As one of the top destinations of Canada, excellent experiences that await you. The city of Kingston has a vibrant culture, offers great things to do to and fun facts. Kingston was Canada’s first capital city has over two dozen museums, a UNESCO World Heritage the site and national historic sites. Kingston has one of Canada’s delightful historic landmarks i.e. magnificent limestone buildings because of which they also call Kingston the “Limestone City”. This oldest city was established in 1673 has an abundant number of restaurants and pubs, parks, beaches, cafés and shops, art galleries and events to attract tourists.
Being in Kingston is to be like around plenty of culture and the performing arts are no exception, from comedy shows to vocalists, the Isabel Bader Center for the Performing Arts to the Grand Theatre, the Leon’s Centre to the host of most popular festivals include writers fest, febfest, Reelout Film Festival, the Día de los Muertos Kingston Festival, Lviv Ukraine Festival, and the Wolfe Island Music Festival, etc. Head to Crysler Park Marina we can have a lot to do kayaking, canoeing or paddle-boarding or go accessing popular places by boat to explore beautiful places from the water. For me the interesting part of taking a ride on the tour trolley and walking trails to explore the flora & fauna and historical places around downtown Kingston.
Fort Frederick/Military Communications and Electronics Museum
Military Communications and Electronics Museum is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, offering chronological displays on leading-edge technology and demonstrate British military life dated back to 1903 the world war & various other wars. Fort Frederick is a highly recommended Historic building for all ages to learn about the history of military communications and the era of communication satellites through there over 7,000 items collection of artifacts, war trophies, aircraft, the Sherman Tank, Centurion Tank, and Leopard tank plus HMCS Huron (G24) X Guns, Bloomfield SBML 32-pounder Gun and SBML 32-pounder Gun, fire a Rifle. The Famous Haunted Walk of Kingston shares ghost stories of historic Kingston. The tour to this British military fort is incomplete without historical re-enactments, the famous Sunset cannon firing Ceremony and most important a Garrison Parade.
Kingston City Hall and the Museum of Health Care
Kingston’s City Hall’s stunning neoclassical architecture and an iconic dome made this one of the best 19th-century buildings in Canada. Kingston City Hall is a nationally nominated heritage site, that’s still the city’s administration and governing center. This prominent landmark’s first two floors are open to the public year-round, dates back to 1844, teach a lot about the history and Canada’s administration style. And then the Anne Baillie Building is the only Museum of Health Care in the country, dedicated to the history of health and health care. Originally, these Beaux-Arts style limestone was a dormitory for nursing students, show over 30,000 healthcare artifacts include surgical, medical and laboratory instruments and patient care items dated back to the 18th century till now.
Springer Market Square
Just behind the city hall, there is Ontario’s oldest market, with a nice blend of an old-fashioned and seasonal market with classical produce offerings. Springer Market Square is a large open-air market space, where locals love to have a delicious treat of fresh-grown flavors and natural offerings. This place is a hub for local vendors, sell the products range from bakeries, meat, and egg to flowers, handmade items & arts, crafts and much more. Not just this place offers free concerts, a free ice skating rink in winters, and on Sunday an antique market with community gatherings.
Bellevue House
Today, heritage center cum museum, the Bellevue House was home to Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John Alexander Macdonald, from 1848 until 1849. The house is inspired by Italian architecture in the country, has three floors, complete with balconies, a non-symmetrical style windows, and various roof gables. It’s worth visiting this house that exhibits and shows informative videos regarding the story behind the birth of Canada, and a place to learn about Sir John Alexander Macdonald’s life. There is also a beautiful kitchen garden and heirloom, grown just as they would have been when the MacDonald’s lived there. And my favorite when I got the chance to try on the century clothing and had toured as a Lady of the House.
Kingston Mills / Rideau Canal
The Rideau Canal is a World Heritage Site that connects Kingston to Ottawa. The Rideau Canal, called the Kingston Mills Locks, is a manmade marvel of engineering that attracts visitors all long the year. It’s a beautiful green space is nice for a picnic or a walk, can access Kingston Mills Locks by foot every season but it’s worth have a boat tour that runs from May until October.
Parks
Lake Ontario in Cataraqui Bay is Kingston’s largest urban waterfront park in the city. We highly recommend this gorgeous natural landscape cum waterfront for families with young children. The park also has a large cobble beach, picnicking, and sand play areas right along the waterfront. It’s a great place to walk along the shore, a splash pad in summer, or bike along the pathway at the waterfront. It offers a noteworthy scuba diving and boasts a natural skating rink two rinks for hockey and public skating in winter. There are several places in the Kingston area where you can rent sailboats, kayaks, paddles boards canoe, and bikes rentals and more.
Pump-House Museum
The steam-powered pumps are the original Water Works located in downtown Kingston. This steam museum is an amazing place to take kids, learn about steam engines, engineering, and “modern technology” back in the day through different events running all years.
Classic Kingston Pub/ Kingston Brewing Company
Kingston has plenty of amazing pubs and bar with great food plus great vibe and great beers like Red House, Tir Nan Og, oldest Kingston Brewing Company, Jack Astor’s huge outdoor rooftop patio at Springer Market Square, Stone City Ales for their tasty Oatmeal Stout & great beers and last but not the least santur for awesome food and their beer.
Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area
The Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area is a stunning place to explore local wildlife plus natural sights featuring a stunning array of local. It’s a visitor-friendly structure with a sensational variety of local aviation, from chickadees to robins to blackbirds to Canadian geese too much more at this open Conservation Area.
Queen’s Campus and Agnes Etherington Art Centre
Canada’s oldest post-secondary institution, Queen’s University has a beautiful Agnes Etherington Art Centre. This prestigious old building has two galleries, the one having permanent exhibits like Canadian and European Baroque art with over 16,000 works in its collection that date back to the 14th century and have a union gallery is a contemporary art gallery that features students of the university as well as local artists. The Agnes Etherington Art Centre main focuses on great artistic traditions from the past to the present with interesting architecture, lined with restaurants, cafés, and bars.
