Thanksgiving weekend runs from Oct. 10 to 12 this year, landing right in the middle of fall road-trip season in Ontario. That means you’ll have more than enough excuses to head out of Toronto and enjoy everything from taking in the fall colours on a chairlift to sitting down to a full turkey dinner at a historic site.
Here are 11 Thanksgiving road trips from Toronto worth adding to your long-weekend plans (plus one bonus stop!).
Ball’s Falls
The conservation area in Lincoln hosts its annual Thanksgiving Festival from Oct. 9 to 12, with more than 150 artisans, a farmers’ market, food and local drinks, live music, historical demonstrations, heritage tours and guided nature hikes! Bonus: the setting along the Niagara Escarpment offers all sorts of fall colours, too. After the festival, make the short drive into Jordan Village, make a reservation at Restaurant Pearl Morissette in Jordan Station, or stop at one of the wineries scattered around Twenty Valley before heading home.
Blue Mountain
Thanksgiving weekend is also Apple Harvest Festival weekend at Blue Mountain! The village celebrates the region’s apple-growing heritage with live music, family entertainment, farm animals, harvest-inspired food and mountain attractions surrounded by fall colours. Spend the entire day in the village, or add a drive through Thornbury or Collingwood before heading back to Toronto. There’s even a Thanksgiving-weekend Turkey Trot in Thornbury on Saturday, Oct. 10, if you want to start the day with a run.
Midland and Penetanguishene
Sainte-Marie among the Hurons turns Thanksgiving into a full Hometown Harvest Festival from Oct. 10 to 12, complete with live music, line dancing, artisan vendors, heritage animals and family activities. Stop at Restaurant Sainte-Marie for its three-course turkey dinner with mashed potatoes, stuffing and all the trimmings. On Saturday or Sunday, drive over to nearby Discovery Harbour in Penetanguishene after dark, where Pumpkinferno illuminates the historic grounds with more than 5,000 glowing pumpkin creations. If you’re solely chasing pumpkins this Thanksgiving weekend, check out the best pumpkin festivals happening in Ontario for 2026 or Pumpkins After Dark in Markham to stick closer to Toronto.
Elora
Head over on Saturday: the Elora Farmers’ Market is marking its final outdoor market of the year on Oct. 10 with a special Thanksgiving celebration featuring local flavours and seasonal shopping at riverside Bissell Park. From there, walk into downtown Elora for lunch and take in the fall views over the gorge from Victoria Park. October is also Monster Month in town, so expect Elora’s usual storybook prettiness to come with some giant monster sculptures and Halloween weirdness mixed in. If you’re looking for a charming place to stay, the Kat Florence Hotel’s Diamond House offers the perfect home base for the weekend.
Milton
This long weekend, admire the fall foliage from above! Kelso Conservation Area is running its fall chairlift on Saturday, Sunday and Thanksgiving Monday, carrying visitors up the Niagara Escarpment before they explore the trails and lookout points at the top. Afterward, head to nearby Crawford Lake. Thanksgiving-weekend programming includes traditional fire-starting demos inside the reconstructed Turtle Clan Longhouse (reservations are a good idea for both!).
Caledon
Head to Caledon for a classic pumpkins-and-fall-colours day. Downey’s Farm Pumpkinfest is running throughout Thanksgiving weekend with thousands of pumpkins, wagon rides, a corn maze, farm animals, live music and tons of seasonal treats. Then trade the pumpkin patch for the trails at Forks of the Credit Provincial Park (foliage should be especially pretty around the long weekend!). If you’re looking to get a bit spooked, head to Cheltenham Brickworks. This abandoned site was once home to a thriving brickyard and village in the early 1900s (today, only giant kilns remain). Check out this and other real-life ghost towns near Toronto to visit this Thanksgiving weekend.
If you’re more interested in relaxing over the long weekend, The Liberty Inn in Caledon offers a gorgeous woodland Nordic spa!
St. Marys and Stratford
McCully’s Hill Farm’s Fall Harvest Festival returns Oct. 10 and 11 (as well as every Saturday/Sunday throughout October), with horse-drawn wagon rides, a corn maze, a pumpkin catapult, farm animals and pumpkins to take home! If you go Saturday, swing through the Stratford Farmers’ Market before spending the afternoon walking through downtown Stratford and along the Avon River. It’s really an entire Thanksgiving postcard packed into one road trip.
Muskoka
Head north to Muskoka for cranberry season, fiery fall colours and tons of other Thanksgiving-weekend events. Stop in Bala to see the cranberry harvest in action, then take a fall colour cruise or head to Gravenhurst on Oct. 10 for its Autumn Festival & Market. Round out the day with a lakeside walk or Thanksgiving dinner. Better yet, check out the 10 best ways to spend Thanksgiving in Muskoka before making the drive back to Toronto.
Rockton
Another quintessential Thanksgiving fair awaits in Rockton, just outside Hamilton. The Rockton World’s Fair, running Oct. 9 to 12, packs the weekend with livestock and agricultural shows, midway rides, demolition derbies, blacksmith demonstrations, antique farm machinery, homecraft exhibits and a giant pumpkin display. Bonus: you can even take a helicopter ride over Ontario’s fall colours! The fair has been around for more than 170 years, so this is about as old-school an Ontario Thanksgiving experience as you can get. On the way home, detour through Dundas for dinner and a wander through its historic downtown core.
Norfolk County
Head south to Simcoe for one of the biggest Thanksgiving-weekend events on the list. The Norfolk County Fair and Horse Show runs through Oct. 12, with midway rides, agricultural exhibits, horse shows, fair food and live entertainment. Saturday brings a six-horse hitch competition followed by a concert from Finger Eleven and Trooper, while Thanksgiving Monday ends with the championship demolition derby. Drive down to Port Dover afterward for a walk along Lake Erie before heading back to Toronto.
Erin
Okay, we’re extra, so we added an 11th spot. The Erin Fall Fair has been a Thanksgiving tradition since the 19th century, and it returns from Oct. 9 to 12 with agricultural and homecraft displays, animals, midway rides, live entertainment and tons of horsepower. The truck and tractor pulls take over part of the weekend, while the demolition derby runs Sunday and Thanksgiving Monday. So, have your fill of fair food and smashed-up cars, then take some time to wander Erin’s small downtown core before taking the country roads back to Toronto.