Killarney Mountain Lodge guests sail on Georgian Bay aboard Stormy Night. -- Photo by Rob Stimpson, Special to Sun Media

From Toronto to Killarney by road it's about 450 km and takes nearly six hours to drive.

When you get there , I think you'll feel its been worth every kilometre.

Located at the northern tip of Georgian Bay amid the most beautiful of the Thirty Thousand Islands, this tiny community ranks as one of Ontario's rare jewels. Among its assets are:

- Killarney Provincial Park, 48,500 hectares of clear lakes, rivers and forests overlooked by the Cloche Mountains, not really mountains but majestic hills of sparkling crystalline quartzite, rimmed by windswept Georgian Bay.

- Baie Fine, Ontario's most famous fiord that winds back some 20 km into the hills of Killarney Park and to a lake that has been painted so many times by famous artists that it's named O.S.A. The O.S.A. stands for Ontario Society of Artists.

- The waterfront of Killarney village (pop. 500) facing George Island across a narrow channel. This is the closest you'll find in Ontario to a Newfoundland outport. It has as many boats as the village has houses. Until the 1960s there was no road into Killarney; you had to get there by boat, float plane or across the ice in winter. Around 1882, Governor General Lord Dufferin and his wife fell in love with the place and said it should be named for their favourite spot in Ireland. - Herbert's Fish and Chip bus at the town dock, the only place I know in Ontario where you can lunch on whitefish or lake trout caught that morning.

- Last but certainly not least, Killarney Mountain Lodge and its owners, Maury and Annabelle East. This place is close to my ideal of the perfect Ontario vacation resort, chiefly because it's lovingly managed by the owners, and for the imagination the Easts, their son Ted and daughter Jennifer have poured into it.

They also own and run Killarney Outfitters and the Sportsmans Inn. Built in the 1930s by Detroit truck and trailer king August Fruehauf, the lodge served for more than 30 years as a palatial getaway spot for Fruehauf's customers, capitalist friends and labour union barons, including Jimmy Hoffa.

Maury East bought the place around 1962. Killarney Mountain Lodge has since become famous for the wide range of wilderness activities and learning experiences it offers to guests.

With certified recreation directors you can learn to sail, canoe and kayak here; you can hike to a luxurious outpost camp or to Baie Fine, lunch in style with a white tablecloth on the rocks and sail back to Killarney in Maury's 14-metre sailing yacht, captained by Rick Embleton, a retired math teacher who has sailed across the Atlantic and back.

You can sign up for a wide range of other activities including wilderness music and art.

Rates at the 46-room main-lodge and cottage resort go from $128 to $212 per person per night, including all meals. With as many guided activities as you can cram in, you might pay from $379 to $530 for two days and nights. For more information, call 1-800-461-1117 or log on to escape.killarney.com.