, and Prince Edward Country!
Here are some quick suggestions for visitors with limited time in the area. Perfect if you have only ONE DAY to visit (like a business trip, when passing through, or when stopping over between flights). The additional days schedule is a recommendation for those who want to see the essence of Oshawa & Durham Region in only a couple of days.
You can read ALL SORTS of travel guides, and carry around pounds of paper, or just print off this ONE PAGE and have all the info you ever need! These are the area’s top activities, family activities and attractions, tourist attractions, historical sites, museums, interesting architecture, sightseeing and top shopping/dining areas. Organized into a nice walking or driving itinerary!
Sightseeing Suggestions
This area covers a lot of ground, from Toronto’s eastern city limits there are several cities in quick succession (Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa) along the lakeshore following Highway 2 to Prince Edward County, which is a destination in its own right. Away from Lake Ontario is the Kawarthas cottage country, and Peterborough which along the length of the Trent-Severn Canal to Lake Simcoe, and other resorts toward Algonquin Park.
Day One: Oshawa and Lakefront
Ontario Regiment RCAC Museum (formerly: Oshawa Military and Industrial Museum, with (among other things) displays of military tanks from different wars & conflicts and even take a tank ride (additional cost)
Tours can be arranged and are always welcome
Whitby has a beautiful harbour with two marinas, the Whitby Shores Waterfront Trails, and the town’s “Four Corners” shopping district has lots of small town charm.
Camp X Intrepid Park (Boundary Road at Lake Ontario, on Whitby’s waterfront trail) Commemorates the Canadians who trained fought as agents behind enemy lines in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), under Sir William Stephenson. Camp X, their training base, was located. Free walking tours of the former Camp X grounds.
Parkwood, The R.S. McLaughlin Estate, Museum & Heritage Garden which was the family home of Sam McLaughlin, founder of GM of Canada
Canadian Automotive Museum with 65 vehicles from 1898 to 1981 1 to showcase the development of the automobile
Pickering Nuclear Generating Station (NGS) tours are offered to adults over 18 by advance reservation This eight-reactor Candu facility, commissioned in the early 1970’and 1980’s, generates 4,120 megawatts, one of the largest nuclear generating stations in North America.
Wind-powered OPG 7 Commemorative Turbine (At the Generating Station site), which is the tallest free-standing wind generator in North America.
Day Two: Prince Edward County
Head east on the 401, getting off at Trenton.
Beasdell Boulder (off Highway 401, Exit 525 at Hwy 33 and drive north for 2.5 km) is a glacial erratic, left behind by the Ice Age glaciers, carried from its original location in northeastern Ontario.
Murray Canal, Severn Waterway National Historic Site This 8 kilometre (5 mile) long canal connects the Bay of Quinte with Presqu’ile Harbour, and cuts straight through the narrow strip of land connecting Prince Edward County with the north shore of Lake Ontario.
Mount Pelion Lookout Discover “Trenton’s Mountain” left behind by the glaciers. You can walk, hike, bike or drive up to the observation deck with a panoramic view of Trenton’s waterways and surrounding countryside
National Air Force Museum of Canada (formerly RCAF Memorial Museum) At Canada’s largest military transport base, for the 8th Wing, visit RCAF memorial museum to learn more about Canada’s military history through World War I and II. The Highway 401 stretch between CFB Trenton and Toronto is called the “Highway of Heroes” for the fallen military that are driven that route.
Walking Tour of Belleville the downtown has a great collection of mid-1800s homes and buildings
Head south from Belleville on Route 62, and cross the bridge to get onto Prince Edward County, with dozens of wineries (watch for roadside signs), 4 provincial parks and 9 lighthouses
Picton, founded in 1837, is the market centre of Island of Quinte, and there are several nice older buildings: the 1832 District Court House and Gaol, the 1866 Picton Town Hall, and the Regent Theatre nestled near the marina
Just south of Picton is a high bluff, Macaulay Mountain Conservation Area worth exploring with lots of trails and home to Birdhouse City. And just to the east of here is Glenora, where a ferry can take you across to the mainland at Adolphustown, where the Loyalist Parkway continues east to Anherstown and the 401
We are going to take the Loyalist Parkway southwest on Highway 10 to Sandbanks Provincial Park, on the west EDGE of the Island has giant sand dunes and golden beaches form two of the largest freshwater baymouth sandbars in the world.
On your way back, stop to see the Carrying Place monument, on the spot where the Great Portage crosses Highway #3, where the 1878 Gunshot Treaty was signed between Sir John Johnson with chiefs of the Mississauga Indians, ceding the lands between Bay of Quinte to Etobicoke River and northward from Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe and Rice Lake, making the settlement of Toronto possible.
Continue north to the west gate of the Loyalist Parkway, and head back view either Highway 3 or the 401.
Day Three: Kawarthas
Head east along the lakeshore to to Port Hope, first, before we head up to the Trent-Severn
Canadian Fire Fighters Museum (East side of the Ganaraska River, near the harbour), which showcases the historical development of fire fighting in Canada from about 1831 to 1955, with a collection of fire-fighting apparatus, motorized trucks from 1921-1956,
Cobourg Walking tour Along Cobourg’s Kings Street heritage district, take a short walk to see Pratt’s Mill, Mackechnie House, Marie Dressler House (movie star from the 1920s & 1930s), the Post Office, the Cobourg Jail, cedar Hedge and 35 King Street East.
Then head north on Highway #28 from Port Hope, to pass the western end of Rice Lake
Serpent Mounds Park (Formerly Serpent Mounds Provincial Park) South of Highway 7 near Rice Lake and the village of Keene. 2000 years ago, ancient Native people camped, hunted, fished, and buried their ancestors here. This is the only Canadian example of a mound of serpentine or zig-zag shape created by the Hiawatha First Nation
Sir Sandford Fleming House (In Fleming Park, Peterborough) Sir Sandford Fleming ( 1827-1915) was the inventor of standard time and pioneer in world communications, and was the chief engineer& surveyor of the trans-continental Canadian Pacific Railway
Trent-Severn Waterway Passes through Peterborough and includes the 1896 Peterborough Lift Lock, the world’s largest hydraulic lift lock, which opened in 1904. It is also the world’s highest lift lock with a rise of 20 metres (65 feet).
Mississauga of Scugog Island First Nation (at Port Perry) The museum also operates an archives. Under constant development is the unique cultural project; The Ojibway Heritage Interpretive Lands. This exhibit explores the link between nature and the early Ojibwa
York Durham Heritage Railway The York-Durham Heritage Railway reopened the line between Uxbridge and Stouffville in 1996 and has been running on summer weekends since then.