Places to Visit East of Toronto: The Drive Nobody Fights You For

Everyone drives north. The smarter trip goes east. Head up Highway 401 and then north on 115 and inside 90 minutes you’re in Northumberland County and the southern Kawarthas — lake towns, beaches, a UNESCO-adjacent waterway, one of Ontario’s best fisheries, and none of the Highway 400 parking lot. Here’s what’s actually worth the drive east of Toronto, roughly in order of distance.

Why East Beats North on a Summer Weekend

The Muskoka corridor — Highway 400 through Barrie, then 11 — carries the bulk of the GTA’s cottage traffic every Friday afternoon. The eastern corridor doesn’t. Same drive time on paper, dramatically different in practice, and the destinations at the end are quieter and cheaper. (We compared the two regions properly in Kawarthas vs. Muskoka.)

Under an Hour: The Lake Ontario Shore

Port Hope — about an hour east. One of the best-preserved 19th-century main streets in Ontario, a walkable downtown of independent shops and restaurants, and the Ganaraska River running through the middle of it. Worth a half-day on its own.

Cobourg — ten minutes further. The big draw is Victoria Park Beach: a genuine sand beach on Lake Ontario with a boardwalk, right beside the downtown. It gets busy in July for good reason.

90 Minutes: Rice Lake and the Southern Kawarthas

Rice Lake — roughly 90 minutes from Toronto, and the reason most people make this drive. It’s a 32 km lake at the southern edge of the Kawarthas, shallow and warm enough to swim from mid-June into September, and one of Ontario’s strongest bass and walleye fisheries. Small public beaches at Harwood, Gores Landing, and Bewdley, with most of the swimming happening off cottage and resort waterfronts.

Serpent Mounds — on the north shore near Keene, an ancient Indigenous burial site with short interpretive trails and one of the better views over the lake.

Bellmere Winds Golf Resort — an 18-hole championship course on the Rice Lake shoreline with lake views from every hole, and where Mildred’s Lakefront Resort Cottage sits if you want to stay the weekend rather than day-trip it.

Two Hours: Peterborough

Twenty-five minutes north of Rice Lake, and the anchor city for the whole region.

• The Peterborough Lift Lock — the highest hydraulic boat lift in the world, and genuinely impressive to watch operate. Free to view from the park.
• The Canadian Canoe Museum — opened a purpose-built waterfront building in 2024, holding the world’s largest canoe and kayak collection alongside Indigenous history and hands-on exhibits.
• Del Crary Park — free summer concerts on Little Lake through Peterborough Musicfest, plus the fireworks that close out big holidays.
• Hunter Street — the café-and-restaurant strip; more range than a city this size has any right to.

Making It a Weekend Instead of a Drive

The honest case for staying over: everything above sits inside a 30-minute radius of Rice Lake, and doing it as day trips from Toronto means four hours of driving to see two things. A cottage on the lake turns the same list into a weekend where the lake itself is the main event and the rest is optional. Our 3-day Rice Lake itinerary lays out how the days actually fit together.

If you want the region without a private-cottage commitment, a resort cottage covers both — your own place on the water plus a pool, beach, and golf course on site. Check availability for Mildred’s, which sleeps six.

FAQ — Day Trips East of Toronto

What is there to do east of Toronto within 90 minutes?

Port Hope’s heritage main street (1 hour), Cobourg’s Victoria Park Beach on Lake Ontario (1h10), and Rice Lake in the southern Kawarthas (90 minutes) for swimming, fishing, boating, and golf. Peterborough — the Lift Lock and Canadian Canoe Museum — is about two hours.

Is there cottage country east of Toronto?

Yes — the Kawarthas. Rice Lake marks its southern edge, about 90 minutes from Toronto via Highway 115, and the region continues north through Peterborough to Stony, Buckhorn, and Pigeon Lakes. It’s quieter and generally less expensive than Muskoka, and the drive avoids the Highway 400 corridor.

Where can you swim east of Toronto?

Cobourg’s Victoria Park Beach is the best-known Lake Ontario option. Inland, Rice Lake is shallow and warm — typically around 20°C or better from July into September — with small public beaches at Harwood, Gores Landing, and Bewdley plus resort waterfronts.

How long is the drive from Toronto to Rice Lake?

About 90 minutes from the east end of Toronto, via the 401 and then north on Highway 115 past Peterborough. Because it avoids the Highway 400 cottage corridor, the Friday-afternoon drive tends to hold closer to the estimate than a Muskoka trip does.

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East of Toronto is the direction with the beaches, the fishing, the heritage main streets, and the open highway. Everyone else is sitting on the 400.

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