6 best museums in Ottawa

Museums in Ottawa

Gallery · ByWard Market and Lowertown

1.National Gallery of Canada

Moshe Safdie's glass-and-granite gallery, with a tower echoing the Library of Parliament, holds Canada's national collection: Group of Seven landscapes, Emily Carr, extensive Indigenous art and European masters.

Time needed

2–3 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• Art
• Iconic
• Rainy day
• Architecture

Museum · Old Hull, Gatineau

2.Canadian Museum of History

Douglas Cardinal's curving, wave-like building on the Gatineau riverbank holds one of Canada's most-visited museums.

Time needed

3 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• History
• Kids
• Rainy day
• Architecture
• Iconic

Museum · LeBreton Flats

3.Canadian War Museum

The museum's angular building on LeBreton Flats traces Canada's military history from early conflicts through both world wars to peacekeeping, with tanks, artillery and personal stories.

Time needed

2–3 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• History
• Rainy day
• Architecture

Museum · Centretown

4.Canadian Museum of Nature

Housed in the turreted Victoria Memorial Museum Building — locals call it 'the castle' — the natural history museum has a full blue whale skeleton, a dinosaur gallery, a mineral hall and the Canada Goose Arctic Gallery.

Time needed

2–3 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• Kids
• Rainy day
• Nature
• Architecture

Museum · Rockcliffe

5.Canada Aviation and Space Museum

On the old Rockcliffe airfield east of downtown, a huge hangar displays one of the world's largest collections of civil and military aircraft, from bush planes to a Lancaster bomber and surviving pieces of the cancelled Avro Arrow jet.

Time needed

2 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• History
• Kids
• Rainy day

Museum · Alta Vista

6.Ingenium – Canada Science and Technology Museum

Rebuilt and reopened in 2017, the science museum has hands-on galleries on space, medicine and sound, a hall of steam locomotives and the Crazy Kitchen, a tilted room that plays tricks on your balance.

Time needed

2–3 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• Kids
• Rainy day

Grouped by area

Booking and timing

Of these 6, 6 mid-priced. None needs booking far in advance. The longest visit is National Gallery of Canada; group the rest by area to save travel time.

How to fit them into 5 half-days

Grouped by area and kept to about four hours each, so you walk more than you ride.

• Half-day 1 (ByWard Market and Lowertown): National Gallery of Canada, at least 2 hours.
• Half-day 2 (Old Hull, Gatineau): Canadian Museum of History, at least 3 hours.
• Half-day 3 (LeBreton Flats): Canadian War Museum, at least 2 hours.
• Half-day 4 (Centretown and Rockcliffe): Canadian Museum of Nature → Canada Aviation and Space Museum, at least 4 hours.
• Half-day 5 (Alta Vista): Ingenium – Canada Science and Technology Museum, at least 2 hours.

The quietest months for queues

• March: highs of 2°C (36°F), about 11 rainy days, quiet crowds. The thaw begins, with slushy streets and the start of sugar-shack season in the surrounding countryside.
• January: highs of -6°C (21°F), about 12 rainy days, quiet crowds. Very cold, with snow on the ground and wind chill well below −20°C on some days.
• April: highs of 11°C (52°F), about 12 rainy days, quiet crowds. Snow melts, Rideau Falls run high and the first warm days arrive; can still be cold and wet.

The neighbourhoods they are in

• ByWard Market and Lowertown — Market stalls, restaurants and the city's busiest bar streets beside Parliament
• Centretown — Elgin and Bank Street restaurants, Victorian houses and the Village
• Old Hull, Gatineau — French-speaking Quebec bars and the Museum of History across the river

More of Ottawa

All things to do in Ottawa · Where to stay · When to go.

Questions travellers ask