Day trips from Windsor
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Continue using your discovery pass to explore wonderful sites close to home! There are two National Historic Sites and a National Park to visit within two hours’ drive of downtown Windsor. From a fun day of family-friendly activities at the site of the longest American occupation on Canadian soil to an ancient First Nations village, and one of Canada’s most diverse National Parks, there’s so much to explore! Grab your pass and start making plans today with these inspirational days out.
Site of the longest American occupation on Canadian soil.
- Driving: 35 minutes
Fort Malden National Historic Site
How to get there
- Driving: In Amhertsburg, just 35 minutes from Windsor via Front Road.
What to do
- Rebel or soldier? Walk into the Escape Room and travel back in time to Fort Malden on the cusp of battle. Work as a team to decipher riddles and escape the fort barracks!
- Take aim, fire, and tick off a major bucketlist item. Put on a redcoat and march back to 1812 in the ranks of the British Army as you learn to fire a musket, cannon, mortar—or all three!
- Join a guided tour of the fort grounds and get a taste of soldier life in the cookhouse. Chow down on ribsticker bowls of stew and a hearty hunk of fresh-baked bread.
A date with destiny
Fort Malden is where Major General Sir Isaac Brock and Shawnee Chief Tecumseh met in 1812, and decided to join forces for the attack on Fort Detroit.
Canada’s second smallest—but most diverse— National Park.
- Driving: 1 hour
Point Pelee National Park
How to get there
- Driving: In Leamington, an hour via ON-3 E.
What to do
- Join members of the Royal Astronomical Society for stargazing nights when the skies are at their darkest. Bring binoculars or a telescope for the best star gazing encounters in this Dark Sky Preserve!
- Hop on board the shuttle bus from the Visitor Centre. Don’t forget your camera because this is solid gold selfie material—capturing the moment you stood on Canada’s southernmost tip!
- It’s a bonanza for birders, with more than 390 species recorded within the park’s renowned birding area.
Did you know?
Not only birds fly over the park; in the fall thousands of Monarch butterflies migrate through here on their journey to the mountainous forest in central Mexico.
A rare preserved fortified Indigenous village site.
- Driving: 1.5 hours
Southwold Earthworks National Historic Site
How to get there
- Driving: Follow the ON-401 W for 1hr 40 to Fingal.
What to do
- Walk in the footsteps of the Attiwandaron people who once lived here from 1500-1650. Learn about life within the longhouses behind the palisade walls as it was lived for the 800-900 Indigenous people who made this their home.
- Follow the interpretive panels and conjure up the scene in your imagination.
- Pack a picnic and eat it in the shade of the towering trees overlooking the ridges of earthworks which still surround the village site.
Did you know?
The Attiwandaron Nation where also known as the Neutral Iroquois because they were the only nation to always stay neutral within the warring Huron-Five Nations.