King's Highway 26, commonly referred to as Highway 26, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario, connecting the cities of Owen Sound and Barrie. Between these two cities, the highway serves the southern shoreline of Georgian Bay, passing through Meaford, Collingwood and Stayner, as well as passing the Blue Mountain Resort. In addition, the highway serves as the main route to Wasaga Beach, a popular recreational destination during the summer months.

Highway 26 was first assumed by the Department of Highways, predecessor to the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario, in 1927, along an existing trunk route between Barrie and Owen Sound. Various bypasses, mostly around Collingwood, have improved the route through the intervening years.

Highway 26 serves as a major link between Barrie and the Greater Toronto Area, via Highway 400, and the popular tourist region on the southern shore of Georgian Bay. Over the past several years the popularity of this region has increased, and traffic levels have increased accordingly. The routing of the highway takes it from the junction with Highway 6, Highway 10 and Highway 21 in Owen Sound to its terminus at Highway 400 in Barrie at the Bayfield street interchange. For a time, the highway continued southward to Dunlop street, formerly Highway 11, in Barrie, cosigned with Highway 27. The southern portion of Bayfield street was downloaded to the City of Barrie along with Dunlop street in 1997, when these sections of Highway 27 and Highway 11 were eliminated. This shortened the highway's length by 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) and removed the 7.2-kilometre (4.5 mi) concurrency with Highway 27. The current length of the highway is 116.7 kilometres (72.5 mi).

Highway 26 between Owen Sound and Meaford in the west is not as highly travelled as the tourist areas to the east. From Meaford eastwards, the highway runs along the Georgian Bay shoreline, and in The Blue Mountains, extending from Thornbury eastwards through to the west limits of Collingwood. It passes through a nearly continuous corridor of low-density resort-style residential developments, mostly concentrated in the Blue Mountain Resort area. Between Collingwood and Wasaga Beach, the highway is a four-lane divided roadway with roundabouts transitioning to the undivided sections at both ends: one at Mosely Street in Wasaga Beach, and the other at Poplar Sideroad in Collingwood.

It is also not a very straight route, as the highway makes four 90 degree turns: three at signalised intersections, including at High Street in western Collingwood, Hume Street in eastern Collingwood, the intersection with Simcoe Roads 91 and 42 in Stayner, and the unsignalised junction with Simcoe Road 27 (formerly Highway 27) north of Barrie.

Several portions of Highway 26 are maintained under a Connecting Link agreement. Within Owen Sound, Meaford, Thornbury, Collingwood, Stayner and Barrie, maintenance of the route is shared between the MTO and the local municipality.

Highway 26 was first assumed by the Department of Highways on July 2, 1927, along an existing trunk route between Barrie and Owen Sound. It began at a shared terminus with Highway 6 and Highway 10 in downtown Owen Sound, at the present intersection of 2nd Avenue East and 10th Street, and travelled 120.3 kilometres (74.8 mi) to Highway 11 in Barrie, at the intersection of Bayfield Street and Dunlop Street.

When it was established, the route was paved between Meaford and Thornbury, as well as for approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of Owen Sound through Woodford; the remainder was gravel-surfaced. The gap between Woodford and Meaford was paved in 1930, followed by the section from the current intersection of Simcoe County Road 53 (Wilson Drive) east to Midhurst and south to Highway 11 in Barrie in 1931. In 1932, the section from the Grey and Simcoe County boundary (at Simcoe County Road 34 / Grey County Road 21) to Stayner was paved. Due to the lack of resource available at the height of the depression, a 3-metre (10 ft)-wide pavement (one lane) was constructed approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) east from Stayner to the present intersection of Simcoe County Road 22 (Horseshoe Valley Road West). The gap between there, through Minesing, to Simcoe County Road 53 was paved with a single lane in 1934. That year also aw the section between Thornbury and the Simcoe–Grey County line paved, completing a continuous pavement between Owen Sound and Barrie. The second lane of pavement between Stayner and west of Midhurst was completed over a decade later, in 1947.^{[citation needed]}