Dryden

Dryden is Ontario's smallest incorporated city (population 7,400 in 2021). It is 140 km (90 mi) east of Kenora on the Trans-Canada Highway in northern Ontario.

Understand
Dryden was established in 1895 on the north shore of Wabigoon Lake as the site of an experimental farm. It was named for a minister of government of the era. At the time, access to the community was primarily by rail. From 1910-2008, the city's primary industry was paper manufacturing; the local population reached a peak of just under 8200 people before the mill closed.

An oversized Maximillian the Moose stands at the centre of town at the visitor’s centre.

Dryden and Kenora are the only incorporated Ontario cities to use the Central time zone (GMT-6), due to their location: geographically closer to Winnipeg than to southern Ontario.

Visitor Information

 * City of Dryden

By car

 * Highway 17 (Trans-Canada Highway). Within the city, the highway is named Government Street.  The highway allows travellers to reach Dryden heading east from Kenora or heading west Thunder Bay.

By bus

 * Operates a bus route multiple days per week between Winnipeg and Sioux Lookout including stops in Kenora and Dryden. Travel time to Dryden from Winnipeg is 4½ hours, from Kenora is 1 hr 45 min, and from Sioux Lookout is 1 hr 15 min.
 * Operates a bus route multiple days per week between Winnipeg and Sioux Lookout including stops in Kenora and Dryden. Travel time to Dryden from Winnipeg is 4½ hours, from Kenora is 1½ hours, and from Thunder Bay is 3 hr 45 min.

Get around

 * Enterprise (+1 807 223-4004) and National (+1 807 223-4477) offer hire cars.
 * Enterprise (+1 807 223-4004) and National (+1 807 223-4477) offer hire cars.

Do

 * Hunting, fishing and windsurfing are popular locally; in winter, try snowmobiling, ice fishing, dogsledding and skiing.
 * Hunting, fishing and windsurfing are popular locally; in winter, try snowmobiling, ice fishing, dogsledding and skiing.
 * Hunting, fishing and windsurfing are popular locally; in winter, try snowmobiling, ice fishing, dogsledding and skiing.
 * Hunting, fishing and windsurfing are popular locally; in winter, try snowmobiling, ice fishing, dogsledding and skiing.
 * Hunting, fishing and windsurfing are popular locally; in winter, try snowmobiling, ice fishing, dogsledding and skiing.

Hotels

 * There are a and a  on the Trans-Canada Highway.
 * There are a and a  on the Trans-Canada Highway.
 * There are a and a  on the Trans-Canada Highway.

Go next

 * Kenora — the westernmost city in Ontario on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Dryden toward Manitoba. Blue Lake Provincial Park is about half-way.
 * Red Lake — a small town north serving as a hub for a number of fly-in communities and wilderness adventures. It's Ontario's gateway to Pimachiowin Aki, a mixed (natural and cultural) UNESCO World Heritage site shared by Ontario and Manitoba.
 * Sioux Lookout — the nearest stop on the cross-country passenger train, The Canadian.
 * Thunder Bay — to the southeast, the northwestern point of the Great Lakes of North America, and the largest community in this corner of Ontario.