The Collingview
Looking out from the deck across scrub and young trees toward the tree line

Wasaga Beach

The longest beach in the world, and the emptier ones nearer.

Wasaga is about an hour east of the house. A good day out with children. The beaches ten minutes away are colder, rockier in places, and almost empty.

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Being straight about it

An hour away is an hour away.

We are not going to tell you this house is near Wasaga Beach. It is about an hour east, through Collingwood, and on a hot Saturday in July that hour can stretch.

It is a genuinely good day out, particularly with children, and plenty of guests will want to do it once. But if Wasaga is the reason for the trip, book something in Wasaga. You will have a better week and you will not spend it driving.

What we can offer is the other side of the bay: colder, clearer water, beaches you can park at without queueing, and a house on high ground a short drive from any of them.

The open rooftop terrace laid with turf, hot tub to one side and glass railing all round

If you do go

How to do Wasaga without the worst of it.

Go early, or go late
Arriving before ten or after four transforms the parking and the traffic. The water is warm enough late in the day that an evening swim is pleasant.
Skip Beach 1
Beach Area 1 is the commercial end: shops, food, noise and the densest crowds. Beaches 3 through 6 are quieter, more residential, and have the same water.
It is a provincial park
Wasaga Beach Provincial Park manages most of the shoreline, so day-use parking is paid and fills early on hot weekends. Check Ontario Parks ahead in high season.
The water is unusually warm
Nottawasaga Bay is shallow for a long way out, which makes it far warmer than the water on our side. This is the real reason to make the trip with small children.
Midweek is a different place
Out of the weekend crush, Wasaga in June or September is calm and largely empty. If your dates are flexible, that is when to go.

Much closer

The beaches ten minutes from the door.

Meaford — Memorial Park and Fred Raper Park
About 10 to 15 minutes. Town beaches on the bay with grass, trees and the harbour beside them. Quiet even in August, and the water is properly clear.
Thornbury harbour
About 10 minutes. A small beach beside the harbour and the fish ladder, with somewhere to eat within walking distance of it.
Craigleith and the Blue Mountain shoreline
About half an hour east. The bay shelves gently here and warms earliest in the season, the closest thing on this side to Wasaga water.
The honest caveat
Georgian Bay on this side is cold well into June and the shoreline is shingle and flat rock in places, not continuous sand. It is beautiful and it is empty. It is not fourteen kilometres of soft beach.

Planning a summer week on the bay?

Send us your dates and who is coming. If a beach is the point of the trip, we will tell you plainly whether this is the right house for it.

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Keep reading

Drive times here are ordinary-conditions estimates and stretch badly on a hot summer weekend. Park access, parking fees and water conditions change seasonally — check Wasaga Beach Provincial Park directly before setting out. For what a summer stay here involves, see summer stays.

Questions about Wasaga Beach

What are the things to do at Wasaga Beach?

The beach itself is the attraction, split into numbered areas along fourteen kilometres of sand. Beach 1 has the shops and food; the higher numbers are quieter. Beyond that there is the provincial park, minigolf and go-karts on the strip, and not a great deal else. Staying near Wasaga Beach makes sense if sand is the whole trip.

Where are the sandy beaches near Collingwood?

Sandy beaches near Collingwood are thinner on the ground than at Wasaga. Craigleith and the Blue Mountain shoreline shelve gently and warm earliest, and the town beaches at Meaford and Thornbury are grass and shingle as much as sand. Clearer water, colder, and almost nobody on them.

How far is Wasaga Beach from The Collingview?

Roughly 50 km east, about 50 minutes to an hour by car depending on traffic through Collingwood. It is a comfortable day trip rather than somewhere you would pop to for a swim.

Is The Collingview a Wasaga Beach rental?

No. The house is on the other side of the bay, in the Municipality of Meaford about an hour west of Wasaga. If Wasaga Beach itself is the point of your trip, you should stay there. If you want Georgian Bay with far fewer people, this side is better.

What is Wasaga Beach known for?

It is the longest freshwater beach in the world, about 14 km of sand along Nottawasaga Bay, divided into numbered beach areas. Beach 1 is the busy commercial end with the shops and food; the higher-numbered beaches are progressively quieter and more residential.

Are there good beaches closer than Wasaga?

Yes, several, and they are far quieter. Meaford has Memorial Park and Fred Raper Park, Thornbury has its harbour beach, and the shoreline at Craigleith east toward Blue Mountain shelves gently and warms early. All are 10 to 30 minutes from the house.

Is Wasaga Beach good for families?

Very. The water is shallow and warm a long way out, which is unusual for Georgian Bay, and the sand is soft. The trade-off is crowds on a hot weekend and traffic getting in and out.