If you’re in downtown Kingston, Ontario, you might spot a quiet alley… One of Canada’s most surprising and charming hidden gems.
Step inside, and everything shifts: color, light, and art everywhere.
The walls are alive with paintings. There are tiny studios, old bricks, handmade signs, and open doors with artists inside. You might hear soft music, maybe wind chimes. It smells like paint and wood and something warm you can’t quite name.
This secret gem is called Martello Alley, and it’s something very different from what you can find around Kington.
It’s an open-air art gallery that feels more like a hidden garden for creatives. Or maybe a little street from Europe that somehow found a home here in Ontario.
They say it was inspired by La Rue du Trésor in Quebec City, and you can feel that. But the heart of this place? It’s pure Canada.
The art is beautiful. The feeling is better
Martello Alley is impressive. There’s art everywhere you turn your eyes to: Canadian art hanging on brick walls, propped on easels, drying in the sun. Artists are there, working, chatting, and laughing. Locals walk through with their dogs. Kids point at paintings.
If you find this place by coincidence you might be confused at first, but soon after, it will probably put a smile on your face. Sometimes, there’s music. Sometimes, just the sound of footsteps on stone and brushes on canvas.
People call it a hidden gem, and not in that overused Instagram way. TripAdvisor’s travel brand Bókun actually did a study and named it Ontario’s top hidden gem. They went through more than 1,000 places, and this tiny alley topped the list.
It’s not just about the art. It’s about how it makes you feel. Unhurried. Curious. Light.
And yes, there are souvenirs, but not the kitschy kind. The kind you’ll keep. A small print. A handmade card. A thing you’ll look at later and remember how it felt to be there.
One guy looked at a service lane and had a vision of a very charming place
Before 2015, Martello Alley was just… nothing. A forgotten passage between buildings. Dirty. Dim. Boring.
Then David Dossett showed up, a local artist with an idea. He cleaned the place up. He painted the walls. And then he invited other artists to come in. He made it into a home for outdoor art, for community, for joy.
That’s really what the story is. There was no founding; it wasn’t planned by the city project office. David Dossett so this place as an opportunity to share his art end enjoy other.
Turning a blank space into a beautiful spot, Martello Alley, is art itself. What started as one artist’s vision slowly became something bigger, a colorful, welcoming space that now draws people from all over.
If you’re ever nearby, don’t miss Ontario’s hidden gem
Martello Alley is open every day, 10 to 5. It’s not huge. It won’t take an hour. But it might just stay with you.
The alley has a very cozy spot where you can sit and admire the colorful ambience around you with some nice shootable scenes for the gram’s fans. But above all you will found yourself surrounded by art, pure Canadian art that you can see, enjoy and even buy.
If you’re planning a road trip through Ontario, or if you’re anywhere near Kingston this summer, go find it. Don’t look it up too much beforehand. Let yourself be surprised. Turn into that alley like you weren’t expecting anything at all.
Because the best part of a hidden gem is when it feels like it was waiting just for you to find it.