Vaughan to the Thousand Islands and Gananoque: the river road trip

Where the lake becomes the river

The Thousand Islands begin where Lake Ontario empties into the St. Lawrence east of Kingston: more than eighteen hundred islands between the Canadian and American shores, some with a single cottage, some with a castle, one with an international boundary through the middle of its garden. It is a boat trip, and the boat trips leave from Gananoque and Rockport, both a few minutes off the 401; the 1000 Islands Tourism site lists the operators and the parkway attractions. From Vaughan it is the road trip families make in July and August when the children are old enough for a three-hour cruise and young enough to be amazed by a house on its own island.

The day and the weekend

A long day is possible — a 7 a.m. pickup in Maple, the 401 to Gananoque by ten thirty, the midday cruise, the parkway in the afternoon, home by eight — but most Vaughan families book the overnight: Friday evening to Kingston or Gananoque, the boat Saturday morning, the Parkway and the Skydeck on Hill Island in the afternoon, Sunday brunch and home. The vehicle either returns to Vaughan between the transfers (a return fare) or stays for the weekend (daily hire), which matters here because the Parkway is a drive, not a walk.

The Thousand Islands Parkway is a forty-kilometre road along the river between Gananoque and the Ivy Lea bridge, with lookouts, a cycling path and the 1000 Islands Tower / Skydeck on Hill Island at the bridge, which is on the Canadian side and reachable without crossing the border. With the vehicle on hand the family does the cruise, the parkway and the tower in an afternoon; without it they do the cruise.

Boldt Castle and the passport question

Boldt Castle, the Heart Island castle built by the hotelier George Boldt and abandoned unfinished in 1904, is the most-photographed thing on the river and it is in the United States. Cruises from Gananoque and Rockport stop there, and stepping off the boat onto Heart Island is a border crossing — everyone needs a passport or a NEXUS card, and the operators say so at booking. A Vaughan family without passports for the children takes the cruise that circles the castle without stopping, which is most of the experience. The Alexandria Bay post covers the American-side version of this trip, where the vehicle crosses the bridge and the family visits the castle by shuttle boat from the American shore.

The route from Vaughan

The 407 east to the 401, then the 401 past Kingston to exit 645 (Gananoque, County Road 32) or exit 675 for the Parkway and Rockport — the same road as the Kingston and Ottawa trips, with Kingston passed rather than visited. The chauffeur builds a stop at Port Hope or Cobourg for families with small children; a group that wants the full river day stops in Kingston for lunch on the way back instead.

Vehicles

A family of four is a Luxury SUV; with grandparents, or two families sharing a boat and a fare, an Executive Sprinter. A couple doing the river and an inn in Gananoque books a Premium Sedan. The Parkway is a slow, scenic road with lookouts every few kilometres; a chauffeured vehicle stops at each one because the person driving is not the one deciding where to look.

Gananoque itself

Gananoque is a small river town with a waterfront of cruise docks and a downtown of a few blocks — the Thousand Islands Playhouse on the water is its summer theatre, and Vaughan couples book an evening performance with dinner and the vehicle waiting. Rockport, twenty minutes east, is smaller still: a cruise dock, a couple of restaurants, and the Ivy Lea bridge behind it. Neither town has a parking problem in the way Niagara does, but the cruise docks are where a chauffeured drop earns its keep: the family walks from the vehicle onto the boat with the cooler and the stroller and the vehicle goes to the lot.

What it costs against driving

Driving yourself to Gananoque is fuel and a modest parking bill; the chauffeured fare for a family of four is a comfort choice for six hours of highway, and for a group of eight in a Sprinter it is a saving against two cars and the drivers' weekend. The fare is fixed before you book, includes the 407, and the hourly and daily page explains how a stayed weekend is priced.

When to go

The cruise season runs from spring to October; July and August are the busiest weeks and the fullest boats; September is the best month — warm river, thinning crowds, the maples on the islands turning. The Parkway in October is the drive Vaughan families photograph. In winter the river is closed to cruises and the region is a Kingston side trip rather than a destination.

The cruise options, plainly

There are three shapes of boat, and the family should decide before the vehicle is booked, because the sailing time sets the day.

• The one-hour island cruise from Gananoque: the near islands, the cottages, the lighthouse; the right boat for children under six and the one that fits a day trip from Vaughan.
• The three-hour or longer cruise from Gananoque or Rockport that goes downriver to the castle country — Boldt Castle and Singer Castle — and, on the versions that stop, lets passengers off on Heart Island for the castle tour. Passports required for the stop; the non-stop version needs none.
• The Rockport boats at the bridge, closer to the castles and shorter to reach them; the choice for a family that wants the castle without the full three hours.

The operators are listed on the 1000 Islands Tourism site; book the sailing first and give us the time, and the chauffeur builds the day around it.

The Parkway, lookout by lookout

With the vehicle for the afternoon the Thousand Islands Parkway is the second half of the day, and it is the part a family in its own car tends to skip because the driver is tired. From Gananoque the road runs east along the water: the Landon Bay lookout with its trail, the Ivy Lea village and the bridge, the Skydeck on Hill Island (a lift to a platform above the river and the bridge, with the islands laid out beneath — on the Canadian side, no border), the Brown's Bay beach for a swim in July, and Rockport's dock. The chauffeur stops at each on request; the whole road is forty kilometres and takes an hour and a half with stops. The Parkway continues to Brockville, which is how a river weekend becomes a two-town one.

Gananoque for the evening

A group of adults staying in Gananoque books the evening as part of the daily hire: the Thousand Islands Playhouse on the waterfront runs a summer season of plays in two theatres, the restaurants on King and Stone Streets are a short walk, and the boardwalk along the river is the after-dinner walk. Couples book a Premium Sedan for a Playhouse weekend the way they book the Stratford Festival: the vehicle down on Friday, the inn, the performance, home Sunday.

The vehicle in detail

For the river weekend the Luxury SUV carries four with a cooler, beach bags and the stroller; the Executive Sprinter carries two families with the same and has the tables that make a three-hour highway run tolerable for children. Both drop at the cruise dock's curb and wait in the lot; both take the Parkway's lookouts at the family's pace. Booster seats are $25 each in the booking engine and fitted before the pickup.

Vaughan pickup notes

The Gananoque run is the Kingston road continued and begins on the 407 from every Vaughan community — Weston Road for Woodbridge, Jane for Maple, Dufferin for Thornhill. Tell us the sailing time and the operator, the hotel or inn, whether the vehicle stays for the Parkway, and any child seats; the confirmation the evening before will set the departure time against the boat.

Passports, NEXUS and the castle stop, in one paragraph

If the family wants to step onto Heart Island, every passenger needs a valid passport (or a NEXUS card, or for children a birth certificate accepted by the operator — check with the operator, not with us), and re-entry to Canada is on the boat's return under the operator's arrangement with the border services. The chauffeur and the vehicle do not cross; this is a boat crossing, not a road one. For the road version of the same castle — the vehicle over the Ivy Lea bridge to Alexandria Bay, the shuttle boat to Heart Island from the American shore, the border guide applies and everyone's documents are checked at the bridge.

What it costs, in shape

For a family of four the return pair to a Gananoque inn is the economical booking and it prices as two one-ways in the booking engine, tolls included. For the same family wanting the Parkway, the Skydeck and Brown's Bay on the second day, the daily hire prices the vehicle staying and it is the better number once a Sunday rental car or a second drive from Kingston is counted. For eight adults in a Sprinter, either version divides eight ways into a figure that a coach tour cannot match for a private boat, a private vehicle and the town in the evening.

Packing for the boat and the road

The Sprinter's bay and the SUV's cargo area take what a river day needs — a cooler, towels, the stroller, the camera bag — and the chauffeur loads them at the door in Vaughan and unloads at the dock, which is a small thing that matters on a July morning with three children. Bring hats and sunscreen for the open upper deck, a sweater for the return sailing when the river wind picks up, and cash for the ice cream at the dock; leave the passports at home unless the sailing stops on Heart Island. Booster seats travel with the vehicle and stay fitted for the Parkway afternoon.

Booking it

Book a return or daily hire from your Vaughan address to the Gananoque or Kingston hotel; tell us the cruise sailing you have reserved so the Saturday timing works, and whether the group carries passports for the Heart Island stop. The travel desk can reserve the cruise and the inn together.

Book the river weekend