Ottawa

Housed in Ottawa’s oldest stone building, the BYTOWN MUSEUM explores Ottawa’s history from the early years of Rideau Canal construction, through the rough and tumble days of Bytown, to its emergence as Canada’s capital and beyond.

Once used as a storehouse during the construction of the Rideau Canal, this unique heritage building amassed an impressive collection of local artifacts through the work of the Women’s Canadian Historical Society of Ottawa. The Bytown Museum explores the early history of Canada’s capital when it was known as Bytown. The museum also pays homage to Lieutenant Colonel John By, who oversaw the construction of the Rideau Canal, and features a variety of exhibitions displaying local historical treasures.

The Bytown Museum is found alongside the UNESCO Heritage site Rideau Canal.

Postcards Scavenger Hunt

While you’re exploring the museum’s exhibit be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the seven mailboxes scattered around the second and third floors.  Each box has a postcard in it that will tell you about important moments in Ottawa’s past.  Find all seven and piece together Ottawa’s story from beginning to end.

Youth Activity Area

Visit the third floor of the museum to check out the Youth Activity Area, complete with Victorian toys, books to read, as well as interactive and historical app-based games!  See what the lives of Ottawa’s young people were like in the 1800s.

Know Before You Go

1 Canal Ln, Ottawa, ON K1P 1L1

Tel: (613) 234-4570

Thurs – Mon: 11am – 4pm

Closed Tuesday and Wednesday

PRICING

Adult – $8.00
Senior – $6.00
Student – $5.00 (13 to 18 or with valid student ID)
Child – $4.00
Flex Family – $20 (2 adults and unlimited children under 18)
4 years & under – complimentary

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Visiting Ottawa doesn’t have to cost a lot. If you are searching for free stuff to do in Ottawa and cheap ways to explore Canada’s Capital City without putting a strain on your travel budget, we have listed few ways to enjoy the best of Ottawa for free or on a low budget that includes free admission to Ottawa’s museums.

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The Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa, Canada

The Ottawa tulip festival actually named the Canadian Tulip Festival is held for three weeks every May. It is the largest festival in the world Over these three weeks, as the tulip gardens come into bloom, concerts, lectures, and other performances – both indoor and out – are held as the city celebrates the arrival of warmer weather.

The festival had its start in 1945 when Princess Juliana of the Netherlands presented Ottawa with 100,000 tulip bulbs in appreciation for the safe haven offered to exiled Dutch royalty and the role Canadian troops played in the liberation of the Netherlands.

In the years following 1945, the tulips became a symbol of international friendship as more and more events were planned around their blooming.

The 67^th edition of the festival running May 10 to 20, 2019, has fun activities for the whole family including tours, entertainment, and even fireworks – and much of it is free!

Festival Overview

More than 300,000 tulips decorate Commissioners Park, one of the festival’s key sites. Buskers, musicians and working artists add to the festivities.

Landsdowne Park is home to the International Pavilion with food stands, performances and other global offerings.

Major’s Hill Park hosts a vintage carnival and circus school where children as young as 3 can participate by learning how to juggle or tightrope walk with experts. Older kids may be interested in trying the unicycle. Rides, including a Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, Scrambler and toddler train round out the fun. Tickets required.

The Heritage Pavilion will take you back to Ottawa in 1945. Hear from people – including veterans – who experienced this time period first-hand and who love sharing their stories.

The Tulip Shuttle is an inexpensive way to get around the festival sites on the weekends. The shuttle travels the Tulip Route about 10 km along scenic Queen Elizabeth Driveway, which follows the Rideau Canal from downtown Ottawa (Major’s Hill Park and the Mirror Tent) to Dow’s Lake (Commissioner’s Park). Lansdowne Park, home of the International Pavilion, is en route between Dow Lake and downtown.

Cycling is a great way to get around the tulip festival, especially given the flat, bike-friendly canal-side terrain from downtown Ottawa to Dow Lake.

Many events are free or low cost at the Ottawa Tulip Festival. Tulip viewing itself is free. Performances at the Mirror Tent are required and range in cost.

Fantastic fireworks

A spectacular fireworks show will take place at Dows Lake at 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 19 (weather permitting). Choose your own viewing spot along the Rideau Canal or purchase a VIP ticket which provides access to a special area on the Tulip Boardwalk, including seating and a licensed bar.

Tulip tours

For the ultimate tulip experience, purchase a ticket for a Tulip Legacy Tour. During this 30-minute guided tour, you’ll learn about horticulture as well as the festival’s history as you roam through the gardens at Commissioners Park.

Canadian Tulip Festival Fun Facts

• Every year, the Netherlands continue to give 20,000 bulbs to Ottawa.
• The largest site of the Tulip Festival is in Commissioners Park, on the banks of Dows Lake, which has over 300,000 tulips!
• The Canadian Tulip Festival attracts some 600,000 visitors making it the largest tulip festival in the world.

Tips for Visiting the Festival

• Bring the kids – the Tulip Festival is a great event for children. Consider a stroller for younger ones.
• Buy a shuttle pass for the day – this is an inexpensive, convenient, environmentally friendly way to get around the festival. The shuttle runs every 15 mins or so on weekends.
• Treat yourself to a meal or high tea at the Chateau Laurier.

Best ways to experience glorious tulips in Ottawa

• On foot – From downtown Ottawa, you can easily explore many of the beautiful, multi-colored tulip beds on foot
• By bike – Ottawa offers more than 800 kilometers (497 miles) of beautiful paths that link natural areas, parks, gardens, and national historic sites
• By bus
• By air – At the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, you can book a ride in a vintage open cockpit biplane with Ottawa Biplane Adventures.
• By boat – For a unique perspective, take a relaxing ride on a Rideau Canal Cruise

Top places to photograph beautiful tulips in Ottawa

• Commissioners Park – located near Dows Lake along the Rideau Canal
• Major’s Hill Park – wander along the pathways between the Fairmont Château Laurier and the National Gallery of Canada.
• Parliament of Canada – Get up close to Centre Block and as low an angle as you can to snap a photo of the blooming tulips with the neo-gothic Peace Tower in the background
• Along the Rideau Canal
• Garden Promenade tour

Kid Zone

Join the Kid Zone for all the FUN!

• GIANT Tulip Painting from World-Changing Kids – Every day! 12pm – 6pm on weekdays / 10am – 8pm on Weekends
• Face Painting from Fantasy Face Painting – Weekends & Holiday Monday
• Pedalheads – May 18 & 19, 2019 
• Practice Kids Garden– Practice your planting skills with real soil and tulip bulbs
• The Children’s World of Tulips Art Wall. This 380 feet of Wall in the Aberdeen Pavilion at Lansdowne Park will feature 5,000 Children’s artworks of Tulips from primary schools in the Gatineau-Ottawa region.

Festival Dates & Hours

• The Festival takes place May 10 – 20, 2019

Commissioners Park 

• Open Daily: 9am – 9pm

Boutiques & Pavilions

• Weekdays: Noon – 6pm
• Weekends: 10am – 8pm

Contact

• 613-567-5757
• info@tulipfestival.com

Experience Culture in the Capital – 3 Museums in 3 Days!

As Canada’s capital, Ottawa has a substantial amount of history and culture that can captivate a new tourist or even the most experienced traveler.

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The Farm in the Heart of the City!

Located on a national heritage site, the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum is the world’s only working farm in the heart of a capital city.

Learn about Canada’s rich agricultural heritage through hands-on exhibitions like Food Preservation: The Science You Eat and Canola! Seeds of Innovation. Interact with nearly 150 farm animals in our heritage barns, and discover emerging food trends.

Have more questions about planning your Disney vacation? Click here to join the best Ottawa Toddler Facebook group around filled with tips, tricks, and people ready to help answer your questions!

Walking up to the museum is a little different than most. For one, it isn’t your typical museum. It is more of an open-air museum. Or simply put, a working farm with exhibit barns, as I mentioned before. Grab a map from the reception desk and follow along.

The first barn is full of horses, which will really pick up the children’s attention. Then you are released in front of the farm-themed playground and bunny/chicken enclosure.

It is important to note that this farm does not have a petting zoo. I say this because we generally have a rule that we don’t spend too much time in the playgrounds at attractions since we have a short window of time to explore (before picking up Munchkin from school) and there is a park next to the house. In this case, I knew that I needed something to hook her into the whole “look but don’t touch the animals”. We played for a spell, then continued exploring with the promise that good girls get to play again after finishing the museum.

There are a few more barns with pigs, sheep, and goats. All fully functioning, and all request that we not touch the animals. The front desk, and the map, made it especially known that each barn has their own bathroom! This is great for potty training little ones. I can’t count how many times we have been forced to leave a room or run around a building in search of a toilet.

There are signs everywhere about respecting the animals, staff and field-trip school children. We are not allowed to take photos with flash within the buildings, or of the staff. Photographing the school children, even if by accident, is a punishable offense. This is another reason why we like to visit museums at the beginning of the school year, on a Monday, and as soon as the doors open for the day. Each of these lends itself to low crowds and lessen the chances of encountering field trips.

The very last barn before hitting up the park again was the milking barn. This is where Baby Girl learned where milk comes from. During school trips, there is a station set up with a cardboard cow and the children get to “practice” milking a cow. Further down the barn, there is a section where the cows are actually being milked and we can see the process in action. Unfortunately, the cows were on “vacation” and preparing to give birth.

Check out The Farmers Wife for more dairy cow information. They were able to answer a lot of my questions – even ones I didn’t know I had.

The Canada Agriculture and Food Museum is part of the Ingenium family of museums. With an annual membership, guests receive unlimited admission to the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, and the Canada Science and Technology Museum. As well as unlimited FREE GENERAL ADMISSION to more than 360* museums and science centres across Canada and around the world with the Reciprocal Admission Agreement.

901 Prince of Wales Drive, Ottawa, ON K2C 3J9
Tel: (613) 991 – 3044
Wed – Sun: 9:00am – 5:00pm
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays

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Located on a former military air base just five kilometers from downtown Ottawa, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum focuses on aviation in Canada within an international context – from its beginnings in 1909 to today.

The Canada Aviation and Space Museum presents the complete story of Canada’s rich aviation and aerospace heritage. The Collection consists of more than 130 aircraft and artifacts (propellers, engines) from both civil and military service. It is the most extensive aviation collection in Canada, it is also considered to be one of the finest aviation museums in the world.

Among the museum’s highlights are the largest surviving pieces of the famous Avro Arrow (its nose section and two wing tips), the original Canadarm used on the Endeavour space shuttle, the Lancaster bomber from the Second World War, and Life in Orbit: The International Space Station exhibition.

Once a year, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum has a Military appreciation day. This consists of free parking and admission to all card-carrying members of the Canadian Military, past and present, and their immediate family. We didn’t know this when we decided last minute to stop by for a visit – we have an annual pass, and these articles aren’t going to write themselves.

We were greeted with a handful of superheroes, none of whom the children were particularly fond of (probably because they weren’t Disney cartoons) and a myriad of booths set up in the lobby and further down into the museum. We had our family picture taken with fun dress-up props, met a paramedic and gathered information on  Scouts Canada.

While we were visiting, we had the pleasure of attending one of the theatre productions “Space Adventure”. This would also double as a great rainy day activity so I made sure to take notes. The children all dressed up in the provided Astraunaut costumes and climbed into their “spaceships” (a white cardboard box – it was adorable). They followed along with the book, The Box, on display on the screen in front of them and went on a space adventure with “Barrie the Bear” and Ted. The naming of the characters was a collaborative effort.

The Canada Aviation and Space Museum is part of the Ingenium family of museums. With an annual membership, guests receive unlimited admission to the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, and the Canada Science and Technology Museum. As well as unlimited FREE GENERAL ADMISSION to more than 360* museums and science centres across Canada and around the world with the Reciprocal Admission Agreement.

Know before you go

11 Aviation Parkway, Ottawa (Ontario), K1K 2X5 Canada
613 991-3044
1 866 442-4416
contact@ingeniumcanada.org

PRICING

Adult :$15.00
Senior Citizen:$13.00
Student : $13.00
Child : $0.00 – $10.00
Family:$38.00
Open  9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Have you ever wanted to control a cockpit? Sit in an ejection seat? Ride in a biplane? The museum offers many exciting special programs and experiences. Be sure to check program details in advance.

What is the Bank of Canada? What does it do? And why does it matter to me?

According to the GSM Project, the group mandated to oversee the design, the Bank of Canada Museum is “targeting youth aged 15 to 25 years old, the exhibition explores the four key functions of the Bank of Canada — setting monetary policy, promoting a sound financial system, issuing Canada’s bank notes and acting as fiscal agent for the Government of Canada.”

OK so this may not sound like the most entertaining museum in the city, and we didn’t even go here on purpose. I thought this was the Royal Mint of Canada, and we needed to kill time before our return time for the Parliament tour. Either way, this is right around the corner, it’s dry and warm, and kept the kids entertained. So it ended up being a great choice.

Like many other interactive museums, we were given wristbands and asked to provide some personal information about ourselves; type of employment, general spending habits and the size of our family. throughout the museum, we were asked questions and shown how our choices affect the overall Canadian and the Global Economy. Everything we purchase and don’t purchase has an effect on our economy.

For the kids, there were a handful of games they could play, a model spaceship Munchkin sat in and shot down spaceships. I didn’t understand the premise of this activity or how it related to the museum itself but he had a great time doing it, so there is that.

It takes roughly 1 hour to go through the whole museum. More if you don’t have little ones rushing you to the next station. We did come across a school group, adults learning about Canada before getting their citizenship, and a few other families with children. This museum does serve a purpose and when I get the chance, I would like to go back on my own and truly read the plaques and see what they have to say.

I don’t know about you but I didn’t do that well in MacroEconomics in CEGEP. I’m sure I could learn a lot at the Bank of Canada Museum.

What’s even better, is the museum’s ability to make cryptocurrency accessible to everyone, even this tech-illiterate mama. Don’t expect me to be making any large cyber-purchases in the near future, but at least now I have a vague understanding of what everyone is going on about.

Know before you go

30 Bank Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0G9

Tel: (613) 782 – 8914

Open Daily 10:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m

Free admission

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