Page 14 - 2024-25 Travel Guide to Canada

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WHAT’S NEW?
Several new direct connections have come to
Ottawa’s Macdonald-Cartier International
Airport this year. Porter Airlines is now
offering direct flights to the capital from
New York-Newark, Boston, Québec City,
Charlottetown and Thunder Bay (www.fly
porter.com). Air France has five non-stop
flights weekly between Paris and Ottawa
(www.airfrance.fr).
Across the Ottawa River from Ottawa, Camp
Fortune recreation area in Gatineau Park has
opened a peak-to-peak course of three zip-
lines stretching across 1,365 m (4,478 ft.) this
year. You can end the adventure with a 15-m
(50-ft.) free fall, if you dare (www.camp
fortune.com).
SIP AND DINE
Ottawa chef Briana Kim took home top
honours at the Canadian Culinary Cham-
pionship last February. As a result, one of the
capital’s hottest dining options is the plant-
and fermentation-based tasting menu at
Kim’s intimate restaurant, Alice (www.alice
restaurant.ca).
For craft cocktails, try the Apothecary
Cocktail Lounge, hidden away on the lower
level of a Victorian building in the ByWard
Market area (www.apothecarylounge.ca).
A block south of Parliament Hill, the tiny
Stolen Goods Cocktail Bar serves innova-
tive drinks and small plates late into
the night (www.stolengoodscocktail
bar.com).
TAKE A TOUR
Can’t decide between a boat tour and a bus
tour? You don’t have to. Partway through an
excursion on the Lady Dive amphibus, the
vehicle that takes you by road through the
parliamentary precinct becomes a boat. It
slips into the Ottawa River to give you an
interprovincial view of Ottawa and Gatineau.
The company also offers double-decker bus
tours and winter trolley tours (www.lady
dive.com).
Ottawa-Gatineau:
A Capital Idea
BY LAURA BYRNE PAQUET
PARLIAMENT HILL FROM OTTAWA RIVER • OTTAWA TOURISM
Award-winning vegetarian fare? Check.
A bus that turns into a boat? Ditto.
Festivals, the world’s largest skating
rink and wolves? You’ll find all that and
much more in Ottawa—Canada’s
capital—and its sister city of Gatineau,
directly across the Ottawa River.