Boston Canada Travel

While most New Englanders know Montreal and Quebec City as within driving distance of Boston, Ottawa, 90 minutes further southwest by car, is well worth the trip. Ottawa is Canada’s capital, and its 4th largest municipality. Because it is the capital, visitors can expect a culturally rich city for a city of its size.

Ottawa is one of the greenest capitals in the world, surrounded by a 532-square km preserve of parklands, forests and wetlands. Riverways are lined with 170 kilometers of bike paths throughout the city, a testament to Ottawa’s commitment to being green, both literally and figuratively. Forbes Magazine recently rated Ottawa the 4th cleanest city out of 300 cities worldwide. With recycle bins and bike racks as plentiful as mailboxes, visitors are hard-pressed to find even an empty bottle lying around. They even have trash receptacles with holes to drop your cigarette butts—what an ingenious invention.

For the gourmands, Ottawa offers more restaurants per capita than any city in Canada. Chef-owned restaurants are setting up at a record pace, thanks in part to the 2002 installation of the Cordon Bleu Culinary School.

Music buffs can find anything from the largest chamber music festival in the world in July, to the Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest, largest blues/rockfest in North America, but that’s just a start. Art aficionados can get their fix at the National Gallery with the largest collection of Canadian art, or its affiliated school of photography, the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography. If you like contemporary art, The Atrium Gallery and Centrepointe Theatre Gallery, are not to be missed.

Rideau Canal in Ottawa, World's Largest Skating Rink

For history buffs, Canadian museums offer a full array of choices. From the Canadian War Museum to the Canadian Aviation Museum, to the Diefenbunker Cold War Museum, visitors can learn about Canada’s lesser known history. Or drop by the Rideau Canal, the oldest continuously operating canal in North America, this hand-cranked system of locks operates much in the same way as in 1832. During the winter, the canal is converted into the world’s largest skating rink.