Unique Things To Do In Ottawa

An Overview of Ottowa

Serving as the capital of Canada, Ottawa is a remarkably green city, filled with large trees, expansive parks and beautiful beaches along three powerful rivers. The rivers and canals made Ottawa a prominent trade hub in the region and a well-protected setting throughout histroy. The region is filled with Victorian architecture, stunning museums, preserved canals and excellent scenery. As a the home to some of Canada’s most beautiful and influential cultural institutions, there are many unique things to do in Ottawa.

Unique Things To Do In Ottawa

Maman

Found outside the National Gallery of Canada, Maman is a more-than-30-foot-high sculpture of an enormous bronze-and-steel spider with a large sac containing 32 marble eggs.

Mer Bleue Bog

Located just outside Ottawa, this protected wildlife area is home to a sphagnum moss bog. The bog formed when the Ottawa river shifted, creating a separated bog space, with a remarkable ecosystem rare in southern Canada. The bog can be explored on a boardwalk loop which overlooks the unique landscape, as well as much of the native wildlife.

Diefenbunker

Formerly known as the Canadian Forces Station Carp, this bunker is an enormous concrete-reinforced nuclear fallout shelter built to withstand a 5 megaton nuclear blast from 1.8 kilometers away. The cold war structures is is a bleak and compelling piece of Canadian history.

Vanier Museopark

This unique museum can be found in the Vanier district of Ottawa. The strange Museopark is home to a distantly French-Canadian series of historical exhibits. Though the majority of Canada’s French influence is situated in Quebec, this is a unique place where Franco-Ontarian culture thrived despite a history with some friction. The site is especially popular as there’s a fully-functional sugar shack on-site, which uses an urban sugar-bush for products.

Petrie Island

Petrie Island is a large recreational island found in the Ottawa River. The island is a popular space for its hiking trails, riverside beaches and a nearby collection of smaller islands.

Library of Parliament

This large historical library is filled with authentic, beautiful decorations, serving as a Canadian icon on the Canadian ten-dollar bill. Both the interior and exterior of the building are stunning to behold.

Château Laurier

With the appearance of a French palace, Château Laurier makes a striking first impression with its Tiffany stained-glass windows, carved Indiana limestone and stately spires. However, the building actually operates as an upscale hotel, comissioned by Charles Melville Hays, an American millionaire who died on the doomed RMS Titanic.

Ottawa Dinosaur Crossing

Outside of the Canadian Museum of Nature’s Centre for Arctic Knowledge and Exploration, there are several signs indicating that woolly mammoths and dinosaurs may pass a nearby road. Accompanying each sign, large replicas of the creatures stand, poised to walk across the street.

Hog’s Back Park

This is an urban nature spaces with a lovely series of waterfalls and a renovated heritage pavilion.

Parliament Building’s Northern Lights Sound and Light Show

For five nights a week in the summer months, the Parliament Building in Ottawa is lit up in a fantastic 30-minute multimedia show. The stately governmental building blazes with vivid, moving colors and patterns, providing a free show for locals and visitors alike.

South March Highlands Conservation Forest

This is a massive 457-acre nature preserve with trails set aside for hiking and mountain miking. There are several routes through the forested area.

Princess Louise Falls

This waterfall is part of a river system which was buried to create land for suburban neighborhoods. The waterfall pours down a series of stair-like rocks, hidden in a tiny, easily-walkable forest.

Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica of Ottawa

This is a large and beautiful Roman Catholic minor basilica marked as a National Historic Site. The Cathedral is distinct with it’s twin spires, gilded Madonna and vaulted interior.

Parc Omega

This is a large drive-through safari park in Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours, roughly an hour drive outside of Ottawa. The park contains nature routes, stunning lakes, peaceful meadows, small valleys, large forests and rocky hills. Omega Parc is known for it’s amazing variety of wildlife, most famously the wolves. The park also offers overnight stays in special cabins with panoramic views that offer the chance to see wolves walking nearby.

Balanced Sculptures in Remic Rapids Park

Located in the shallow portions of the Remic Rapids, these are group of standing stone rock sculptures which look a bit like a village of rock-people.

Ruins of Carbide Willson

Located in a forest near Meech Lake, these ruins are all that remains of an old, thoughouly broken-down fertilizer plant. The complex included three buildings, including a dam which contributes to a small, powerful waterfall.

Pinhey Sand Dunes

This is an entirely unique inland sand dun complex, known for its delicate biodiversity and highly localized plant and animal species.

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