15 Minutes Across the River: Gatineau Park (Pink Lake & Champlain Lookout) & Nordik Spa-Nature

Ottawa has a geographical superpower that no other G7 capital possesses: cross a bridge across the Ottawa River and within 15 minutes (4 kilometres north of Parliament Hill), the city skyline gives way to Gatineau Park (Parc de la Gatineau), a 361-square-kilometre (90,000-acre) conservation wilderness of lakes, Canadian Shield cliffs and forests.

1. How to Visit Gatineau Park Without a Car: The Free NCC Park Shuttle

From mid-May through late October (on weekends, statutory holidays, summer Wednesdays and during October's Fall Rhapsody foliage; check the official schedule), the National Capital Commission operates a free yellow NCC Shuttle Bus. It departs regularly from downtown Ottawa (Wellington Street near Lyon Station) and Gatineau (Museum of History) and loops right through the park to every stop below:

1. Stop 1, Pink Lake (Lac Pink, 2.5 km Boardwalk Loop, 1 Hour): Pink Lake is not pink, but a glowing, opaque jade-emerald green. Named in 1826 after pioneer settlers, it is a rare meromictic lake whose deepest 7 metres never mix with the surface and contain no oxygen, sheltering prehistoric bacteria and relic saltwater stickleback fish.
2. Stop 2, Mackenzie King Estate (Free Grounds, Tearoom & 'Ruins in the Woods'): the eccentric summer country estate of William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada's longest-serving Prime Minister. King collected real architectural stone ruins, including stone window arches from the 1916 Parliament Hill fire and fragments from Britain's Houses of Parliament bombed in WWII, and re-erected them as romantic follies in his forest gardens.
3. Stop 3, King Mountain Trail (1.9 km Loop) & Champlain Lookout: stand on the 335-metre cliff edge of the Eardley Escarpment for the most famous autumn foliage panorama in Eastern Canada.

2. Nordik Spa-Nature in Chelsea (Largest Thermal Spa in North America)

Right at the eastern entrance to Gatineau Park in the village of Chelsea, Quebec (15 minutes north of Parliament Hill) sits Nordik Spa-Nature, the largest spa in North America. Spread across a hillside forest, it features 10 outdoor thermal baths, 9 distinct saunas (including subterranean Russian Banya and Finnish barrel saunas), an infinity pool overlooking the Ottawa skyline, and North America's only underground Källa saltwater flotation pool, where 10 tonnes of Epsom salt let you float effortlessly.