Niagara-on-the-Lake

Queen Street on Saturday, the River Road on Sunday

Give Niagara-on-the-Lake a full weekend. Spend Saturday on foot in the old town: Queen Street before the coach groups, the churchyard of St. Mark's on Byron Street, the 1869 Niagara Apothecary and an evening Shaw Festival play. On Sunday follow the Niagara Parkway, the River Road, by bike or car past wineries and War of 1812 sites.

The Niagara Apothecary opens its 1869 dispensary at midday in season, so begin instead with a coffee and a slow walk to St. Mark's on Byron Street, begun in 1804 and restored after the 1813 burning, where the shaded churchyard is worth a quiet circuit. Back on Queen Street, look into Greaves for jam and pick up picnic supplies for later.

Spend the afternoon at Fort George. The palisade, blockhouses and officers' quarters are reconstructions, but the musket demonstrations and the view across the river to Fort Niagara on the American shore make the history easy to picture. In the evening, a play at the Festival Theatre on Queen's Parade or the smaller Royal George on Queen Street; curtain times allow an early dinner first.

On Sunday, rent a bike and head south on the river trail beside the Niagara Parkway. Stop at a fruit stand or two, taste at a Parkway estate such as Inniskillin, and climb Queenston Heights to Brock's Monument, where the general who fell there in 1812 is buried. Ride back downhill for a late lunch, or, if you have the energy, continue along the gorge toward Niagara Falls and return by taxi.

Icewine, peaches and afternoon tea on Picton Street

Niagara-on-the-Lake eats from the fruit belt between Lake Ontario and the Niagara Escarpment. In July and August farm stands on Niagara Stone Road and the Parkway sell cherries, peaches and plums by the basket, the wineries pour icewine, and afternoon tea is served on Picton Street in the old town.

The local table is built on what grows between the lake and the escarpment. The tender fruit belt here is one of the few places in Canada where peaches do well, thanks to the moderating effect of Lake Ontario.

Wine is the bigger story. The estates are grouped along Niagara Stone Road toward Virgil, along the Parkway toward Queenston and on Lakeshore Road to the west. Most pour Riesling, Cabernet Franc and Vidal, and nearly all sell icewine, pressed from grapes left on the vine until a hard frost in December or January concentrates the sugar. Taste it at room temperature with blue cheese or fruit, and skip heavy desserts. Several wineries, Peller Estates on John Street East among them, run proper restaurants, which makes a long lunch among the vines easy to arrange.

In town, afternoon tea at the Prince of Wales Hotel on Picton Street is the set piece, served in the drawing room with scones and sandwiches. For something less formal, the Olde Angel Inn on Regent Street pours beer in a low-beamed pub room, and Butler's on Mary Street is where locals go for pizza and wings after a match.

Shaw season, harvest weekends and the Icewine Festival

Visit Niagara-on-the-Lake from June to September for warm patio evenings and the full Shaw Festival programme, or in January for the Icewine Festival. The Shaw season opens in April, when highs are around 11C; June averages 23C, and July and August reach about 26C. Harvest weekends at the wineries fall in the autumn.

The calendar here follows the theatre and the grapes. The Shaw Festival opens in April and plays into the autumn, but April evenings are still chilly, with highs around 11C and lows near freezing. Summer is warm enough for patio dinners on Queen Street. Those are also the most crowded months, when rooms and good seats sell out weeks ahead.

September is the sweet spot. Highs of about 21C, the grape harvest under way and the summer crowds thinning make it the best month for cycling the Parkway, even though it is statistically the wettest month at around 92 mm. October cools to roughly 15C, the vineyards colour up and the festival still has shows running.

From December to February the town is quiet and cold, with January averaging a high of 0C and lows of about minus 6C. That is when the icewine harvest happens, and the Niagara Icewine Festival fills January weekends with outdoor tastings and events in town and at the wineries. Wrap up, book a room by the fire and you will have Queen Street largely to yourself.