Parry Sound is a Georgian Bay harbour town at the edge of the Thirty Thousand Islands, where pink granite, wind-bent pines, and cold blue water start to feel more northern than southern Ontario. The town itself is practical and modest, but the setting is first-rate.
The best day here gets you onto the water. A Thirty Thousand Islands cruise shows the broken-rock coast better than any roadside lookout, while the Museum on Tower Hill gives the town a good landward viewpoint.
Parry Sound also has one very Canadian claim: it is Bobby Orr's hometown. The Bobby Orr Hall of Fame will not convert everyone to hockey, but it adds a strong local story to a day of islands, harbour walks, and Shield scenery.