Muskoka's cranberry town on its one weekend of the year, with more than 150 vendors through the streets, then a wagon ride around a working cranberry marsh at the tail end of the harvest. Both halves are in the ticket.
One Saturday in October, at the tail end of the cranberry harvest.
Not running
There is no bus to Bala Cranberry Festival on sale right now. This page is here because people look for the place, not because we are selling the trip. Leave your email and you will hear the day it is back, along with everything else leaving your city.
Leaving Toronto in the meantime
Cancel 14 or more days before you go and you get 90% back.
You explore on your own, and a twenty minute guided wagon tour of the cranberry marsh is part of your ticket.
A short, flat walk on even ground, at your own pace.
The town first, then the marsh, with the coach running you between them.
We pick you up
The pickup point and the departure time are still being confirmed for this date.
Five hours in a Muskoka town that has given itself over completely. The coach drops at Ted Smith Construction on Muskoka Road 169 and the town shuttle takes you to the festival entrance gates, so there is no walk in from a distant lot, and accessible buses run that route. The craft show is the spine of it, and it is a juried one: more than a hundred and fifty vendors spread across Maple Avenue, the Bala Arena and the Community Centre. Your fare covers the gate, so bring money for the vendors and the food rather than for admission.
Good to know:
The second half, and the one you could not reach on your own: there is no public shuttle between the town and the marsh. The Johnston family have been growing cranberries here since 1950, three generations of them. A tractor pulled wagon carries the group around the twelve acre South Marsh for a twenty minute guided tour of how cranberries are grown and harvested, and that tour is part of your ticket. Mid October is the tail end of the season, when the beds get floated and the berries beaten loose, which is the sea of red you have seen in the commercials.
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.
A festival, a working farm, and a Muskoka afternoon in October.
Festival admission is included in your Parkbus fare, the same as park and conservation area entry is on every trip we run. So is the ride out to Muskoka Lakes Farm & Winery and the guided wagon tour of the marsh.
Bring money for the vendors, the food trucks, the crepes, a bag of berries and whatever comes out of the winery store. Nothing for the gate.
Almost all of this day is outdoors and it is two hours north of Toronto, which usually means colder than the morning you left. A warm coat, layers, and shoes that do not mind wet grass.
The marsh is a working farm and the wagon is open to the weather. Dress for standing in a field, not for a craft fair.
We are not running this one in 2026.
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, trails and days out without a car.
There is no public shuttle between the town and Johnston's. Having our own coach is the only reason the second half of this day is possible at all.
Festival admission is in your ticket, and we drop you where the town shuttle takes you straight to the gates.
One weekend a year, at the tail end of the harvest. The bogs are not red in July.
More than 150 vendors across Maple Avenue, the Bala Arena and the Community Centre, and five hours to work through them.
★★★★★ 4.6/5.0 on Google
“This is the 1st time I used Parkbus but it won’t be the last.”Brenda H. · Google
Took a day trip to Algonquin Park with Parkbus. They pick up on Asquith Ave. in the Bloor/Yonge area and have a quick break stop at the Onroute Barrie. All stops enable guests ample time to explore the destination. This is a highly a good idea trip for those that appreciate spending time in nature minus distractions.OnAir48444 · Tripadvisor · Oct 2025
Booked in minutes, had an unreal day in Algonquin, and was home by dinner.Cameron · Happy Parkbus customer
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.
We handle the logistics. You handle the adventure.
Not quite the right fit? These all leave from the same spot downtown.
