Around Lake Ontario Epic Bike Tour
12 Day Epic Tour
Tour Information
Lake Ontario is about 200 miles long and 50 miles wide, with shores lined by rural farmland. Its banks are also home to one of Canada’s most fascinating cities – Toronto, and one of the world’s most beautiful waterfalls – Niagara Falls. If you like to cycle a lot of mostly flat miles, staying in comfortable, but not fancy, hotels around one of North America's Greatest Lakes, then this is the tour for you!
Guaranteed
The tour still has space. Make your travel arrangements.
Leisurely
Moderate
554 miles around Lake Ontario through upstate New York and Ontario, Canada. Average 55 miles per day with 1 rest day. Mostly flat, gently rolling terrain on a mixture of rural roads, city and suburban streets and paved and crushed stone bike paths. Moderate to advanced cycling, leisurely to moderate with an e-bike.
11 nights lodging, all breakfasts, dinners, & snacks on riding days, 1 picnic lunch, van support, SAG support, digital GPS files, trained guides, shuttle to starting hotel for anyone driving to the tour and airport/train station shuttle at the end of the tour.
$195 for a Cannondale hybrid or Adventure road bicycle. $350 for an electric-assist e-bike.
Quick
Topstone
Gazelle
Fly or take the train in and out of Rochester, NY. Then take a taxi/Uber/Lyft to our starting hotel. Or drive and leave your car at the WomanTours office – we will shuttle you to start of tour.
How do I sign up?
You can Register / Sign-up for a Tour online. . You'll need a Visa, MasterCard, or Discover card or a check for the deposit. If you sign up within 30 days of the start of the tour, we require payment in full. Then, we’ll send you a tour confirmation packet with many more details about your trip, including travel arrangements, a packing list, and an optional training schedule. Most of our tours fill completely and have waiting lists, so don’t wait too long before deciding to join us!
How do I know if I can do it?
If you can ride 5 miles on your bicycle today, then you can do our tours marked as leisurely. If you can ride 10 miles on rolling terrain, then you can do our moderate tours. If you can ride at least 20 miles on rolling terrain, then you can train to be able to tackle our advanced tours. Remember that our support vehicle is always available to pick you up if you get tired. That’s what we’re there for.
If you're still concerned about being able to do it, then consider renting an e-bike. These electric-assist bicycles flatten out the hills and increase your speed. They make more challenging tours available to more cyclists.
Can I bring my own bike?
About half of our guests bring their own bicycles. Cross-country cyclists must ride their own bikes. Upon signing up for a tour, you will receive information for packing, shipping and flying with your bike.
"I was in awe of the organization, the route, and the people."
Tour Details
DAY 1: We meet just outside of Rochester, NY, home to worldwide WomanTours headquarters. We’ll start our tour at 3:30 pm with an orientation, followed by a bike prep clinic and then dinner together. 0 miles.
DAYS 2-11: We’ll run this tour as we do our other epic and cross-country tours. After a light, nutritionally balanced buffet breakfast, we’ll pack our bike bags with snacks, and be on our way at our own pace.
We’ll ride out of the hotel on a short paved bike trail and then we’re quickly at the shores of Lake Ontario. The landscape becomes gently rolling and flat farmland full of apple orchards and cow pastures.
We’ll support this tour with our SAG vehicle that holds water, snacks, tire repair tools and a first aid kit. Even if you don’t need anything, you can stop to chat and talk about the wonderful tailwind or the panoramic view.
Lunch is on your own during the day if you want something heartier than the snacks out of our SAG vehicle. We encourage you to stop and get a taste of the local fare.
Once at our hotel, you’ll find your luggage, (delivered earlier by the WomanTours van and trailer,) and check in to your room. We rotate roommates every time we change hotels, unless you’ve requested a specific roommate or to upgrade to a single room. There will be time to shower before dinner and perhaps take a dip in the hotel pool.
If anyone has experienced bike problems during the day, our guides will use the time before dinner to fix it. Then we eat dinner together, served buffet-style, usually outside. Our traveling chef creates hearty and healthy dishes from our trailer kitchen. While she will accommodate guests with specific allergies and provide a nonmeat protein source for vegetarians, she cannot always adhere to everyone’s likes and dislikes. We ask that you be flexible. If you require a vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free or other type of special diet, there is a $75 surcharge.
After dinner, our guide will hold a map meeting to discuss the highlights of the day and to go over the details of the next day’s route.
We’ll have one layover day on this tour in Toronto, Canada to give our bodies a chance to recover. We’ll also have time to explore this fascinating city, which proudly proclaims itself to be the most diverse and safest in the world. 55 miles on average per day.
DAY 12: We end our tour with a short ride back on the Erie Canalway Trail into Rochester, NY. With any luck, the prominent west wind will provide us with a wonderful tailwind back to our offices. After enjoying a final picnic lunch and saying your good-byes, WomanTours will provide a complimentary shuttle to the airport by 1:30pm. 25 miles.
TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:
- Womantours Headquarters
- Erie Canalway Trail
- Niagara Falls State Park
- Waterfront Trail on the Canadian shores of the lake
- Toronto attractions: Chinatown, CN Tower, Royal Ontario Museum, Harbourfront Centre, Distillery District.
- Welland Canal
REGISTRATION DETAILS: To sign up for the Around Lake Ontario Tour, we require a $300 nonrefundable deposit. The balance of the tour cost will be due 75 days prior to the tour start (April 24, 2025).
DISCOUNTS: Save an additional 2% if you pay by check or Zelle.
TRIP INSURANCE: We strongly recommend insurance, and will provide you with a source for insurance upon receiving your tour deposit.
Around Lake Ontario Itinerary
| Date | Location | Miles |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 8, 2025 | Rochester, NY | 0 |
| Jul 9, 2025 | Oswego, NY | 64 |
| Jul 10, 2025 | Sackets Harbor, NY | 51 |
| Jul 11, 2025 | Kingston, ON | 36 |
| Jul 12, 2025 | Trenton, ON | 75 |
| Jul 13, 2025 | Bowmanville, ON | 75 |
| Jul 14, 2025 | Toronto, ONT | 58 |
| Jul 15, 2025 | Toronto, ON | 0 |
| Jul 16, 2025 | Burlington, ON | 40 |
| Jul 17, 2025 | Niagara Falls, NY | 60 |
| Jul 18, 2025 | Brockport, NY | 70 |
| Jul 19, 2025 | Rochester, NY | 25 |