Muskoka Lakes.

The Township of Muskoka Lakes covers most of the western and central shoreline of the "Big Three" — Lake Muskoka (120 km², primarily within the township), Lake Rosseau (6,390 ha, 151 km of shoreline), and Lake Joseph (5,460 ha, max depth 93 m) — linked into a single navigable system by the 1871 Port Carling locks on the Indian River and the Port Sandfield channel between Rosseau and Joseph. The village hubs sit on the water: Port Carling at the locks, Bala at the head of the Moon River where Lake Muskoka drains toward Georgian Bay, plus Windermere, Minett, and Rosseau on the upper lakes.

Inland, the 1,906-hectare Torrance Barrens Conservation Reserve was designated Canada's first permanent dark-sky preserve in 1999, and the 808-hectare Hardy Lake Provincial Park holds Atlantic coastal plain plants rare in Ontario. Five named township beaches — Hanna Park (Port Carling), Walker's Point Beach, Valley Green Beach (Milford Bay), Windermere Park, and Port Sandfield Park — open onto the same shield-water shoreline.

Highway 169 / Muskoka Road 118 thread through the township; the GTA sits roughly two hours south. This is the cottage-country heart on the Big Three; Bracebridge, Gravenhurst, Huntsville, and Lake of Bays are separate municipalities to the east.