Small town guide: Uxbridge, Ontario
After spending months backpacking, I returned to Canada in summer 2026 without an apartment to my name. Thankfully, my grandparents had a spare bedroom on our family's farm in Uxbridge, Ontario, so I got to spend a few months in a town that has always been close to my heart.
For anyone who wants to explore Uxbridge, here is my personal travel and lifestyle guide.
Spotted downtown in Uxbridge. I can relate somedays...
First, what (and where) is Uxbridge?
Uxbridge is a small town in Durham Region, one of the regions just outside Toronto. (For the urban planning folks: Uxbridge is a lower-tier municipality within Durham Region, which is the upper tier.)
Uxbridge is about an hour northeast of Toronto by car, or about an hour and a half by transit (yes, you can get here without a car). With around 22,000 people, it's one of the smaller municipalities in Durham Region, and it has a much stronger farming presence than most places near Toronto.
The town has a cute historic downtown: one main street lined with diagonal parking, two- and three-storey 19th-century buildings, and a handful of shops with decorated windows. Outside the "downtown," as with most towns in Canada, you quickly lose any pedestrian-friendly experience and instead find a car-oriented hell of chaotic big-box stores. As in most suburbs, that's sadly where most residents actually shop, although downtown Uxbridge still has its gems, like the town's only bookshop. Once you get past the box stores, the town feels extremely rural, with plenty of farms, rolling country roads, and dozens of woodlots.
This post is in honour of Nutmeg. Fly high sweet girl. I saw this next to Elgin Pond.
What to do downtown (without a car)
So, if you take transit and arrive downtown, what should you do? Here's where I stroll when I ditch the car.
Views from the patio at Second Wedge Brewery
1. Blue Heron Books & Bridge Social
Blue Heron Books is a great local bookshop connected to a café. They have tons of good fiction and non-fiction, and I find their selection well curated. They also host an annual book festival. The coffee next door isn't amazing, but the staff are nice and there are tables to study at.
2. Red Bulb Espresso Bar at Boyd's
Red Bulbis my favourite café in the area right now. Red Bulb is a Stouffville-based café that has opened a tiny outpost inside Boyd's Sports, just a one-minute walk from downtown. I love the staff, the coffee, and I honestly think their scones are the best I've had (I adore the Earl Grey scone). I like that the patio uses the patio furniture Boyd's has for sale: it's a great way to share space (and test out new furniture!). There's some indoor seating too. It can get busy, though, because locals love this place.
3. Little Thief Bakery Co.
A cute, newish bakery serving freshly baked bread and artisan baked goods. There's always a lineup in the morning, and they sell out! They're only open a few days a week. They also serve coffee, but there's no seating.
4. The Roxy Theatre
The Roxy has been in Uxbridge for about 30 years. Tickets on Tuesdays and for matinees are just $8.50 (what a deal!), and they serve local beer and cider.
5. Uxbridge Public Library
This library is tiny but offers a lot. For those of us who still enjoy reading the newspaper, you can read the Globe and Mail there daily. They also have plenty of magazines, including The Walrus, a great Canadian monthly, and space to read and study.
If you live nearby, the book selection is great, but they also lend DVDs, audiobooks, CDs, and even puzzles, which I borrow sometimes (why buy a puzzle if you'll only do it once?). They also have a 3D printer, offer printing for a small fee per page, lend museum passes, have a genealogy department, and host occasional events. At the front of the library there's a nice section highlighting local events and groups, which I'm a sucker for (hence this post).
6. Uxbridge Farmers' Market & Second Wedge Brewing
The farmers' market runs every Sunday from May through October, roughly 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. It's held outside Second Wedge, our local brewery. Second Wedge has amazing beer, a fantastic patio, and really good wood-fired pizza. For some of the winter months, it's held inside the local hockey arena (acting as a "holiday market").
My ideal Sunday: grab a coffee at Red Bulb with a book, get groceries at the farmers' market, then finish the day with drinks and pizza on the Second Wedge patio.
7. Hip dining spots? Yes!
Sundays Restaurant, Urban Pantry, and Fig Kitchen are all downtown and are great for a date night or a pre-movie glass of wine. Sundays is the newest, from the folks behind White Lily Diner in Riverside, Toronto, and features locally grown food with a seasonal menu. All three have nice drinks and good food, but I saw recently that Sundays was awarded a "Bib Gourmand" ranking by the Michelin Guide! Wow!
8. Local pubs
Wixan's Bridge, Col. McGrady's, and the Corner House are the downtown pubs. My pick is Wixan's: the food is well made, the patio overlooks the main street, and they pour a great Guinness. It's a good spot to watch a game too. Just be warned, they all close surprisingly early.
9. All the other small-town shops
You can also visit the local butcher, get a haircut, buy new shoes, get your bike fixed, and pick up local gifts, all from independent shops on the main street.
What to do beyond downtown (with a car)
Fresh bison!!
1. Thunder Ridge Bison Farm
Thunder Ridge is open to the public on Saturdays. Have you eaten bison before? It's less fatty than beef and tastes great. They have bison as steaks, sausages, ground meat, and hamburgers. Their bison are all raised locally. They also have bison sausage rolls, cookies made with lard from the bison, and offer a bunch of local goods (including coffee beans, honey, and occasionally cheese). They give free drip coffee to all customers to.
2. Banjo Cider
Banjo Cider makes local cider and has a disc golf course on the grounds; you can rent a disc or bring your own. They host music events too. Such a chill space. They sometimes will have food stand going too. I find it more laid back than slabtown (but both are great!).
3. Thomas Foster Memorial
Entry to the Thomas Foster Memorial is $10. During the warmer months, they host by-donation music on Friday nights and meditation on some mornings.
4. Zephyr Organics
Zephyr Organics is a local shop with fresh produce and, sometimes, desserts. The co-owner, Ted, is awesome to talk to - he is running for mayor and he knows so much local history. His family history is interesting (he's "Chinese-French-Canadian") and his passion for organics is well-felt.
5. Slabtown Cider
Slabtown Cider is another local cidery worth the drive.
6. Annina Bakery
Annina Bakery is a popular stop for cyclists coming from Markham, Stouffville, and even Toronto. It has bike racks plus plenty of outdoor and upstairs seating. It is in the small village of "Goodwood", which is still part of Uxbridge. Goodwood is where Schitt's Creek was filmed, so you'll see fans wandering around looking at the buildings and taking photos. The bus from Toronto to Uxbridge actually stops here too (more on that below)
What else?
If you want to get more involved, pick up the latest UFOREA zine. It's a monthly zine covering arts, music, culture, and events in Uxbridge, and its weekly calendar is great for low-commitment recurring events like pub trivia and running clubs. The library has plenty of flyers for events and programs, as does the Uxbridge Historical Centre, which hosts yoga, bookbinding, and baking, plus a horseshoe league on Tuesdays that's only $30 for the whole year. What a steal!
Getting here
My friends ready to board the bus from Uxbridge back to Toronto with their bikes
Driving from Toronto is easy: take the DVP/Highway 404 north, then hop onto a country road like Aurora, Bloomington, or Davis. It takes about 50 minutes to an hour and 10 minutes without traffic.
You can also take transit from Union Station using the GO Train (Stouffville line) and/or the GO Bus (Route 71). The closest train station is Old Elm in Stouffville. It only has service in the morning and evening, since it's (annoyingly) a commuter line with a single track, which limits how many trains can run, but it's still a train station! From Old Elm, you can transfer to a GO Bus that takes you to downtown Uxbridge, which means you can explore our cute little town without a car. How exciting! Outside rush hour, the GO Train only runs as far as Mount Joy in Markham, but you can transfer to the GO Bus there, and its final stop is downtown Uxbridge.
There's also a Durham Region Transit bus (awesomely, it's the "905") connecting Uxbridge to Oshawa, Whitby, and Port Perry, although I'm ashamed to admit I've never tried it... yet.
The Uxbridge bus stop is here. It's literally just a sign, with no shelter or washrooms. It's next to the old train station, which is quite beautiful (it looks like a hat).
A tangent for train lovers
Uxbridge's train history starts in the 19th century with the Toronto and Nipissing Railway. It connected Uxbridge to Toronto by rail for the first time and also ran north to Coboconk in Kawartha Lakes (the tracks never actually made it to Lake Nipissing). It's bittersweet that there used to be trains between Uxbridge and Kawartha Lakes; I would've loved to take that ride. The hat-like Uxbridge station was built by the Grand Trunk Railway in 1904 and still stands today. The town bought it for $1.00 (another steal!). I recently wrote a post arguing this station should become a café... I'm not holding my breath.
Passenger service to Uxbridge ended in the 1970s, and the last commercial train north of Uxbridge ran toward Lindsay in 1991. After that, the tracks north of town were abandoned and eventually became part of the Trans Canada Trail, now used for hiking and biking. I've actually biked to Kawartha Lakes on this trail, and it's lovely.
Interestingly, the tracks south of Uxbridge are still operational. Until just a few years ago, a heritage train ran between Stouffville and Uxbridge, and I always loved seeing it pass through town. Sadly, the organization went bankrupt and the trains were sold within the last year. Such a shame. They used to park those trains next to the old station, alongside a bunch of old Ontario Northland cars you could sneak into. In June 2026, I noticed every train had been removed. I'll miss peeking into them.
The one bright spot: Metrolinx, which operates GO Transit, owns the track from Uxbridge to Stouffville and previously had plans to extend commuter service to Uxbridge. I'm not sure it will ever happen. Uxbridge has a small population (and environmental concerns may limit growth), so the expansion doesn't make much economic sense. Still, as someone who loves downtown Uxbridge and loves trains, I think it would be great for residents (and for tourism!).
Hiking? Trail Capital of what?
What a typical hike may look like in Uxbridge.
For reasons beyond me, Uxbridge calls itself the "Trail Capital of Canada." There are definitely plenty of trails here, but honestly, they all feel the same (flat walks through woodlots), and it's nowhere near as hikeable as many small towns in B.C. or Alberta. The title is registered with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, which I didn't know was possible for claims like this. I think it was a dumb idea on the town's part. Why encourage a type of tourism that will just let people down? Why not call it "Durham's Hiking Capital"? I could get behind that!
Anyway, if you want to hike, I've always enjoyed the Ewen Trail, which cuts through downtown and then zigzags into the forest (I usually park here and start on the wilderness section). There's also a trail behind the Walmart called the Countryside Preserve(see here), which is honestly a great loop before or after work.
You can also check out the new Uxbridge Urban Provincial Park. There isn't much there yet, but it's cool to see a brand-new provincial park. I'm hoping they expand it and connect it with the existing trails, allowing for multi-hour hikes rather than just walking in circles.
Spotted while walking downtown. What I wish to be remembered for.