Ottawa is the capital of Canada — not the largest or most famous city, but a place that combines extraordinary federal architectural heritage, one of the world's great museum clusters, the Rideau Canal (UNESCO, the longest ice skating rink on earth in winter), and a position at the border of Ontario and Quebec that makes it genuinely bilingual in a way Toronto and Montreal individually are not. The city was chosen as capital in 1857 by Queen Victoria (allegedly by pointing at a map — a story almost certainly apocryphal but beloved by Canadians) because it was defensible (upstream from the St Lawrence River, which Americans might sail up), on the border between French and English Canada, and because it was far enough from the American border to not be a tempting military target. The Parliament Buildings on the cliff above the Ottawa River — the Gothic Revival Centre Block (rebuilt after a 1916 fire), the Library of Parliament (the only structure that survived the fire with its Victorian reading room intact) and the Peace Tower — are among the most architecturally dramatic parliamentary buildings in the world, particularly when seen from Gatineau across the river or from the Rideau Canal locks below. The National Gallery of Canada (Moshe Safdie, 1988) and the Canadian Museum of History (Douglas Cardinal, 1989 — one of the most beautiful curved buildings in North America, across the river in Gatineau) anchor a museum complex that also includes the Canadian War Museum, the Canada Science and Technology Museum and the Canadian Museum of Nature, making Ottawa the most museum-rich city in Canada per capita.
The Gothic Revival Parliament Buildings on the cliff above the Ottawa River include the Centre Block (rebuilt 1920 after the 1916 fire), the Senate, House of Commons, the Library of Parliament (the most beautiful reading room in Canada, circular with Gothic carved wood shelves, the only 1876 building to survive the fire) and the Peace Tower (the best free panorama of Ottawa).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBeaverTails (fried dough pastry stretched into a beaver tail shape, topped with cinnamon and sugar or Nutella) were invented in Ottawa in 1978 and are the city's most distinctive street food — eat one on the Rideau Canal locks in summer (skate while eating in winter) at the original Byward Market BeaverTails stand.
The 202 km Rideau Canal (UNESCO 2007) connects Ottawa to Kingston through 45 locks — the eight locks at the Ottawa end are among the most photographed in Canada; in winter the first 7.8 km of the canal freeze into the world's largest naturally frozen skating rink (Guinness record).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMoshe Safdie's 1988 granite and glass building holds Canada's finest art collection — the Rideau Chapel (a 19th-century Gothic chapel relocated inside the museum), the Group of Seven landscape painters, the Inuit art collection and the contemporary Indigenous art gallery; the giant spider sculpture "Maman" by Louise Bourgeois stands outside.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe ByWard Market neighbourhood (the oldest and largest public market in Canada, est. 1826) has the best restaurants in Ottawa — poutine (Quebec fries, cheese curds, beef gravy) at Smoke's Poutinerie; or the upscale restaurants of Sussex Drive serving contemporary Canadian cuisine.
Across the Ottawa River in Gatineau, Quebec, the curved sandstone building designed by Blackfoot architect Douglas Cardinal holds the Grand Hall (the largest display of Pacific Northwest totem poles in the world), the Canadian History Hall covering 15,000 years and the Children's Museum — the building itself is one of the most beautiful architectural statements in Canada.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe 2005 war museum in the brutalist building uses architecture to tell the story of Canada's wars — the Regeneration Hall allows a single ray of sunlight to illuminate the barrel of the Grave Stone tank every November 11 (Remembrance Day) at 11:00; the First and Second World War galleries include the Halifax Bomber and a German Tiger tank.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe 361 km² Gatineau Park in Quebec (30 min from Parliament Hill) has hiking trails through the Gatineau Hills above the Ottawa Valley — the Champlain Lookout gives the finest panorama of the Ottawa Valley and the Gatineau River; the park has 50 km of cross-country skiing trails in winter.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideElgin Street (the restaurant row between Parliament Hill and the Glebe neighbourhood) has the best casual dining in Ottawa — the Lapointe Fish Market for fresh Ontario fish, Beckta for upscale Canadian, and the Manx Pub for Canadian craft beers (Ottawa has a thriving micro-brewery scene with Dominion City and Beau's All Natural among the best).
The official residence of the Governor General of Canada (the monarch's representative) since 1867 — the 88-room mansion with its 36-hectare grounds is open for free guided tours of the public rooms, the collection of Canadian art and the ceremonial spaces; the grounds include a skating rink in winter.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe 1905 Victoria Memorial Building (Gothic Revival, originally Parliament before the current building) houses the natural history museum — the dinosaur gallery (Alberta dinosaurs, Albertosaurus and Edmontosaurus), the bird gallery (50,000 specimens) and the mammal gallery with the blue whale skeleton are highlights.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCanada's oldest pedestrian mall (Sparks Street, since 1967) connects Parliament Hill to the Supreme Court of Canada (1946 Art Deco) — the Supreme Court building's tours explain the Canadian judicial system; the National Arts Centre on the Rideau Canal has afternoon programming.
The view of Parliament Hill from the Alexandra Bridge over the Ottawa River (or from Major's Hill Park behind the National Gallery) shows the full Gothic Revival silhouette of the Centre Block and Peace Tower against the Gatineau Hills — one of the finest capital city panoramas in the Americas.