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Deerhurst Resort
Deerhurst Resort.JPG
Deerhurst Resort
Hotel chain Skyline Hotels & Resorts
General information
Type Hotel & resort
Location 1235 Deerhurst Drive Huntsville, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates 45°20′48″N 79°7′55″W / 45.34667°N 79.13194°W / 45.34667; -79.13194
Opening 1896
Other information
Number of rooms 425
Number of restaurants 4
Number of bars 1

Deerhurst Resort is a famous hotel and resort located in Huntsville, Ontario, Canada. It's about 215 kilometers (133 miles) north of Toronto, in a beautiful area called Muskoka. This region is known for its many lakes and forests. The resort is even close to the amazing Algonquin Provincial Park.

Deerhurst Resort first opened way back in 1896. It was started by an English businessman named Charles Waterhouse. This lakeside hotel was also the main place where the G8 Summit happened in 2010. This was a big meeting where leaders from important countries gathered. Many summer camps are also found nearby.

What Can You Find at Deerhurst?

Deerhurst Resort can host up to 1,000 people. It has about 400 rooms and suites for guests. Many of these rooms are owned by people or used for timeshares. If you want a suite with a view of Peninsula Lake, it can cost over $650 for one night during the busy summer season.

A famous singer named Shania Twain actually started her career by performing at this resort!

A Look Back: Deerhurst's History

Deerhurst was one of the very first big resorts in the northern Muskoka lakes area. In the early days, you could only get to Deerhurst's main lodge by steamboat. The property was quite small back then, only about four acres of waterfront land.

When it first opened in 1896, Deerhurst welcomed just two guests. They paid $3.50 per person for a whole week, and that included three meals a day! By the 1990s, the resort had grown a lot. It expanded to nearly 800 acres (about 3.2 square kilometers). This allowed it to welcome many more guests, up to 1,000 at a time.

Today, Deerhurst is managed by a company called Skyline International Developments. It is part of the Skyline Hotels & Resorts group. The Waterhouse family, who first started the resort, sold their part of the business in 1989.

The G8 Summit at Deerhurst

Deerhurst Resort was chosen to host the 36th G8 summit from June 25 to 26, 2010. This was a very important meeting. Leaders from eight major countries came together to discuss global issues. It was the fifth time Canada had hosted a G8 Summit since 1976.

Adventure and Sports at the Resort

Bayshore block at Deerhurst
The Bayshore 1 accommodation block at Deerhurst Resort.

Deerhurst is a popular spot for many exciting outdoor sports events. It hosts golf tournaments, running races, and triathlon events. One of these was the IronMan 70.3 competition. For six years, from 2006 to 2012, Deerhurst also hosted the Canadian Pond Hockey Championships. Special ice rinks were built on Peninsula Lake just for this event.

Since 2005, Deerhurst has been a host for adventure racing events. These races are organized by Frontier Adventure Sports & Training and happen on the first weekend of May. The Frontier Adventure Challenge is open to anyone who loves adventure sports. There's also a special event just for high school students called the High School Adventure Challenge. This was the first and only event of its kind in Canada made just for high schoolers.

The resort has a lot of wilderness around it, which makes it a great place to start adventure sports.

Golf Courses

Deerhurst Resort has two 18-hole golf courses: the Highlands and the Lakeside.

  • Deerhurst Highlands is the bigger of the two courses. In 2011, Score Golf magazine named it the Best Resort Course in Ontario. It was also ranked as the 11th best public golf course in all of Ontario in their latest rankings.
  • Lakeside is a smaller course. It is located right in the middle of the resort. This course has a par of only 64, which means it's a bit shorter and can be quicker to play.
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