Most festivals happen in dark downtown theatres. This one happens in a pedestrian alpine village under a UNESCO biosphere reserve, and between screenings you can ride an open-air gondola to the top of the Niagara Escarpment as many times as you like.
Pick your date and seats below. Your festival screening and the gondola are both in the fare.
Dates not open yet
We put seats on sale one season at a time, and this one is not up yet. Nothing is hidden and there is no list to pay to join. Leave your email and you hear the day the dates open.
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.
A short, flat walk on even ground, at your own pace.
The Blue Mountain Film + Media Festival is intimate and internationally programmed, screening narrative and documentary work from around the world with filmmaker question and answer sessions and industry programming alongside. Recent editions have carried TIFF premieres, Sundance titles, Oscar contenders and Canadian debuts. It is not a niche or experimental-only festival. It programmes broadly and it programmes well.
It happens at the foot of the Niagara Escarpment, a UNESCO world biosphere reserve that runs from Niagara up to Tobermory. The escarpment rises sharply above the village under sugar maple, American beech and eastern hemlock. From the summit on a clear day you can see across Georgian Bay to the Penetanguishene Peninsula.
The open-air gondola is about six minutes from the base of the village to the top, and your ticket covers unlimited rides for the day. There are lookouts and picnic areas up there. In late spring the hardwood canopy is fully out but still that bright, nearly translucent green it only holds for a few weeks.
The village itself is pedestrian only, built in an alpine style, with shops, galleries, cafes and more than thirty places to eat. It is a good place to move slowly, which after two hours on a bus is the point.
Between screenings, ride a gondola. That is the whole idea.
A screening in the afternoon programme, the gondola whenever you like, and dinner before the bus goes.
We pick you up
Just north of Yonge and Bloor subway station. Come up the Asquith exit and look for the bus. Get there fifteen minutes early.
We pick you up
90 Great Lakes Drive, Brampton. Useful if coming downtown first would add an hour to your morning.
A pedestrian resort village under the escarpment, hosting the film festival. Your ticket covers one screening from the afternoon programme and unlimited rides on the open-air gondola, or a second screening in place of the gondola. Around that, shops, galleries and more than thirty restaurants, cafes and patios.
Good to know:
Facilities: More than thirty restaurants, cafes and patios, Shops and galleries, Washrooms throughout the village
Note: The gondola runs in most weather but can close in thunderstorms or high winds. If it does, swap it for a second screening.
We drop you back
The bus calls at both pickup points on the way back, so you get off where you got on.
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 short list. This is the least technical day on the site.
You choose from the films screening during the afternoon programme, so it is worth looking at the festival schedule before the day rather than in the queue.
Past festival guests have included the casts and creative teams behind the films, so question and answer sessions and chance encounters are part of it.
It is an early departure and food is not included, so have breakfast before the bus. Snacks on board are fine.
The village restaurants are open for lunch by the time you get there, and you will have time before the bus leaves for dinner. On a festival weekend a sit-down place may want a reservation.
Late spring in the Blue Mountains usually runs between 10 and 20 degrees, and it is cooler at the top of the gondola than in the village.
Comfortable walking shoes matter: the village is pedestrian only and the summit has trail and lookout areas.
This one runs on the festival weekend, which falls in late spring.
Placeholder dates · the real ones come from our booking system
We are Canada's outdoor bus service. Since 2010 we've taken more than 300,000 people to parks and trails without a car. You bring an appetite. We handle everything with wheels.
The Blue Mountain Film + Media Festival programmes with real ambition: international dramas, Canadian features, documentaries, shorts. Your ticket includes one screening from the afternoon programme.
Roughly six minutes from the village to the summit, with 360 degree views of Georgian Bay, the Beaver Valley and the escarpment forest. Ride it once for the view and twice because you forgot to take a photograph.
If the weather turns or the programme has two things you want, you can trade the gondola for another screening. That flexibility is deliberate.
More than thirty restaurants, cafes and patios in a pedestrian village. Pub fare, wood-fired pizza, sushi, poutine, and somewhere more polished if the day calls for it.
★★★★★ 4.6/5.0 on Google
This is the 1st time I used Parkbus but it won't be the last.Brenda H. · Google
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
Speaking from someone who doesn't drive. This is a must!! I highly recommend this!Linda Ann · Facebook · Jun 2024
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.
One of the best small festivals in Ontario, in a place that normally needs a car.
Not quite the right fit? These all leave from the same spot downtown.
