Exploring Sandbanks - 2020

Exploring Sandbanks – 2020: A BEAUTIFUL 8km (4.8 miles) Dunes with white, fine and soft sand. It is located in the Northwest Section of Sandbanks Provincial Park. The drive from Toronto to Sandbanks is approximately 2.5 hours. There are 3 beaches within Sandbanks: Outlet Beach, Sandbanks (or Lakeshore) Beach and Dunes Beach. All these 3 beaches are great to swim in.

Dunes Beach is less crowded compared to the other beaches. The fun part of the dunes is running up and down the hills several times! This is a great cardio exercise! On the other hand, if you want to relax and chill, put down a mat on the white soft sand on the top of the hill and enjoy the sun and the fun watching the others down the hill!

One of the best ways to explore the massive dune is by hiking the Sandbanks Dunes Trail.

A group of us took Friday off at the end of August and spent the day in Prince Edward County to do some wine and food tasting at some of the wineries/vineyards. Check out my Wine Tour Guide 2020 in Prince Edward County for some tips to plan your day at the wineries.

Where We Stayed in Sandbanks?

After our wine tasting tour, we drove to the Cottage that we rented for 3 nights from Airbnb. The Willow Summer Cottage has a small private beach by the lake. It has a fire pit with chairs around and BBQ . The cottage has 4 bedrooms, 2 kitchens and 2 bathrooms. Kitchen has all the utensils/pots/pans and cutlery.

There are 2 kayaks available at the cottage 5hat you can take out on the cutest lake beside the cottage. The cottage’s location is so convenient. It is an easy drive to sandbanks beaches and local points of interest, wineries and breweries.

The Cottage provided 2 Park passes to access Sandbank Provincial Park. You have to guard the park passes carefully and returned when we checked out. If you hang the Park pass in your car front mirror, remember to take it out when you leave. Else you will have to drive all the way back to the Cottage.

Tips On What to Bring to the Cottage:

Bring your own linens (sheets, blankets and bedding) and towels and toiletries.
Assign everyone with meal duty (i.e. making breakfast, lunch and dinner).
Year 2020 is Covid-19 year, make sure to bring your own hand sanitizer and alcohol spray to clean up after yourselves since everyone share the common space in the cottage within your social circle.
There is no laundry on site. Make sure to bring enough change of clothes.
There is drip coffee machines on site. However it is best to bring your own favorite coffee beans for a “of Joe” in the morning. We ground our own coffee beans and put in mason jar to bring to the cottage.
Coordinate among the group to bring condiments like salt, pepper, spices, butter/ketchup/mustard/relish.
Make sure to arrange with the Host for firewoods so you can have bond fire.
Bring your own Coolers so you can keep your drinks cold going to Sandbank Provincial Park.
Carry your own booze.
Bring board games like Uno to play in the evenings.
Sports Equipment to bring to Dunes Beach: Voleyball poles and nets, frisbee, spike ball and badminton.
A portable speaker makes a BIG difference at Dunes Beach when we play volleyball! Ultimate Ears Megaboom is the BEST speaker I have seen/heard. 🙂
Lastly, remember to bring a Water Hammock.

What We Did at Dunes Beach – Sandbank:

On Saturday and Sunday early morning, we packed some snacks/sandwiches/drinks in the coolers to bring to Dunes Beach. Then we started driving to Sandbank Provincial Park. The drive to Sandbanks only takes 10-15 minutes. Once we got to Dunes Beach at Sandbanks, we parked and carried all the sports equipment in addition to the coolers loaded with cold drinks, sandwiches and watermelon on the white soft sand to the bottom of the dunes.