Weekend Getaways

There is a specific kind of fatigue that comes from living in or near a city, and the cure is almost never a longer vacation. It is a weekend somewhere else. Two nights, a change of scenery, and the feeling that you went somewhere without the planning overhead of a full trip. Ottawa happens to be an excellent base for this. Within two hours you can reach wine country in Prince Edward County, the lakes of the Rideau system, quiet towns in Lanark and Leeds counties, or the Laurentians in Quebec. Three hours opens up the Thousand Islands, the Upper Ottawa Valley, and parts of the Laurentians that most people do not bother with because they never look past Mont-Tremblant.

The challenge is not finding somewhere to go. It is figuring out which trips are genuinely worth the effort and which ones sound better in a blog post than they do in real life. We have all made the drive to a place that looked perfect online only to arrive and find a depressing main street, one mediocre restaurant, and not enough to fill even a short afternoon. These guides are built to help you avoid that. Every destination we recommend has been visited, and we are specific about what to expect: what the town actually looks like, whether there is enough to do for a full weekend or just an overnight, and what time of year makes the biggest difference.

Fall is the most popular season for weekend escapes in this part of Ontario, and it deserves to be. The colour in the Ottawa Valley and the Gatineau Hills is genuinely spectacular, and the temperature is perfect for walking, driving and sitting outside without dealing with summer humidity or winter wind. But spring has its own appeal if you time it right. Late May and early June bring the best weather, the Rideau Canal is open for boating, and the tourist crowds have not arrived yet. Summer weekends can be busy, especially in places like Prince Edward County, where the wineries and the Sandbanks beaches draw visitors from Toronto and Ottawa alike.

Winter weekends are underrated. If you are willing to drive ninety minutes to the Laurentians, you can ski, snowshoe, or just sit in a spa and do nothing, and the rates for accommodation are often lower than peak season. Closer to Ottawa, places like Almonte and Perth are quieter in winter but still have enough going on to justify a night or two, especially if you are the type who considers a bookshop and a good dinner sufficient entertainment.

What ties all of these guides together is an honest approach to planning. We include drive times, accommodation notes, restaurant recommendations where we have them, and our genuine opinion on whether a place justifies the trip. Some of our favourite escapes are the simplest ones: a lakeside cabin with no agenda, a one-street town with a surprisingly good bakery, or a scenic drive that you take slowly because there is nowhere you need to be. The best weekends rarely involve complicated itineraries.

Accommodation is the other half of the equation. Eastern Ontario has a good range of options, from lakeside Airbnbs and heritage inns to simple motels in small towns. We tend to recommend booking early for fall weekends, because the popular spots fill up surprisingly fast once the colour forecast starts circulating. In winter and spring, availability is rarely an issue, and you can often find better deals by booking directly with smaller properties rather than going through the major platforms.

Start with the guide that matches the season you are planning for, or if you are open to anything, the easy getaways guide is a solid introduction to what is within reach.