Barrie, Ontario
The old portage town on Kempenfelt Bay that became the commuter city at the top of Highway 400
Barrie is a city on Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe, about 90 kilometres north of Toronto. The 2021 census counted 147,829 people in the city and about 212,900 in the census metropolitan area, which takes in Innisfil and Springwater.
Long before the town, Kempenfelt Bay was the start of the Nine Mile Portage, an Indigenous route overland from Lake Simcoe to Willow Creek and the Nottawasaga River, which led on to Georgian Bay and the upper Great Lakes. In the War of 1812 the British used it as a supply line to their posts in the west, and the path from the bay to the depot at Fort Willow is still marked. A settlement grew at the bay in the 1820s and 1830s, and it was named after Sir Robert Barrie, a naval commander of the Great Lakes. It became a village in 1854 and the county town of Simcoe, then a town in 1870, and the railway made it a market and rail junction for the farms and lumber camps to the north. The masthead year is 1959, when Barrie was incorporated as a city.
Barrie wraps around the head of Kempenfelt Bay, with downtown on the north shore at the foot of the hill and the older Allandale district on the south side, where the railway arrived. Dunlop Street is the downtown main street, and a long waterfront of parks and beaches lines the bay, with the Spirit Catcher sculpture, brought from Expo 86 in Vancouver, standing at the water's edge. Highway 400 cuts through the city from south to north, and suburbs have spread along it in every direction: east along the bay toward Shanty Bay, north toward Springwater and south into land added from Innisfil in 2010, where new subdivisions are still being built. Little Lake lies in the north end, and the Ardagh Bluffs, a wooded escarpment, hold trails in the south-west.
Barrie has the feel of a large town more than a city. The waterfront is its civic living room, with the beaches at Centennial Park and the marina, summer festivals and a promenade along the bay, and in winter ice huts dot Lake Simcoe for fishing. Downtown Dunlop Street has independent restaurants and bars, and the Meridian Place square hosts markets and concerts. The city is the gateway to cottage country and the ski hills, so weekends see the traffic flow north through it on the 400. Georgian College gives the city a student population, and Canadian Forces Base Borden, west of the city, is a large training base. On 31 May 1985 an F4 tornado tore through the south end, killing eight people and destroying or damaging hundreds of homes, and older residents still date things from it.
Present-day Barrie has been one of the fastest-growing cities in Canada for three decades, filled by families priced out of Toronto who commute by GO train or down the 400. That growth brings the usual pressures: traffic on the highway and the arterial roads, the cost of housing, and the pace of new subdivisions in the south end. Downtown has seen both investment and the visible homelessness and addiction common to Ontario cities of its size, which have been a recurring subject at council. Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre has expanded to serve a fast-growing region, and the city and Georgian College have been working to bring more university programmes to the city. Lake Simcoe itself, its water quality and the ice-fishing season are the other perennial topics.
Where People Live
Downtown
The old centre on the north shore of Kempenfelt Bay, with Dunlop Street, Meridian Place, the waterfront parks and marina, restaurants, bars and new condominium towers.
Allandale
The district on the south side of the bay where the railway arrived, with the restored Allandale station, the Allandale Waterfront GO station, older houses and the waterfront trail.
East End & the Grove
Older neighbourhoods east of downtown along the bay toward Johnson's Beach and Shanty Bay, with mature trees, postwar houses and access to the lakeshore.
Painswick
A large south-east neighbourhood of 1980s and later subdivisions near the Barrie South GO station, Highway 400 and the south end shopping strips.
Holly & Ardagh
The south-west suburbs around the Ardagh Bluffs, with family housing, schools and wooded trails along the escarpment.
North End & Little Lake
The northern suburbs around Little Lake and the Georgian College campus, near the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre and the north stretch of Highway 400.
Hewitt's & Salem
The new neighbourhoods being built on land added from Innisfil in 2010, south of the old city limits, with townhouses, new schools and still-unfinished roads.
Where to stay
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Barrie by IHG
506 Bryne Dr, Barrie, ON L4N 9P6, Canada · ihg.com
Harbour View Inn Barrie
1 Berczy St, Barrie, ON L4M 3P5, Canada · harbourviewinn.ca
Monte Carlo Inn - Barrie Suites
81 Hart Dr, Barrie, ON L4N 5M3, Canada · montecarloinns.com
Super 8 by Wyndham Barrie South
441 Bryne Dr, Barrie, ON L4N 6C8, Canada · wyndhamhotels.com
Travelodge by Wyndham Barrie
300 Bayfield St, Barrie, ON L4M 3B9, Canada · wyndhamhotels.com
Residence & Conference Centre - Barrie
101 Georgian Dr, Barrie, ON L4M 3X9, Canada · stayrcc.com
Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Barrie
74 Bryne Dr, Barrie, ON L4N 9Y4, Canada · hilton.com
Best Western Plus Barrie
35 Hart Dr, Barrie, ON L4N 5M3, Canada · bestwestern.com
Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites Barrie
261 Essa Rd, Barrie, ON L4N 9C7, Canada · marriott.com
Four Points by Sheraton Barrie
60 Bryne Dr, Barrie, ON L4N 9Y4, Canada · marriott.com
Allure Hotel and Conference Centre, Ascend Hotel Collection Barrie
20 Fairview Rd, Barrie, ON L4N 3T9, Canada · choicehotels.com
Days Inn by Wyndham Barrie
55 Hart Dr, Barrie, ON L4N 5M3, Canada · wyndhamhotels.com
Quality Inn Barrie
75 Hart Dr, Barrie, ON L4N 5M3, Canada · choicehotels.com
Roxie's Gluten Free Haus Barrie
369 Georgian Dr, Barrie, ON L4M 7A2, Canada
Warnica Coach House Barrie
214 Dunlop St W, Barrie, ON L4N 1B6, Canada
Sunflower Farm Guest House Innisfil
7762 11th Line, Thornton, ON L0L 2N0, Canada · sunflowerfarmguesthouse.com
Parkside House
15 Parkside Dr, Barrie, ON L4N 1W7, Canada
Yellow Door Barrie BnB Executive Suites
25 Bluejay Dr, Barrie, ON L4M 5P8, Canada
Restaurants & places to go
Jack Astor's Barrie
sports bars, pubs, restaurants · . Feel good dining with a side of playful attitude! Visit us in Barrie, Ontario and follow @jackastorsbarrie for the latest. · jackastors.com
Hibachi Teppanyaki Barrie
Japanese restaurants, Japanese hibachi grill, Japanese fine dining, asian cuisine · hibachiteppanyaki.com
Airports
Barrie-Lake Simcoe Regional Airport (YLK) 16 km to the centre
Barrie, ON, CA — Indoor waiting areas, but some gates board by bus or on foot across the apron — plan for the weather on the day.
Local transit
Barrie Transit
Public transit · Schedules & GTFS data
Trains & rail
VIA Rail Canada
National rail
Coaches & shuttles
Ebus
Intercity coach
Rider Express
Intercity coach
Living Here
Getting about
- GO Transit's Barrie line runs from Allandale Waterfront and Barrie South stations to Union Station in Toronto, with more frequent trains added in recent years.
- Barrie Transit runs local buses connected to the downtown terminal and both GO stations; Presto cards work on GO trains and buses.
- Toronto Pearson International Airport is roughly an hour south by car outside rush hour. Highway 400 is the main road to Toronto and is very busy on summer and holiday weekends heading to cottage country.
- Most residents drive. Winter brings lake-effect snow off Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe, sometimes in heavy bursts.
Health
- Ontario residents are covered by OHIP for medically necessary care at no charge on showing their health card. New residents must register.
- Visitors are not covered and are billed, so travel insurance is essential. Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre is the city's hospital and the regional centre for cancer and specialist care.
- Call 911 for emergencies. Health811 gives nurse advice by phone, and pharmacies and walk-in clinics handle minor problems. Ice on Lake Simcoe varies in thickness; check conditions before going out.
Work & study
- Education, health care, retail, manufacturing, logistics, construction and tourism are major employers, along with the Canadian Forces base at Borden nearby; many residents commute to the Greater Toronto Area.
- Georgian College has its main campus in Barrie; Lakehead University has a campus in nearby Orillia.
- Foreign workers and students need Canadian permits before arrival.
Money & manners
- Canadian dollars; cards and tap payment are accepted almost everywhere. Ontario's harmonised sales tax is added at the till, and tips of 15 to 20 per cent are expected in restaurants.
- Barrie is friendly and informal; the waterfront and the lake set the rhythm of the week, and summer weekends are busy with people heading north.
- Winters are cold and snowy and summers warm and humid. Lake Simcoe freezes in most winters, and the ice-fishing season is a local institution.
News
Situations Vacant
Classified
Property
Sport
Display Advertising
Sources
- Geoverts Local — Barriethe local directory, the people-and-company index, and who is hiring
- Better Mapping — Barriethe intelligence map — parcels, boundaries and what is actually where