My families place:
Been in the family since 1958 when my grandparents bought the lot. Built the cottage by themselves in the early 1960's.
Roughly 3 hours from downtown, or 2:15 from my parents place. On a freshwater lake roughly 12km x 4km, its a great spot to get away both in the winter and summer. Winter time requires a snowmobile to get to it, though, so visits are less frequent.
This is pretty typical for people in Toronto, especially among the long time Canadians, its often something that has been in the family a long time due to the prohibitive cost of entering the cottage market today. Our 400 square foot place on a seasonal road with a 1 acre lot is worth around $350,000 today, and prices can get much, much higher than that on the nicer lakes.
That said you can find vacation homes on the really cheap in "non traditional" northern areas, that are either on less desirable lakes (shallow, small), or rather far away from the city. (5+ hours)