Haliburton is the heart of Ontario's cottage country — a small town surrounded by lakes, forest, and rocky Canadian Shield landscape about three hours northeast of Toronto. In summer the population swells as families head to lakeside cottages for swimming, canoeing, and fishing. In autumn the hardwood forests blaze with colour and the Haliburton Highlands become one of Ontario's best leaf-peeping destinations.
The town itself is compact and walkable, with a handful of cafes, galleries, and the Haliburton Sculpture Forest — an outdoor collection of works set in Glebe Park at the south edge of the village. The Haliburton Highlands Museum covers the area's settler and logging past. Algonquin Park is less than an hour's drive to the north, but the local Haliburton Highlands Water Trails deliver almost the same wilderness with less crowding.