Toronto to Muskoka by chauffeur: cottage country without the 400

The 400 on a Friday, solved

Muskoka is where Toronto goes in summer, and the 400 north on a Friday afternoon is the price it pays: two hours to Barrie that should be one, the 11 crawling through Orillia, the Muskoka Road 118 to Port Carling at dusk. A chauffeured Muskoka drive removes the driving from a weekend that is about not driving: the car collects the family, the dog and the groceries at 2 pm - or, better, at noon - and the personal chauffeur arrangement makes it a standing Friday from May to Thanksgiving with the car home on Sunday at 4. For the lodge guest, the wedding party, the golf trip and the autumn colours day, it is an hourly or flat-fare booking from any Toronto door. The full-day page explains the hourly product; this page is Muskoka.

The drive

The 400 north from the 401 through Vaughan, King and Barrie; the 11 from Barrie past Orillia and Gravenhurst; then Muskoka Road 118 west to Bracebridge, Port Carling and Lake Rosseau, or the 11 north to Huntsville and Lake of Bays. Two hundred kilometres and two and a half hours off-peak to Port Carling; three and a half on a Friday after 2; the same coming home on a Sunday after 3. No tolls. A noon departure on Friday and a 10 am departure on Sunday are the chauffeur's suggestion and the reason to have one. Ontario 511 for the 400's construction and the winter closures; the SUV for the gravel cottage road at the end.

Where in Muskoka

Gravenhurst at the foot of Lake Muskoka, the Muskoka Wharf and the steamships. Bracebridge with the falls in the middle of town and the road to Lake Muskoka's east shore. Port Carling, the hub between Lakes Muskoka, Rosseau and Joseph, and the cottages of the Muskoka Lakes. Minett and the JW Marriott The Rosseau, Windermere House on Lake Rosseau, Taboo and Deerhurst near Huntsville, Bigwin Island on Lake of Bays, Sherwood Inn on Lake Joseph: the lodges and resorts a car service goes to most. Huntsville and the road to Algonquin's west gate. Bala for the cranberry festival and the Kee. The chauffeur knows the cottage roads' numbering system, which is the thing GPS does not.

The bookings people make

The cottage run. Friday noon or 2 pm from Forest Hill, Rosedale or Oakville, the SUV, the family, the dog, the cooler; Sunday 3 or 4 pm home. Two flat fares or two hourly blocks; as a standing summer arrangement, the personal chauffeur page.

The lodge weekend. A couple or a family to the JW Marriott, Windermere or Deerhurst as one-way flat fares each way, or the multi-day booking with the chauffeur staying nearby for a weekend that includes Bala, Huntsville and a dinner in Port Carling.

The lake day. A Toronto family without a cottage: 9 am to Gravenhurst for the steamship cruise, lunch on the Wharf, Bracebridge falls, a swim at a public beach, ice cream in Port Carling, home by 7. Ten hours, the SUV.

The autumn colours drive. Late September to mid-October, the 11 and the 118 and the 60 to Algonquin's west gate in a loop, lunch in Huntsville, home by dark. Ten to twelve hours; the Ontario Parks fall-colour report picks the weekend.

The golf trip. Taboo, Deerhurst, Bigwin, Muskoka Bay, the Rock: four to a Sprinter or the SUV with the bags in the bay, a Friday-to-Sunday multi-day with the chauffeur driving between courses.

The Muskoka wedding. A lodge wedding at Minett, Windermere or Taboo: the couple's car and Sprinter shuttles for guests from the Toronto hotel block, planned on the wedding-day page.

Pearson to the cottage. A visitor landing at Pearson and going straight north: a one-way flat fare with the flight tracked, the city-to-city page explains, and the chauffeur meets the flight and drives the 427 to the 401 to the 400.

Flat fare or hourly

The cottage run and the lodge transfer are one-way flat fares, fixed by route and class, with the car's return built in - the city-to-city page explains the rule. The lake day and the colours drive are hourly, ten to twelve hours, with the car waiting at the Wharf and the falls and the beach. The lodge weekend with the chauffeur staying is a multi-day booking with a per-diem on the confirmation; for most weekends the two-flat-fare version is cheaper and the desk says so.

The car

The Luxury SUV is the Muskoka car: the family, the dog (in the back with a blanket the chauffeur brings), the cooler and the groceries, the ground clearance for the cottage road, the winter tyres for a ski weekend at Hidden Valley. The Executive Sprinter for the golf group or the wedding guests, with the bay for the bags. The Mercedes S-Class for the lodge guest who wants the drive to be part of the weekend. The Executive Sedan for a couple with one bag. The fleet page has capacities.

The dog, the groceries and the cottage road

A dog rides in the SUV's cargo area on a blanket, or on the seat in a carrier; say so at booking. Groceries and the cooler ride in the boot with the bags; the SUV takes a family's weekend. The cottage road is the last five kilometres of every Muskoka drive - gravel, unlit, numbered by the township - and the chauffeur asks for the fire number and the landmarks at booking, drives it slowly, and unloads at the door. A boat-access cottage means the marina; the chauffeur meets the boat on Sunday.

Winter Muskoka

Ski weekends at Hidden Valley, snowmobiling out of Bracebridge, the Muskoka Wharf's ice trail, the Christmas at the lodges: the 400 and the 11 in a snowstorm are the reason to have a chauffeur in an SUV with winter tyres and a dispatcher watching 511. Drives leave early or wait a day; nobody is sent into a closure; the flat fare does not change with the weather.

What it costs

A flat fare by route and class each way, or the class hourly rate times the hours, plus HST and the gratuity you set; no tolls on the 400 or the 11; a per-diem for an overnight chauffeur where booked. The rates page explains the hourly number. Against a rental car for a visitor, it is the difference between a weekend and a drive; against the family's own car, it is the Friday afternoon back.

The lodges, in a table

Booking Muskoka

For the cottage run or a lodge, choose Route, the class, the addresses, the date and time; put the fire number, the landmarks, the dog and the cooler in the notes. For a lake day or the colours, By the hour, ten to twelve hours, with the plan in the notes. For a standing summer Friday, call the desk. Book summer Fridays and Thanksgiving weekend two weeks ahead - every SUV in the city is going north.

Muskoka's towns and the drive times

The steamships, the Wharf and a Muskoka day for visitors

The RMS Segwun at the Muskoka Wharf in Gravenhurst is the oldest operating steamship in North America, and a two-hour cruise on Lake Muskoka is the single best way to show a visitor what the cottages look like from the water; the Muskoka Steamships site has the schedule and the chauffeur has the car at the Wharf when it docks. With lunch at the Wharf, Bracebridge's falls and a stop in Port Carling, it is the ten-hour Muskoka day for a family without a cottage.

Thanksgiving and the Victoria Day weekend

The two weekends the whole city goes north at once. The 400 on the Friday of each is three and a half hours to Barrie; the Sunday home is worse. A chauffeured car does not change the road but it changes who sits in it, and the desk's honest advice is to leave Thursday evening or Friday at 10 am and come home Monday morning. Book both weekends a month ahead; every SUV is going north.

What the chauffeur brings

A blanket for the dog, a cooler bag for the groceries, tow straps and a shovel in winter, a first-aid kit, chargers, water, and the fire-number map of the township you gave at booking. None of it is on the invoice; all of it is why the same families book the same chauffeur every summer.

Booking, in one line

Route each way for the cottage or the lodge; By the hour for a lake or colours day; a call to the desk for the standing summer Friday - and the fire number in the notes every time.

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