Photo: Umbra Lab, Inc. · CC BY 4.0Thousand Islands National Park lies 0.4 km beyond Frontenac Islands’ edge
Swimmers have 10 beaches within 5 km, Rotary Beach the nearest. The largest is Rideau Canal National Historic Site: 19,972 ha, 4.8 km from the edge of town. For a provincial park, Charleston Lake Provincial Park lies 24 km off.
Where Frontenac Islands stands out outdoors
Each figure against Canadian towns of 2,500+; tap a tile for the detail.
Frontenac Islands is strongest on Thousand Islands National Park within easy reach, with its beaches close behind.
Frontenac Islands against other Canadian towns
Each figure against the 2,611 Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ (not city hubs or reserves), with the town marked and the typical one’s line. Outdoors isn’t graded in Canada. The page compares each figure with other towns and leaves it there.
CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC, 2026), OpenStreetMap (November 2026). Distances from the town’s outline.
Among 40 towns its size, Frontenac Islands ranks 20th for protected land within 10 km
The 40 Canadian towns nearest in population (1,963 to 2,587 residents), by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected. Hover for each one’s figures; click for its page.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Protected within 10 km | In town | Areas | Routes | Beaches | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anmore BC | 22% | 47% | 16 | 5 | 98 |
| 2 | Saint-Alexandre-de-Kamouraska QC | 19% | 0% | 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Gracefield QC | 19% | 19% | 34 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 | East Preston NS | 16% | 6.3% | 20 | 1 | 5 |
| 5 | Clearwater BC | 7.7% | 4.1% | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Roberval QC | 6.1% | 1.2% | 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague QC | 5.8% | 0% | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | North Frontenac ON | 5.7% | 5.2% | 13 | 6 | 4 |
| 9 | Cap-Chat QC | 5.3% | 0.4% | 13 | 0 | 10 |
| 10 | Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards ON | 4.4% | 1.5% | 9 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 | Saint-Polycarpe QC | 4.2% | 0% | 11 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | Macassa ON | 4.1% | 0% | 18 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | Saint-Damien QC | 4% | 3.2% | 22 | 1 | 9 |
| 14 | Unity SK | 3.4% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | Sherwood ON | 3.4% | 0% | 19 | 2 | 0 |
| 16 | McNab SK | 2.6% | 0% | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Mandeville QC | 2.5% | 1.8% | 19 | 4 | 7 |
| 18 | Esterhazy SK | 1.8% | 0% | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | City Commercial Core ON | 1.8% | 0% | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Frontenac Islands ON | 1.7% | 0.6% | 17 | 0 | 10 |
| 21 | Caswell Hill SK | 1.4% | 0% | 16 | 0 | 3 |
| 22 | Fossambault-sur-le-Lac QC | 1.3% | 7.8% | 15 | 0 | 14 |
| 23 | Pembina MB | 1.1% | 1.8% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Burrows-Keewatin MB | 1% | 0% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Elmwood AB | 0.8% | 0% | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 26 | Hatley QC | 0.7% | 0% | 9 | 0 | 5 |
| 27 | Munroe West MB | 0.4% | 0% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Brooke-Alvinston ON | 0.3% | 0.2% | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | Rosedale AB | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 30 | Minchau AB | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 31 | Lunenburg NS | 0.1% | 0% | 19 | 0 | 5 |
| 32 | Salisbury NB | 0.1% | 2.1% | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Dufferin MB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Ekota AB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 35 | Satoo AB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 36 | Saint-Éphrem-de-Beauce QC | 0% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 37 | Magrath AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Nanton AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | Rimbey AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | Sexsmith AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Frontenac Islands on the map: green space, protected land and paths
Green space, woods, protected areas and footpaths in and around the town; tap a number for its park or wood.
Walk in Frontenac Islands: one named park or wood
Largest first: Arabella Island leads with 2.9 ha. Numbers match the map.
Source: OpenStreetMap parks, gardens, commons and woods with a name, in the town or within 400 m, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Sizes are the mapped outline’s.
Few people in Frontenac Islands live near a park
Residents of each 2021 dissemination area, at a point inside it, within 400 m (about a 5-minute walk) of a park or playing field mapped on OpenStreetMap.
Most towns do better: the typical Canadian town is at 83%. That leaves about 2,000 people more than a short walk away.
1.7% of the land around Frontenac Islands is protected
Every protected and conserved area in CPCAD within 10 km of the town’s edge: parks, reserves, wildlife areas and conservation land.
Governments hold 4 of the 17, and private owners the rest. Rideau Canal National Historic Site leads for size with 19,972 ha. 13 more areas within 10 km are private land, held by landowners or conservation groups: counted here, not named.
Source: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Big parks near Frontenac Islands
National parks (Parks Canada) and provincial or territorial parks by direction and distance from the town’s edge: every one within 10 km, and the nearest of each within 100 km.
Thousand Islands National Park
Charleston Lake Provincial Park
Source: CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC): areas and outlines, distances outline to outline; directions from the town’s centre point.
4 km of paths in and around Frontenac Islands
OpenStreetMap footpaths, paths, bridleways and steps, and tracks open on foot, in the town and 1 km around it; woods as mapped (landuse=forest, natural=wood).
Footpaths · km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
It has fewer paths per km² than 98% of Canadian towns. It is more wooded than 51% of Canadian towns.
Source: OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Mapping varies by place: a dense figure can mean keen local mappers as much as many paths.
No mapped walking route near Frontenac Islands
Named walking and hiking routes on OpenStreetMap with at least 300 m within 2 km of the town, longest first; national routes lead.
No named walking or hiking route is mapped near the town; local paths may simply not be on OpenStreetMap as routes.
Source: OpenStreetMap (route relations hiking, foot and walking), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Trans Canada Trail sections as OSM maps them.
The best months for walking in Frontenac Islands: May to August
Daylight at the town’s latitude and ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals (Centreville, 50 km away). Good months: long days, highs of 15–30 °C, light rain.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.5 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.9 |
| High (°C) | -3 | -2 | 3 | 10 | 18 | 22 | 25 | 25 | 21 | 14 | 8 | 2 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 86 | 61 | 65 | 88 | 84 | 90 | 68 | 75 | 100 | 96 | 88 | 83 |
Expect around 158 cm of snow over a winter. July is the warmest month, with highs around 25 °C; January the coldest, at -3 °C. February is the driest month at 61 mm; September the wettest at 100 mm. The climate in Frontenac Islands →
10 beaches within 5 km of Frontenac Islands
Beaches on OpenStreetMap within 5 km of the town’s edge, nearest first, with directions.
The map adds 8 unnamed stretches of beach. No national or provincial register of beach water quality is published as open data, so check the local health unit before swimming.
Source: OpenStreetMap (natural=beach), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Near Frontenac Islands: 12 outdoor spots on the map
Viewpoints, peaks, waterfalls, picnic sites, nature reserves, playgrounds, dog parks, campsites and boat launches mapped within 2 km of the town.
Slipways lead the count with 5.
Every named place, with directions
Hills and peaks 2
Nature reserves 1
Picnic sites 2
Plus 2 picnic sites without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 1
Plus 1 playground without a name on the map.
Campsites 1
Plus 1 campsite without a name on the map.
Slipways 5
Plus 3 slipways without a name on the map.
Source: OpenStreetMap (tourism, natural, waterway and leisure tags), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Next to Frontenac Islands
The nearest places, coloured by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected; tap one for its outdoors page. Distances here run 15–30 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Frontenac Islands.
| Town | Protected within 10 km | Areas | Routes | Beaches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frontenac Islands | 1.7% | 17 | 0 | 10 |
| Kingston 15 km | 5% | 54 | 2 | 5 |
| Gananoque 20 km | 3.3% | 11 | 0 | 7 |
| Loyalist 27 km | 1.2% | 24 | 0 | 2 |
| South Frontenac 30 km | 9.4% | 89 | 18 | 5 |
For protected land, Kingston and South Frontenac have twice as much or more. South Frontenac has the most mapped walking routes nearby: 18.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Beaches. Beaches are OpenStreetMap’s, named or not; in the north many are unnamed shoreline imports.
- Protected land. The 10 km band starts at the town’s outline, not its centre, so a large municipality reaches further than a small town.
- National and provincial parks. Distances run from the town’s edge to the park’s, so 0 km means they touch.
- Walking routes. The list is OpenStreetMap’s, so a missing trail may just be unmapped. The Trans Canada Trail appears where OSM maps it.
- Private land. Private conservation land is in the totals, not the lists. Many such areas are easements on working farms or woodlots.
Questions about the outdoors in Frontenac Islands
Are there protected areas near Frontenac Islands?
Yes: 1.7% of the land within 10 km is protected.
Where can you swim near Frontenac Islands?
Rotary Beach, 3.4 km from town, is the nearest mapped beach.
What is the nearest provincial park to Frontenac Islands?
The closest is Charleston Lake Provincial Park, at 24 km.
What is the nearest national park to Frontenac Islands?
The nearest is Thousand Islands National Park, 0.4 km away.
What is the largest protected area near Frontenac Islands?
It is Rideau Canal National Historic Site, a protected area covering 19,972 ha.
When should you visit Frontenac Islands for the outdoors?
May to August, on the 1991–2020 normals and the daylight: long days, highs of 15 °C or more, light rain for the place.
Sources for this page on Frontenac Islands
Protected areas: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2026: every area within 10 km and the nearest national and provincial parks, measured outline to outline.
Walking routes and beaches: OpenStreetMap, November 2026: named hiking, foot and walking route relations within 2 km and beaches within 5 km.
Towns: Statistics Canada 2021 Census boundaries and populations; the comparison is the Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+, not city hubs or reserves.
When to go: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020, from the nearest station that publishes them.
Green space, paths, woods, things to do: OpenStreetMap (Geofabrik’s Canada extract), November 2026: parks, gardens, playing fields, woods, footpaths, the coastline and things to do in and around each town.
Residents: Statistics Canada 2021 Census dissemination areas (population, boundaries), each at a point inside it.
Walking routes and beaches © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL).
Not on this page: trailheads and trail grades, and beach water quality. No open Canadian dataset gives these for every town yet.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).