Where to Stay in Kitchener, Ontario

What is Kitchener known for?

In the farm country of southwestern Ontario, it was settled long ago by German-speaking pioneers and Mennonites and bore the name of Berlin until the world war, and it keeps a great farmers' market of Mennonite country, a famous autumn beer festival in the German style, the twin-city bond with Waterloo and its universities, and a growing trade in software and machines. The flat farmland spreads around. The old market fills each week.

What are the main landmarks in Kitchener?

The farmers' market is the heart of Kitchener. The great covered market, where Mennonite farmers in plain dress sell their produce and crafts each week, draws the whole region downtown, the emblem of the city, at its centre. An old pioneer house stands nearby.

The Joseph Schneider Haus keeps the German pioneer past in the old town, while the clay and glass gallery, the auditorium, and the fall festival mark the country around Kitchener.

What is the history of Kitchener?

German farmers made the town. Two hundred years ago Mennonite families drove their wagons north from Pennsylvania and settled the good land here, and German craftsmen and traders followed to build a town they called Berlin. Berlin grew busy.

Its factories turned out furniture, buttons, and rubber, and the German town prospered as one of the workshops of Ontario. The great war changed its name. When the world war set the old country against the empire, the town dropped the name of Berlin and took the name of a British soldier, becoming Kitchener.

The factories carried on. Through the century it made its goods and grew, joining hands with Waterloo next door, and in time its mills gave way to software and its colleges drew a new trade, so that Kitchener became a busy tech town, keeping its market, its festival, and its German roots. The farm wagons still come to market.

Kitchener keeps its market and its German past in the heart of Ontario.

Where is Kitchener?

Kitchener lies in the southwest of Ontario, on the Grand River in the rolling farmland of the region. The city sits on low green hills above the river, amid the fields and woodlots of old Mennonite country, joined seamlessly to Waterloo next door, with farm towns all around. Green fields roll away.

The river winds through town.

What is the climate of Kitchener?

Kitchener has a four-season continental climate. Warm humid summers and cold snowy winters cross the region, with green summers of thunderstorms and long winters of frost and snow. The summers turn warm and green.

Winter brings deep snow.

How do you get to Kitchener?

Kitchener lies in southwestern Ontario, an hour west of Toronto. Highways and a rail line run to it from the city and up from Lake Erie, and a small airport serves the region. Trains cross the farm country.

Toronto lies east down the road.