A Weekend in Erieau: Chatham-Kent's Best-Kept Lake Erie Secret

If you've never made the drive down to Erieau, you're missing one of the best-kept secrets in Chatham-Kent. It's a tiny place, maybe 400 people call it home year-round, sitting on a narrow finger of land between Lake Erie and Rondeau Bay. But what it lacks in size, it more than makes up for in charm.

Start with the beach

Erieau has some of the warmest water on Lake Erie, which sounds like a small thing until you're actually standing in it in July. The sand is soft, the shoreline is long enough that you can always find a quiet stretch, and there's an accessible mat for anyone who needs it. Bring a chair, bring the kids, bring nothing at all, this is the kind of beach where you just show up.

Walk the pier

At the end of the beach, a pier stretches out toward a small lighthouse. It's a nice walk any time of day, but it's really something at sunset, when the light comes off the water and the whole village goes a little golden.

Grab a table at Bayside Brewing

This is the heart of Erieau's social life. Bayside sits in the old Lakeside Hotel, right on Rondeau Bay, and does wood-fired pizza alongside its own beer. Sit on the patio, order something cold, and watch the boats come in off the bay. There's rarely a bad seat.

Wander the marina

Erieau's marina is full of working fishing boats and pleasure craft, and it's worth a slow walk just to take it in. If you're into fishing yourself, this stretch of Lake Erie and Rondeau Bay is known for some of the best perch and walleye fishing in the region.

Don't skip Rondeau Provincial Park

A few minutes down the road sits Rondeau, Ontario's second-oldest provincial park. It's home to a rare Carolinian forest, kilometres of hiking trails, and some genuinely excellent birdwatching if that's your thing, the park sits right on a major migratory flyway.

Erieau isn't a place you stumble into by accident. It's a place you drive to on purpose, because you know what's waiting when you get there. If that sounds like your kind of weekend, it might also be worth knowing that Erieau real estate rarely sits on the market long, people who find this village tend to want to stay.