The Collingview
Lounge seating facing a linear gas fireplace and wall-mounted television, with the dining table and kitchen beyond

Fall stays

The best fall colours in Ontario, seen from indoors.

The Beaver Valley turns in the first week of October and the house looks straight at it. Big glass, three fires, radiant floors, and a hot tub on the roof for when it drops below freezing.

Check availability

Why here, in October

A fall getaway in Ontario with the valley in the window.

Most fall trips in Ontario involve driving to the colour. You park at a lookout with everybody else, take the photograph, and drive back to wherever you are staying, which is usually in trees and cannot see out.

This house is the other way round. It sits high on open ground with nothing in front of it, and the outlook takes in Georgian Bay, the Beaver Valley and the escarpment at Georgian Peaks. In October that is the view from the kitchen island while somebody makes coffee.

The other half of it is that October here is cold, and this is a house built for cold. Radiant heat in the floors instead of blown air, eighteen-foot ceilings with the glass to match, fires inside, and a fire bowl and a hot tub on the roof for the part of the evening when you can see your breath.

A lit gas fire bowl and navy sectional on the rooftop terrace, with the escarpment ridge and a strip of Georgian Bay on the horizon

Timing it

How to catch the colour without gambling the trip.

  1. Aim for the first ten days of October

    That is the most reliable window on the escarpment in most years. Late September is often still green at valley level; the third week of October is usually past it.

  2. Take midweek if you can

    Peak-colour weekends draw visitors from across the province. Midweek you get the same trees, an empty trail and a table wherever you want one. It is also the cheapest week of the season here.

  3. Book before the colour is announced

    By the time the reports say the valley has turned, the good weeks are gone. Fall books earlier here than people expect.

  4. Have a wet-weather plan

    October on Georgian Bay does what it likes. Scenic Caves, the Scandinave spa near Blue Mountain, the cider houses and the Collingwood main street all work in rain, and the house is a good place to be stuck.

What fall is for

Apples, trails and long fall evenings.

The Bruce Trail along the valley
The rim trails are at their best in October — the hardwood turns below you, not above you. Trailheads within about half an hour, from an easy hour on the flat to a real climb.
Old Baldy and the lookouts
The lookout above Kimberley is the view everybody photographs, and the road down into the valley from the north is the most scenic ten minutes of driving in the region.
Apple and cider harvest
This is apple country, and autumn is the harvest. Farm gates and cideries run along the top of the escarpment between Thornbury and Meaford, most of them seasonal and most at their best now.
The Georgian Trail
Thirty-four flat kilometres of old railway between Collingwood and Meaford. Cycling it in October, through the orchards with the bay on one side, is the best ride of the year here.
The evening
This is the real argument. Dark by seven, cold by eight, and a rooftop with a fire bowl and a hot tub. Summer has the light; autumn has the evenings.
Fall photography. Everything on this site was shot in other seasons, and we are not going to illustrate an October page with late-summer greenery and hope you do not notice — it is the same trick as selling a ski week with pictures of grass. The images here are interiors and architecture, which are true in any month. Real autumn photographs will replace them after the first season.

What guests say

4.9from 100 reviews left by guests after their stay
direct booking
My advice is do not overbook your itinerary. We did and ended up cancelling things because we were enjoying the house too much. Sometimes sitting there and enjoying the view is the activity.
Ryan B. ·
direct booking
Do not miss sunset from the rooftop. We went up thinking we would stay for ten minutes and ended up sitting there until it was almost dark. Probably my favourite memory from the weekend.
Adam J. ·
Read all the reviews

Fall getaways in Ontario are mostly booked for the first three weekends of October, when the valley turns. A private fall retreat later in the season is a quieter and quite different thing. A November getaway here means bare trees, long views you cannot see through the leaves in summer, and three fires going.

Want a week while the valley turns?

Tell us roughly when you are thinking and how many of you there are. A fall cottage rental here books earlier than people expect, and midweek in October is the best value of the year.

Check availability

Keep reading

Colour timing varies every year and nobody can promise a peak weekend in advance. Ontario Parks publishes a fall colour report through the season. See what we ask of guests before you book.

Questions about fall stays

Can you book it for Thanksgiving?

Yes, and Canadian Thanksgiving usually lands in the same fortnight as peak colour, so a Thanksgiving cottage rental in Ontario here books early. A Thanksgiving getaway for a large family works well: a kitchen several people can cook in at once, a table everyone fits at, and the valley turning outside. A luxury fall getaway in Ontario is mostly about the view, and this one is from indoors.

When is peak fall colour in the Beaver Valley, Ontario?

Usually the last week of September through the middle of October, with the peak most often falling in the first ten days of October. It shifts by a week or two each year depending on the summer, so nobody can promise a specific weekend in advance.

Is The Collingview a good fall getaway in Ontario?

It is unusually well placed. The house sits high on open ground with a 360-degree outlook over Georgian Bay, the Beaver Valley and Georgian Peaks, so the colour is the view from the terrace instead of somewhere you drive to. The Bruce Trail and the valley lookouts are within about half an hour to forty minutes.

What is there to do here in the fall?

Hiking the Bruce Trail along the valley rim, the apple and cider harvest across the escarpment, the lookouts at Old Baldy and Eugenia, the Georgian Trail for cycling before it gets cold, and the start of the fall season, when a house with three fireplaces starts earning its keep.

Is fall a quieter time to visit than summer?

Midweek, yes, and a fall cottage rental here is the best value of the year. Weekends during peak colour are the opposite — they draw people from across the province, so accommodation and restaurant tables go early.

Is it cold enough for the hot tub and the fires in October?

That is precisely when they are best. October evenings on the escarpment are cold and clear. The rooftop terrace has a fire bowl and a hot tub, the house has radiant floor heating throughout and there are fires inside, so the house is warm regardless of what the weather does.