33 researched places across 9 pockets — restaurants, shops, schools and parks.
A Belgian café and tap room in a former bank on the Hunter Street strip — old-world charm, comfort food and a deep list of wheat beers on tap.
Local pick: Belgian comfort food and beer
A popular Hunter Street brewery and pub in a 170-year-old building — house-brewed beer and pub plates in the heart of downtown Peterborough.
Local pick: A 170-year-old brewpub
A lively George Street restaurant serving a mix of Cajun and Canadian cooking — a long-running downtown Peterborough favourite.
Local pick: Cajun and Canadian on George St
A fully licensed farm-to-table café and restaurant in downtown Bobcaygeon — coffee, local plates and patios near Lock 32.
Local pick: Farm-to-table by the locks
The original headquarters of Kawartha Dairy in Bobcaygeon — a family-owned Canadian ice-cream institution since 1937 and a must-stop cottage-country treat.
Local pick: The original Kawartha Dairy
A craft brewery and taproom in Fenelon Falls — locally brewed beer and a patio in the 'Jewel of the Kawarthas' beside the falls and Lock 34.
Local pick: Craft beer by the falls
An Irish-themed, dog-friendly pub with a deck overlooking the Fenelon River and the falls — hearty pub food in the heart of the village.
Local pick: A patio over the Fenelon River
A craft brewery and taphouse in a historic downtown Lindsay building on Kent Street — house beer and pub fare in the hub of the City of Kawartha Lakes.
Local pick: Lindsay's downtown brewery
A French-style bistro on Lakefield's Queen Street where dishes are made in house to order from the freshest, often local, ingredients.
Local pick: A French bistro on Queen St
Peterborough's historic downtown — independent shops, the Saturday market, galleries and the Hunter Street café district along George and Hunter Streets.
Local pick: The historic downtown core
Peterborough's main enclosed shopping mall on Lansdowne Street West — department stores, fashion and services anchoring the city's west-end retail.
Local pick: The region's main mall
The big-box stores, grocery, plazas and services along Chemong Road and Portage Place — the everyday shopping hub of Peterborough's north end.
Local pick: The north-end shopping strip
The cafés, shops and pubs along Hunter Street East in historic Ashburnham (East City) — a walkable neighbourhood across the river from downtown.
Local pick: East City's neighbourhood shops
Lindsay's broad Kent Street downtown — heritage storefronts, shops, the Academy Theatre and the farmers' market in the hub of the City of Kawartha Lakes.
Local pick: Kawartha Lakes' main street
Bobcaygeon's Bolton Street village — boutiques, the famous Bigley's shoe and clothing stores, and cafés by the locks in the 'Hub of the Kawarthas'.
Local pick: Boutiques and Bigley's
Fenelon Falls' Colborne Street village — boutiques, the bakery, galleries and cafés steps from the falls and Lock 34 between two lakes.
Local pick: Shops in the Jewel of the Kawarthas
Buckhorn's general store, LCBO and essentials plus Gallery on the Lake — a long-running lakeside art gallery in the cottage-country crossroads on Lock 31.
Local pick: The general store and lakeside gallery
Lakefield's Queen Street village — boutiques, the bakery, cafés and the Saturday market in a pretty Lake Katchewanooka village north of Peterborough.
Local pick: A pretty village main street
Trent University's Symons campus on the Otonabee River at the north of Peterborough — known for its Ron Thom architecture, the Faryon Bridge and 40 km of nature-reserve trails.
Local pick: The riverside university campus
Fleming College's main Sutherland campus on Brealey Drive in Peterborough's west end — a large college offering programs across the trades, business and sciences.
Local pick: Peterborough's college campus
A Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB public secondary school on Armour Road in East City, serving the east side of Peterborough.
Local pick: East City's public high school
A co-ed independent boarding and day school (grades 9–12) founded in 1879, on a 315-acre wooded waterfront campus on Lake Katchewanooka at Lakefield.
Local pick: A historic waterfront boarding school
A Trillium Lakelands DSB public secondary school in Lindsay, serving the City of Kawartha Lakes hub and surrounding communities.
Local pick: Lindsay's public high school
A Trillium Lakelands DSB public secondary school serving Fenelon Falls and the surrounding Kawartha Lakes communities.
Local pick: The Fenelon Falls high school
The Peterborough Lift Lock — built in 1904, the highest hydraulic lift lock in the world, lifting boats 20 metres on the Trent-Severn Waterway, with a visitor centre and lockside park.
Local pick: The world's highest lift lock
A waterfront museum beside the Lift Lock holding the world's largest collection of canoes and kayaks — exhibits, paddling and a lakeside campus on Little Lake.
Local pick: The world's largest canoe collection
A lakefront park on Little Lake just off downtown — a marina, the Pathway to Fame and the covered stage that hosts Peterborough Musicfest each summer.
Local pick: The summer concert park
A long, wooded natural park along Jackson Creek in Peterborough's west end — trails, a pond and the historic Pagoda Bridge, linking to the Trans Canada Trail.
Local pick: Trails and the Pagoda Bridge
One of Ontario's oldest small zoos, open since 1933 on the Otonabee in Peterborough's north end — free admission, a miniature train and riverside picnic grounds.
Local pick: A free riverside zoo since 1933
Bobcaygeon's Lock 32 — the first lock built on the Trent-Severn Waterway — and the lockside park where boats pass between Pigeon and Sturgeon Lakes.
Local pick: The first lock on the Trent-Severn
The namesake falls of Fenelon Falls beside Lock 34 — a viewing platform and lockside park where Cameron Lake drops to Sturgeon Lake in the heart of the village.
Local pick: The falls and the lockstation
Buckhorn's Lock 31 and the falls on the Trent-Severn — a lockside park and dam between Buckhorn and Lower Buckhorn Lakes, the heart of cottage-country traffic.
Local pick: Locks between Buckhorn and Lower Buckhorn
Lakefield's waterfront on Lake Katchewanooka — Isabel Morris Park, a sandy village beach, the marina and Lock 26 at the gateway to the upper Kawartha lakes.
Local pick: The beach on Lake Katchewanooka