The Waterloo Region includes four cities all within a short distance of each other.
Kitchener and
Waterloo share public transportation, but
Guelph and
Cambridge are within a 20-minute drive. All the communities share a common German heritage, but Kitchener is responsible for the area's largest annual Oktoberfest celebration, which spans a week of activities across the region. More than 700,000 people visit for the festivities, making it the largest Oktoberfest celebration outside of Munich. Beer, the unspoken hero of the event, spotlights some of the best breweries in North America. Larger breweries, such as Sleeman's in nearby Guelph and Brick in Waterloo, as well as a multitude of microbreweries, offer tastings and tours of their facilities. The Oktoberfest Parade, which is always held on Canada's Thanksgiving Monday (early October), is televised nationally.
In Kitchener, Doon Heritage Crossroads is a re-creation of an early 1900s village, complete with living-history demonstrations, tastings and a craft shop. The Kitchener Farmers Market, held Saturdays year-round on King Street in the downtown core, is one of the best in Canada—not only does it carry fruits and vegetables, but also arts and crafts. You'll also want to visit St. Jacob's Farmer's Market and Outlet Mall—a mecca for tourists visiting the region. Many German Mennonites live in the surrounding countryside, and horse-drawn carriages are a fairly common sight. Just outside the city limits, you'll find roadside fruit stands and baked goods for sale at Mennonite homes. Mennonites don't do business on Sunday though, so plan your route accordingly.
All four cities contribute to the arts, and the Centre in the Square can easily be considered Toronto's off-Broadway venue. The Woodside National Historic Park houses the Victorian boyhood home of William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada's 10th prime minister (open May-December; group tours can be arranged at other times).
Waterloo was recently voted one of the top seven "smart" communities in the world by the Intelligent Communities Forum and is fast becoming known as the technology hot spot of North America. Visit the Perimeter Institute where the terms "theoretical physics" and "quantum loops" are bandied about with ease. Einstein Fest, which honors the achievements of Albert Einstein, is a citywide event in the fall that spans three weeks at various venues across the city.
Nicknamed the "City of Ghosts," Cambridge has its fair share of otherworldly residents, including a scorned lover at Fiddler On the Green Pub and an inconsolable student at Galt Collegiate Institute. Commonly thought of as a bedroom community for Toronto commuters, it is also home to a fair number of manufacturing plants. 55 mi/90 km west of Toronto.
