Best Things to Do in Ottawa

Ottawa packs more national monuments, acclaimed museums and riverside cycling trails into a walkable 3-kilometre radius than almost any other capital in the Americas. Here are the ten experiences that define a visit.

1. Walk the lawns of Parliament Hill and take the free Guided Tours of West Block & the Senate. See the Centennial Flame, watch the summer Changing of the Guard, and tour the glass-roofed House of Commons in West Block.
2. Watch boats climb the 1832 Eight Ottawa Locks of the UNESCO Rideau Canal (or skate 7.8 km in winter). Watch lockmasters crank open massive wooden gates by hand between Parliament Hill and the Fairmont Château Laurier, or lace up skates on the world's largest skating rink in January and February.
3. Eat an original warm BeaverTail in 1826 ByWard Market and climb to Kìwekì Point. Browse maple-syrup stalls, photograph the giant Ottawa sign on York Street, and walk out to Kìwekì Point for a river panorama.
4. Marvel at the Grand Hall of Totem Poles inside the Canadian Museum of History. Cross into Gatineau for the world's largest indoor collection of totem poles and the Spirit of Haida Gwaii.

5. Stand beneath the 9-metre bronze spider Maman at the National Gallery of Canada & Notre-Dame Basilica. Admire Moshe Safdie's glass tower, the 1888 Rideau Street Chapel and the star-studded ceiling of 1846 Notre-Dame across the street.
6. Explore the Canadian War Museum at LeBreton Flats. Walk through Raymond Moriyama's grass-roofed architectural landmark where Morse code windows spell 'Lest We Forget'.
7. Hike around meromictic Pink Lake and soak at Gatineau Park & Nordik Spa-Nature. Fifteen minutes north of downtown, walk around an emerald oxygen-free glacial lake, visit the Mackenzie King Estate, and relax at North America's largest spa.
8. Meet dinosaurs and whales inside a 1912 castle at the Canadian Museum of Nature. Tour the building where Canada's Parliament sat after the 1916 fire.

9. Descend four storeys underground into Canada's Cold War Diefenbunker Museum & stroll Rideau Hall. Tour a top-secret 1959 nuclear bunker in Carp and walk the free ceremonial grounds of the Governor General's residence.
10. See over one million blooming tulips during May's Canadian Tulip Festival at Commissioners Park. Celebrate the royal Dutch gift of 100,000 bulbs along the shores of Dow's Lake.