Vaughan to Point Pelee and Leamington: the tip of Canada, the birds and the island ferry

The southern tip

Point Pelee is the sand spit that reaches ten kilometres into Lake Erie from Leamington's shore to the southernmost point of mainland Canada — a national park of Carolinian forest, a marsh with a boardwalk and a tower, beaches on both shores, and, in May, the migrating songbirds that make it one of North America's birding places, with the Festival of Birds filling the park's lots by dawn. Leamington, at its base, is the tomato capital — the greenhouses that light the night sky, the Heinz plant's successor, the Portuguese and Mexican community's restaurants — and the ferry dock for Pelee Island, the Lake Erie island of wineries and bicycles forty minutes offshore. For Vaughan it is the trip to the country's deep south, four hours from the 407, and it is booked as a weekend of nights with a Windsor casino evening attached or a Leamington inn.

The park: the tip, the marsh, the forest

The park's road runs from the gate through the forest to the visitor centre, where a shuttle — private vehicles stop at the centre — takes visitors the last two kilometres to the tip, the point of sand where the lake's currents meet and the land ends in a line of waves; the Marsh Boardwalk near the gate is a kilometre of floating boardwalk through the cattails with a tower and canoe rentals; the DeLaurier homestead's trail and the Tilden Woods trail cross the forest; and the beaches on the west shore are the swim in July. A chauffeured family is dropped at the visitor centre for the tip's shuttle, at the boardwalk for the marsh and at the beach for the afternoon, with the Luxury SUV waiting at each; the park's day-use fee is paid at the gate and the chauffeur carries it.

The birds, in May

The Festival of Birds runs through May, when the songbirds crossing Lake Erie land on the point exhausted — warblers by the dozen species, orioles, tanagers, the rarities the birders chase — and the park opens at dawn with the lots full by seven and a shuttle from Leamington on the peak weekends. A Vaughan birding couple books a Leamington inn and the SUV for the dawns: the park at 5:30 with the chauffeur, the tip's shuttle at six, the boardwalk at nine, breakfast, the forest trails, the afternoon's rest and the evening's second visit. The Friends of Point Pelee run the festival's programme; the park's site has the dawn hours.

Leamington's greenhouses and tomatoes

Leamington's greenhouses cover more ground than any in North America and light the sky orange over the town at night — the drive in from the 401 on Highway 77 passes kilometres of them — and the town's tomato history is on its water tower and in the August Tomato Festival; the Mexican and Portuguese restaurants on Erie Street and the marina at the ferry dock are the town's evenings. A family with a Leamington inn eats in the town; a family based in Windsor drives the hour each way.

Pelee Island and the ferry

The Pelee Island ferry crosses from Leamington (and from Kingsville in the shoulder seasons) to the island in an hour and a half, carrying vehicles on a reservation; the island is the southernmost inhabited place in Canada — a flat, quiet island of vineyards, the Pelee Island Winery's pavilion, bicycle roads, the Fish Point nature reserve's beach and the lighthouse — and a day with the chauffeured vehicle aboard does the winery, the lighthouse and the reserve with a dinner at the island's inn before the evening ferry back. The Manitoulin post describes the same ferry logic on a larger scale; the Pelee ferry's summer reservations sell out and the travel desk holds them.

The route

The 407 west to the 401, the 401 west past London and Chatham to Highway 77 at Comber, and 77 south through the greenhouses to Leamington and the park's road — four hours from Woodbridge with the 407 and a London stop, four and a quarter from Thornhill. The routing estimate's four and three-quarters is the no-toll version; the 401 west of London is the flat, straight truck corridor of the Chatham plain.

The trip, in shape

Two nights: Friday to Leamington or Windsor with a London dinner; Saturday the park's tip, marsh and beach, Leamington's dinner; Sunday the island by the morning ferry and the evening one back, or the Windsor casino and the riverfront, and Monday's drive home — or the three-night version with all three. Daily hire for the vehicle staying, one number in the booking engine, and the ferry, the inn and the Windsor hotel held together.

Which vehicle

An SUV for a family or a birding couple with the scope in the cargo area and boosters at $25 each; an Executive Sprinter for two families or a birding club's six with the bay for the optics; a Premium Sedan for a couple's island weekend. The vehicle boards the ferry with a reservation.

What the chauffeur replaces

Eight hours of the 401 in a weekend; the park's dawn lots in May; the ferry's loading lane; and the greenhouses' night drive on Highway 77 after a day on the tip. For a birding couple the daily hire is the price of dawns without the drive; for a Sprinter of six it undercuts two cars and the ferry's two vehicle fares.

Seasons

May for the birds and the festival, with the inns booked by March; June to September for the beaches, the island's wineries and the ferry's full schedule; August for the Tomato Festival; September's monarch migration, when the butterflies gather on the tip before the lake crossing — the second reason birders come; winter closes the ferry and the tip's shuttle and leaves the park's trails to the few.

Pairing it

Pelee pairs with Windsor for the casino and the riverfront, with Detroit across the river for a family with passports, and with London as the stop; the south-west Ontario loop that this site books as three nights does all three and comes home along the Erie shore through Port Stanley.

A birding weekend, in order

A couple from Kleinburg in the second week of May with a Leamington inn: Friday at 1 p.m., the Luxury SUV with the scopes and the boots in the cargo area, the 407 and 401, London's dinner at four, Highway 77 through the greenhouses' orange glow at dusk, the inn by 6:30. Saturday: the SUV at 5:15, the park's gate at 5:40 as it opens, the visitor centre and the tip's first shuttle at six — the warblers in the tip's cottonwoods in the first light, the birders' line along the point — the Woodland Nature Trail at eight, breakfast at the visitor centre's café, the Marsh Boardwalk's tower at ten, the DeLaurier trail at noon, the inn's rest; the park again at five for the evening's flight, Leamington's Erie Street dinner at eight. Sunday: the tip at dawn again, the Hillman Marsh conservation area's shorebird cell at nine on the way out, and the 401 home by mid-afternoon with the species list at a hundred and twenty. Two days of daily hire, one number in the booking engine, and every dawn driven by someone else.

The Festival of Birds, practically

The Friends of Point Pelee run the festival through May with guided hikes, a birding hotline and the visitor centre's sightings board; the park charges its day-use fee at the gate, opens at 5 a.m. through the festival, and on the peak weekends closes its lots when they fill and runs a shuttle from Leamington's marina — a chauffeured couple with the SUV at the gate at 5:40 is inside before the question arises. The tip's shuttle runs from the visitor centre from dawn; private vehicles do not go past the centre in the festival season.

Pelee Island, in order

From Leamington's ferry dock at eight on a Sunday with the vehicle aboard on a reservation held since March: the crossing's hour and a half on the deck with the lake's freighters; the island's west dock at 9:30; the Pelee Island Winery's pavilion at ten for the tour and the tasting; the lighthouse at the island's north-east point at noon; Fish Point's nature reserve at the south with its beach and its sand spit at one, and the trail through the Carolinian forest; lunch at the island's inn at 2:30; the winery's shop for the cases; the evening ferry at 5:30 and Leamington by seven. The ferry's site has the sailings and the reservation; the island's roads are flat, quiet and bicycled, and a family with bicycles in the Sprinter's bay rides them.

Leamington's greenhouses, for the curious

The greenhouses are the region's industry — thousands of acres of glass growing tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers year-round, lit at night so that the sky over Leamington glows from the 401 — and while the greenhouses themselves are not toured, the town's farm stands, the Leamington Farmers' Market on Saturdays and the Tomato Festival in August are the way a family meets them. The town's tourism pages have the market and the festival.

Pickup notes

The 407 and 401 from every Vaughan community to Highway 77 at Comber; a Kleinburg or Woodbridge pickup joins the 407 at Weston Road, a Thornhill one at Bathurst. Give us the inn or the Windsor hotel, the park's dawns, the ferry sailing, the seats, the optics and the bicycles, and the chauffeur confirms the plan the evening before with the park's hours on it.

Kingsville and the Erie shore home

The loop home from Pelee runs west along the Erie shore rather than back up Highway 77: Kingsville, the town with the Jack Miner bird sanctuary — the Canada geese that Miner banded from 1904 — and the Pelee Island ferry's shoulder-season dock, its winery on the town's edge and its harbour; then the county roads east along the lake through Wheatley and Port Stanley's beach town to the 401 at London. It is the third day of a south-west Ontario daily hire and the drive the chauffeur suggests to a family that has seen the 401 twice.

Booking it

Book a daily hire from your Vaughan address for the trip with the nights, the base, the park days and the ferry sailing; tell us the seats, the optics and the bicycles, and the chauffeur confirms the plan the evening before with the park's hours and the ferry on it.

Book the Point Pelee trip