Toronto to Blue Mountain and Collingwood by chauffeur: ski days, the Village, Georgian Bay

The hill, two hours from the city

Blue Mountain is Ontario's largest ski resort, a hundred and sixty kilometres north-west of Toronto up the 400 and Highway 26 through Barrie and Stayner, and in summer it is the Village at the base, the Scandinave Spa, Georgian Bay's beaches at Wasaga and Thornbury, the Beaver Valley's apples and the Georgian Trail. A chauffeured Blue Mountain day is an hourly booking of ten to twelve hours - the drive up, the day, the drive home - or a one-way flat fare to the Village for a weekend, with the SUV carrying the skis, the boards, the boots and the family, and the chauffeur at the base lodge when the lifts close. The full-day page explains the hourly product; this page is the hill.

The drive

The 400 north to Barrie, Highway 26 west through Stayner and past Wasaga Beach to Collingwood, and Blue Mountain Road (Grey Road 19) up to the Village: two hours off-peak, two and a half on a winter Saturday morning, and the same home at 4 pm when every ski family leaves at once. No tolls. In winter the 26 west of Stayner is the snow-belt stretch that closes in a squall off the Bay; the dispatcher watches Ontario 511 and the chauffeur has winter tyres and the SUV's ground clearance. A 7 am departure has the family in the lift line at 9:15 when the corduroy is fresh.

The ski day

7:00 the SUV at a Leaside door, the skis and boards in the cargo bay on the roof-height rack or inside with the seats folded, boots in the boot, the children asleep. 9:15 the base lodge drop at the Village or the South Base; the chauffeur parks and waits, or returns to the Village for a coffee and is back for the 11:30 text. Lunch at the base or in the Village. 3:30 the lifts close; the car is at the drop with the heater on. 4:00 Scandinave Spa for the parents if the day is twelve hours, or home. 6:00 Leaside, the gear unloaded. Ten to twelve hours; the SUV. For a group of eight to twelve the Sprinter, with the gear in the bay and the ski rack, is the group version, and for a private ski club - Craigleith, Alpine, Osler, Georgian Peaks, Devil's Glen - the drop is at the club's door on Grey Road 19 or the 26.

The Village weekend

The Westin Trillium House, the Blue Mountain Inn, the Village Suites and the chalets rented by the week: a one-way flat fare from Toronto or Pearson on Friday and back on Sunday, or the multi-day booking with the chauffeur staying nearby for a weekend that includes Collingwood's restaurants, Thornbury, the spa and the Beaver Valley. The city-to-city page explains when two flat fares beat an overnight.

Summer at the Bay

Blue Mountain in summer is the Village's patios and the Ridge Runner coaster, the Scandinave Spa's outdoor pools, Collingwood's harbour and Hurontario Street, Wasaga Beach's fourteen kilometres of sand thirty minutes east, Thornbury's harbour and cider houses twenty minutes west, the Georgian Trail on a bike, and the caves at Scenic Caves. A summer day is ten hours with the SUV parked at each and a beach bag in the boot; the Barrie and Lake Simcoe page is the shorter version of a beach day, an hour closer.

Autumn: apples, colours and the Beaver Valley

Late September to mid-October the Beaver Valley south of Thornbury and the escarpment above Collingwood are the best colours within two hours of Toronto, and the apple orchards along the 26 and Grey Road 13 - Thornbury's cideries, the pick-your-own farms - are the day. The Blue Mountain gondola runs for the colours. Ten hours, the SUV, a case of cider in the boot; the Ontario Parks colour report picks the weekend and the Muskoka page is the alternative colours drive.

The spa day

The Scandinave Spa is a stop on a ski day or a day of its own: a couple from Yorkville, 9 am, two hours up, four hours of hot and cold pools in the woods, lunch in the Village, home by 5. Eight hours, the S-Class or the sedan, phones off. Book the spa's timed entry first.

Corporate Blue Mountain

The company ski day, the Village conference at the Westin, the offsite at the Blue Mountain Inn, the sales team's summer day: Sprinters from the office with the gear in the bay, on the corporate account, with the events page covering the conference logistics and the Village's coach drop.

The car

The Luxury SUV is the Blue Mountain car in every season: skis and boards inside with the seats folded or on the rack, boots and helmets in the boot, a family of four to six, winter tyres, ground clearance for a chalet road. The Executive Sprinter for a group of seven to twelve with the gear in the bay, cheapest per seat. The Mercedes S-Class or the sedan for the spa couple. The fleet page has capacities; say what gear is travelling at booking so the rack is fitted.

What it costs

The class hourly rate for the date - a winter Saturday carries the peak-date layer - times the hours, or a flat fare each way, plus HST and the gratuity you set; no tolls; the Village's parking is the chauffeur's problem, not yours. The rates page explains the number. For a family of five with gear, the SUV for a ski day is comparable to the family's own car once the parents' Saturday and the 26 in a squall are counted, and the Sprinter for a ski club's ten is cheaper per seat than any alternative.

Blue Mountain, in a table

Booking Blue Mountain

Choose By the hour, the SUV or the Sprinter, your address, the date, a 7 am start and ten to twelve hours for a ski day; put the gear, the base (Village or South) or the private club, and the lift-ticket times in the notes. For the weekend, Route each way or a multi-day by phone. Winter Saturdays, the Family Day and March Break weeks and the Christmas holidays book two weeks ahead - the SUVs are all going north.

The private ski clubs, and where the car goes

Craigleith Ski Club and Alpine Ski Club are on Grey Road 19 below the Village; Osler Bluff is on the 3rd Line off the 26 toward Thornbury; Georgian Peaks is on the 26 at Thornbury; Devil's Glen is south at Glen Huron off the 124. Members' families are dropped at the club's door with the gear and collected at the same door at 4; the chauffeur waits in the club's lot or in Collingwood. A club day is the same ten- to twelve-hour block as a Blue Mountain day and the clubs' own websites publish the guest rules.

The Collingwood side

Collingwood itself, ten minutes from the Village, is the town: Hurontario Street's shops and restaurants, the harbour and the grain terminals, the Collingwood Museum, the Side Launch brewery, and dinner at the Iron Skillet or the Huron Club after a day on the hill. A Blue Mountain day that ends with dinner in Collingwood rather than at the base is twelve hours and the better day. Thornbury, twenty minutes west, is the quieter version with the cider houses and the harbour.

Wasaga Beach

Fourteen kilometres of sand thirty minutes east of the Village on the 26, the longest freshwater beach in the world, and a summer day of its own: the SUV at Beach Area 1 with the picnic and the umbrellas, the Ontario Parks day-use permit booked ahead on a summer weekend, and ice cream on the strip. Ten hours from Toronto; the Barrie page is the shorter beach alternative on Lake Simcoe.

Booking notice, and the peak weeks

Christmas week, Family Day weekend in February, March Break and any Saturday after a snowfall are the weeks every SUV in Toronto is on the 400; book two weeks ahead and give the desk the lift-ticket times so the chauffeur's day is planned around them. A weekday ski day is quieter on the hill, quieter on the 26 and cheaper on the peak-date layer the rates page explains.

What it costs against the family's own car

A ski day for five in the family's SUV is free until the parents count the Saturday, the 26 in a squall, the parking at the base and the drive home at 4 pm with three tired children; a chauffeured SUV for eleven hours is a known number quoted before the day, with the parents asleep on the way up and the gear unloaded at the door. For a ski club's ten in a Sprinter the arithmetic is not close in the Sprinter's favour.

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