Routes Through the Riverlands

Consider these maps a starting point for exploring the Riverlands. Each suggested day trip is designed to spark ideas, connect villages and landscapes, and help you shape a route that feels less like a checklist and more like a day well spent.

This is a day shaped by the old logic of the Rideau Lakes.

It begins close to the street, with coffee, village scale, and the ordinary rhythm of a place that is still lived in. From there, the road follows water into older patterns: mills built where current could be used, lockstations placed where movement had to be managed, shops that became part of regional habit, and lookout points where the lake country suddenly makes sense from above.

Nothing here needs to be over-explained. The route works because the pieces still belong to one another: Delta’s mill history, Newboro’s canal edge, Westport’s height and water, the long rural stretches between them, and a final glass in a landscape that has been carrying the day all along.

The Riverlands makes more sense when you choose a base and let the day move outward from there.

This map is built around that idea. Brockville, Gananoque, Westport, Perth, and other base towns each offer a different way into the region: riverfront streets, canal edges, village centres, old roads, evening walks, and places where the day can settle before it begins again.

From each base, the surrounding landscape opens in a different pattern. Some routes follow water. Some move through farm country and backroads. Others connect villages that have always been tied to mills, landings, locks, rail lines, and the slow movement between them.

Use this map to understand where to stay, what sits within reach, and how a few well-chosen drives can turn one base into a fuller view of the Riverlands.

Grey pins mark base towns. Blue pins mark Riverlands villages.

This map follows coffee, baking, and small-town stops across the lower edge of the Frontenac Arch.

Begin in Athens with coffee, house-made syrups, and a bakery where fresh bread and pastries set the tone. From there, move toward Delta, where breakfast settles into worn wood, stone, and a view of the Old Stone Mill.

The road continues through Elgin for an iced latte and something from the bakery case, then turns toward Gananoque for lunch with river-town energy, walkable streets, and the pull of the waterfront.

Along the way, the drive crosses lakes, farm fields, granite outcrops, forest edges, and quiet roads. Lyndhurst is not on the main route, but it sits close enough for an easy detour, with Ontario’s oldest stone bridge as the reason to turn off.

Taken slowly, the day reads this part of the Riverlands through warm rooms, old water power, and the landscape between them.

Timing note: If you follow the route in order, allow about 3.5 hours to reach LaVerne’s. LaVerne’s typically closes at 3:00 PM, so an earlier start gives the day more room.