Ottawa's Family-Favourite Museums: Museum of Nature (The 1912 Castle), Aviation & Bank of Canada

Beyond history and fine art, Ottawa is home to four science, nature and technology museums that are just as captivating for adults as they are for families with children, including a free interactive underground museum right on Sparks Street.

1. The Canadian Museum of Nature (240 McLeod St in Centretown, Free Thursday Evenings)

Walk 15 minutes south of Parliament Hill through leafy Centretown (or take Bus 6, 7 or 14 down Bank or Elgin Street) to a 1912 Scottish Baronial stone castle crowned by a modern glass atrium cube called the Queen's Lantern:

• Why This Castle Served as Canada's Parliament from 1916 to 1920: opened in 1912 as the Victoria Memorial Museum Building, this building stepped in on the night of 3 February 1916 when fire destroyed Centre Block on Parliament Hill. Both the House of Commons and the Senate moved into the museum galleries here for four years.
• Fossil Gallery (Dinosaurs), Blue Whale, Mammal Dioramas & Live Bugs: walk among 30 complete dinosaur skeletons from the Alberta Badlands, stand beneath a real 19-metre (65-foot) Blue Whale skeleton, admire mid-century hand-painted Canadian wildlife dioramas, and explore the glittering Earth Gallery of gems and minerals.

2. The Free Bank of Canada Museum (30 Bank Street, 2 Blocks from Parliament Hill)

Located underground beneath the plaza of the Bank of Canada headquarters at Wellington and Bank Streets (open Thursday to Monday with free admission; check the official site for hours), this sleek interactive museum lets you design a custom avatar banknote, test your strength lifting a real solid gold bar, and see historical currencies including giant Micronesian Yap Island stone-wheel money and 17th-century New France playing-card money.

3. Canada Aviation and Space Museum (Rockcliffe) & Science and Technology Museum

Ten minutes north-east along the Ottawa River Parkway sits the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, housing over 130 historic aircraft inside a giant delta-wing hangar, including the nose and cockpit of the supersonic 1958 Avro Arrow CF-105, the Canadarm flown on NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour, and vintage biplane rides over Parliament Hill. Also visit the rebuilt Canada Science and Technology Museum on St. Laurent Boulevard with its famous balance-tricking Crazy Kitchen.