Westport
▼ 2.5 µg/m³ less fine-particle pollution than Kingston right now
Observed Jul 16, 7:00 p.m. EDT
Village on Upper Rideau Lake in the hills of Rideau Lakes country, small but well-supplied with inns.
3.6 µg/m³
PM2.5 in Kingston right now
AQI 89 · Moderate
AQHI 4 — Moderate risk (Kingston)
Latest observation Jul 16, 7:00 p.m. EDT
Build-time readings shown
13 places with a place to stay, ranked by air quality
Perth
▼ 2.5 µg/m³ less fine-particle pollution than Kingston right now
Observed Jul 16, 7:00 p.m. EDT
Stone-built heritage town on the Tay River, a calm base in the Rideau corridor.
Merrickville
▼ 2.5 µg/m³ less fine-particle pollution than Kingston right now
Observed Jul 16, 7:00 p.m. EDT
Rideau Canal village of locks, galleries and B&Bs less than an hour from Ottawa.
Calabogie
▼ 2.2 µg/m³ less fine-particle pollution than Kingston right now
Observed Jul 16, 7:00 p.m. EDT
Lake-and-highlands resort area in the Madawaska Valley with a four-season lodge scene.
Bancroft
Observed Jul 16, 7:00 p.m. EDT
Mineral-country town on the York River between Hastings highlands and lake country.
Haliburton
Observed Jul 16, 7:00 p.m. EDT
Highlands village surrounded by hundreds of lakes and a large cottage-rental market.
Pembroke
Observed Jul 16, 7:00 p.m. EDT
Ottawa Valley hub on the wide Ottawa River, the jumping-off point for Whitewater country.
Whitney
Observed Jul 16, 7:00 p.m. EDT
Hamlet at Algonquin Park’s East Gate, with lodges and cabins on the park’s quieter side.
Gananoque
Observed Jul 16, 7:00 p.m. EDT
Gateway to the Thousand Islands, with river breezes off the St. Lawrence and island cruises at the dock.
Bobcaygeon
▲ Air is currently worse here than in Kingston
Observed Jul 16, 7:00 p.m. EDT
Kawartha canal town spread across three islands between Pigeon and Sturgeon lakes.
Fenelon Falls
▲ Air is currently worse here than in Kingston
Observed Jul 16, 7:00 p.m. EDT
The “Jewel of the Kawarthas,” a falls-side village on the Trent–Severn Waterway.
Prince Edward County
▲ Air is currently worse here than in Kingston
Observed Jul 16, 7:00 p.m. EDT
Island county of beaches, wineries and small hotels, surrounded on all sides by Lake Ontario air.
Cobourg
▲ Air is currently worse here than in Kingston
Observed Jul 16, 7:00 p.m. EDT
Victorian lakefront town with a long sandy beach an easy hop east of the GTA.
Why these towns?
Most of the getaways above sit on big water — Lake Huron, Georgian Bay, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario or Lake Superior — or in lake-dense highland country. Large lakes generate onshore breezes and sit away from the boreal fire zones, so during many smoke events they stay a band cleaner than inland cities. That's not a guarantee: smoke plumes move, which is why we re-rank this list against live PM2.5 and AQHI data every hour rather than publishing a fixed list. If everything within three hours of Kingston is smoky, the rankings will say so — sometimes the honest answer is to stay inside with a filter running.