Where to Stay in Bracebridge, Muskoka

Bracebridge is the most central of Muskoka’s towns, built where the Muskoka River drops over Bracebridge Falls at the edge of downtown. Staying here puts the falls, the Silver Bridge and the independent shops along Manitoba Street within walking distance of most of the rooms in town.

The town sits on the 45th parallel, halfway between the equator and the North Pole, which is the reason behind its Santa’s summer home nickname. Santa’s Village, the Christmas-themed park on a bend of the Muskoka River, runs from late May into early September plus festive weekends, so a Bracebridge base makes sense for families travelling in summer. Five minutes north, High Falls is a broad cascade on the river’s north branch with a short trail alongside.

Winter changes the town’s character: the Festival of Lights runs from late November into early December with moonlight shopping, fireworks and an evening Santa Claus Parade, and the Fire & Ice Festival brings fire pits to the downtown in February. Most accommodation in town is on the motel, inn and cottage-resort end of the spectrum, with a handful of bed and breakfasts and riverside lodges. Gravenhurst and Huntsville are both within about forty minutes, which makes Bracebridge a workable base for the whole region.