Canada's
boat-up stays.

A low-slung fishing lodge turned resort on the point between Discovery Passage and Gowlland Harbour, with the marina immediately below the rooms and guest houses. The per-foot rate includes shore power at every amperage, which quietly makes it one of the better-value hotel-front docks in the Discovery Islands. Seasonal — the daily moorage rate runs May through September.

The gateway stop for Desolation Sound, and one of the few places on the coast where the dock, the restaurant and the bed are the same address. Eighteen hundred feet of protected moorage for boats to 250 feet, gas and diesel on the dock, and accommodation running from lodge rooms and a harbour house to cottages and geodesic domes above the water. Rates step down hard outside July and August.

A 1912 island pub-and-inn with its own docks, and the rare operator that writes the boater’s discount straight into the rate card. Rooms, cabins and suites ashore; diesel, marine fuel and propane on the dock; showers and laundry for anyone who has been anchored out in Desolation Sound for a week. Power is limited to 15 amp, so plan around it.

A true park-at-the-room harbour stay: waterfront rooms and cottages wrapped around Big Tub Harbour, with nightly transient slips reserved for guests who also have accommodation booked. Crystal water, the lighthouse entrance and village Tobermory just around the bend.

Nine waterfront lodges with secure slips and a relaxed full-service marina setting on Picnic Island Road. Private beach, fire pits, paddlesports and Honey Harbour access make it a lower-key alternative to the big resort docks.

A calm no-wake Georgian Bay cove with cottages and RV sites steps from the full-service marina, store, fuel, boat rentals and pool. A practical stay-boat-fish stop near Killbear and Franklin Island.

The classic North Channel landfall. Overnight or longer-term docking to 125 ft with hydro, water, pump-out and high-speed diesel — dockage includes the pool, restaurants, bar, showers, games room and free laundry for boaters. Curds n’ Whey bakeshop steps from the dock.

Collingwood’s waterfront resort has its marina next door at 9 Harbour Street East, with transient dockage, hydro, water, fuel, pump-out, laundry and security. It is the cleanest hotel-front base for Georgian Bay day runs and Blue Mountain evenings.

Sixty slips in the sheltered channel for boats upward of 100 ft. The Dock Shop pumps 0%-ethanol gas and clear diesel; the water shuttle Tinker Bell runs guests to the George Island cabins, and dockage carries full amenity access here and at sister property KML.

The only property found on Prince Edward Island where you can arrive by boat, tie up, and sleep on the water at the same address — six floating air-conditioned units, two of them moored houseboats and four of them panoramic wine barrels, plus dock space for visiting boats. It is glamping rather than a hotel, and the dockage rate is not published, so treat the phone call as part of the plan.

A twenty-room country inn on the Richelieu with its own forty-slip marina, ten of them kept for visiting boats. Rooms look over the river from private balconies, and dockage buys the pool, the seasonal outdoor hot tub, the showers and the dining room. For anyone running the Chambly Canal between Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence, it is the most straightforward place on the river to tie up and sleep ashore.

The one resort on Nova Scotia’s South Shore where the marina and the room are the same booking — 43 berths and six moorings on Mahone Bay, with gas and diesel on the dock. The daily per-foot rate folds in shore power and resort access, which makes it better value than the headline number suggests. Seasonal: the docks come out in October.

An adults-only resort on the sheltered east shore of Saanich Inlet, with moorage below the rooms for vessels up to 190 feet and year-round availability — rare on a coast where most resort docks close after Labour Day. Overnight moorage carries full resort and spa access. Butchart Gardens is a short walk, and its summer fireworks are best watched from the dock.

One- and two-bedroom seaside cottages with kitchens, wood stoves and wrap-around decks, set above a full-service marina on Silva Bay — plus a forested campground if you would rather be under canvas. Gas and diesel on the dock, which is increasingly rare in the Gulf Islands, and a rate that drops by a third outside the summer season.

The Gulf Islands’ full-service resort marina, and the natural first Canadian landfall for boats coming up from the San Juans — 110 deep-water slips for vessels to 100 feet, with customs clearance on site through the summer season. Ashore there is a lodge, villas and cottages, a spa and pools. Confirm the customs window before you plan an arrival: it closes September 30.

The lake’s full-service resort on a granite point at Minett — spa, year-round outdoor pools, Signal Hill whisky bar and The Deck’s panoramic lunch. Boat docking is exclusive to registered guests, with posted docking rates; day-dock for lunch by calling ahead.

The 1864 grande dame of Lake Rosseau — white verandas, lawns to the water, Rosseau Grill fine dining and the pub patio. Free day-use docking below the terrace; overnight guest dockage is limited, so confirm space when you book your room.

The largest log structure in the world, built as a private club in 1930, with its own club nautique on the Ottawa River below the lawns. Gas, diesel, pump-out and 30/50-amp power at the dock — a level of service almost nothing else on this stretch of river offers. Transient space is scarce: five docks out of a hundred berths, at a premium per-foot rate.

The staging post for Skookumchuck Narrows, with gas and diesel on the dock, cabins and lodge rooms up the ramp, and a pub that fills with people waiting on slack water. Moorage takes vessels to 125 feet. If you are running Jervis Inlet or heading for Princess Louisa, this is where the trip is planned around the tide book.

Oceanfront villas above a small marina in Pender Harbour, with a spa and an infinity pool looking down the inlet. The moorage arithmetic is unusually kind: villa guests pay $1.25 a foot, and anyone tying up for dinner or a spa appointment pays nothing for the day. Slips run 20 to 60 feet along roughly 300 feet of short-term moorage, so it suits a mid-size boat rather than a big one.

The Elmhirst family’s 250-acre cottage resort on Rice Lake’s north shore, established 1903 — lakeside cottages each with deck and dock, a boat livery, waterski school, seaplane tours and Hearthside dining off their own farm.

Cottage rentals wrapped around a 76-slip Stoney Lake marina, including overnight slips for visiting boaters. It is more cottage-resort than hotel, but the dock-to-door experience is exactly the point.

Hotel, resort, waterfront marina and cottages in one Port Severn stop. Standard rooms, kitchenettes and cottages sit close to the water, making it an easy value pick when you want the boat, room and Lock 45 corridor together.

A boutique resort and full marina at the Georgian Bay mouth of the Trent-Severn, steps from Lock 45. Slips for guest boats, a waterfront dining room and spa — the natural first or last night of any Severn transit.

A steamboat-era lakefront lodge on quiet Gloucester Pool, in the same family tradition since the 1930s. Guest dockage along the waterfront, a sand beach, and the dining room’s picture windows over the Pool.

Founded 1885 on Stoney Lake’s north shore with 2,000 feet of shoreline — boat-up docks for dining and stays, farm-to-table kitchens fed by the resort’s own farm, and no resort fees. A Kawarthas institution.

A restored boardwalk village on pilings over Johnstone Strait, with historic waterfront houses, cabins and lodge rooms let out to guests, and a small-craft marina beneath them. This is a tender-and-runabout dock rather than a yacht harbour: 25 feet is the limit, there is gas but no diesel, and no services at the slip. It is also the jumping-off point for the strait’s whale water and the Broughtons beyond.

The 1877 canal-side landmark at Jones Falls, in active renewal one season at a time. Serviced boardwalk dockage by reservation — 30-amp power (50-amp +$10), potable water and Wi-Fi — with dock-side dining, the NutFree bakeshop and rooms that include breakfast.

Twelve rooms on the Westport waterfront at the head of Upper Rideau Lake — docking is free for inn guests, dinner and live music most summer nights make it the social stop of the upper Rideau.

A 1920s lodge and cottages on Loughborough Lake north of Kingston, with lakefront docks below the lawns. Recent guest reports are mixed on reservations honoured — phone to confirm before you make the run.

The beating heart of Chaffey’s Lock for 150 years — restored restaurant, pub and ice-cream shop with marine gas on the dock. Overnight rooms and overnight mooring are permanently closed, so tie up for a meal and carry on.

A full-service, resort-style Lake Simcoe marina with annual and transient dockage plus on-site amenities. Use it as a simple overnight stop when the boat matters more than a formal hotel lobby.

A Lake Erie dockage and RV-resort base on the north shore of Long Point Bay. Transient slips are posted per foot, with open slips, covered slips, rampage and pump-out options; best for boaters who are comfortable with a marina/RV stay rather than a hotel.

Seventy-five rooms over the islands for more than a century, with Smuggler’s Glen golf across the road. Two docking areas: the main dock holds reserved space for house guests, with day-use for golfers and Shipman’s dinner guests arriving by boat.

The 1896 inn at the gateway to the 1000 Islands — waterfront rooms, the Muskie Jake’s taproom and a spa. Limited dockage along the inn’s river frontage for guests arriving by water; call ahead for space.