In deciding how much time you are prepared to spend on a journey to and from your cottage, you also need to ask yourself “How often do I plan to make the trip?”

Of course, a four-hour drive is certainly more tolerable if you anticipate withdrawing to your refuge in cottage country for weeks or perhaps months at a time. In this case, you’ll be making the trip less often and you’ll likely have the luxury of planning your drive during off-peak hours. But if you and your spouse work in the city and have kids in school, you are - with the exception of holidays - limited to the weekend use of your cottage. If you’re locked into a Monday-to-Friday urban routine, you are, for the most part, committed to driving up on Friday and back on Sunday. And if you plan to spend almost all weekends at the cottage throughout the year, travel time is one of the most critical factors in your decision to buy a recreational property.

You’ve probably heard the mantra time is money – well, it certainly applies to properties in Ontario’s cottage country. As a rule of thumb, beyond a certain point, the further you drive from Toronto, the less expensive cottage properties become. (Cottage prices begin to drop once you reach areas that are considerably more than a two-hour drive from Toronto.) For the most part, people who live in the city usually decide to cottage north, northeast or northwest of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Indeed, Muskoka, the Kawarthas, Haliburton, and Collingwood are prime recreational property destinations.

If you look at a road map, you’ll find these well-known getaways range anywhere from 80 to 140 miles from Toronto. Let’s assume that you can cover 60 miles (100 km) for each hour of highway road travel. Once you know how many miles a particular cottage country community is from the city, divide that mileage number by 60 and you’ll have a more accurate read on the distance and how many hours you will spend on the road travelling there and back. Knowing the time involved in driving to these rural communities and lakes will help you to judge which ones are reasonable choices for you and your family – and to rule out others. And if you’ve already fallen in love with a certain cottage, you can use MapQuest (or other similar websites) to figure out the precise length of the drive you will be signing up for if you decide to buy that cottage.

First, visit www.mapquest.com and click on "get directions." In the "A" field, enter your Toronto address or starting point, and in the "B" field, enter your destination or the address of the cottage you are considering purchasing. Once you click on “get directions” you will find a handful of suggested driving routes and the estimated time it will take to travel to your destination (based on current traffic conditions).

Nonetheless, the only way to confirm your actual travel time and get a feel for the drive is to travel to the recreational property or cottage destination you have in mind. And you won’t fully appreciate the length and time involved in making the trip that could become part of your routine until you actually make the drive when you expect to be making it. In other words, if you will be driving up to your cottage on a Friday night, then try the drive out on a Friday night. After all, it’s better to find out the drive is too long for you, your kids, and your dog before you close the deal on a cottage purchase.

Benefits of a Cottage in the Kawarthas

You can slice one hour off your drive each way if you buy a cottage in the Kawarthas. (We fully acknowledge our bias.) As Gail McCormack, broker and owner, likes to say "The kids and the dog will thank you for it."

Another advantage of the Kawarthas is the number of driving route options, all of which promise a unique travel experience – you can take a major highway or opt for back roads and scenic variety. You have fewer route options when you choose other cottage country destinations. In other words, you may have to settle for gridlock on a congested highway if you don’t have the luxury of taking another route.

Photo courtesy of Jim Larrison No Alterations Made - Creative Commons