Ontario Beaches and Provincial Parks
Parks and Beaches
Provincial Parks and beaches are great places to visit. In the summer I like to bike to a provincial park and go to the beach once a week. Besides having nice beaches most provincial parks also have nice scenery and wildlife. The information below is based on my experiences.
Photos
Sandbanks Provincial Park
Sandbanks Provincial Park has some of the best beaches in Canada. It contains 3 beautiful beaches. Outlet Beach, Sandbanks Beach and Dunes beach. The Outlet and Sandbanks beaches are huge. Sandbanks also has some good trails for biking or hiking.
Outlet Beach is long and wide. It is the most used beach because it is close to the entrance and has good parking spots close to the beach. When I was there the beach and water were clean. There were no areas that were free of people but there was still lots of room. It is a great place to go swimming or relax on the beach.
When I went to Sandbanks Beach there were lots of people near the entrance but most of the beach was empty. After I walked away from the main area near the parking lot there was only a few people. I found it more relaxing than Outlet Beach. If you like a less crowded beach and do not mind walking I would suggest going to Sandbanks Beach.
Dunes Beach is the smallest of the beaches. The beach is not as good as the others but you can check out the sand dunes. Like Sandbanks Beach it is also less crowded than Outlet Beach. If you like to walk along the beach or take pictures of scenery I would recommend the Sandbanks and Dunes beaches.
Sandbanks Provincial Park is located near Picton. You can get directions using google maps. At night it can get loud. Campers sometimes have trouble sleeping because of the noise.
Google Map of Sandbanks Provincial Park
Presquile Provincial Park
Presquile Provincial Park is located in Brighton, Ontario. It has a nice sand beach near the park entrance. You can also go swimming at the picnic areas along the lake. The beach is a good size and there are 3 parking lots reducing the distance you need to walk. It is often used by kite boarders but they stay out of the way at the edge of beach 1.
The water is shallow and you need to walk out a ways before it gets deep enough to swim. If you get bored of swimming and relaxing on the beach you can walk along the lake shore or go for a hike in the woods. I always go for a bike ride around the park before I go to the beach and take pictures of the animals and scenery.
The wildlife and scenery attract a lot of people. Many people drive or bike around the park looking for deer or come to check out the large variety of birds. There are a lot of walking trails in the woods and along the water. They also have a marsh boardwalk that is a popular attraction.
Once at the beach it is hard to leave. I would recommend checking out the wildlife first. Sometimes the beach gets dirty because of weeds or algae. Usually you can just walk to a better spot. However most people will complain about the conditions instead of checking out other areas of the beach. You can also go to the picnic areas. The water is always clean there.
North Beach Provincial Park
North Beach Provincial Park is the smallest provincial park I have seen. Instead of biking around it I walked instead. There is some nice scenery but not much wildlife. There is not a lot to do in North Beach and there is no camping. However the beaches and scenery are very nice. It is a good place to visit if you just want to swim and relax at the beach. There is also a boat launch you can use to go fishing.
The thing I liked most about North Beach is that it has 2 beaches that are close together. One beach is on the lake side and the other on the bay side. The bay side is warmer and protected from the wind. If it is too cold on the lake side you can walk to the bay side. If you get too hot on the bay side you can walk to the lake side to cool off. The beach on the bay side is small but most of the people go to the lake side so there is lots of room.
North Beach is like a smaller more peaceful and less crowded version of Sandbanks. Some people like North Beach better. It is located in Consecon south of Trenton.
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