Visiting friends and family in the area and what would a trip here be without a stop at the Pinery. We came by two days in mid August. This is a large Provincial Park with pretty much something for everyone including a dog beach, plenty of biking / walking trails, camping, a place to canoe and of course...the amazing beaches. One feels like you are holidays in Mexico when you are on these beaches...warm clear water, a few waves and great sand. We brought beach umbrellas and chairs and highly recommend some type of protection from the sun on hot sunny days. It was a very positive beach/nature experience and happy to recommend the Pinery. read more

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Great place to camp, relax, take some short hikes and just enjoy nature. We camped in the Dunes section, and had about as close to an ideal tenting experience as you're going to find at a large, popular park. I was concerned when I booked the site that the Ontario Parks website described its privacy as "poor"--were we going to have people walking through our campsite constantly? Hardly. Compared to sites in Michigan state parks, where I've done a lot more camping, we were well sheltered by the tall trees and roadside brush. We were at the edge of the pavement and had a fair number of people walking by on their way to the beach, along with an occasional car, but they would have had to make some pretty determined efforts to stare at us (and really, doesn't everyone have better things to do? Not at some parks, I've learned). We'd have had more shelter at a site further back on the half-circle we were part of, but honestly, we were fine. There was plenty of room to put up our tent and dining shelter. No electricity or water on site (Pinery has another unit with more developed campsites), but there was a flush toilet nearby, a showerhouse in easy walking distance, and drinking water faucets regularly spaced through the campground. We could walk to the edge of Lake Huron in less than 10 minutes. The showers were clean with abundant hot water. The toilet station nearest us was also very clean, and when a flush handle broke Sunday afternoon, it was replaced in matter of hours. As I mentioned, Pinery is a popular park, and in the evening there is a modest amount of noise, though not enough to drown out the whipporwills and coyotes. Generally, the farther you are from the beach, the visitor centre, and the camp store, the better your chances for quiet and solitude. The trails are generally short--mostly in the 1-2.5K range, but wide and well kept. Their width is a good thing, too, since this may be one of the most poison-ivy infested parks I've ever seen. On the other hand, our visit was amazingnly bug-free. I do wish there were some longer trails here--it seems like that would be possible in the east end of the park. But the forest, dune, and wetland scenes along the existing trails are lovely. Have wanted to check this place out for a long time and glad we finally did. read more

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This is a beautiful park, and we go here every year. The facilities, campsites and comfort stations are cleaned and well maintained. If you see a problem on your site or elsewhere, just alert the staff and they will be right on it! The dunes campgrounds are great, especially if you can do without electricity. I advise you to book early and check back often, if you don't get your first choice of site on your initial attempt. Yes, wake up at 6 a.m. and go on line to reserve at 7:00. You'll have to move fast once you've spied your site. As I said above, check back often. There is a reason why this place is so popular, but people sometimes cancel. I am a dog owner, with two dogs. The dog beaches here are second to none! Even better than that human beach! read more

Visited in July 2017. Note that this review aims at providing factual commentaries to campers. For qualitative review, I completely agree with Branden H's review. Pro: Big park with a very long beach Within 3-hour drive from Toronto Well run. Organized. Cleaner restrooms Unique nature feature - sand dunes 2 gift shops: one is Park Store, the other one is a smaller store in Visitor Centre Prices of park restaurant/canteen are reasonable The ice cream stall gives very big scoops, almost the size of a tennis ball. Con: Pebble beach, not sandy beach Except for the multi-use trail, hiking trails are shorter, from less than 1km to under 3km. Lot of poison ivy along hiking trails. Hiking in long pants would be safer, even though they are hotter. Personal observation about the 3 campgrounds: Dunes - Short walk to beach. It is more developed with mature shrubs and wider vehicle roads. Specific site privacy is average to good, except for high traffic areas. The size of sites are good to generous. I stayed here. I liked it the best. Riverside - Next to a river, yet further from the beach. Many electrical and pull through sites for RVs and campers. Some sites are very big. Many yurts. Privacy is poor as there are insufficient/short shrubs. I can't see myself camping here until the shrubs have grown more mature Burley - Linear campground. Short walk to beach. The campground is more remote than Riverside and Dunes, so the privacy is generally good. Specific site privacy level varies quite a bit, as some have wide openings to the road. Sites tend to be smaller. Very narrow vehicle road. I like the privacy level at Burley. However, it takes intimate knowledge to book good sites, as in bigger and fewer trees within site. If you do, book Burley by all means to enjoy the tranquility and the beach. Otherwise, I will recommend booking at Dunes instead. Noteworthy: The smaller gift shop in Visitor Centre doesn't charge sales taxes. The big Park Store does. The two shops have different merchandises All 3 campgrounds has multiple comfort centres. The park is suitable for biking, as the park is big but not gigantic like Algonquin. Most roads are paved, but none of the trails are. Personally, I think it is easier to bring hybrid or mountain bikes. It is easy to bike from Dunes and Riverside to Visitor Centre, Park Store and restaurant. Bikes are permitted on the multi-use trail, which is 12 km long. read more

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Just got back from another great weekend stay at the Pinery and again, I can't say enough good things about this park. If you are tent camping, Dunes campground is the place to stay. Very few campers/small trailers can fit in here. The sites are huge, but paths are very windy and hilly so it is mainly tents. Lots of shade, but you still should get nice afternoon sun depending on your site. Canoe and paddle boat rentals start at $12 an hour which makes it affordable for everyone. Wood yard is currently selling bags of wood for $7.50. Kindling for $4.50. This park is beautiful and very family friendly! read more

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Stopped by here for a day-trip after visiting Grand Bend and had a great time. We went for a hike throughout the area and had a good time, it seemed empty even though there was a lineup of cars to get in ($16 per car for a day). We also checked out the beach which was pretty huge but not manned (ie. no lifeguard, not much open space, etc). Wouldn't be my top choice as a place to camp; be careful when picking your campsite as A LOT of them are right on the road (serious, who wants to camp on a road?). I'd probably rather venture a couple more hours north to Bruce Peninsula if I wanted something relaxing, or Algonquin if i wanted to go hardcore! Rentals are also competitively priced and are all by the hour. The river you go onto is free of motor boats and a nice relaxing area (you're pretty much with all the other rentals). They had a ton of canoes, hydro bikes, 4 person paddle boats, kayaks, and some other stuff too. read more

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Awesome place, clear water at the beach, great temperature as well. The Park is big, well preserved, worth going back. Lots of space for camping, walking or biking on the trails. Boat and bike rentals, and also some food options in the central visitors center. read more

Pinery Provincial Park - Parks Near Me - Grand Bend, Ontario

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PINERY PROVINCIAL PARK *Sooperspecial Bonus Park 9526 Lakeshore Road RR2 Grand Bend (*1 Hour of rollycar driving away!) HAPPY FUN TIMES RATING: 5 SNORTS *Highest likemendation! This is a super big park that's so big it won't fit into my hometown of the London Ontarioplace! We had to drive for a long time in the rollycar to get there, but it was soopercool! It had beaches for dogs and pretty trails and the woods there looked and smelled real differenter than any other woods I've seen! I luvluvloved it! The end. read more

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Disclaimer: my review is based solely on the day use area and not camping because I hate camping. We decided to check out the Pinery dog beach, which was great, except it was SUPER chopping and the waves scared my dogs who are wusses. And we paid $17, that's the day use fee, be prepared. The park itself is lovely, nestled among tons of trees so there was tons of shade. And to my surprise hardly any bugs (Rondeau is FULL OF BUGS) which was a huge plus for someone like me who is indifferent to nature outside of the city. The drive out to the beach area wasn't too bad, a little bumpy but pretty easy to get to. The girl at the booth told us exactly where to park for the dog beach. Parking was pretty limited because: 1. people are scare to park kind of close to another vehicle 2. lots of trailers and RVs were parked in this area. We were able to find parking and the walk down to the beach was quick and fairly easy. That being sail for someone with limited mobility or a stroller it could be difficult. The beach itself was small, the tides were quite high and there was maybe 10 feet of beach, but we can blame nature for that one. Otherwise the water was warm and if my dogs had not been scared we would've stayed much longer. All in all, we'll be back. There seems to be tons of stuff to do in the park but next time I'll leave the canines at home. read more

A beautiful park that combines approachable woods with a crashing beach! We had a fab mid-week getaway, rode bikes, had amazing campfire cook outs and swam, sunned and will probably be back again. PROS: I love the beach and my boyfriend loves the woods. But I like the woods and he likes the beach. We never had to compromise much as far as activities went. The beach goes on forever and the waves can get pretty big. Awesome Ice Cream. Not TOO far from Toronto and the drive takes you through many beautiful small towns. Clean and well maintained by park staff. I'm not sure if it was the season, but there were tons of beautiful butterfly species everywhere. The rental bikes were comfortable and well maintained. If you're not a tent camper they have Yurts, which are furnished soft sided cabins with wooden decks and gas BBQs. There is a also a wood cabin that sleeps 5 and has a coffee maker, microwave, etc. and it's only $125/night. It's not in the most private of areas, but it did look really nice. CONS: For the size of the park the sites are very close together. It takes a lot of looking around to find a relatively private site. What seemed to be a private site with no neighbours on line, bumped up against another block of sites in Burley and we had a family with small children smack dab next to us. We are a respectful bunch of adults in our 30's but we like to enjoy drinks and conversation in front of the campfire later in the evening and we worried that we were disturbing them. So when you book, I'd recommend calling instead of booking on line so you can ask about the privacy of the sites. Some of the showers had minimal if nonexistent hot water. Although the beach was incredibly beautiful, I was surprised at the amount of huge logs and rocks that were everywhere. Our friends said that they think the park cleans it up a bit more later in the summer. We got around this by nesting in the soft sand of the dunes and then venturing down when we wanted to swim. A great camping experience! read more

We canceled a day-use reservation 3 days in advance and were not refunded. Their policy changed last year regarding cancellation being refunded, and now we have only a 2 hours grace (after we book) to get our money back in case of cancellation. Right after our cancellation, when we saw that we were not refunded, we tried to get our day back (since we already paid for it) but after speaking to their manager, there was no way of that. They said that we should have looked to the cancellation fee policy and that nothing could be changed. I admit that we should have looked more carefully... But the fact that we did not have, us as well, a grace period of 2 hours to reverse our cancellation decision is not fair. Also the fact that an honest mistake cannot be reversed with just a bit of flexibility from their part is absolutely not understandable. We are very bitter and frustrated from the service and the way that they treat the public, to say the least! read more

What a great spot. There are a tables right by the water so you can sit have a picnic/BBQ and enjoy the view. I wish I would have discovered this place earlier this Sommer. It's not to crowded and way nicer than the main strip of grand bend. read more

Went here for a day trip in the summer. Beautiful beach. Perfect blue. I loved the trails and how there were restrooms near each parking space with a sink as well to wash out the sand from our clothes. Only issue wasn't indicated on road signs that the first two beaches were dog friendly (and the rest are not). I love dogs so it wasn't as issue, but it could be inconvenient for others who don't know! I recommend taking a good look at the map before choosing a parking spot! read more

July 2016. We stayed at the yurt. We really enjoyed ourselves. It was a great experience. I loved their catalog explaining different things about the park. The yurt fit comfortably for 2 adults and 3 small children. There's a BBQ and firepit. The visiting center was awesome. Sadly, their educational videos are not closed caption. My family and I had to leave because we didn't understand the documentary. :( Their store offers many things - we were able to find what we need. If not, there's NO Frills grocery store nearby. Turn left when you get out of the park. It's on the right hand side. There are many hiking options. There are also bike (and accessories) rentals and canoe, kayak, and paddle boat rentals. We didn't do these but I thought I mention it anyways. The beach is NICE and clean. We loved it. I wish there was a playground for all ages. Something to do in between events. Luckily we brought activities to keep the children busy. Grand Bend is not far - a lot of traffic but worth the wait. We love that town! Turn left when you get out of town. Turn left again when you see Colonial (? Sorry I forgot the name) hotel. If you see "P" for public parking, that's when you turn left. There are many shop and their beach is nice too. They also have a water splash and playground. I recommended visiting this town. Parking is $10 for 4 hours. read more

The Pinery provincial park is a great camping ground for people who are unsure about camping in general. It has all the amenities you have a home and a store very close by in case you forgot something. I highly recommend this park for anyone who has not done this past time before. Bring your kids and enjoy the getting back to a time before computers. Where they can enjoy physical activity and social interaction! However, I would not recommend this campground for experienced campers as it is very mainstream now and can be congested at times. The beach has become smaller year after year to the point where you walking a few clicks to find a open space. For people with pets the doggy beach is a great activity to tire out your pets but as stated before not very much running room so I hope your pet enjoys swimming. All in all I would still rate it 4 stars. Lake Huron is a Great Lake where you walk in an all you can feel is sand in between your toes! Last but not least one of the best sunsets and sunrises I've seen do not miss this make sure you get to the beach when the sun goes down you will not regret it... Give it a shot ! read more

Pinery Provincial Park - Sunset at the Pinery provincial campground! A must see. - Parks Near Me - Grand Bend, Ontario

Can't fully comment on it as we went just for a few hrs. It was a good drive. Some trails that are quite easy. $17 for a day pass.

Great spot for day trip, or camping overnight. Beautiful space protected well by caring staff.

AMAZING woodsy/dune camping, with modern facilities, tons of beaches (two are dog-friendly), and even wifi at the store!! Love this place.

I had heard a lot about The Pinery and was not disappointed! Our campsite was relatively private (especially since we booked so late), the trails were beautiful and the sunsets on the lake even better. I would highly recommend the park for grownups and kids alike. read more

Camp here every year! The sites are relatively private and the beaches are clean and well maintained. The washrooms have been renovated recently and wifi is now available near the nature center. Rent a bike, kayak down the river, enjoy the beaches, or hike in the many trails available for the day! read more