The best family-friendly hikes and walks around Oshawa

The Discovery Trail is the longer of the two trails through the Purple Woods and it travels through woodlands and open meadows. If you're here in the lead up to the annual Purple Woods Maple Syrup Festival that takes place each March, you may see trees being tapped for sap collection.

Purple Woods Conservation Area offers year-round hiking with sweeping southern views and connections to the Oak Ridges Trail. Visitors can enjoy short, accessible routes like the Sugar Shack and Discovery Walk trails, while spotting migratory songbirds in spring and fall, Monarch butterflies in summer, and vibrant foliage in autumn. Each March, the 41-acre site transforms into the hub of the Purple Woods Maple Syrup Festival, celebrating the area’s 150-year-old sugar maple forest. The festival highlights the evolution of syrup-making from Indigenous traditions to modern techniques, with maple products available for visitors to take home.

Brick by Brick Park is a beautiful green space shaded by mature trees tucked along the city’s trail network. There are several outdoor fitness stations and plenty of open areas perfect for a picnic or simply a place to relax and connect with nature.

The main trail network at Harmony Valley Park winds through hardwood forest, open meadows, and the ravine edges of Harmony Creek, offering a mix of easy walking paths and slightly steeper wooded sections. The route feels surprisingly natural for an in-city park, with shaded stretches, small bridges, and pockets of wetland habitat along the way. Multiple junctions let you create short loops or longer wanderings, and the wide paths make it suitable for relaxed walks, runs, and dog-friendly outings. A quiet, scenic trail system that gives Oshawa a reliable everyday nature escape.

Flowing through the east side of Oshawa, Harmony Creek winds through wooded ravines, open meadows, and wetlands before joining the Oshawa Creek system. Much of the creek is bordered by multi-use paths and natural corridors, giving walkers and cyclists steady views of the water as it moves through shaded bends and grassy floodplain sections. Seasonal changes are noticeable here — higher flow in spring, clear shallow riffles in summer, and strong colour along the banks in autumn.

This 28-hectare conservation area along Harmony Creek combines hardwood forest, open meadows, wetlands, and gentle trails for walking, running or exploring with your dog. The trail network passes through mixed woods and plantation stands and supports both family-friendly outings and steeper nature walks. The park also includes a dedicated off-leash dog area, making it especially popular for pet owners. With its quiet natural setting yet easy access from Oshawa, Harmony Valley is a dependable green-space stop for calm, scenic time outdoors.

The Joseph Kolodzie Oshawa Creek Bike Path runs from Lakeview Park at Lake Ontario north along the Oshawa Creek to Adelaide Avenue West in downtown Oshawa. The pedestrian and bicycle path is approximately 7 kilometres long. It runs without intersections and passes under numerous urban streets, as well as the railway line and Highway 401, the main west-east road along Lake Ontario. The path is completely paved and leads through several small city parks in the picturesque Oshawa Creek Valley.

Eastbourne Park, a city park in Oshawa, is located along the Harmony Creek Trail between Bond Street East and Adelaide Avenue East. The park is part of a green belt near downtown.