Page 10 - 2025-2026 Travel Guide to Canada

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GRAND HALL • CANADIAN MUSEUM OF HISTORY
Museum. Named after Prime Minister John
Diefenbaker who commissioned this top
secret structure in 1959, Canada’s most
significant Cold War site is open for guided
tours. At this National Historic Site, you can
see Cold War era rooms like the War Cabinet
Room and the Bank of Canada Vault and
learn about the purpose of this secret
underworld (www.diefenbunker.ca).
Don’t let the renovations of Canada’s Parlia-
ment Buildings delay your tour plans. While
closed until the scheduled completion date
in 2032, visitors can embark on a virtual tour
(www.lop.parl.ca/sites/Learn/default/
en_CA/VR).
OUTDOOR FUN
To skate or paddle on a UNESCO World
Heritage Site, head to downtown Ottawa’s
Rideau Canal. The 19th-century engineering
wonder, and the recreational paths alongside
it, attract runners, cyclists, boaters and
paddlers from spring through fall. In winter,
its groomed ice surface becomes the world’s
largest skating rink (www.pc.gc.ca/en/
lhn-nhs/on/rideau).
For winter outdoor fun, join the winter fat
bike tours craze and immerse in a total winter
wonderland experience, visiting iconic land-
marks (www.escapebicycletours.ca).
Seeking wilderness? Just a 15-minute
drive from Parliament Hill, you’ll find an
entrance to Gatineau Park, a 361-sq. km (139
sq. mi.) retreat studded with lakes, rocky
outcrops, hiking trails, waterfalls and
historic sites (www.ncc-ccn.gc.ca/places/
gatineau-park).
CAPTIVATING MUSEUMS
You can get a sense of Canada’s history,
geography and culture in Ottawa-Gatineau’s
national museums by visiting major
institutions located there.
Learn about plants, animals and lands-
capes across this vast country and beyond at
the Canadian Museum of Nature. Highlights
include national dinosaur and mineral
collections, mammal and bird galleries.
(www.nature.ca)
At the Canadian Museum of History, don’t
miss the towering totem poles and Pacific
coast Indigenous dwelling facades in the
museum’s Grand Hall, which offers a
spectacular view of the Ottawa River
and Parliament Hill (www.history
museum.ca).
The Canadian War Museum illuminates
the stories of conflicts in Canada from the
early days of human settlement until the
present day (www.warmuseum.ca).
THE SPORTING LIFE
What would a visit to Canada be without
hockey? In Ottawa’s west end, you can catch
home games of the National Hockey League’s
Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre
(www.nhl.com/senators).
Close to downtown, TD Place (www.td
place.ca)—the arena and stadium complex
at Lansdowne Park—is home to the Canadian
Football League’s Ottawa REDBLACKS
(www.ottawaredblacks.com), the Ontario
Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s
(www.ottawa67s.com), the Canadian Elite
Basketball League’s Ottawa BlackJacks
(www.theblackjacks.ca) and Atlético