campgrounds near Toronto

If you can give us an area that he is in, it will greatly help. Actual City of Toronto could be any area from Agincourt, North York, Mimico........ . GTA Greater Toronto Area, Newmarket, Burlington, Oshawa. Milton........
As said before driving times could range up to 1 1/2hrs (not counting rush hour traffic or an accident)
Public transit, not the best option unless you are going to the downtown core area.
Ask your son for the community name where they are living and it will greatly help

Ken

cartervan wrote:
Our son just moved to Toronto and we'd like to go visit him next summer. Can anyone tell me if there are any decent campgrounds fairly near the city?

Define "Toronto". What most people refer to as 'Toronto' is an area about 60 miles east to west and another 60 miles north from Lake Ontario.

That's a big area.

The Glen Rouge campground is in the Rouge Valley (soon to be National Park) inside the city limits. It is right on the eastern edge of the city, and you can walk to a city bus stop or GO bus stop (regional bus). It is just off the highway 401 at the Port Union Rd exit but not close enough to actually hear the highway. The campground itself is not exceptional but the Rouge Valley is excellent, they have some amazing hiking and mountain biking in the Rouge Valley all around it. The Zoo is only a couple miles a way in the valley, there is the Pickering Mall a 10 minute drive down highway #2, and it is right off the 401 for easy access to any part of the city.

you could also try boondockerswelcome search toronto

to see locations that might be close to your son

You definitely need to find out where in Toronto your son is located. Toronto is spread out and can take an hour to go through in good times and hours at rush hour. I have relatives who live there and 1 1/2 hr from one to another is nothing.

If you select Milton Heights, which is a very nice, well managed, secure campground you can actually take the GO train into Toronto right from Milton. About a ten minute drive to the station.

There are a few. A few more details would help narrow the search. Which part of the city? East, west, north? The drive can be horrible at times depending on where you are coming from. How close do you want to be? Do you care if it's a provincial park or private? Full hookups needed?

Decent is a subjective word. Most parks close to the city are good for parking or a base for touring from but not much else.

A little Google search came up with;
Toronto west koa
Milton Heights
Indian Line
Bronte Creek all to the west. Im only familiar with Bronte Creek, it's a nice little conservation area right in Oakville.

Not much to the east other than Darlington and it's not nice, right on the highway. Glen Rouge is also east.

Plenty north up the 400 but the drive is further and terrible.

If you are ok driving a little further (1hr?) there are a lot more nicer parks to choose from. Go to the Ontario parks website or search Ontario conservation area sites.