As public access to Ottawa’s namesake river continues to evolve and improve—hello, Westboro Beach redevelopment, and thank you, NCC River House!—the folks who run this city might want to take a closer look at what’s happening two hours southwest of the capital along Lake Ontario in Kingston.
After a three-year consultation process, the Limestone City unveiled its Waterfront Master Plan in 2017. The document identified and prioritized 38 public spaces to renew or develop along 280 kilometres of shoreline, including Breakwater Park and the Gord Edgar Downie Pier, an amazing place near the Queen’s University campus to jump into Lake Ontario on a hot day.
Beyond all this work, Kingston abounds with things to do on or around the water. Last summer, I spent some time exploring aquatic options for visitors and left with one conclusion—I need to return!
Swim in Lake Ontario at Richardson Beach
People have been swimming at this spot in MacDonald Park “forever,” says Neal Unsworth, the manager of parks and shoreline for the City of Kingston. (How cool is it that “shoreline” is part of his title?)
Just up from the cobblestone beach and flat, limestone shelves that extend into the lake, the Richardson Beach bathhouse is more than a century old. A recent renovation made the change rooms and bathrooms not only more modern and functional; it also restored the heritage building’s beauty. But the real draw is outside, with large rocks for kids to clamber on and terraced wooden seating overlooking the water.
A mass swim was held to mark the beach’s reopening in June 2023, and a new plaque tells the story of Vicki Keith, a local who in 1988 became the first person to swim across all five Great Lakes. She spent countless hours training here as a teenager and today serves as an inspiration for the next generation of open-water swimmers.
Dive Lake Ontario with Neptune & Salacia
Former soldier Guillaume Courcy discovered diving during some downtime while deployed to Israel on a United Nations mission in 2000. A dozen years later, posted to Kingston, he dove into the clear water of Lake Ontario—and he was hooked. The bounty of shipwrecks in the area, the stories they tell, the incredible visibility because the cold temperatures limit algae growth (and because of the impact of zebra mussels): He’d found an underwater paradise.
So in 2020, he and his life and business partner Martine Roux opened Neptune & Salacia Diving, first as a side gig and then full time when he retired from the military in 2021. The couple run a full-service dive shop and do everything from short learn-to-dive courses to custom trips onto the lake with clients. Their 40-foot boat, the Dorothy J, can accommodate 12 divers on short excursions or full-day charters.
Courcy also helps organize local Dive Against Debris events, during which volunteers remove plastics, tires and other garbage from local waters. “We divers love the lake just like swimmers and paddlers,” he says, “only we like to blow bubbles underwater.”
PumpHouse Museum
Located inside the building on Lake Ontario’s shore that housed Kingston’s first waterworks from 1851 to 1952, the PumpHouse Museum will make you think about water in a new way.
I learned, for example, that until this public utility was operational, people were responsible for getting their own water from the lake or wells, or by purchasing it from private providers. However, a major cholera outbreak in 1834 that killed one in 16 people, and an 1840 fire that destroyed 40 buildings and left 45 people homeless, prompted officials in the city vying to become Canada’s capital to take action.
“We’re telling this history where it actually happened,” says Miranda Riley, the City of Kingston’s curator for heritage services. “You can still see the grooves in the floor where the firemen would bring in coal.”
The PumpHouse has a STEAM focus—science, technology, engineering, arts and math—and also strives to give voice to people who didn’t have such a platform in the past. Among recent exhibits was a display of artworks from the Prison for Women Memorial Collective. It’s a true community museum, and with plenty of hands-on activities for children, “this isn’t one of those quiet museums,” Riley says. “It’s [a] vibrant space.”
Places to eat in Kingston
If you’re like me, spending time on the water or just touring around a city makes you hungry. Very hungry. Thankfully, Kingston, especially the downtown core, is packed with excellent restaurants—in fact, it claims to have more restaurants per capita than almost any other place in Canada.
To stay on our aquatic theme, duck into Dianne’s Fish Shack & Smokehouse for lunch. I had a bowl of their hearty and creamy fish chowder and a shrimp taco, but the diverse menu also has all manner of seafood, plus Mexican and smokehouse options.
For dinner, you can’t go wrong with local landmark Chez Piggy, which you reach through a stone tunnel and which is located in a former horse stable. If the weather is right, sit in their magical courtyard patio and order something from the sea, like the lemon caper fish cakes or scallops and bubbles (that’s right, scallops and Prosecco—a perfect combo in a dreamlike setting).
Places to stay in Kingston
OK, after all that swimming, diving, museum going and eating, you’re going to be tired. On a pier that juts out into the harbour, the Delta Hotels Marriott Kingston Waterfront has comfortable beds in guest rooms overlooking Lake Ontario. It also has AquaTerra, a restaurant with lake views and regionally sourced cuisine, with a dockside patio in season.
More to see and do in Kingston
The above is only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, of watery options for visitors to Kingston. You might also consider a stop at the Great Lakes Museum, which features local maritime history and art; a tour of Kingston Penitentiary, which closed in 2013 and is now a National Historic Site on the lakeshore not too far west of downtown; or a walk and picnic in Lake Ontario Park, which reopened after an extensive revitalization the same year the penitentiary closed and is one of the many jewels along the city’s sparkling waterfront.
Finally, you can check the Ottawa Road Trips’ big guide to Kingston for even more ideas of things to do, places to eat and places to stay.
NOTE: My stay and activities in Kingston were supported by Tourism Kingston and southeastern Ontario’s regional tourism organization, but neither they nor the individual businesses featured reviewed or approved this content. This post contains affiliate links.