Thousand Islands cruise from Gananoque: a Canada Day trip from Montreal via Kingston

We left Montreal in the morning, caught Canada Day in Kingston, then took a 3-hour Thousand Islands cruise from Gananoque, all in one day. This post covers which cruise to pick (one, three or five hours) and where to board to reach Boldt Castle sooner.

Our boat left the Gananoque dock and spent a little over an hour in the narrow channels between the islands. Then Boldt Castle appeared above Heart Island. From then on my parents switched back and forth between photos and video, and our kid said, “So that’s the one,” and couldn’t look away. This is our Thousand Islands cruise, done as a day trip from Montreal on July 1, 2026: Canada Day, the country’s national holiday.

We went back to Kingston a month later. That trip is in Kingston from Montreal in two days: Fort Henry and Sandbanks. Where we stayed in Kingston is in that post too.

01You can do Montreal to the Thousand Islands and back in a day

Heading west on Highway 401, you reach the exit for the Long Sault Parkway. The road strings together small islands in the St. Lawrence River with causeways, so a short detour off the highway feels like driving across the water.

Our next stop, Iroquois Beach, had wonderful sunshine. Eating lunch by the sparkling river, we realized the land on the far side was New York State. We stopped here again a month later on the way to Kingston, but that day was overcast, which only made us miss the July 1 sun more.

02On July 1, Kingston’s waterfront park becomes the party

As we drove into Kingston, people wrapped in maple leaf flags started to show up here and there. The park across from City Hall was already packed with tents and people, and our kid got a red maple leaf painted on a cheek and was thrilled. We only looked at Fort Henry from downtown that day; the visit inside is in our Kingston Fort Henry post.

A black steam locomotive stands at one side of the park. It’s Canadian Pacific Railway 1095, built in Kingston in 1913 and reportedly donated to the city on Canada Day in 1966. On the stage next to it, a brass band in matching red shirts kept playing.

A short walk along the waterfront brings you to the Great Lakes Museum. The Edwardian-era passenger ship S.S. Keewatin sits there in dry dock, and you can look up at its huge white bow from right in front of it.

The catch was time. We had a 4 p.m. sailing in Gananoque, so lunch was burgers, eaten fast, around 3 p.m. Luckily the road was clear. If you’d rather see more of the festival, board in Kingston or book a later sailing.

03Where you board matters more than you’d think

Coming from Toronto, the order flips. Heading east on Highway 401, you reach Kingston first (about 260 km, 2.5 to 3 hours), and Gananoque is about 30 minutes farther (about 280 km, just over 3 hours). From Montreal, Gananoque comes first, so seeing the Kingston festival meant driving past it and doubling back. From Toronto, Kingston and then Gananoque fall naturally along the same road.

Some things stay the same. Even from Toronto, Gananoque is the closer dock to Boldt Castle, and choosing between the 1-, 3- and 5-hour cruises works the same way. The difference is the driving. A day trip from Toronto means close to 6 hours behind the wheel round trip, so adding a 3-hour cruise fills the whole day. Long Sault Parkway and Iroquois Beach, where we stopped, are east of Gananoque, so they aren’t on the way from Toronto. If you’d rather not drive, a day tour from Toronto is easier. With more time, staying a night in Gananoque or Kingston also works.

Cruises leave mainly from three places: Kingston, Gananoque and Ivy Lea. Gananoque is a small waterfront town. We chose it after hearing that Boldt Castle and the prettiest islands were closer from there, and when we measured on a map, the distance to Heart Island really was less than half of Kingston’s.

Same three hours, but less time getting to what you came to see, so it felt less tedious. Gananoque is also on the Montreal side, which made the drive home shorter. If you’re staying in Kingston, a 3-hour cruise from Kingston is the easy option, but Boldt Castle isn’t on the listed route.

04One, three or five hours: why three worked for us

My parents settled it before anyone else weighed in: one hour would feel too short, five would be too long. So we went with three, and honestly, there were moments when three felt a bit long too. Still, an hour wouldn’t have gotten us to Boldt Castle, so they called it right.

Just out of Gananoque, we spotted black cormorants from the deck. Our kid stayed amused by even a single water bird for a long while.

05What you pass on the 3-hour cruise: island cottages, Boldt Castle, the bridge

The Canada–US border runs down the middle of the channels between the islands. That’s why the cottages fly different flags, and you pass more than a few islands flying the Stars and Stripes.

The prettiest sight of the day, easily, was Boldt Castle. George Boldt, owner of New York’s Waldorf-Astoria hotel, was building it for his wife; when she died a few months before it was finished, work stopped, as the story goes. The boat circled the island slowly, showing the castle from one side after another.

Thousand Island dressing comes from this area, too. One story credits the chef on Boldt’s yacht; another says an innkeeper in Clayton served it to his fishing guests. Clayton is the US town the cruise passes.

Passing under the Thousand Islands Bridge was our kid’s favorite part, and the bridge came up in conversation several times after we got home. Beyond it, an observation tower rose high above an island: the 1000 Islands Tower on Hill Island. Tickets aren’t sold online, only at the booth on site. Next time I’d like to go up and look down on the islands we saw from the water.

You can’t bring food on board, so whenever we got hungry we picked up snacks at the snack bar. The one letdown was the weather. The sky stayed a little gray the whole time, and on a bright day the water would have looked even better.

06Five things to check before booking a Gananoque cruise

We got off the boat around 7 p.m., and our kid went straight into the water at Gananoque’s downtown waterfront. This is a kid who loves water, so there was no better way to end the day.

An evening concert was on at the outdoor stage in the waterfront park. People sat on the grass and stone seats while the music carried out toward the river.

If you’d like to spend the night in Gananoque after the cruise, the Ramada 1000 Islands, The Gananoque Inn and Howard Johnson Gananoque are all close to the dock.

07If a tornado warning goes off on a summer evening

On the way back, the sky changed fast. At 7:50 p.m., tornado warnings went off on every phone, and the thunder and lightning were frightening. When that happens, stop driving and go into the nearest sturdy building. People around us had already gone inside stores, and the warning says the same thing.

If you visit this area in summer, check the evening weather along with the cruise times, and note a big store or rest stop on your way home that you could go into. If a warning sounds, pull in there right away and go inside.

In the car back to Montreal, worn out from the long day, the family fell asleep one by one.

FAQ

The short version

From Montreal, a Thousand Islands cruise fits easily into one day. If you want to see Boldt Castle, the 3-hour boat from Gananoque is the most efficient way to do it, and on July 1 you can add Canada Day in Kingston earlier in the day. Expect to rush lunch to make the departure, and on summer afternoons be ready to head into the nearest building if a warning goes off.

Before you go

Sources

• Destination Ontario, 1000 Islands Cruises Gananoque
• City Cruises Gananoque
• Environment Canada tornado warning, July 1, 2026, 7:50 p.m.