The maples have started to turn and about 30 percent of Algonquin has changed. We put 20 seats on this Saturday’s bus so you can stand in it for a day, at Oxtongue Lake, Canoe Lake or Lake of Two Rivers. Park admission is in the fare.
30%
of Algonquin has turned
Sugar maples and red maples change before anything else, so the colour you see right now is the red and orange half of the show, with green still behind it. The Friends of Algonquin Park say this week and this weekend should be good for maple colour along the Highway 60 corridor, helped along by the frost on September 19.
Do not wait for it to hit 50 percent. That is the weekend everybody drives up, the park fills, and we cannot promise you a seat.
As of September 21, 2026 · Friends of Algonquin Park colour report
Coming soon
We are running this one. The seats are not loaded into the booking system yet, so there is nothing to click. Leave your email and you will hear the moment it opens, which is usually before it goes anywhere else.
Leaving Toronto in the meantime
Cancel 14 or more days before you go and you get 90% back.
Choose your own adventure: we drop you off, and the bus picks you up in the same spot.
You choose the day. Paddle, bike, walk a trail or sit by the water.
About 30 percent of Algonquin has changed. That is the sweet spot a lot of people miss: the reds and oranges are out, the forest still has green in it, and the crowds of peak weekend have not arrived yet.
The Friends of Algonquin Park reported on September 21 that maple colour along the Highway 60 corridor should be good this week and this weekend. A frost on September 19 is pushing it along.
Peak usually lands in the last days of September or the first days of October, so this Saturday is your early look, one week before everybody else drives up for it.
One bus, one Saturday, twenty seats.
This bus is running our guided Track and Tower hike, so it makes three stops for day trippers on the way in and collects everyone on the way home. All three sit on the water, so you get the colour and the reflection of it.
We pick you up
34 Asquith Avenue, about 100 metres north of the Yonge and Bloor subway entrance, on the Yonge Street side. There may be more than one coach, so check you are in the right queue.
Hills of maple around a quiet lake, right where the bus lets you off. Walk the Beetle Lake trail into the colour, or see it from the water: Algonquin Outfitters' base is here, so a canoe, kayak or paddleboard is a few steps away. Ragged Falls is close by, and there is a café on site.
Good to know:
The lake Tom Thomson painted, with maples down to the shore. Watch the canoe trippers set off, walk the shoreline, or rent a canoe or paddleboard and get out in the middle of it. There is a store and a place to eat at the landing.
Good to know:
The Old Railway Bike Trail runs flat and straight through the maples from here, so you can cover a lot of colour without climbing anything. Bikes are rented at the Two Rivers Store. There is a beach, a store for lunch, and trailheads within reach if you would rather walk.
Good to know:
We drop you back
The bus returns to the same place it left from, so you go home the way you came.
This is our estimated return time, not a guarantee. Traffic can change it and some trips do run late, so please leave yourself some room afterwards rather than booking something tight against it.
Fall days up there are cold in the morning and warm by mid afternoon.
This coach is running our guided Track and Tower hike. You are not on the hike and you do not have a guide. We drop you at your stop, you do your own day, and we collect you on the way home.
The hikers are picked up at 5:00 PM, between Lake of Two Rivers and Canoe Lake, so please be at your stop on time.
Placeholder dates · the real ones come from our booking system
We're Canada's outdoor bus service. Since 2010 we've taken more than 300,000 people to parks and trails without a car.
Three stops right on the water along Highway 60, and hours to walk around in the colour.
Peak weekend is the busy one. This Saturday the maples are out and the park is quieter.
Admission to Algonquin is part of the fare. Nothing to sort out at the gate.
Three and a half hours back after a day outside. Read, sleep, let someone else watch the road.
★★★★★ 4.6/5.0 on Google
Booked in minutes, had an unreal day in Algonquin, and was home by dinner.Cameron · Happy Parkbus customer
Used this service for a weekend in Algonquin. These guys stuck to the schedule well and ambassadors checked everyone in at their pickups. Easy drop offs all across the park and across the city. Reasonably priced and no need to think about a rental car to get to the wilderness.James Johnson · Happy Parkbus adventurer
This is a great service if you don't have a vehicle or just don't want to drive. I'm so happy to have discovered this. There will definitely be more Parkbus trips in my future!James Taylor Wilson · Happy Parkbus customer
This is the 1st time I used Parkbus but it won't be the last.Brenda H. · Google
Factor in the cost of gas, parking and renting a car, it's a lot cheaper than taking a personal vehicle.Toronto Star
Parkbus is a great option for nature lovers, whether it's a day trip or overnight camping getaway.The Globe and Mail
Cancel more than 14 days before departure and you get a 90% refund, with 10% withheld for payment processing. Inside 14 days refunds are not available, except for a medical emergency in the 48 hours before departure, which needs a signed doctor’s note within 14 days of the missed trip and returns 50%. Tickets are transferable: you can change the passenger name up to 48 hours before departure.
If Parkbus cancels a trip, you get a full refund. We decide no later than 48 hours before departure and only on confirmed conditions: the park closed or the park authority asking us to stand down, an evacuation order or alert, an area restriction order, the highway closed, or the trip judged unsafe to run. A forecast is not one of those things, and trips run rain or shine.
Twenty seats on one bus. The colour will not wait for the next one.
Not quite the right fit? These all leave from the same spot downtown.
