2025 Ontario March Break Guide

Avoid mutiny this March Break—plan an action-packed week of outdoor fun. With the days growing longer and the sunshine already starting to feel a bit like spring, this mid-March siesta is the perfect time to enjoy Northern Ontario’s bountiful late-winter snowpack. From Nordic centres to outdoor centres, Ontario Parks to lodge-based adventures—try these kid-pleasers for your family’s best March Break ever.

When is March Break 2025 in Ontario?

This year, mid-winter school holidays—better known as March Break in Ontario—run from March 10 to March 14, 2025. Since this time of the year can often feel like slush season in southern parts of the province, I like to head north for a proper winter send-off.

March Break Camps

The young and the young-at-heart can join Camp Kandalore for a five-day Winter Family Camp in the snowy Haliburton Highlands. Families stay in their own private, heated cabins and enjoy a wide range of winter activities, including downhill skiing at Sir Sam’s, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and even a toasty sauna.

If you’re looking for inclusive, affordable options with great programming, I suggest checking out the excellent YMCA camps in Ontario. In Haliburton, YMCA Wanakita Outdoor Centre's five-day March Break Family Camp provides a variety of age-appropriate programs, allowing family members to participate together or independently in classic winter activities like cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, broomball (picture ice hockey… without skates or pucks) and snow tubing. This is a great way to reconnect and strengthen family bonds over the break.

For independent young campers, YMCA Pine Crest Outdoor Centre runs a five-day overnight March Break Camp for youth ages 9 to 13, set against a snowy backdrop of Muskoka lakes and pine-clad ridges. Campers dive into a world of winter excitement—including backcountry skiing, high ropes, climbing wall and maple sugaring—making memories and new friends along the way.

The ultimate March Break Winter Adventure unfolds in Algonquin Park, where Outward Bound Canada offers a weeklong snowshoe expedition for teens ages 14 to 16. The focus of this transformative journey is to teach wilderness skills like navigation and campcraft, while encouraging youth to challenge themselves, work together and connect with an iconic Canadian landscape. The seven-day adventure includes winter camping in canvas hot tents and pulling your gear in pulks (sleds) during the day.

Cross-Country Skiing

Ontario’s enthusiastic cross-country ski centres are all about community, fitness and family fun. For fantastic late-winter conditions with deep roots in the Scandinavian origins of the sport, base your family ski holiday in Thunder Bay. The city’s Holiday Inn Express & Suites offers family-friendly features like an indoor pool, hot tub and self-catering suites with kitchenettes.

Thunder Bay’s Kamview Nordic Centre boasts over 30 km of ski trails groomed for both classic and skate skiing, as well as 11 km of snowshoe trails—so there’s something for every member of your family. Bring hot cocoa and a packed lunch to enjoy in Kamview’s cozy chalet after your ski. Northwest of the city in the rolling Lappe hills, Lappe Ski Centre hosts an annual March Break Camp with two full days of ski-themed fun and outdoor play, including field and trail games, biathlon, orienteering and obstacle courses.

With late winter 2025 shaping up to receive heavy snowfall in Ontario, a near-north Nordic ski gem like Sudbury is also a great option for a fun family getaway.

Just minutes west of Sudbury, Walden Cross Country offers discounted trail passes and ski rentals throughout March Break, as well as daily programming for kids and adults. Activities include lessons and games on skis, orienteering, quinzhee building and guided trail skis.

Consider combining a city stay with a comfortable Ontario Parks sleepover. Winter-ready yurts and cabins are heated, have electricity and are equipped to sleep up to six. Make a reservation at either Killarney or Windy Lake Provincial Park—both are an easy drive from Sudbury and offer groomed ski trails, snowshoeing and on-site equipment rentals. If you’re at Killarney, don’t miss skiing the Chikanishing Trail—with a snowy surprise hiding around every meander, this 8-km track-set route on frozen Chikanishing Creek is one of my favourites.

Downhill Skiing

Ontario’s top downhill ski centres are an exciting option for adventurous families, with many offering day- or multi-day March Break camps.

Sault Ste. Marie’s Searchmont Resort welcomes young skiers and snowboarders (ages 5 to 13) of all abilities to their March Break Ski & Snowboard Camp. This fun-filled five-day program is led by an instructor team that provides a creative environment for kids to learn and play on the hill. Half-day lift tickets include two hours of ski or snowboard lessons and 30 minutes to learn about the hill. For the ultimate sleep-and-ski convenience, the resort’s long-awaited slopeside suites are now available to book.

In Timmins, kids ages 6 to 17 can shred the slopes of an extinct volcano at Mount Jamieson Resort’s immersive five-day March Break Ski and Snowboard Camps. Skiers and riders can choose from the standard camp, or an intermediates-only Freestyle Camp. Lessons, activities, lunch and discounted rentals are included.

If you’re in Thunder Bay over the March Break, Loch Lomond ski area’s School Break Camps make it easy for families to cruise the blues. This snow school is all about flexibility—choose from full- or half-day camps with day-by-day options so you can design the camp that’s right for your family. Open to new and progressing skiers and snowboarders ages 4 to 13. Stay a five-minute drive away at the Best Western Nor’Wester Hotel and enjoy the heated pool for aprés ski swims (plus a discounted ski-and-stay rate).

A unique option in Haliburton, Camp Kandalore hosts a March Break Ski and Snowboard Camp for kids ages 10 to 15. Participants stay in Kandalore’s winterized cabins, ski or ride Hidden Valley’s Muskoka Ski Club by day, and enjoy evening programs like outdoor games and climbing wall.

Finally, Ontario’s premier downhill ski and snowboard resort, Blue Mountain Village offers interactive activities and family entertainment on and off the slopes throughout March Break. Check their full March Break event schedule for daily summaries and locations. Stay at the hill to enjoy after-dark attractions, like watching Ontario’s top athletes throw down high-flying freestyle tricks at The Big Air Show.

Fat Biking

Embrace March Break as an opportunity for the whole family to try out a new winter sport. If you haven’t tried fat biking yet, these monster mountain bikes feature oversized tires that can float on packed snow, putting a whole new spin on winter fun.

Sault Ste. Marie is emerging as a top winter fat biking playground—bring your own bikes or rent rides and explore dozens of kilometres of groomed fat bike trails at Hiawatha Highlands and Crimson Ridge. Just minutes away, The Water Tower Inn is my top choice for a winter stay in the Soo. This friendly hotel has an amazing pool facility with three indoor pools and an outdoor whirlpool, plus a great on-site restaurant and family packages.

Another outstanding fat biking destination with an ardent cycling community, Thunder Bay’s Trowbridge Forest Trails grow more impressive each year. Rent equipment and get the scoop on trails and conditions at friendly local bike shops Petrie’s Cycles, Rollin’ Thunder and Fresh Air Experience.

Dog Sledding

For dog-crazy kids and adults, a family dog sledding experience can be an exhilarating addition to a week of winter fun. Ontario’s top dog sledding outfitters offer tours ranging from short rides to night-time or even multi-day excursions.

The purebred Siberian huskies at Winterdance Dogsled Tours will melt your heart, but the thrill of careening down Haliburton’s snowy forest trails is guaranteed to get it racing. Choose from two-hour, half-day, moonlit or full-day tours.

Drive your own dogsled team and explore the highland forests on the western border of Algonquin Park with Sugardogs Adventure Co. Their family-friendly two-hour dog sledding workshops include time to get to know the dogs and learn mushing skills.

For an authentic dog sledding experience in northern Ontario, make the trip to Borealis Sled Dog Adventures in Vermilion Bay, an hour east of Kenora. Join an immersive overnight dog sledding tour and stay at a log outpost cabin or heated wall tent deep in the pristine winter wilderness.

Hardy trippers will enjoy Snow Forest Adventures’ three- and five-day trips into Algonquin Park and weeklong adventures in the frozen wilderness of Temagami, travelling each day and sleeping under canvas each night.

Maple Syrup Season

Participate in a great Canadian tradition—celebrate Ontario’s sweet sugar bush culture and take part in maple syrup season this March Break. There are lots of great locations to experience the magic of collecting and sugaring the sap, while enjoying maple trails, sleigh rides and more.

Just north of Sudbury, Wagonwheel Ranch offers daily Maple Taffy Sleigh Rides during the school break. Enjoy a scenic sleigh ride through the ranch’s forest trails, where you’ll stop in the woods for a bonfire and a delicious, traditional French Canadian maple treat.

Haliburton Forest hosts a two-hour Maple Magic experience, perfect for families and kids of all ages. Learn the subtleties of maple syrup production and visit a working sugar shack to follow the journey from sap to syrup—followed up by a pancake meal of course!

March Break Lodge-Based Adventures

A lodge-based March Break adventure is the perfect choice for families looking to experience a bit of rustic luxury with their winter fun.

Sunny days, snowy trails and frozen lakes are the backdrop for Voyageur Quest’s all-inclusive 3-day Algonquin Log Cabin Family Adventure. Families stay at the cozy, off-grid Algonquin Log Cabin Lodge nestled deep inside Algonquin Park and participate in guided dog sledding, snowshoeing, backcountry skiing and wolf howling.

Enjoy a winter wonderland just minutes from Mattawa at Nature’s Harmony Ecolodge. Stay in an on-site log cabin or yurt and explore miles of pristine trails and tobogganing slopes with views of the Laurentian Mountains.

The outdoor hot pools and idyllic setting alongside the Mattagami River at Timmins’ Cedar Meadows Resort & Spa appeal to all ages, but this March Break destination offers something extra special for young animal-lovers. Guests can join daily wagon rides through the resort’s wildlife area, getting up close to bison, elk, deer and more.

Even more incredible, the resort’s new Sleeping With the Wolves package includes two nights’ stay in a spectacular glass chalet overlooking a private, 10-acre wolf enclosure. Expect up-close views of these beautiful and intelligent creatures, with all the cozy touches to keep your family comfortable. Oh, and did I mention the stargazing?

10 More Enjoy-Anywhere Ideas for March Break

1. Create a winter Olympics course for kids—ideas: speed sledding, snow-pit long jump, snowball accuracy.

2. Hold a best-dressed snowman contest. Winner shares the prize: hot chocolate and marshmallows.

3. Make tire sur la neige—maple candy in the snow.

4. Visit a new Ontario Park; have a fun goal or objective like snowshoeing to a frozen waterfall or searching for animal tracks in the snow.

5. Go tobogganing—at night (wear a headlamp and helmet).

6. Help kids build a little kicker at a local park to practice freestyle ski or snowboard tricks.

7. Build a backyard quinzhee—then sleep in it!

8. Download a stargazing app and head out after dark to learn a new constellation together.

9. Make snow cones in the woods—pack flavoured syrup and some parchment paper for cones.

10. Family Flannel Friday—wear every piece of flannel you own.

These events and activities will have kids saying "best March Break ever!" 

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