About the region
Almaguin is the run of small townships and villages along Highway 11 in the eastern Parry Sound District, between North Bay and Huntsville. This page covers its northern half: the villages of South River, Sundridge and Burk's Falls, the townships of Machar, Strong, Joly, Armour and Ryerson around them, and Magnetawan to the west, with Ahmic Lake and Lake Cecebe.
In 2021 those nine municipalities had 2,368 dwellings without usual residents. Magnetawan alone had 892, more than half its housing stock. Machar, Armour and Strong account for most of the rest, while the three villages have very few. That pattern shapes how we route visits: the cottages are on the lakes, away from the highway towns, so a day of checks here is a loop off Highway 11 rather than a straight run down it. It also explains why a local caretaker is hard to find. The one we know of, based in Kearney, was not taking new clients in October 2026.
Dwellings in Almaguin Highlands north, 2021 Census | Municipality | Private dwellings | Without usual residents | Share |
| South River | 510 | 28 | 5.5% |
| Sundridge | 458 | 22 | 4.8% |
| Machar | 875 | 416 | 47.5% |
| Strong | 953 | 293 | 30.7% |
| Joly | 155 | 28 | 18.1% |
| Burk's Falls | 523 | 58 | 11.1% |
| Armour | 1,087 | 420 | 38.6% |
| Ryerson | 555 | 211 | 38.0% |
| Magnetawan | 1,717 | 892 | 52.0% |
| Total | | 2,368 | |
Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census, table 98-10-0002-01. "Without usual residents" counts private dwellings nobody
lives in as their usual home: mostly cottages in these townships, mostly vacancies in a city.
Routing a day of checks
The highway towns are where the gas stations are, not where the cottages are. A day of checks in
northern Almaguin starts at South River, about 42 minutes from our base, and works south through
Sundridge and Burk’s Falls, turning off to the lakes on each side: Eagle Lake and Lake Bernard near
the top of the run, Pickerel Lake and Lake Cecebe toward the bottom, and Ahmic Lake in Magnetawan. Every cadence, including every 72 hours, is available here because the whole loop sits
within a little over an hour of North Bay.
Five associations, one shared problem
Lake Bernard, Eagle Lake, Ahmic Lake, Lake Cecebe and Three Mile Lake each have an owners’
association, and they share the problem that brought us here: the only local caretaker we found was
not taking new clients. If your association wants a short talk on what insurers expect for an empty cottage in
winter, or a description of our photo report for its newsletter, ask us.
Magnetawan hosts
Magnetawan licenses short-term accommodation tightly: 170 licences at most and a week’s minimum
stay. If you hold one of them, the Host tier gives you guest issues handled, turnovers coordinated
with your cleaners, and someone who answers the phone when the township calls with a concern. It
does not give you a person at your door in 30 minutes, because no one based in North Bay can
honestly offer that.
What to tell us when you reserve
Tell us which lake, whether the cottage has a drilled well, a lake intake or a holding tank, how it
is heated, and whether you drain it for winter. Those four answers decide the right cadence more
than anything else, and they let us quote a season instead of guessing.
Getting there
Our base is North Bay from January 2027; Barrie is the alternative base if the move north changes.
Every figure is a summer estimate, not live traffic: the typical time is a published third-party estimate where
one exists, otherwise the router figure less 15%, the gap measured on Highway 11. Winter driving takes longer.
From North Bay | To | Typical (estimate) | By router (estimate) | Distance |
| South River | About 42 min router figure less 15% | 48 min | 60 km |
| Sundridge | About 48 min router figure less 15% | 56 min | 70 km |
| Burk's Falls | About 1 h 10 min router figure less 15% | 1 h 22 min | 88 km |
| Magnetawan | About 1 h 5 min router figure less 15% | 1 h 16 min | 93 km |
From Barrie | To | Typical (estimate) | By router (estimate) | Distance |
| Northern Almaguin and Magnetawan | About 2 hours 20 minutes by router | Not measured |
Short-term-rental rules here
Most of northern Almaguin has no short-term-rental licensing at all. We found no by-law in South River, Sundridge, Machar, Joly, Ryerson, Burk's Falls or Armour (Armour planning). Strong has put rentals on the list for the Official Plan and zoning review it launched in October 2025, with a survey that December and a workshop in February 2026, so a rule may come there (Township of Strong).
Magnetawan is the exception, and its rule is an unusual one. By-law 2023-54 caps licences at 170, sets a seven-night minimum stay and asks for $2 million to $5 million of liability insurance. Its penalty schedule fines an operator $1,500, with four demerit points, for failing to respond to a concern within 30 minutes (2025 licence application). The wording is about responding, not attending. A response by phone does not depend on distance; being at the door within half an hour does, and Magnetawan is about 65 minutes from North Bay, 76 by router. So for Magnetawan hosts we can take the phone side of the role, and we say plainly that we cannot attend within the half hour.
