Vaughan to Manitoulin Island: the world's largest freshwater island, by road or by ferry

Manitoulin, and the two ways to reach it

Manitoulin is the largest freshwater island in the world, a hundred and sixty kilometres of escarpment, farmland, inland lakes and Lake Huron shore at the top of Georgian Bay, home to six First Nations and a scattering of small towns, with one road bridge — the swing bridge at Little Current — and one ferry, the MS Chi-Cheemaun from Tobermory to South Baymouth. It is the trip Vaughan families take when the children are old enough to walk the Cup and Saucer and young enough to think a ferry is an event, and it is a week, not a weekend, because getting there is the first day. A chauffeured loop — up by road through Sudbury, back by the ferry to Tobermory and down the Bruce Peninsula, or the reverse — is the version this site books, with the vehicle on the island the whole time.

The Cup and Saucer

The Cup and Saucer trail on the Niagara Escarpment's northern end, off Highway 540 west of Little Current, climbs to cliffs seventy metres above the island's farmland and the North Channel — the island's signature walk, twelve kilometres of loops with the Adventure Trail's ladders and ledges for the teenagers and the main loop's lookouts for everyone else. Three to four hours, proper shoes, and a chauffeured group dropped at the trailhead at nine and collected at one with the vehicle at the Little Current marina in between.

Bridal Veil Falls and Kagawong

Bridal Veil Falls at Kagawong on the north shore is an eleven-metre curtain over a limestone ledge that children walk behind, with a swimming hole at its base and a river trail down to the village — the afternoon after the Cup and Saucer, twenty minutes west. Kagawong itself is the prettiest village on the island: the old pulp mill turned museum and gallery, the chocolate shop, the harbour on Mudge Bay. The chauffeur drops at the falls lot on Highway 540 and collects at the village.

Providence Bay, Gore Bay and the south shore

Providence Bay on the Lake Huron shore has the island's best beach — a long crescent of sand with a boardwalk and dunes, warm water in August, and the interpretive centre — and it is the beach day of a Manitoulin week; Gore Bay on the north shore is the town with the harbour, the lookout and the theatre; Manitowaning on the east has the museum and the old Assiginack town. Little Current, at the bridge, is the supply town with the marina where the North Channel's sailboats tie up and the restaurants where the family eats.

The First Nations and the Great Spirit Circle Trail

Manitoulin's six First Nations — Wiikwemkoong, the largest, on the unceded peninsula in the east; M'Chigeeng, Sheguiandah, Aundeck Omni Kaning, Sheshegwaning, Zhiibaahaasing — offer cultural tourism through the Great Spirit Circle Trail: guided hikes, canoe heritage tours, the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation's museum and gallery at M'Chigeeng, and, in August, the Wiikwemkoong Annual Cultural Festival, one of the largest powwows in eastern Canada. A chauffeured family books a guided day through the Trail and is driven to it; it is the part of the week the children talk about at school.

The loop, day by day

Day 1. Vaughan to Sudbury (four hours, a Parry Sound stop) or to Tobermory (three and a half, a Wiarton stop); the ferry's afternoon sailing if going by water, with the vehicle driven aboard. Days 2–5. The island from a cottage or a Little Current, Gore Bay or Providence Bay inn: the Cup and Saucer, the falls and Kagawong, Providence Bay's beach, a Great Spirit Circle Trail day, Gore Bay's harbour. Day 6. Off by the other route — the swing bridge and Highway 6 to Espanola and the 69, or the ferry to Tobermory and the Bruce — with the Tobermory post covering the Grotto stop on the way down. Six days of daily hire, one number in the booking engine, and the travel desk holding the ferry reservation, which is the scarce item in July and August.

The vehicle, and the ferry

An Executive Sprinter for a family with a week's luggage and the bicycles; a Luxury SUV for a couple or a family of four. Both drive onto the Chi-Cheemaun with a reservation; the ferry's vehicle deck takes them and the chauffeur handles the loading. Boosters are $25 each; the canoe on the rack is arranged at booking.

What the chauffeur replaces

Two full days of driving in a week, a ferry loading, and an island whose attractions are an hour apart on two-lane roads — the week is a driving week, and a family that does it in its own car remembers the car. The daily-hire fare for six days is the largest single number on this site and it is honest about what it buys: a week in which nobody in the family drove, on an island that rewards the passenger.

Seasons

July and August for the beach and the powwow; September for the walking weather, the empty trails and the ferry's fall sailings; the ferry runs from May to October and the island's inns follow it. Winter reaches the island by the swing bridge only and is a different trip.

The week, in order, for a family of six

Day 1, Saturday: pickup at 7:30 from Kleinburg, the Sprinter with the bicycles in the bay and the canoe on the rack; the 400 to Barrie, Highway 26 and 10 to Owen Sound for lunch, Highway 6 up the Bruce with a stop at Lion's Head for the harbour; Tobermory by 2:30 for the 3:50 Chi-Cheemaun sailing, the vehicle driven aboard with the reservation; the two-hour crossing on the upper deck; South Baymouth at 5:45; the rented cottage on Lake Manitou by seven. Day 2: Providence Bay's beach and the boardwalk, the interpretive centre, the harbour's fish and chips. Day 3: the Cup and Saucer from nine to one, Bridal Veil Falls and Kagawong in the afternoon, dinner in Little Current at the marina. Day 4: the Great Spirit Circle Trail's guided day at M'Chigeeng — the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation, a guided hike, a canoe heritage session. Day 5: Gore Bay's harbour and lookout, the Misery Bay Provincial Park boardwalks on the south shore, Manitowaning's museum. Day 6: the swing bridge at Little Current, Highway 6 to Espanola, Highway 17 and 69 south with a stop at the French River, and home by dinner. Six days of daily hire, one number in the booking engine, the family driven the whole week.

The ferry, practically

The Chi-Cheemaun crosses between Tobermory and South Baymouth from early May to mid-October, up to four sailings a day in summer, and vehicle reservations are made on Ontario Ferries' site months ahead for July and August — the summer sailings sell out and a vehicle without a reservation waits on standby. The crossing is an hour and three-quarters; passengers leave the vehicle on the car deck and the ship has lounges, a cafeteria and open decks with the bay's islands passing. The chauffeur handles the loading lane and the deck; the family is upstairs before the ship has left the dock. The Tobermory post covers the town and the Grotto for a night either side of the crossing.

The two roads compared

By road through Sudbury: 547 km and nearly eight hours by the estimate, four lanes to Parry Sound, two beyond, Highway 6 from Espanola south over the swing bridge — a long day, with Science North or Killarney as the reason to break it. By the ferry: 285 km to Tobermory, three and a half hours on the 400, 26, 10 and 6, plus the crossing — a shorter drive and a ship, which children prefer. The loop does both and the direction is a matter of which end's reservation fits; the chauffeur's preference is the road up and the ferry back, because the ferry's afternoon arrival in Tobermory leaves time for the Grotto at the end of the trip.

The island's towns, for the week's dinners

Little Current is the marina town at the bridge with the restaurants on Water Street and the sailboats of the North Channel at its docks — the evening drive from a Lake Manitou cottage; Gore Bay on the north shore has the harbour restaurants and a summer theatre; Providence Bay has the fish and chips at the harbour; Mindemoya in the centre is the supermarket and the hospital; Manitowaning has the Debajehmujig Storytellers' theatre company, which stages Indigenous productions in summer. The island's distances are the reason the vehicle stays: an hour from one end's dinner to the other's cottage on two-lane roads that are unlit and, at dusk, deer-crossed.

Pickup notes

The road route begins on Highway 400 for every Vaughan community; the ferry route begins on the 400 to Barrie and Highway 26 west, or from Woodbridge and Kleinburg on Highway 27 and 9 to Highway 10 — the chauffeur chooses by the day. Give us the direction, the ferry sailing, the cottage or inn, the seats, the bicycles and the canoe, and the Great Spirit Circle Trail day, and the travel desk holds the ferry and the cottage while the chauffeur confirms the plan.

Misery Bay and the south shore's quiet

Misery Bay Provincial Park on the south-west shore is a day-use park of alvar — the flat limestone pavement with rare plants that the island shares with the Bruce — with boardwalks and trails to a shallow bay of clear water, and it is the quietest afternoon of a Manitoulin week; the visitor centre explains the alvar, the trails are flat, and the Sprinter waits in a lot that is never full. The island's other Ontario Parks day-use site, on the Manitoulin's south shore at Providence Bay, is the beach; between them the south shore road is farmland and the occasional Lake Huron lookout.

Booking it

Book a daily hire from your Vaughan address for the loop with the nights, the direction, the ferry sailing and the island base; tell us the seats, the bicycles, the canoe and the Great Spirit Circle Trail day, and the chauffeur confirms the plan the evening before.

Book the Manitoulin week