Southwestern Ontario

Arcing around Lake Ontario are a number of the Greater Toronto Area’s 'satellite' cities. Day trip the up-and-coming hip strip of Hamilton, or really escape Toronto’s gravity in the delightful villages of Elora, Fergus and the unique Mennonite settlement of St Jacobs.

For more grit, stop in the thriving university centers of Guelph, Waterloo and London, each with their own appeal if you dig deep. Nearby Stratford, birthplace of Justin Bieber and yet a remarkably cultured country town, is home to a fabulous festival of Shakespearean theater in honor of the bard’s home in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.

From here, you can head northwest until the farmlands dissolve into the sandy shores of Lake Huron, or follow the dead-flat fields of gold – wheat, corn and everything-growing regions – until you reach the north shore of Lake Erie, the bird and butterfly hub of Point Pelee National Park, and quirky Pelee Island, Canada's southernmost point. The end (or beginning) of the road is in Windsor at the USA border.