Things to Do in Ottawa: What to See and When

Ottawa is a compact, walkable capital that rewards two or three days: Parliament Hill, the Rideau Canal running through the middle of it, and a cluster of national museums that few cities of this size can match. Two of the postcard images come with an asterisk, though, and it is better to know before you book. The famous Centre Block, with the Peace Tower, is closed for a long restoration, and the canal you have seen people skating on does not freeze to order.

Start with that second point, because it catches people out. The Rideau Canal Skateway is the image that sells winter Ottawa, but it opens only when the ice is thick enough, and in one recent winter it did not open at all. If you are planning a trip around skating on the canal, plan it knowing there may be no skating. Everything else here is more reliable, and a lot of it is free.

Parliament Hill and the free tours

Parliament Hill is the reason most people come, and the grounds are free to walk. The catch is the building itself: Centre Block, the Gothic pile under the Peace Tower, is closed for a rehabilitation whose main works are due to finish between 2030 and 2031, reopening about a year after that. So the picture on the postcard is a building you cannot currently go inside.

You can still tour Parliament, just not there. Free guided tours run in two other buildings: the House of Commons in the West Block at 111 Wellington Street, right on the Hill, and the Senate in the Senate of Canada Building at 2 Rideau Street, a block away in a grand old railway station. The tours cost nothing but need planning: book ahead, because only a limited number of same-day tickets are handed out first-come. Arrive 25 minutes early for the security screening, have the full name and date of birth of everyone in your group for the booking, and bring government photo ID for anyone 16 or over at the West Block door.

One free spectacle needs no booking at all. On summer mornings, between late June and late August, the Changing of the Guard is performed on the Hill’s lawn in red tunics and bearskin caps, a piece of ceremony inherited from Britain and worth catching if the weather holds.

The Rideau Canal: skating is not guaranteed

In summer the Rideau Canal is a UNESCO World Heritage waterway threading through the city, with historic locks stepping down to the Ottawa River beside the Château Laurier. Walk or cycle the paths beside it, watch the boats work the locks, and it is one of the nicest free hours in the capital.

In winter a 7.8 km stretch becomes the Rideau Canal Skateway, run by the National Capital Commission, free and open around the clock when conditions allow. When it works, it is magical.

The reality is worth stating plainly: the ice has to reach at least 30 cm, which takes roughly 10 to 14 straight days of -10 to -20°C. Warm winters are the enemy. The 2022-23 season never opened for a single day - a first in the canal’s history - and 2023-24 managed only about ten. The 2026 season opened on 31 December 2025 on just 3.4 km of the 7.8, extending only as the cold held. So the skateway is a wonderful thing to catch and a terrible thing to build a trip around; treat it as a bonus, check the NCC’s daily ice report, and have a museum plan for the likely day it is closed.

Museums worth the ticket

This is where Ottawa quietly outperforms its size, and two museums are the pick. The Canadian War Museum is C$23 for an adult and one of the best-designed museums in the country, and its trick is that it is free every Thursday from 5 to 7 pm, and free all day on Canada Day, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Remembrance Day.

The Canadian Museum of History, C$25, has the country’s grandest indoor space and the best view of Parliament, and here is a thing to know before you set off: it is not in Ottawa. It sits across the river in Gatineau, Quebec, a short walk over an interprovincial bridge, so do not be surprised when your phone changes time-zone habits and the signs turn French.

The National Gallery of Canada is the third, and even if you skip the collection you can see its most famous resident for nothing: Maman, Louise Bourgeois’s giant bronze spider, stands outside the entrance and is the most photographed thing in Ottawa after Parliament. One 2026 saving ties these together: under the Canada Strong Pass, through 7 September 2026, children are free and 18-24s half price at the federal museums.

ByWard Market

For food and an evening out, the ByWard Market is the oldest part of town, founded in 1827 and still a working market. The indoor building runs late in summer (to 8 pm Thursday to Saturday) and the outdoor stalls trade from May to October; around it, more than 500 businesses fill the surrounding blocks with restaurants, bars and cafes. It is also the obvious place to try a BeaverTail, the flat, fried, hand-stretched pastry that Ottawa has adopted as its own, eaten hot with cinnamon sugar.

Green space and a day trip across the river

For fresh air, two options sit within reach. Rideau Falls, where the Rideau River drops into the Ottawa River in twin curtains, is a short walk from downtown and free. And across in Quebec, Gatineau Park is the big one: forested hills with scenic lookouts, the ruins of an inventor’s estate at Carbide Willson, and trails that turn spectacular in autumn. It runs a parking-permit system, so check that before you drive out.

Getting around: OC Transpo and the O-Train

The centre is walkable, and for the rest there is OC Transpo, the buses and the O-Train light rail. An adult fare is C$4.10 by Presto or contactless, C$4.15 in cash, with a transfer window of at least 90 minutes. Two things save money: children 10 and under ride free, and fares are capped if you tap the same Presto or contactless card, at C$12.25 a day and C$138.50 a month, so you never overpay by tapping. One summer quirk in 2026: youth and pre-teens ride free from 1 July to 31 August, but from 1 September that free travel narrows to evenings, weekends and holidays only.

When to visit

Mid-May brings the Canadian Tulip Festival, when the city plants hundreds of thousands of tulips (the 2026 edition ran 8-18 May, with 2027 dates not yet set), and it is the prettiest time to come. Summer is warm and full of festivals and Canada Day on 1 July is a big deal here. Autumn sets Gatineau Park alight in early October. Winter is the gamble: cold, atmospheric, and home to the skateway when it opens, which, as above, it may not. February also brings Winterlude, the capital’s winter festival of ice-carving and canal-side events, which goes ahead whether or not the skating does.

What a day in Ottawa costs

Ottawa is a cheap capital to visit, because so much of it is free: the Hill and its tours, the canal, Rideau Falls, Maman and the ByWard Market cost nothing. Add transit at C$4.10 a tap (capped at C$12.25 for the day) and one museum at C$23 to C$25, and a full, satisfying day comes in around C$35 to C$45 a person before food. Time it for a free Thursday evening at the War Museum and you spend even less.

Read also

• The province the capital sits in: Ontario travel guide
• The country’s biggest city, four hours west: things to do in Toronto
• The classic Ontario day trip: Niagara Falls on the Canadian side
• Every city we cover: the cities hub