List of Ontario Tourist Routes
This is a List of Ontario Tourist Routes throughout the province, which are designated to highlight places of cultural, environmental, or social importance.
It is currently unknown if the majority of these trails are still listed since many of the provincial highways of Ontario were decommissioned in 1997 and 1998, as the Tourist Trails followed the provincial highways for the majority of their length, although many sections travel along county roads and municipal/local streets as well. Although many municipalities, cities, and counties still sign these tourist routes, others may have chosen to discontinue them with the highways they followed, rendering them as historical footnotes.
African-Canadian Heritage Tour
The African-Canadian Heritage Tour is a designated trail along several county and city roads, and provincial highways.The trail starts on Queen Street in the Sandwich neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario. It turns west at Prince Road, before turning south along Sandwich Street. It curves along Sandwich Parkway to Ojibway Parkway, formerly Highway 18. The trail follows County Road 20 to Amherstburg to County Road 10, which turns onto. It travels east along Middle Side Road towards the community of McGregor.
The route turns north along County Road 9 back to Windsor, Ontario. The ACHT turns east briefly along Highway 3, before turning onto Highway 401 eastbound to exit 28, County Road 25. From there it travels to the town of Puce. The trail turns east along County Road 22 through Belle River until it meets County Road 42 southeast of the town. The trail turns and follows it through Tilbury, becoming Chatham-Kent Road 2, formerly Highway 2.
The route turns south onto County Road 7 through the small community of Fletcher before turning east onto County Road 14. It follows County Road 14 through North Buxton to Highway 40. Upon reaching Highway 40, the trail follows it for through Chatham. It turns right along County Road 29 and heads northeast through Turnerville, turning north at County Road 29. It follows this road to its terminus in Dresden, where the Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site can be found.
Algonquin Route
The Algonquin Route was a loop north from Highway 401 through Algonquin Park and back. The route started at the Highway 35 / Highway 115 and Highway 401 interchange in Newcastle. At the split of Highway 35/115, the trail follows Highway 35 north through Lindsay and travels along a brief concurrency with Highway 7. It continues north along Highway 35 through Coboconk, Minden, Carnarvon and Dorset to Highway 60. From here, the trail turned east and crosses Algonquin Provincial Park. East of the park, Highway 60 meets Highway 41. The route turned south, passing through Eganville and following Highway 41 south to Napanee. The Algonquin Route was created as part of the Yours to Discover campaign by the Ontario provincial government, beginning in 1980 and continuing through the 1990s.Signage was no longer posted after 1998.
Bluewater Route
The Bluewater Route follows Highway 21 along the shore of Lake Huron between Highway 402 and Owen Sound. The route passes through the small towns of Grand Bend, Goderich and Kincardine, as well as passing by the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station.Deer Trail Route
The Deer Trail Route is a circular route in the Algoma Region of northern Ontario. Though it is circular, it has a "starting" point at the junction of Highway 17 and Highway 108 in Serpent River. It follows Highway 108 for its entire length, travelling through Elliot Lake, until the road becomes Highway 639. At the northern terminus of Highway 639, the road then turns back south along Highway 546 to its intersection with Highway 17 in Iron Bridge. From there it travels back along Highway 17 through Blind River, Algoma Mills and Spragge to Serpent River at a total distance of approximately.The route serves mainly as an access route to wilderness recreation areas such as Mississagi Provincial Park. It also serves as a venue for an annual Deer Trail Studio Tour, a regional arts festival in which various venues along the route display and sell the work of local artists and craftspeople.
Frontier Route
The Frontier Route travels through Northern Ontario from the Manitoba border to Barrie. The route travels along Highway 17 through Kenora, Dryden, Ignace, and Thunder Bay to the Highway 11 intersection in Nipigon.From there, the Route follows Highway 11 across northern Ontario and south through Muskoka. It passes through the towns of Geraldton, Longlac, Hearst, Kapuskasing, Smooth Rock Falls, Cochrane, Iroquois Falls, Kirkland Lake, New Liskeard, North Bay, Huntsville, Bracebridge, Gravenhurst, and Orillia, before terminating at Highway 400 in Barrie. Until Highway 11 was decommissioned as a provincial highway south of Barrie, it continued south to the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto.
This trail also follows the Voyageur Route for a portion of its length.
Georgian Bay Coastal Route
The Georgian Bay Coastal Route is a signed route around the Georgian Bay The MS Chi-Cheemaun Ferry connects Manitoulin Island to TobermoryGolden Highway
The Golden Highway travels through Northern Ontario and the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec It begins in Timmins along Highway 101, and progresses east to Highway 11 in Matheson. It heads south on Highway 11 to Kenogami Lake, then turns east towards Kirkland Lake and the Quebec boundary along Highway 66. A branch also travels west along Highway 66 from Kenogami Lake to Matachewan. Thus, the entire length of Highway 66 is part of the Golden Highway.The Golden Highway continues in Quebec as Route 117 through the city of Rouyn-Noranda before terminating in Val-d'Or.
Great River Road
The Great River Road loops through the northwestern section of the province. It begins in Kenora and travels east along Highway 17 to Highway 71, where it heads south, staying close to Lake of the Woods. It meets Highway 11 in Barwick, branching into two directions: one spur travels west along Highway 11 to Rainy River, while the main route travels east along Highway 11 to Fort Frances.The eastern branch continues to Highway 502, travelling back up towards Dryden, and looping back west along Highway 17 to Kenora.
Heritage Highway
The Heritage Highway, also known as Historic Highway, travels from Windsor to Gaspé, Quebec along much of what was formerly Highway 2 and Quebec Route 2, now Route 138 and Route 132. The 1972 designation originally included various spur routes and connections to destinations such as Niagara Falls, Stratford, Sarnia, Ottawa-Hull and Sault Ste. Marie.One spur continued along the Detroit River on Highway 18, now Essex County Road 20. It followed the northern shore of Lake Erie east to Leamington. It then continued along Highway 3 to Wainfleet, before terminating at Fort Erie. Another spur along Highway 11 met Highway 17, the Voyageur Route east and west to Montreal and Sault Ste. Marie. Much of the original signage is now gone, but a few signs remain on the routes, with one sign in Harrow on County Road 20. Until 1997, there were a few signs along former Highway 3 alignment near the Cottam and Essex areas.
As the route is now mostly county road, signage has been maintained in some areas, removed in some and left to simply fade to illegibility in others. In some areas where the signed route is concurrent with other posted tourist routes, markers for newly designated routes have displaced the "Heritage Highway" wheel. One such example is Trenton where on Highways 2 and 33 the Heritage Highway and Loyalist Parkway run concurrently with other signed tourist routes including a former Apple Route, a segment of the Wine Route and the Hastings County Arts Route.
Recent signage bears a white-on-brown wheel and the words "Heritage Highway - Route des Pionniers", the latter being a version of the French language translation of "Heritage Highways, Sur la Route des Pionniers" used in the original 1972 joint promotional effort with Québec.
Lake Nipissing Circle Tour
The Lake Nipissing Circle Tour is a tourist route that travels around Lake Nipissing. It follows Highway 11 from an intersection with former Highway 11B to the interchange with Highway 654 just south of Callander. It then follows Highway 534 to Carr, where it turns on to the short Highway 524. At the end of that highway, it follows Highway 522 to Highway 69. At Alban, it turns on to Highway 64, before turning on to Highway 17 near Sturgeon Falls and following it to North Bay. Once it meets the former Highway 17B, it turns down that road, following it to the southern intersection with former Highway 11B.Loyalist Parkway
A section of Highway 33 between Amherstview and Trenton was designated the Loyalist Parkway in 1984. This designation was made to honour the United Empire Loyalists, who first settled that area of Ontario. The official designation was presided over by Queen Elizabeth II, when she visited Kingston during Ontario's bicentennial celebrations. Highway 33 now ends at Bloomfield, and the Loyalist Parkway continues as Prince Edward County Road 33 toward Stirling.Oil Heritage Route
The Oil Heritage Route travels along Lambton County Road 21, formerly Highway 21, from its interchange with Highway 402, through Wyoming, Petrolia, Oil City and Oil Springs. It then curves east then south to Dresden, meeting the African-Canadian Heritage Tour route.This route is still signed, Lambton CR 21's name north of Rutherford is "Oil Heritage Road".
Talbot Trail
The Talbot Trail is an historically significant overland route completed in the 1820s along the north shore of Lake Erie. The building of the route of almost in length was overseen by Colonel Thomas Talbot. It was originally a corduroy road, eventually becoming Highway 3 and several numbered county roads. Its original intent was to provide a continuous land route for settlers and military personnel between the Niagara region and Detroit, aiding in the development of the Talbot Settlement.The route begins in Windsor and travels southeast and then east through Leamington, Wheatley, Blenheim and St. Thomas. East of Aylmer, it leaves Highway 3 and follows County Road 38 proceeding through the village of Straffordville. It continues to Courtland, where it rejoins Highway 3. The route proceeds east along Highway 3 through Delhi, Simcoe, Jarvis and Cayuga. At Dunnville, the route splits from Highway 3 and follows County Road 3 through the tiny communities of Stromness, Lowbanks, Long Beach and Camelot Beach, before rejoining Highway 3 near Wainfleet. It proceeds east along Highway 3, terminating at the Niagara River in Fort Erie.
The actual 19th century settlement road began in Amherstburg and ended in Canborough, north of Dunnville, where existing settlement roads provided a route to Fort Erie and Niagara Falls.