I know you’ll probably never go to Cobourg Ontario, but you should.
We recently traveled from Montreal to Southwestern Ontario, and due to ME getting car sick, and the littlest having never spent more than two hours in the car, I opted to break up the trip into two days. This way we didn’t have to spend 8+ straight hours driving, AND we got to have a mini vacation along the way.
Really, I only picked Cobourg because it was exactly 4 hours away from our start line, the hotel was about 2 minutes off the 401, it had an indoor pool, and I saw that there was some kind of beach in the town.
That beach turned out to be STUNNING. Like really, I was floored. And it wasn’t even sunny while we were there. It was a balmy 8 degrees *shiver* yet we spent a good 4 hours in Victoria Park after we checked into our hotel.
This park has a laundry list of amenities. There are TWO playgrounds, with one climbing structure by Little Tikes Commercial being wheelchair accessible. The other structure is a wooden boat and both kids had a blast pretending to be pirates while looking out over the “sea”. I thought both playground areas were fantastic and creative and rivalled the 400+ parks we’ve been to in and around Montreal.
There are swings scattered around the immense park, a long boardwalk to stroll, a splash pad by Toronto-based Expex Water Toys, clean washrooms, a canteen serving food and iced treats, and a marina. There’s also tons of room to stroll or have the kids let off steam.
We stayed for HOURS and only left because it was the kids’ bedtime and they were tuckered out! The next morning, on another chillllllllly day, we came back and ran up and down the wide, groomed beach. The littlest must have run at least a mile, yet still had energy to play 🙂
We strollered to Donegan Park a few blocks west, and found ANOTHER great climber. This one was shiny and new and both kids were able to play on it as there are stairs throughout. We also played in the skate park and did some “extreme strollering” with both kids. The $10 garage sale stroller held up well!
This town is hundreds of years old and has some beautiful homes and buildings. We ALL loved it and will definitely do the same plan the next time we travel this way. Actually, we liked it so much that I’d plan a vacation just to here!
p.s. We stayed at the newly renovated Best Western Plus which was a great location near the highway (but not with highway noise), and we walked to our breakfast place (Home Plate) the next morning before we headed out. This was a great place to eat with the kids as they were lightning fast with our order, had a great kids’ menu, and brought crayons without us even asking!
The hotel not only has a brand new indoor pool, but a splash pad. You can control the buttons on the wall and have bubbles, water cascading from up high, or fountains. So. Cool.
My family decided to take a road trip to Cobourg Ontario after looking through your site. What a great decision that was! What an amazing small town filled with friendly people, trailer parks, boats, a beach, a splash pad and much more. Thanks so much for the recommendation, we will definitely be going back to Cobourg 🙂
I’m so glad you liked it! I was FLOORED by how beautiful the beach was. Apparently it gets packed when it’s hot. We’re planning on going back again on our next road trip to Toronto area. AND we’re going to explore Port Hope (the next town over) because I heard there’s a totally accessible playground somewhere 🙂