6 Places to Visit in Ontario this Summer

Summer is a fantastic time to shake up your regular routine and explore some of the incredible regions and cities on offer in Canada.

To help inspire your next adventure, we’re sharing 6 great summer travel destinations in Ontario that will give you options to please every type of traveller.

The first destination we recommend checking out this summer is Prince Edward County.

Home to excellent restaurants, cideries/breweries, art galleries, boutique hotels, and wonderful rural towns, the New York Times describes Prince Edward County as “a Canadian island where hip meets historic.”

Located along the Lake Ontario coast, less than one hour from Kingston and around 2.5 hours from Toronto, Prince Edward County offers something for everyone. Whether you’re looking to enjoy the outdoors with some paddling or a bike tour, or you’d like to explore the food and culture scene in towns like Picton and Bloomfield, the area is a popular choice for all styles of summer travel.

With all the great food and drink options in the area, you’ll definitely want to bring your American Express Cobalt^® Card to take advantage of the 5x earning rates in the food/drinks category.

As one of our favourite (and most recommended) credit cards, the American Express Cobalt^® Card is a wallet must-have for when you explore Ontario this summer.

The Bruce Peninsula is most easily accessed with a car, which will give you the ability to move between the many worthwhile sights and activities.

If you’re renting a car for your excursion, make sure you get a credit card that offers some car rental insurance coverage to save yourself from having to pay this cost out of pocket. Also, if possible, choose a card that also offers discounts and/or bonus privileges on the car rental cost.

If you’ve got your own vehicle for this adventure, there’s lots of ways to earn helpful perks and rewards on your fuel expenditures, so make sure to check out our top credit cards picks for gas expenses.

For a unique summer travel destination in Ontario, take the Chi-Cheemaun ferry from Tobermory to Manitoulin Island, the largest freshwater island in the world!

A visit to Manitoulin Island offers the chance to camp, hike, fish, swim, and more, and its also a fabulous opportunity to explore the rich Indigenous culture and heritage of the space.

While there, you can hike to Bridal Veil Falls, an 11-metre waterfall, spend the day Providence Bay Beach enjoying the clear water and white sand, or camp under the stars at one of the islands many campgrounds.

In fact, Manitoulin Island is home to a designated DarkSky Preserve, an area designed to protect the quality of the night sky, giving you a great view of the stars, visible planets, and maybe even the northern lights.

If camping isn’t really your thing, you could always book a hotel, bed & breakfast, or an Airbnb to give yourself a nice bed and a few more amenities.

If you decide to go the Airbnb route and you collect British Airways Avios (perhaps with the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite) don’t forget that you can earn an additional 2 Avios per $1 spent on your booking (and on your Airbnb experiences) by simply going through RBC’s Airbnb portal. This is a great way to maximize your rewards earnings, getting you that much closer to a free trip!

Our next pick for great summer travel destination in Ontario is Stratford and its world-famous Shakespeare theatre festival.

The Stratford Festival started in 1953 as a way to help revitalize the town after its economy suffered due to the decline of the railway industry. For the first few years, the performances were held in a single specially made tent, but now the festival boasts multiple permanent venues and runs from April to October each year.

While in area, in addition to taking in a show, you can enjoy a relaxing walk around Stratford’s beautiful downtown, perusing the local shops and stopping for a meal at one of the many excellent restaurants.

We recommend spending at least a couple days in Stratford so that you can take in a couple shows and explore the town at a leisurely pace.

If you’re planning to see a few shows during the festival, it’s a good idea to make the purchase with a credit card that has a high earning rate in the entertainment category. For example, the Scotiabank Gold American Express^® Card earns 5 Scene+ points per $1 on theatre tickets (and other eligible entertainment expenses).

Alternatively, you could choose a card like the CIBC Adapta Mastercard that adapts to your spending each month, giving you bonus Adapta points on your top three spending categories (including entertainment).

The Niagara Region has some similar offerings to Prince Edward County in that its got loads of wineries, distilleries, breweries, and restaurants, but the area has been a destination for a lot longer than the County.

Tucked between Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and the US border, the Niagara Region has an abundance of diverse activities on offer. Depending on what you like, you could explore the Niagara Escarpement (a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve), take a boat trip to see the mighty Niagara Falls, or relax on one of the many sandy beaches.

Of course, no visit to the area would be complete without taking a trip to the local wineries, distilleries, and breweries for which the region is famous.

In fact, a trip to this region is an excellent opportunity to use up any annual travel or dining credits you may have through credit cards such as the American Express Platinum Card^®.

Not sure if you have a credit card that offers an annual travel or dining credit? Check our guide to credit cards in Canada that come with annual credits to learn about what’s being offered by each card.

To round out our list of recommended summer travel destinations in Ontario, we had to make sure we included one more northern adventure spot.

Wawa is located near Lake Superior about halfway between Sudbury and Thunder Bay. It’s a fantastic spot for paddling, hiking, fishing, camping, visiting the famous Wawa Goose, and more.

The area is home the southern edge of Canada’s boreal forest, a unique ecosystem unlike anything you’ll find in the southern part of the province. From Wawa, you can take guided trips into the forest by foot or by boat, or you can explore Ontario’s Boreal Driving Route, connecting multiple provincial parks and showing off the region’s vastness and beauty.

Keep in mind that when travelling to smaller towns, its a good idea to make sure you’ve got a solid all-around Visa or Mastercard with you since smaller retailers and outfitters don’t always take American Express.

When planning a summer trip, one of the big things to consider is where you’re going to stay. Do you want to stay in a beautiful hotel? Maybe a cozy bed & breakfast? Or maybe you prefer to book an Airbnb so you can have the whole place to yourself.

With accommodations being one of bigger expenses during a trip, let’s explore some strategies for using points and credits cards to save money on this part of your summer travels.

A great way to save money on accommodations when travelling is to use Marriott Bonvoy points to book a stay at one of Marriott’s 8,000+ locations, including those in Niagara Falls and Kingston (near Prince Edward County).

You can earn Marriott Bonvoy points every time you stay at a Marriott-brand hotel, and you can also earn points by spending on a Marriott co-branded credit card like the Marriott Bonvoy^® American Express^®* Card or the Marriott Bonvoy^® Business American Express^®* Card. Once you’ve got some points saved up, you can easily redeem them for free stays around the world.

Plus, both of the co-branded Marriott Bonvoy cards have the added bonus of giving you automatic Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite status and an annual Free Night Certificate, making it even easier to save money and relax on your vacation.