The Lady of the Lake, since 1870. Fifty-six rooms across a faithfully rebuilt Victorian summer resort on Lake Rosseau, with the original stone veranda intact, a working dock, a quiet beach, and the most romantic anniversary booking in cottage country.
"The original veranda survived the 1996 fire, which is the entire point. Everything else was rebuilt to the original drawings and quietly updated through new ownership in 2023. The lake at first light from the long porch is the closest thing Ontario has to a Maine grand hotel summer."
Windermere House has occupied the shore of Lake Rosseau in the village of Windermere since 1870, when Scottish farmer Thomas Aitken opened a small boarding house for the steamer traffic working the Muskoka chain. The property grew through the late nineteenth century into a full Victorian summer hotel, with the deep covered veranda and the corner turrets that defined the regional grand-hotel typology. On 27 February 1996, during the filming of the Geena Davis vehicle The Long Kiss Goodnight, a fire of cinematic origin destroyed the building. Only the stone veranda survived. The owners rebuilt to original spec over eighteen months and reopened in 1997. New ownership in 2023 carried out a complete interior refresh while leaving the architectural envelope unchanged.
The 56 rooms and suites are arranged across the main house and the lakeside annex. Standard categories run from approximately 28 to 36 square metres; deluxe lakeview rooms and corner turret rooms sit at the top of the main-building inventory. The most useful upgrade in the room mix is the Lakeside Suite category, with private balconies that look directly across the lake to the Beaumaris and Lake Joseph shores. The four-bedroom Windermere Cottage is a separate clapboard structure on the property grounds, with its own kitchen, sitting room, and dock, and is the most useful family configuration. Interiors were re-done in 2023 in a Muskoka heritage palette: deep blues, sage greens, polished oak, white linens, framed period engravings of the steamer fleet.
The dining operation runs across three rooms. The main dining room is the lake-facing formal space, with crisp linen service and a menu that takes Ontario provenance seriously: Muskoka lake trout, Cookstown greens, Howe Island Mennonite poultry. The Rosseau Grill on the veranda runs lunch and casual dinner service through the warm months, with the lake at arm's reach across the porch rail. The Pier 18 bar operates the dock-level pour and small plates from June through September, and is the social centre of the village in summer. Breakfast is included in many rate plans and is served on the veranda when weather permits, which is the property's quietly best meal.
The recreation programme is faithful to the heritage model and lighter on amenities than the JW Marriott resort fifteen minutes down the lake. The private beach and dock support swimming, kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, and small sailboats; the property maintains a fleet of Muskoka chairs along the lawn and a long wooden swing set on the waterfront. Lawn games include croquet and bocce. Bicycles are available for the village circuit. There is no spa on site, no indoor pool, and no golf course attached to the property, which is the structural trade against the JW; what Windermere offers in return is the older, slower, more conversational pace that the heritage resort form was designed around.
A Muskoka anniversary at Windermere is the closest thing in Ontario to a Maine grand-hotel weekend. Book a corner turret room or a Lakeside Suite, schedule one dinner in the main room and one casual evening on the veranda, take the morning canoe out before the lake traffic starts, and walk the village circuit to St. Vincent de Paul's village church and the Windermere Marina. The room you book here will not have a flat-screen pretending to be a fireplace; the fireplace is real, and the view from the bed is the lake.
For an Ontario honeymoon week that prizes architecture and atmosphere over amenities, Windermere is the right house. The Lakeside Suites in the annex give the bridal couple a quieter wing than the main building; the cocktail hour on Pier 18 at sunset is the consistent social hour to anchor to; the resort runs a small but capable wedding event programme through the summer, which is worth checking against the calendar before booking the week. Avoid Civic Holiday and Labour Day weekends if the priority is quiet.
Windermere has no operational spa, which sounds like a disqualification and is instead the wellness pitch: a quiet, low-amenity resort on a clean lake with morning paddles, long walking circuits through the village, a dock that supports cold-water swimming through September, and a dining programme that respects vegetable-forward and Ontario-provenance menus. Bring a book, leave the phone in the room safe, and treat the lake as the only piece of equipment that matters.
2508 Windermere Road
Windermere, ON P0B 1P0
Canada
Two and a quarter hours from Toronto Pearson via Highway 400 and Muskoka Road 4; floatplane dock on the lake
56 rooms and suites + the four-bedroom Windermere Cottage
Standard rooms from C$299/night
Lakeside Suites from C$549/night
Windermere Cottage to C$1,250/night
Check-in: 4:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Open year-round under 2023 ownership; built 1870, rebuilt 1997, refreshed 2023
Original 1870 stone veranda intact
Private beach, dock, kayaks, paddleboards, sailboats
Three dining rooms (Main Dining, Rosseau Grill veranda, Pier 18)
Four-bedroom heritage cottage on grounds
Floatplane access on the lake
Complimentary WiFi throughout
From C$299/night (shoulder), C$549/night (peak July and August). Turret rooms, Lakeside Suites, and the Windermere Cottage book six to nine months ahead for Canada Day, Civic Holiday, and Labour Day weekends. The September shoulder is the best value window with the warmest water.
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Last updated June 11, 2026
A ranked shortlist, a special offer worth booking, and the overpriced stay to skip. Straight from the editors.