For the past two years water levels at Wasaga Beach were very high, but they’re much closer to normal again. There’s plenty of sandy beach for everyone again.

There’s a bit less parking at beach areas 1 and 2 – the “main drag” that many think of as Wasaga Beach, but if you’re there early you’ll find a spot.

Here’s the answer – drive down Mosley Street to Beach Area 3 at 21st Street. That parking lot is open and there are a number of beach areas along with washrooms. This is the best stretch of beach with lots of sand. Also, there’s a section for the dog beach.

The parking lot at Beach Area 4 is open and there are nice beaches on that stretch too. You’ll also find a playground at Beach Area 4.

If you drive further, both Beach Area 5 at 35th Street and Beach Area 6 at 50th Street are open. Both have nice beach areas and washrooms. Beach Area 5 also has a children’s playground.

Set out your blankets up on the grassy parkland or down on the beach.

The water is as clear as ever, and you can walk far out into the bay before it gets really deep – ideal for splashing near the shore.

On a hot summer day in southern Ontario, Canada, there is no better place to be than Wasaga Beach.

The beach is also perfect for toddlers splashing along the shore and getting buckets of water to make their sandcastles.

For a family atmosphere, head down to Beach Areas Three to Six and you’ll find perfect sand, shade under the trees, picnic tables, and playgrounds.

Wasaga Beach is the first provincial park in Canada to be awarded the “Blue Flag” designation for meeting international environmental standards. You’ll see the flag flying down at Beach Area Five.

With such a long beach, it’s worth figuring out which way to approach it. If you’re coming in on Hwy 92 from Elmvale, you’ll see Beach Areas One and Two first. For now, you might choose to bypass them and keep going along Mosley to the other beach areas for better parking.

If you’re coming in from Hwy 26, you’ll be further west. Get on Mosley and you’ll see streets leading down to the beach, numbered from 1 (the main drag) to 70 out in the west end. Watch for signs to the various beach areas.

The Provincial Park parking lots are at 22^nd Street, 24th, 35^th and 50^th Street. For the parking lots, it’s $17 on weekdays and $20.00 for the day on weekends. However, during 2021, parking is free from Monday to Thursday.

Be careful about trying to park for free on the shoulder of one of the side streets. Many are tow-away zones.

If you’re renting a cottage, you can walk or ride a bike into the park free of charge.

A note about parking on the summer long weekends – get there early especially on the Sunday if the weather is good. The lots will fill up and you may have problems finding legal parking.

When it gets windy, especially towards the end of the summer, you’ll get big waves with whitecaps on the bay. We love playing and body surfing in the waves. But take care – you can get a serious smackdown when you least expect it.

There are no lifeguards on the beach. You’re on your own. Parents, watch your children.

If you come to the beach on Hwy 92 from Elmvale, you’ll see a variety of restaurants including Harveys, Boston Pizza, Swiss Chalet and Dairy Queen, along with a local favorite Studs Lonigans Pub. They’re grouped together about a kilometer from the beach.

There’s also a Foodland and Walmart for groceries.

If you’re further west at Beach Areas Three to Six, there is absolutely no food on or near the beach. (Ontario provincial parks don’t see it as their job to provide food outlets – weird. It could be solved with food trucks in the parking lots, but that’s just me.)

So, you need to plan or you’ll be hungry and thirsty. Ideally, bring a picnic.

You’ll find a big selection of grocery stores and restaurants clustered in two areas. Around the intersection of Mosley and 45^th Street you’ll find a Superstore conveniently across the street from the LCBO and drug store. Smaller plazas also offer a choice of restaurants (fish and chips and a Chinese restaurant), a Starbucks and Tim Hortons.

The other area is near Mosley and 28^th Street where plazas offer Yammas Greek Grill, Katmanis Thai restaurant (both very good), Topper’s Pizza (voted best in the beach), British Fish & Chips, Tim Hortons and McDonalds.

For end-of-the-day ice cream cones, head to Grandma’s Beach Treats at 22^nd Street and Mosley. They have dozens of ice cream flavours, fudge, caramel corn and lots of other treats. They even make banana splits and milkshakes! If you like the service, ring the bell on the way out.

Just around the corner on Mosley, is Mr. Norm’s Nephew which offers a long list of soft ice cream and frozen yoghurt flavours. We like them both and convince ourselves that a long walk on the beach will burn off any ice cream calories.

Head for Yammas Grill on Mosley at 29^th Street for hearty Greek and Canadian food. (If you’re a fan of olive oil, Yammas sells it by the bottle from their family’s olive groves in Greece. Ask at the cash.)

If you’re looking for fancier restaurants your best bet is Collingwood for Italian restos and our favorite taco place, Bent Taco.

You’ll find cabins for rent all along the beach. The closer they are to Beach Area One, the more likely they’re party places for a younger crowd.

To get a spot that’s within walking distance to the beach, you’ll want to be north of Mosley Street. If you’re on River Road East or West, it can be a long hike to the beach.

There are a few reasonably modern hotels at the beach, but not a big selection. When I checked AirBnb, it was a limited selection. Find the cabin courts using Google Maps, satellite view. Then do your research to make sure it’s right for you.

Whether it’s organized rallies or just guys showing off their rides, the beach has always been a place for hot rods, antiques, low riders and choppers.

Today, there are organized weekends for Corvettes, Mustangs, Ford F-Trucks and bikes of all kinds. A recent bike rally was Canada’s largest with an estimated 50,000 bikes at the beach over the course of a weekend.

Wasaga Beach has become rightly famous for its spectacular sunsets. Because you’re facing northwest over the bay, the sun sets in the water just off the hills of Collingwood and the Niagara Escarpment.

You’ll see locals bringing their beach chairs and daytrippers standing on the shore, oohing and aahing and taking selfies.

We can personally recommend sunset swims. It’s nearly an out-of-body experience floating on your back with the clouds and sky ablaze and the water a soft orange shimmer all around you.

You could curse our English heritage for all the things you can’t do on this big beautiful beach. If only the Italians or French had colonized Ontario.

So, absolutely no fires on the beach. No sitting around in the evenings with a guitar and campfire songs. (Some people have homes right on the beach and you’ll see fires on their property, but not the public beach.)

No beer, wine, or liquor on the beach. If park rangers see it, they’ll ask you to dump it.

Dogs are not allowed on the beach except for the “dog beach” near Beach Area Three. The park rangers keep their eyes peeled for our law-breaking four-legged friends. (TIP: park rangers don’t start till about 9 a.m. and tend to finish around 7 p.m. Outside of those hours, we often see people walking their dogs and playing fetch on the beach.)

There’s no camping on the beach. It’s a day park only and the parking lots close at 10 p.m. So, no sleeping on the beach (officially). However, there are a number of campgrounds close by. Try Gateway Camping close to Beach Area One, Sunshine Park for a party place, or Jell-E-Bean and Cedar Grove down at the west end of the beach. Do your research. They’re all quite different in style, so one size will not fit all.

There’s no “clothing optional” beach here. Just no. Keep your clothes on.

There’s much more to do at Wasaga than just hanging at the beach.

Away from the beach, there are several trail systems. Most are easy hiking trails since the area is quite flat. You can find a Wasaga Beach trail map here.

Our favorite “go to” trail is a section of the Ganaraska Trail through forests along the Nottawasaga River.

It’s a bit tricky to get to, though. Use your phone to find the Ontario Clean Water Agency, at 100 Woodland Drive. You’ll drive through a residential area and then come to the water treatment plant which is at the end of the dead-end street.

In front of you, you’ll see a forest. Look to the left and find the road that goes into the forest. You can drive or walk through the forest all the way to a parking lot. If you’re driving, go slow. It can be a bumpy road. It’s a couple of kilometers to the parking lot.

When you get there, you’ll be high above the Nottawasaga River but there are trails down to the riverbanks and further through the forest. This is a favorite spot for fishermen. You’ll often see them in their hip waders. They’re fishing for rainbow trout, smallmouth bass, splake and pickerel.

Your other choice, and the one that’s most fun, is to park your car by the water treatment plant and then, on your right, climb up the sand dune. In a few seconds, you’ll be on top of a dune that goes deep down to the river. Stay up top and follow the trail through the brush to a point where it enters the forest. You’ll see a sign there that gives you a history of these dunes.

Follow the trail, and soon you’ll find yourself on the same road mentioned above.

We do this hike a few times a year. Being in the middle of a mixed forest is one of the serene pleasures of life for us. If you’re quiet, you might spot deer in there.

If you have your own paddle board, kayak or canoe, it’s worth bringing it up to the beach. You can paddle along the beach, or drop it into the Nottawasaga River and drift downstream through the countryside and along the riverside cottages.

For the river, check a map and you’ll find roads that cross it where you can drop in and then get picked up down river (or just paddle back to your car if you don’t have a pick-up driver).

The river is quite gentle most of the year, but fast flowing during spring run-off.

If you don’t have your own paddle board, kayak or canoe, you can rent from Free Spirit Tours. Go to their site and you’ll see their Wasaga location right across the bridge near Mosley and 28^th Street. They’ll take you up river and drop you off at one of a few locations depending on how long you want to paddle.

We’ve rented from them and loved it. Nice people. And we took advantage of their end-of-season sell-off to buy our own kayaks. Fun times!

If you’re a road biker, the popular choices from Wasaga are to ride either to River Road East and follow the roads along the bay to Balm Beach and from there either over to Midland / Penetanguishene or further north to Thunder Beach. Mostly flat with a few rollers, not much traffic especially during the week.

Or you can head towards Collingwood and if you feel inspired tackle the Blue Mountain hills. Popular routes take you up Concession 19 (starts with a 7.5 km hill), or parallel up Pretty River Valley for a series of hills.

You can find some popular Collingwood cycling routes here.

If you have a mountain bike, the hard-packed beach trails are ideal for riding. Just keep in mind it can get pretty crowded on weekends, so during the week or evenings are best. The trails lead to the small beach roads that are ideal for biking. You’ll see signs for the various trails.

Near Beach Area One you’ll find the Wasaga Beach Visitor Centre and the Nancy Island Historic Site which features a theater, a museum, and a replica of a Great Lakes lighthouse.

The museum holds the burned-out remains of the HMS Nancy, a British ship that was sunk in the river in a battle against three American Schooners on August 14^th, 1814.

If you enjoy military history (or you just like hearing the roar of the muskets) you’ll want to attend Wasaga Under Siege where re-enactors bring you back to the War of 1812, setting up camps and then getting into “battles”. Look for demonstrations and storytelling about the war, cooking, fashion, and surgeon demonstrations.

Note: Wasaga Under Siege won’t happen in 2021. Hopefully next year.

Learn more about the museum, the HMS Nancy and Wasaga Under Seige here.

When the winds pick up, you can count on seeing the kite surfers down by Beach Area Six. They have a designated “no swimming” area where the surfers can launch out into the bay. We’ve counted dozens there on some days.

Get more information about the beach at Wasaga Beach Sunsets (2021 Update).

Travel Resources

There’s nothing like having WiFi wherever you go. We rented a Teppy portable WiFi and carried it with us everywhere. With a Teppy, you can connect your phones, tablets, laptops and gaming consoles just like you connect to WiFi at home.

Use the apps on your phone including your favorite GPS apps without paying expensive cellular service fees.

It’s also perfect for uploading pictures, sending emails or just web browsing. We also used it for online work on the road including web updates and social media.

Teppy portable WiFi works around the world. Try it on your next trip.

For hotel accommodation, we like Booking.com. Photographs show off the properties, and real reviews help you choose the hotel that’s best for you. You’ll find a great selection, current prices and pages that make booking easy.

Remember, Canada is becoming a popular destination and can get very busy, so book early to get the best selection and price.

Click here, and you’ll get $25 off your next reservation on Booking.com.

These days there are many things that can happen when you travel, aside from getting bumped from a flight. That’s why we always get insurance for our trips. It covers damage, loss or theft of our belongings, health issues and if necessary, emergency evacuation. Better safe than sorry.

Whether you’ve just booked your trip or are already underway, you can get covered by World Nomads. It’s one of the most popular insurance companies designed specifically for travellers. See if it’s right for you.

Renting cars in these two countries are completely different experiences.

Portugal, outside of the main cities, is a wonderful country to drive. We rented a car for three weeks and the drives were one of the highlights of the trip. Here’s what you need to know for a great experience renting a car in Portugal.

Everything you need to know about renting a car in Italy. Read it before you go. It could save you a fortune.

Note: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. If you click on them and buy something or book accommodation, we receive a small commission at absolutely no cost to you. This helps with the cost of operating this site.