North Beach Provincial Park

Back in the spring - while staying at both Presqu'ile Provincial Park and Sandbanks Provincial Park - we had planned to visit tiny North Beach Provincial Park.

It’s another of the recreational class parks, this one centered almost completely around its beautiful beach.

Going in, we’d assumed it would be ALMOST as much of a zoo as Sandbanks Provincial Park. We’ve heard all the stories about the long lineups to get in, etc... and this park is less than 40 minutes away.

Being a bit closer to the GTA than Sandbanks, we figured it would be just as busy, even though it’s almost touted as an overflow beach.

As it turns out, it was a COMPLETELY different vibe... and not at all busy during our visit. Sure, I bet it see some crowds on the weekends, or like... Labour Day... but this was just nice!

The entire park is laid out right beside the lake - the main road runs up the length of it, with small parking lots on one side, and a thin strip of sandy beach between the road and the lake.

It was actually the perfect place for someone like me to enjoy a beach - the parking is close to the beach, the water is easy to access without a TON of walking over sand.

It might just end up one of my favourite destinations to enjoy some quality time in the sun!

Anyway, let us tell you all about it!

The Basics:

Location Name: North Beach Provincial Park
Address: 440 North Beach Rd Consecon, ON K0K 2T0
Website: https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/northbeach
Price Ontario Provincial Parks uses a pricing matrix across all their parks. See 2025 Day Use Fees for more details.
Reservations: Ontario Parks Reservations
Park Classification: Recreational
Season: June 7, 2025 to October 5, 2025

Logistics

Some basic information to help you plan your visit to North Beach Provincial Park.

Registration and Check In

We had just stayed at a paperless permits park, so - while we could have gotten in with that camping permit, in theory - I just went ahead and booked a day use pass online.

I love that current camping permits act as daily vehicle permits when visiting other parks... but I wasn’t sure what the internet situation was going to be, or if they could even look up our camping permit at another park, if I was unable to load our reservations.

Now that I type that out, I suppose I could have dug through my emails and found the camping permit and used that bar code... but I don’t mind throwing a few extra dollars at Ontario Parks from time to time. We definitely get our money’s worth!

Anyway, actual check in happens via a drive-through kiosk at the front of the park. Check in was friendly and fast, as usual!

Note: This is a day-use only park, there are no overnight camping facilities.

Parking

There are 6... well, six and a bit... parking lots at North Beach Provincial Park, dotted along the park’s main road. On the other side of the road is the beach, right there - you’re never much of a walk from the lake side.

Some quick notes on the different parking lots:

Parking Lot 1: A small lot, across from a Mobi-Mat. This one has a barrier-free vault toilet right behind the campground, with its own short Mobi-Mat to access it. Weirdly, it does not have any designated disability parking spots.

Parking Lot 2: A small parking lot loop that also acts as the access point to parking lot 6. I think this was the only parking lot that had designated entrance/exit.

Parking Lot 3: This parking lot is next to the concession stand, and across from the second Mobi-Mat. It’s the only lot that has disabled parking spots.

Parking Lot 4: The smallest lot, just a few spots along the road.

Parking Lot 5: One of the two largest lots, and the furthest point of the park. It has a large designated swimming area on North Bay, as well as a boat launch - more on that in a bit.

Parking Lot 6: This parking lot is actually about halfway up the beach, accessed from the back end of parking lot 2. It also has a designated swim area on North Bay, which doubles as the dog beach. This is the oversized vehicle parking lot, so it’s where we parked our RV and towed car.

Weirdly, there aren’t spots marked out, or an obvious wide area for pull-through parking... so we basically went to the back and parked parallel to the parking barriers.

Washrooms, etc

All of the washrooms at North Beach Provincial Park appear to be vault toilets / outhouses. None of them look particularly scary, and the ones we saw all seemed to be well maintained.

While there are change stations indicated on the online map, they don’t seem to exist in the current reality.

Maps and Signage

Some basic info on getting around North Beach Provincial Park:

Park Map

There are two VERY different maps out there - the pdf North Beach Provincial Park Overview Map online, and the printed version they hand you at the gate.

As this was our first trip to the park, I have no idea how old the online version is, but it can’t be very recent. Entire parking lots are left off, as are the two North Bay beaches, the trail, and any accessibility info whatsoever.

The entire area of the current dog beach at parking lot 6 is just marked as “wetland”.

Most of the vault toilets marked on the PDF map exist on the printed map/in reality, with one exception at parking lot 2.

None of the change rooms indicated on the PDF map are on the printed map, though... and we didn’t see anything that appeared to be one, during our visit.

The printed map is MUCH better - accurate, plentiful info, high contrast, great labeling, etc.

Signage

There’s very little in the way of signage at North Beach Provincial Park, but really - not much signage is really needed. It’s just a few parking lots dotted along a straight shot, sandy stretch of waterfront.

The parking lots are well labeled. Especially if you’ve glanced at a (current!) map, you won’t have any trouble getting around this park.

Accessibility

The accessibility situation at North Beach Provincial Park is a bit... odd.

First off, I’d like to say that I appreciate the effort - they obviously tried to be inclusive, and what they have is mostly great. There’s just.. A few weird decisions that were made!

There are two parking lots that provide easy access to the beach for those in wheelchairs or using strollers - #1 and #3. Both of these are across the road from a Mobi-Mat.

Parking Lot 1

#1 has a barrier free vault toilet right at the back of the parking lot, which has its own little Mobi-Mat to help you get over the sand - love it, very thoughtful!

This is the only designated barrier-free washroom in the park, mind you - many of the rest involve sand and/or walking up sand dunes to access.

The thing is... #1 doesn’t have any designated accessible parking spots at all. Not only is that weird given that it’s one of the 2 designated barrier free areas, it’s the first parking lot in the park.

I would imagine that on busy days, people are going to grab the first parking spot they can get - so that lot will fill up fast.

Also of note: There is a wheelchair-accessible picnic table in the sand, about halfway down the Mobi Mat.

It’s line up parallel to the Mobi Mat... and down a hill. The wheelchair-accessible side was on the bottom side of that sharp angle, and the legs on that end were suspended above the ground. Just really awkward and weird,

Also, that Mobi-Mat ended several metres before the actual water, with some pretty significant ridges of sand in between it and the water.

The mat itself is nice and solid though, with no channels or big dips happening underneath it. It’s a little bumpy, but nowhere near as bad as we’ve seen at some parks.

Parking Lot 3

Parking lot 3 actually has a few designated disabled parking spots - the only ones in the park. There’s also a clearly marked accessible path to get to the ramp up to the park store, which was nice to see.

As with parking lot 1, there’s a Mobi-Mat across the street from this lot. It doesn’t have the weird picnic table situation, but otherwise it’s basically the same: Solid, a little bumpy, ends a few metres from the water, and big ridges of sand between the mat and the water.

It’s just weird to me that this would clearly be THE most accessible spot - what with the only designated parking and all - but it’s so far away from the only barrier free washroom!

Anyway, there is a single wheelchair-accessible style picnic table on the beach in front of the park store, there’s just no Mobi-Mat access to it.

Also, I find it a bit odd that they don’t mark them as being accessible at all. I’m not sure that everyone understands that the ones with blue bench seats are accessible, or know to look for the jutting-out table top.

Pets

The park’s website - and the online map - make no mention of pets, nor does the printed map - aside from the existence of a dog beach, on the North Bay side of the park.

So, all we can tell you is that dogs aren’t allowed on any of the beaches, except for the designated dog beach at parking lot 6.

As always, keep your dogs leashed, pick up after them, and definitely properly dispose of their droppings!

The dog beach is decent sized and in good condition. Like the other North Bay Beach, it was also much more busy than the main beach, at the time of our visit. Weirdly, it was mostly people - we only saw one dog there!

Visitor Centre

There is no visitor center at North Beach Provincial Park.

Park Store

The park store at North Beach Provincial Park comes in the form of a small canteen at parking lot 3, about halfway up the length of North Beach. It’s really cute, with a smal wooden deck out front.

It has a pretty limited selection of traditional fast food - chicken fingers, hot dogs, french fries, onion rings, and poutine - as well as ice cream, milk shakes, and some cod beverages.

We had the ice cream - Black Raspberry Thunder - some chicken fingers, and fries.

The chicken fingers were decent, the fries were actually really good - crispy, and you could tell they used fresh oil.

We didn’t see any options for purchasing park souvenirs, though.

Day Use Area

The entire park is a day-use area - all of the beach areas have tables.

The picnic facilities are limited to just those picnic tables, though - we didn’t see any kind of group or individual picnic shelters anywhere.

I had kind of been hoping the picnic areas would have those little covered picnic tables like they have at Wasaga Beach Provincial Park - those are super cute!

Connectivity

At the time of our stay, we had really good cellular reception throughout the park, on Rogers Wireless.

The park was not very busy, though - your mileage may vary with crowds, or on other carriers.

Rentals

There were signs up about North Beach Provincial Park offering personal flotation devices to borrow. It just advised interested people to talk to a staff member about it.

I’m assuming they’re available at the main gate, as we didn’t see any kind of a rental shack or anything at the park store.

Entertainment and Activity

Hiking

There’s no mention of hiking on the park’s website, but there’s a named trail on the map - the Rising Dunes Trail. The distance isn’t marked - and Porter went back and forth a few times in a few spots while birding - but he’s ⅔ km each way, or 1 ⅓ km round trip.

This runs from one corner of parking lot #6 - from the corner of the parking lot and the beach - all the way to the front of the park, near the gatehouse.

There’s no real trail head, just a sign saying to stay on the trail. It follows the shoreline - right on the shoreline - most of the way. So, you’re walking on soft sand almost the entire way.

There are a few orange ribbons that seem to be acting as trail blazes. Other than that, they use driftwood to kind of shepherd you on the right path, blocking potential offshoots, etc.

At the gatehouse end, if gets sort of wooded with some pine trees, then the trail drops you off next to a maintenance yard.

Overall, a lovely walk - and great for birding!

Biking

The park’s website doesn’t mention anything about cycling, but we saw a few people biking along the main park road during our visit.

It’s a nice wide, flat road that has a water view the entire way, and the traffic was slow and pretty sparse at the time of our visit. I could definitely see it being a nice ride!

Swimming

There are about 2 km of sandy beaches at North Beach Provincial Park, and they all have a MUCH more chill vibe than the park’s more famous neighbour - Sandbanks Provincial Park.

As with pretty much every Ontario Provincial Park, there are no lifeguards posted on any of the beach, so swim at your own risk.

About 1,200 metres of sand beach runs along Lake Ontario, next to the main park road. There are some rocks at the top of the beach - just as you’re coming off the road - but it’s mostly sand beyond that.

The beach was actually more narrow than I’d been picturing, which was actually kind of nice - you’re never far from the water!

On that not, the water was a bit murky during our visit, but it had been raining the day before - you could tell it was usually clean, and this was just churned up sand that hadn’t settled.

On that note, we did see signs about watching out for dangerous undertows on windy days, so keep that in mind!

Anyway, the water looked to be shallow QUITE a ways out - there were people far off in the distance that weren’t even up to their hips!

There’s also another 800 metres of beach on North Bay, on the other side of the parking lots from the main beach. These are accessed via parking lots 5 and 6.

The North Bay beaches have a short distance of shallow water, then seem to drop off pretty steeply after that point.

Weirdly, the North Bay Beaches were WAY more popular on the day of our visit, than the main beach! They were both quite crowded, while the main beach had only a few families on it.

Birding, Wildlife, and Nature

The park’s website mentions Hawks, Saw-Whet Owls, and Turkey Vultures.

While we’ve seen plenty of hawks and Turkey Vultures, neither of us have ever seen a Saw-Whet Owl before, and were REALLY hoping to - they’re ridiculously cute!

Unfortunately, we did not. 🙁

There was also a sign at the beach talking about the various shorebirds seen at the park: Black-Bellied Plover, Dunlin, Herring Gull, Least Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, White-Rumped Sandpiper.

Apparently they’re mostly limited to the fall, though.

Here’s what we did see and/or hear, though:

American Goldfinch, American Redstart, American Robin, Belted Kingfisher, Black-and-White Warbler, Black-Capped Chickadee, Brown-Headed Cowbird, Cedar Waxwing, Chipping Sparrow, Common Tern, Double-Crested Cormorant, Eastern Kingbird, Eastern Phoebe, Great Egret, House Wren, Killdeer, Mourning Dove, Northern Flicker, Northern House Wren, Purple Martin, Red-Eyed Vireo, Ring-Billed Gull, Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, Song Sparrow, Warbling Vireo, White-Breasted Nuthatch, Yellow Warbler.

We also saw a fair amount of wild flowers, including more Milkweed than I think I’ve ever seen in my whole life.

I guessed that they get a ton of Monarch Butterflies here, at the right time of year. Signage later confirmed it - Monarch chill there in the fall, waiting for favourable winds to help them cross Lake Ontario for their annual migration.

Boating

There’s a single, very small boat launch in Parking Lot 5, opening out onto North Bay - which actually appears to be a small lake, rather than an actual bay.

The sheltered waters of the bay seemed to be more popular for boating than the more open Lake Ontario, at least during our stay. We saw a single sailboat on Lake Ontario, and a BUNCH of boating in North Bay.

Anyway, as far as the boat launch goes, it’s definitely meant for smaller boats. The approach is over beach itself, there’s no cement pad over the beach or in the water, which starts out pretty shallow for a few meters.

After that, it looks like it drops off pretty quickly, though.

There’s a bit of a tight curve when backing in to the launch, and the trailer parking next to it is a small, fairly tight loop.

A sign at the boat launch warns about the spread of Asian carp, with pictures of 4 different kinds of Asian carps to look out for - and report, if seen.

I always thought that “Asian carp” was a single invasive species, but no - apparently it’s Bighead Carp, Black Carp, Grass Carp, and Silver Carp.

The more you know?

Fishing

Fishing is available both in North Bay and on Lake Ontario itself.

Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike, Perch , and Sunfish seem to be what’s potentially on the menu!

Discovery Program

Discovery Programming is limited to Saturday and Sunday afternoons in the summer season. For 2025, that June 27 - August 31.

In this case, Saturday afternoons have a 2 hour drop in program on Beach Safety and Etiquette, while Sundays have an “Ask Discovery” program - just to ask them whatever you want to know about the park.

In both cases, they run from 1-3 pm, at the Park Store.

Niantic Games

There are a handful of Niantic spots - Pokestops, Pokegyms, Ingress Portals, etc - along the beaches. There was also really good cellular reception in the park.

Final Thoughts

We had heard that North Beach Provincial Park was a quieter park than Sandbanks, but we were unprepared for what a great place it ended up being!

We had the best time hanging out on the vast sandy beachfront, going birding in the wooded areas along both ends of the park, etc.

I can’t see why anyone would wait in long lines to get into Sandbanks Provincial Park, to be honest. North Beach is just SUCH a good place to enjoy your hot summer days! So much more chill, relaxed, and peaceful, too!

Whether you’re taking a day trip in from elsewhere in Prince Edward County, somewhere further, or just making the short drive from Presqu’ile Provincial Park - like we did - it’s really a gem of a beach.

We were also shocked at how GREAT the birding opportunities were, especially given the very minor mention of it on their site.

We’ll definitely be back!

More Southeast Ontario Provincial Parks & Places to See

Want to read some more about the parks we've camped and at places we've seen in Southeastern Ontario? Here are some more posts!

Southeastern Ontario Campground Reviews:

Bon Echo Provincial Park
Bonnechere Provincial Park
Ferris Provincial Park
Presqu'ile Provincial Park
Rideau River Provincial Park
Sandbanks Provincial Park
Winter Camping at Silent Lake Provincial Park

Southeastern Ontario Places to See:

Gariepy Creek Falls
Lake on the Mountain Provincial Park

Want to explore beyond Southeastern Ontario? Check out our full list of Campground Reviews, Ontario Waterfalls, and other Places to See.

We also have a ton of Camping Recipes to cook up, while on your adventures!