The Bruce Peninsula

The Bruce Peninsula is a stunning section of Ontario, with Lake Huron on the west, and Georgian Bay to the east.

The area is booming with geological limestone rock formations, forest hiking trails, small town atmosphere with cute fishing harbours, rocky shorelines and crystal clear turqoise water.

Some of the photos you take in the Bruce Peninsula are the kind that people say “that’s Ontario?” It doesn’t resemble the rest of Ontario, and has such a unique look unlike anywhere else.

The Bruce Peninsula is one of my favourite places to visit in Ontario. I live 3 hours away and visit at least once a year with my husband and two kids.

Key Things to See and Do on the Bruce Peninsula

• Bruce Peninsula National Park is the largest park on the peninsula, and contains some of the most popular attractions, such as the Grotto and Indian Head Cove. You need a pass to visit anything within the park
• The Grotto and Indian Head Cove are the top attractions in the park, and on the whole of the Bruce Peninsula. This is where you’ll find rocky seaside limestone formations and sea caves. From the parking lot, a 30-minute hike along the Bruce Trail brings you to the gorgeous Indian Head Cove and Grotto. They get incredibly busy on summer weekends, but they’re so worth it
• Singing Sands Provincial Park is a unique area with a sandy beach (the only sandy beach in the peninsula) with incredibly shallow water. It’s a great thing to do if you’re in the area with babies or toddlers as they can play and wade in the water without having to worry about the depth.
• Flowerpot Island is an island from which you can take boat cruises from the port town of Tobermory, which is right at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula. It’s known for its very massive ‘flowerpot’ shaped rocks, caves, pebbled beaches, and crystal clear water. You can stay for a day, or even camp overnight!
• Scuba diving shipwrecks. There is a dive shop in Tobermory that organizes snorkel and dive tours of the surrounding shipwrecks. These shipwrecks are preserved in cold water and well-preserved because of the icy temperatures

• Tobermory the town of Tobermory is the very tip of the Bruce Peninsula; it has a cute fishing harbour, a lookout tower with panoramic views, an amazing kid-friendly visitor centre, decent restaurants, lots of water sports, and a seawall that allows you to walk along the shoreline, viewing the crystal-clear waters of Fathom Five National Marine Park
• Fathom Five National Marine Park is a smaller national park, located at the northern tip of the Bruce Peninsula. You’ll need a park pass to visit the attractions within this park, which include Flowerpot Island, and many of the shipwrecks for snorkelling and diving
• Wiarton is a small town known for it’s Wiarton Willy, the famous groundhog that determines whether winter will linger, or if it’ll be an early spring. They hold a festival for Wiarton Willy every February. There’s a statue of the groundhog on the seafront park
• Lion’s Head is the name of a small town, and also a provincial park on the peninsula. Both are just north of Wiarton, on the shores of Georgian Bay. The Lion’s Head Park is a part of the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve, and you’ll find tall limestone cliffs, caves and really unique looking views!
• Manitoulin Island is not technically ‘on’ the Bruce Peninsula, but the famous Chi-chimaun ferry leaves from Tobermory and takes you to Manitoulin, the largest freshwater island in the world, in 3 hours. You can visit Manitoulin for a day, but its also popular for overnight camping

When to Visit the Bruce Peninsula

The popular time to visit Bruce Peninsula is the beginning of May through end of October. The peak is in the summer months, July and August when school is out in Ontario.

The Bruce Peninsula can be visited in Ontario (its actually a great place to visit in winter) but the tourism industry isn’t in ‘full force’ at that time – many park services are closed, and several hotels and accommodations are shut down. So, its a much quieter experience and you have to love winter in order to take that on.

However, if you do come to the Bruce Peninsula during off season, there are a few perks:

• Fewer crowds
• Cheaper rates
• Early sunsets. The sunsets from the west side of the peninsula over Lake Huron are spectacular
• Snow sports, like cross-country skiing, ice skating and snowshoeing. It’s possible to snowshow or cross country ski to the Grotto, on a different trail than usual as the main one isn’t maintained. There’s an an ice skating forest path in MacGregor Point Provincial Park.

Where to Stay in the Bruce Peninsula

There are many places to stay all over the peninsula. Driving the entire peninsula from south to north would take an hour, so I recommend staying somewhere close to the attractions you want to focus on.

Overall, most places to stay in the Bruce Peninsula are on the Georgian Bay side of the peninsula, the west side. You can choose between cabins out in nature, campgrounds (privately owned or on provincial or national parks), many motels along highway 6, and and hotels within the cute small towns of the area.

You won’t find a lot of chain hotels in the Bruce Peninsula; almost everything is family-owned with its unique charm.

• Tobermory – Tobermory is surrounded with campgrounds, there are also several small hotels, and cabins that you can rent. We choose to stay in the Tobermory area every time we visit. I’m always looking for and reviewing the family-friendly places to stay there
• Camping in any of the (national or provincial) parks – many of the national and provincial parks in the Bruce Peninsula offer camping. You could camp in the area close to the Grotto, on Flowerpot Island, for example. This allows you to experience the park differently and often see the highlights before the crowds arrive
• Lion’s Head has a sandy beach, a cute lighthouse and a little harbour. It’s town website describes it as being “for people looking to forget about the rest of the world.” Many tourist sites mention Lion’s Head, but it’s lesser visited than Tobermory, and therefore offers a slower-paced atmosphere.