Toronto’s soon-to-arrive summer heat, smog and stifling streetcars are enough to make even the most dedicated city slicker fantasize about getting the hell out of Dodge. And we’re happy to help. Here, from most extravagant to least wallet-busting, insider picks for the best places to get away from it all without going too far (three-and-a-half-hours, max). Plus, the most stylish gear to tote along the way.

Rundles Morris House

Location: Stratford
Driving time: 2 hours
Price: $595
This gem-like guest house in Stratford, attached to the famed Rundles Restaurant, begs for a spread in Architectural Digest. A stunning retreat created by Toronto design stars Shim-Sutcliffe, it’s the ultimate in privacy: one tricked-out suite, accommodating one or two couples at a time, with massive floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Avon, a fireplace, a three-storey atrium topped with a skylight, and a double-height demonstration kitchen. If you don’t care to hop next door, dinner can be delivered directly to you. And if you tire of the contemporary surroundings, there’s always the period plays down the street. 7 Cobourg St., Stratford, 519-271-6442, www.rundlesrestaurant.com.

Ste. Anne’s

Location: Grafton
Driving time: 1.5 hours
Price: $425–$525
The most strenuous task here is choosing between the hedonistic offerings on the spa menu (to wit: a butter­milk and sesame hot basalt stone wrap, a Vichy shower, and a full-body mango and cocoa butter treatment). A sprawling, 500-acre Wordsworthian landscape of woodlands, hillsides, gardens and meadows frames the insta-serenity retreat. Its main inn, an 1857 pink fieldstone farmhouse, is now home to 25 treatment rooms. Blissed-out inmates get their hydrotherapy fix wandering between the eucalyptus steam room, the outdoor hot tub, the cold plunge pool and lap pool. The vibe is so casual that terry cloth–clad guests down steak repasts in the dining room. Dress code aside, the suites exude a prim formality. 1009 Massey Rd., Grafton, 905-349-2493, www.steannes.com.

Great Wolf Lodge

Location: Niagara Falls
Driving time: 1.5 hours
Price: $349–$699
Bring a case of Red Bull to help you keep up with the little monsters at this kid-happy playdium. Everything here has been created to court the pint-sized: the lobby is a circus of antler chandeliers, moose and chipmunks; KidKamp rooms feature separate tented areas tricked out with bunk beds, animal wallpaper, teeny plasma TVs and video games. The hotel’s Antler Shanty Grub restaurant serves up such campy pro-Ritalin fare as s’mores, Rice Krispie and Froot Loop squares, hot dogs and chicken nuggets, as well as more adult offerings. Kids work off the rush at the lodge’s massive indoor and outdoor water park. And before climbing into their bunks, they can gather in PJs in the lobby for nightly milk-and-cookie story time. 3950 Victoria Ave., Niagara Falls, 905-354-4888, www.greatwolf.com.

Xis

Location: Stratford
Driving time: 2 hours
Price: $325–$355
Mod Toronto design firm Cecconi-Simone takes its contemporary loft aesthetic to theatre town with a chic six-room boutique hotel, a 2004 reno of a former TD bank. (The name, pronounced “zees,” is its address spelled backwards.) Immaculate suites are whitewashed mini–Zen dens, with cloud-like feather beds, LCD TVs, shoji screens and gleaming Italian marble bathrooms stocked with Bulgari products. A breakfast of artisanal bread, homemade granola and Québécois cheeses wakes up sleepy guests. And The Vault (its name taken from its past life) hawks all manner of artful finery: glass vases from German company ASA and nature-inspired kitchenware from American metal artisan Michael Aram. 6 Wellington St., Stratford, 519-273-9248, www.xis-stratford.com.

The Inn at Manitou

Location: Parry Sound
Driving time: 3 hours
Price: $295–$1,300
A classic luxury lakeside resort—with 70 staff for 60 guests—the Inn at Manitou is a master class in pine-scented Ontarian opulence. Suites have vaulted cedar ceilings, marble fireplaces, sundecks littered with chaise longues and views of Manitouwabing Lake. The inn, first founded as a tennis resort in 1974, has 11 courts, five on-site pros and daily tennis clinics. Golfers get their fix at the Manitou Golf Academy. All that activity calls for a feast at the standout restaurant. Overseen by chef Bernard Ibanez, it offers an award-winning wine list and a view of the grounds. 81 Inn Rd., Parry Sound, 705-389-2171, www.manitou-online.com.

Delta Sherwood Inn

Location: Port Carling
Driving Time: 2.5 hours
Price: $292–$1,089
The green-shuttered 1939 white-clapboard retreat, perched on Lake Joseph’s shores and decorated with Group of Seven pines, makes a photogenic backdrop for Muskoka’s blond-and-betrothed set. Along with a string of cute beachside cottages, the inn’s most reservation-worthy room is the Boathouse Suite. With its blue-washed woods, cathedral ceilings and sunny deck, it’s got all the nautical freshness of a salt-air cabin in Cape Cod. 1090 Sherwood Rd., Port Carling, 705-765-3131, www.deltasherwood.ca.

Langdon Hall

Location: Cambridge
Driving time: 1 hour
Price: $259–$659
This well-pillared 1902 pile is the next best thing to owning your own country estate. The Westons had their corporate retreat here, and it’s hosted such celebs as Sharon Stone. Surrounding it are well-tended gardens (originally designed by the Olmsted brothers, spawn of the guru behind Central Park) and a 200-acre sweep of woodlands, apple orchards and coiling trails. Of the 52 luxe rooms, the Orchard Suite is the most decadent (and expensive), with hardwood floors, a wood-burning fireplace, soaking tub and postcard views of the bucolica beyond. Foodie-favourite chef Jonathan Gushue can often be found in the Hall’s fruit and veggie patches, sourcing the night’s menu. 1 Langdon Dr., Cambridge, 519-740-2100, www.langdonhall.ca.

Inn on the Twenty

Location: Jordan
Driving time: 1 hour
Price: $189–$349
A home base for wine-tripping oenophiles, wee Jordan Village looks as if it should be populated by fairies and wood sprites. And the genteel Inn on the Twenty is no less charming. Each of the five Garden Suites comes with its own private flagstone patio and small picnic-friendly garden. The resto, headed by Niagara chef Kevin Maniaci, offers painterly views of the escarpment and a menu rich with local heritage veggies, tree fruits, quail, trout and organically grown greens. In concert with the region’s grape inclinations, the spa features a range of vinous treatments to send you into a relaxed stupor. 3845 Main St., Jordan, 905-562-5336, www.innonthetwenty.com.