Whether your idea of a great road trip includes hiking a new-to-you trail, taking your kids for a ride on a vintage train, checking out a new wine shop or simply saving a bit of money, I have tips for you in this week’s Heads Up post. Enjoy!
Note: This post includes some affiliate links, meaning if you purchase a hotel stay or other product via those links, I’ll earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. And you’ll be helping support this site! (Thank you.)
You can save money on Toronto attractions
Heading to Toronto? If you book a stay at the Chelsea Hotel, you can show your room key at a range of attractions—including Elmwood Spa, the Royal Ontario Museum and Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada—to get a discount.
North Pole Express tickets are available
Do you have a young train fan in the family? Then you might want to check out the North Pole Express events coming up at the Railway Museum in Smiths Falls. For three Saturdays (November 30, December 7 and December 14), guests can take rides with Santa on the museum’s festively decorated vintage trains. Back at the station/museum, there will be face painting, games, vendors and other fun. Tickets are on sale now.
P.S.: Train lovers will also get a kick out of the illuminated CPKC Holiday Train, which will be coming through our region on Thursday, November 28. No rides on that train, but it will stop in four communities and musicians will give a short concert in each town.
Hull wine bar branches out with new concept in new location
If you love Soif, the popular wine bar in Hull, you may be interested to know that owner/sommelier Véronique Rivest has just opened a second business in the Plateau region of Gatineau. Le Petit Soif is a combination restaurant, wine shop and specialty grocer, according to this Edible Ottawa column of local food and wine news.
Shake off the November blues with hiking, bowling or glass blowing
The folks at the Ontario’s Highlands Tourism Association—which promotes multiple counties south and west of Ottawa, including Lanark, Renfrew, Hastings and Haliburton—has developed a fun list of ideas for dispelling the November blues. How about hiking Manitou Mountain, hitting a bowling lane in Carleton Place or Smiths Falls, taking a glass-blowing class, or following a coffee, beer or food trail?
Princess Cruises has new Canadian voyages
Looking to see the fall colours from a new perspective in the future? You could enjoy them from the deck of a Princess Cruises ship in 2026. The cruise line (made famous by The Love Boat TV series) has just announced several fall 2026 itineraries, including voyages that will call at Quebec City, Saguenay, Charlottetown, Sydney, Saint John and/or Halifax.
You can celebrate the Christmas season at the Mill of Kintail
Here’s another popular holiday event that’s already selling tickets: Kintail Country Christmas at the Mill of Kintail in Almonte on Saturday, December 14. The amusements include horse-drawn wagon rides, food trucks, a scavenger hunt and photos with Santa, and funds raised go to maintain the historic mill.
This motorcycle route winds from Toronto to North Bay
Attention, motorbike riders: A post on Motorcycle.com outlines a four-day scenic itinerary from Toronto to North Bay and back. Sure, you’d have to get to Toronto or North Bay to start it, but hey—that’s what road tripping’s all about, right?
Looking for more tips on things to see and do in and around Ottawa? Subscribe to my free weekly newsletter or order a copy of my book, Ottawa Road Trips: Your 100-km Getaway Guide.
As the owner of Ottawa Road Trips, I acknowledge that I live on, work in and travel through the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg Nation. I am grateful to have the opportunity to be present on this land. Ottawa Road Trips supports Water First, a non-profit organization that helps address water challenges in Indigenous communities in Canada through education, training and meaningful collaboration.
