Southwestern Ontario
Southwestern Ontario is the geographic area of Ontario extending from the Bruce Peninsula and Lake Huron on the north, the Lake Huron shoreline on the west, the Lake Erie shoreline on the south, and neighbouring the Toronto-Hamilton-Niagara Golden Horseshoe region on the east.| Tap on a place to explore it |
Essential Destinations
Top destinations include London and Windsor.
London
Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0.
London is a medium-sized city in Southwestern Ontario with a population of 378,000. It is west of Toronto, between Lake Huron and Lake Erie at the fork of the Thames River, which was named after the River Thames in London, England.
Windsor
Photo: Tbirdskelding, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Windsor is a mid-sized Canadian city on the southwest tip of Ontario. It's an extremely multicultural city with over 20% of its population having been born outside of Canada.
Kitchener
Photo: Allie Caulfield, CC BY 2.0.
Kitchener and neighbouring Waterloo and Cambridge form a tightly-integrated metro area within the larger Region of Waterloo in Southwestern Ontario. At the time of the 2021 Canadian census, the population of the city of Kitchener was 256,885 people and the population of the Region of Waterloo area was 587,165.
Destinations to Discover
Explore places such as Western Ontario and Essex County.
Western Ontario
Western Ontario is a group of counties on the west coast of Southwestern Ontario. It is a largely agricultural region with some great beach communities and a few smaller cities.
Essex County
Essex County, Ontario is the southernmost region of Canada with one of the longest growing seasons in the nation, unique outdoor activities and fascinating historic sites. The Lake Erie shore and Pelee Island viticulture areas offer 14 wineries as of 2023.
Region of Waterloo
The Region of Waterloo is a region in southwestern Ontario that spans the gap between the traditional agrarian life of the Mennonites of St. Jacob's to the leading-edge technology businesses of Waterloo, with some beautiful countryside in between.
Bruce County
Photo: Tibor Kovacs, CC BY 2.0.
Bruce County is a region in Ontario comprising the Bruce Peninsula, 2½ hr north and west of the city of Toronto. The Bruce Peninsula is a finger of land surrounded by the waters of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay from Sauble Beach to Tobermory, and Wiarton to Lion's Head.
Wellington and Dufferin Counties
Wellington and Dufferin Counties are largely rural areas in Southwestern Ontario. This guide covers the City of Guelph, which is surrounded by Wellington County, but is not a part of it.
Lake Erie Shore
The Lake Erie Shore in Ontario includes Elgin County, the city of St. Thomas, Norfolk County, Haldimand County, and Brant County. It is a largely rural part of the province, with a strong summer tourism sector in towns and villages strewn along the lakeshore.
Grey County
Grey County is a mostly rural region of Southwestern Ontario. Grey County is an outdoor vacationland: hiking and biking on trails in the spring and summer, spectacular fall colour driving tours and foodie experiences in the harvest season, and downhill cross-country skiing and snowmobiling in the winter.
Brantford
Photo: JustSomePics, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Brantford is a former industrial city of 105,000 people on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. "The Telephone City", it is where Alexander Graham Bell said he invented his telephone, and from where he placed the first long-distance call to nearby Paris.
Chatham-Kent
Photo: Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Chatham-Kent is a municipality of 104,000 people which includes the former city of Chatham in southwestern Ontario, between Windsor and London. The municipality is defined as all of Kent County including Blenheim, Chatham, Dresden, Ridgetown, Tilbury and Wallaceburg.
Southwestern Ontario
- Type: Locality
- Description: region of Ontario, Canada
- Neighbors: Northern Ontario
- Category: region
- Location: Ontario, Canada, North America
- View on OpenStreetMap
This page is based on GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
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Satellite Map
Discover Southwestern Ontario from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
In Other Languages
From Catalan to Venetian—“Southwestern Ontario” goes by many names.
- Catalan: “Sud-este d’Ontario”
- Cebuano: “Southwestern ontario”
- Chinese: “安大略省西南部”
- Chinese: “西南安大略”
- Esperanto: “Sudokcidenta Ontario”
- Estonian: “Edela-Ontario”
- French: “Sud-ouest de l’Ontario”
- French: “Sud-Ouest de l’Ontario”
- Greek: “Νοτιοδυτικό Οντάριο”
- Italian: “Ontario del sudovest”
- Japanese: “オンタリオ州南西部”
- Japanese: “サウスウエスタン・オンタリオ”
- Japanese: “南西オンタリオ地方”
- Persian: “انتاریو جنوب باختری”
- Portuguese: “Sudoeste de Ontário”
- Russian: “Юго-западное Онтарио”
- Russian: “Юго-Западное Онтарио”
- Serbian: “Југозападни Онтарио”
- Spanish: “Suroeste de Ontario”
- Swedish: “Southwestern ontario”
- Swedish: “Southwestern Ontario”
- Ukrainian: “Південно-західне Онтаріо”
- Ukrainian: “Південно-Західне Онтаріо”
- Venetian: “Ontàrio del sudòvest”
Ontario: Must-Visit Destinations
Delve into Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, and Mississauga.
Explore These Curated Destinations
Discover places selected for their distinct character and enduring appeal.
About Mapcarta. Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Southwestern Ontario”. Photo: Wikimedia, CC0.