We visited Tobermory as part of Big Trip #5 in September 2026. 

Tobermory is the tiny town on the northern tip of Bruce Peninsula, jutting out into Lake Huron and partitioning out Georgian Bay, often called the sixth Great Lake, to the east. Tobermory’s main tourism draw, in addition to water-based activities, is the adjacent Bruce Peninsula National Park and its partner Fathom Five National Marine Park.

From Niagara, it was a long four-hour drive with lots of construction, but it was so worth the hassle for the glorious hiking and fun small-town adventures.

Campground

As I mentioned in our Niagara post, we were given a day’s notice to find a new campground due to bear activity in the national park campground. We chose Lands End Park for its location close to town and hiking and it was great: woodsy (but we got decent Starlink), pleasant, spacious sites, but the sites weren’t super private and the roads were narrow for a big trailer to navigate.

We liked Lands End even better when, just before leaving town, we walked down to their private beach area across the street and saw what we’d missed out on: we could have rented kayaks and explored the lake from the campground’s boat launch, we could have let Tilly swim at the dog beach, we could have relaxed on the campground’s dock. Regret #1 from Tobermory!

Hiking

Hiking in Bruce Peninsula National Park during high season takes a little advance planning, and somehow we missed that memo. Parking at The Grotto, Halfway Log Dump, and Little Cove require advance reservations, and parking at the Visitor Center (er Centre) and Singing Sands are first-come but fill up early during peak times.

So the day we arrived, we scrapped plans to park at the Grotto and hike around there, because all the parking passes were taken. Instead, we parked at the Visitor Center (only six minutes from our campground versus 20 minutes to The Grotto) and hiked from there in Fathom Five National Marine Park. We loved it so much we did the same hike again the morning we left town.

The Burnt Point Loop hike in Fathom Five is a 3.5-mile lollipop through the beautiful forest, popping you out to the rocky shore of Georgian Bay at access points along the way. It was surprisingly uncrowded, considering its scenery and proximity to town.

The next morning, we were up early to hike to the Grotto, the most popular destination in the national park. We wanted to experience some of the 900km (look at me talking in metric) Bruce Trail too so we did this seven-mile hike along the coast.

The hike was wonderful. The main loop around the Grotto was very crowded, but we had the Bruce Trail mostly to ourselves on our two pigtails extending away from the Grotto. We got it all: pretty woods, rocky beaches, dramatic cliffs, turquoise water.

Exploring Tobermory

Tobermory packs a lot into its tiny downtown centered around its Little Tub Harbo(u)r: restaurants, gift shops, sweet shops, galleries, a brewery, two dive shops (it’s a shipwreck-diving hotspot!), and the Bruce Trail comes though town here. All that, and it’s a working harbor with a marina, boat launches, day excursion boats, and a ferry dock.

We had samosas on the dog-friendly rooftop at Crowsnest Pub, with a harbor view when we stood up.

We had a beer on the patio at Shipwreck Lee’s; J didn’t like their IPA, but my sour from an Ontario brewery with the same name as a big brewery back home was good. Our waitress said she enjoys margs at Margarita Grill and Las Chulas…

…and since Margarita Grill was close to home and next to the (well-stocked) grocery store, we stopped by for a marg and some fries. Rather, a marg for me, and a Shipwreck Lee lager for J, which he didn’t like.

While waiting for the ferry, Tilly and I stopped by Tobermory Coffee Co for a latte for me and a pup cup for her. They were super friendly, especially to Tilly, and they sell Montreal bagels!

And yes, there’s a brewery in Tobermory, and we are typically brewery people, but Tobermory Brewing Co wasn’t compelling to us.

Normally J and I pride ourselves on our travel research, but somehow in this small town we missed discovering two really cool looking waterfront restaurants, which we only noticed when we parked in the ferry staging area: another Shipwreck Lee’s location with a nice waterfront deck, and Coconut Joe’s, with its own waterfront seating across the harbor. Regret #2 from Tobermory!

Ferrying to Manitoulin

We put the Airstream on a ferry! It was wild! Tilly took it all in stride, of course. First ferry ride, check!

The MS Chi-Cheemaun Ferry (chi-cheemaun means “big canoe” in Ojibwe) carries passengers and vehicles across Lake Huron between Tobermory and Manitoulin Island three times a day from early May to mid-October. The ferry is enormous: there’s a cafeteria, a lounge, indoor and outdoor seating, live entertainment, a shop, and a museum/gallery space, in addition to transporting up to 648 passengers and 143 vehicles.

Because we had to be out of our campsite at Lands End at 11:00, and J had a meeting at 11:30, we got into line at the ferry staging area at 11:15, way ahead of boarding at 12:40. Starlink worked great from the staging area!

Driving the Airstream onto the ferry was an experience! The ship opens for vehicles using a bow visor system as the boat approaches the dock, like a giant mouth gulping vehicles into the belly of the ship in meticulously-arranged columns of motorcycles, cars, RVs, work trucks, and buses. Did I mention it was wild?

The trip lasted about an hour and 45 minutes, and then the Airstream rolled off the boat in South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island, about 20 minutes from our next campground in Mindemoya.