Quinte West
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Quinte West

Quinte West

Bay of Quinte city where the Trent River meets Lake Ontario and the Trent-Severn begins.

Quinte West is a small city of about 45,000 at the western end of the Bay of Quinte, where the Trent River runs into Lake Ontario. It is a 2001 amalgamation of the old town of Trenton and the surrounding villages of Frankford, Sidney and Murray, and most travellers know it for two things: the southern terminus of the Trent–Severn Waterway, and CFB Trenton, the largest air base in the Canadian Forces.

The Trent–Severn is the reason to come. Boats begin (or end) the 386-kilometre canal-and-river journey from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron right in downtown Trenton at Lock 1, and the locks here are pleasant places to watch summer traffic. The waterfront has been tidied up with a park and a pier, and the National Air Force Museum of Canada at the base is the country's largest aviation museum, with a hangar full of restored military aircraft and an outdoor air park you can wander through for free.

Otherwise Quinte West is a useful stop on the drive between Toronto and Kingston, or a base for visiting Prince Edward County wine country and the dunes at Sandbanks Provincial Park, both about half an hour to the south.

Guide

Getting There

Quinte West is about 175 kilometres east of Toronto on Highway 401 — roughly two hours by car in normal traffic. The town of Trenton has a VIA Rail station (Trenton Junction, on Telephone Road) served by trains on the Toronto–Ottawa–Montreal corridor; check the VIA Rail schedule as frequency is limited.

From Kingston, the drive west along Highway 401 takes about an hour. Greyhound and other intercity bus services stop in Trenton.

Guide

Things to Do

Quinte West's two main draws are the aviation museum and the Trent–Severn Waterway locks. Both reward a half-day visit, and the waterfront area around Lock 1 is pleasant enough to wander on its own. The town is close enough to Prince Edward County that a base here gives access to Sandbanks Provincial Park and the county's wineries without paying the premium rates of the county itself.