Cats Walks started the way most good things start: with a weekend drive and no particular plan. A few years ago, we packed a bag on a Friday afternoon, drove north from the city, and ended up in a small Ontario town we had never visited before. The main street had a bakery that smelled incredible, a bookshop with a cat sleeping in the window, and a trail that wound down to a quiet stretch of lakeshore.
We came back the next weekend. And the weekend after that, we tried a different town. Before long, we had a list of favourite places, a routine of packing light and heading out early, and a growing sense that these small trips were changing the way we thought about time, rest, and what counts as an adventure.
Cats Walks is a journal about those trips and the places that make them worthwhile. We write about small towns in Ontario, weekend getaways that do not require a plane ticket, local food worth seeking out, and the slower pace of life that comes with spending time in places built for people rather than tourists.
You will find destination guides for places like Prince Edward County, Wasaga Beach, Stayner, Shelburne, and Petawawa. We write about where to eat, what to do with kids, and how to plan a weekend that actually feels restful. We also share photo essays, because some places are best understood through pictures taken on a quiet morning walk.
The name comes from the habit of wandering without urgency. Cats do not hike. They do not power-walk. They stroll, pause, investigate, and sit in the sun when the mood strikes. That is the energy we bring to travel. No itineraries packed to the minute. No rushing from attraction to attraction. Just walking, looking, eating well, and finding the places that feel right.
We are a small team of writers and photographers based in Ontario. Some of us grew up in the small towns we write about. Others discovered them later and fell for the pace of life. All of us believe that you do not need to fly across the world to find somewhere worth exploring. Sometimes the best trip is two hours down a county road you have never taken before.
The site is organized into a few sections:
Destinations covers the towns and regions we visit most often. Each guide gives you an honest look at what a place is like, what makes it worth the trip, and what to expect when you arrive.
Guides offers practical advice for planning weekends away. Road trip preparation, first-time visitor tips, and curated lists of the best places for specific kinds of trips.
Food and Drink is about the restaurants, bakeries, wineries, farm stands, and markets that make small-town Ontario a genuine food destination.
Family covers travelling with kids. Easy weekends, rainy-day ideas, and beach-and-trail days that work for all ages.
Lifestyle explores the bigger questions: what it means to slow down, why some people move to smaller towns, and how weekend trips can shift your perspective on daily life.
Thank you for reading. We hope something here inspires your next weekend.