With kids · Ottawa · Canada
Ottawa with kids
Family-tested sights, a calm base and the practical details that make travelling with children easier.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Hayden Soloviev, CC BY 4.0
Quick answer
Ottawa is excellent for families: hands-on national museums, a Children's Museum inside the Museum of History, canal skating and Winterlude snow slides, and big parks. The compact centre and quiet streets make it relaxed with children. Top picks: Canadian Museum of Nature, Ingenium – Canada Science and Technology Museum and Canadian Museum of History. Families usually base themselves in Downtown and Parliament Hill.
Key facts
- Family picks
- 7
- Best area for families
- Downtown and Parliament Hill
- Rainy-day options
- 5
- Busiest months
- July
Best things to do with kids
Museum · Centretown
1.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. A glass lantern added in the 2000s renovation tops the entrance tower.
Children love the live-animal gallery and the dinosaur hall; go there first before the school groups.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Rainy day
- Nature
- Architecture
Museum · Alta Vista
2.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.
Do the Crazy Kitchen early before queues form; younger children enjoy the Wonder Lab most.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Rainy day
Museum · Old Hull, Gatineau
3.Canadian Museum of History
Douglas Cardinal's curving, wave-like building on the Gatineau riverbank holds one of Canada's most-visited museums. Its Grand Hall has a row of Pacific Northwest totem poles in front of a wall of windows facing Parliament, and the Canadian History Hall covers 15,000 years. The Canadian Children's Museum is in the same building.
Walk across the Alexandra Bridge from the National Gallery; the view of Parliament from the bridge is one of the city's best.
- Time needed
- 3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- History
- Kids
- Rainy day
- Architecture
- Iconic
Museum · Rockcliffe
4.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.
Drive or take a rideshare; it is about 15 minutes from downtown and awkward by bus.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- History
- Kids
- Rainy day
Experience · Rideau Canal
5.Rideau Canal Skateway
In a cold enough winter the canal freezes into a skating rink of about 7.8 km from downtown to Dow's Lake, with skate rentals, heated huts and food stands selling BeaverTails along the way. Locals use it to skate to work. Mild winters have shortened or prevented the season in recent years.
Check the National Capital Commission's ice status before you plan around it; the best conditions are usually from mid-January to mid-February.
- Time needed
- 1–3 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Iconic
- Free
- Active
- Kids
- Couples
Historic site · ByWard Market and Lowertown
6.Royal Canadian Mint
The Mint's castle-like 1908 building on Sussex Drive produces collector coins, medals and gold bullion. Guided tours look down on the production floor, and the boutique sells commemorative coins.
Book a tour on a weekday to see the production floor in operation.
- Time needed
- 45 minutes
- Cost
- Low cost
- Book ahead
- Tours are small and fill up in summer; reserve ahead online.
- History
- Rainy day
- Kids
Landmark · Downtown and Parliament Hill
7.Parliament Hill
The Gothic Revival parliament buildings stand on a bluff above the Ottawa River. The Centre Block and its Peace Tower are closed for a renovation expected to last well into the 2030s, so the House of Commons sits in the restored West Block and the Senate in the former railway station nearby, both open for free guided tours. The lawn hosts the Changing of the Guard in summer.
Choose the West Block tour to see the temporary House of Commons chamber built inside the building's glass-roofed former courtyard.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours with a tour
- Cost
- Free
- Book ahead
- Free tour tickets are limited; reserve online or collect them early in the day in summer.
- Iconic
- History
- Architecture
- Free
Rainy-day ideas
- Canadian Museum of History — Walk across the Alexandra Bridge from the National Gallery; the view of Parliament from the bridge is one of the city's best.
- Canadian Museum of Nature — Children love the live-animal gallery and the dinosaur hall; go there first before the school groups.
- Canada Aviation and Space Museum — Drive or take a rideshare; it is about 15 minutes from downtown and awkward by bus.
- Ingenium – Canada Science and Technology Museum — Do the Crazy Kitchen early before queues form; younger children enjoy the Wonder Lab most.
- Royal Canadian Mint — Book a tour on a weekday to see the production floor in operation.
Where families should stay
$$$ · Best for first-timers, families and solo travellers
Downtown and Parliament Hill
The core between Parliament Hill and the Queensway holds federal offices, many large hotels, the Rideau Centre shopping mall and the Sparks Street pedestrian mall. Confederation Square, with the National War Memorial, sits at its centre, and the Rideau and Parliament O-Train stations are here.
- Good
- Central for sights and transit; Wide choice of hotels; Underground O-Train stations
- Watch out
- Quiet after office hours; Fewer independent restaurants
- Nearby
- Parliament Hill, National War Memorial, Rideau Centre, Sparks Street
Family travel tips
- The Canadian Children's Museum is inside the Canadian Museum of History, so one ticket covers both.
- In winter, Winterlude's snow playground in Jacques-Cartier Park in Gatineau has giant snow slides.
- Dress children in snow pants, mitts and hats from December to March; wind chill makes it feel much colder.
- Summer splash pads and the beaches at Westboro and Mooney's Bay are free.
- Many museums have free or reduced entry for children; check each one.
Day trips for families
- Kingston (About 2 hours by car) — Kingston, Canada's first capital, sits at the southern end of the Rideau Canal on Lake Ontario.
- Thousand Islands (About 1 hour 45 minutes by car) — Cruises from Gananoque weave between the granite islands of the St.
- Parc Oméga (About 1 hour by car) — A drive-through wildlife park in the Quebec countryside where elk, deer and bison approach cars on a 12 km route, with walking trails to see wolves, bears and Arctic foxes.
- Mont-Tremblant (About 1 hour 45 minutes by car) — Quebec's best-known mountain resort has a car-free pedestrian village of colourful buildings at the base of the slopes, with skiing in winter and a gondola, hiking and lakes in summer and autumn.
When to go with children
The best months overall are May–June and September–October. July is the busiest, so book the big sights early. Weather by month.
Questions travellers ask
+Is Ottawa good for kids?
Ottawa is excellent for families: hands-on national museums, a Children's Museum inside the Museum of History, canal skating and Winterlude snow slides, and big parks. The compact centre and quiet streets make it relaxed with children.
+What can kids do in Ottawa?
Canadian Museum of Nature, Ingenium – Canada Science and Technology Museum, Canadian Museum of History, Canada Aviation and Space Museum and Rideau Canal Skateway.
+Where should families stay in Ottawa?
Downtown and Parliament Hill: Government buildings, hotels and the Sparks Street pedestrian mall.