With the days growing shorter and winter nipping at autumn’s heels, Ottawa is gearing up for a festive holiday season filled with lights, laughter and celebration. 

Light up your life

The city flips the switch starting in late November, when the annual Christmas Lights across Canada lights up the entire downtown area, from Parliament Hill to the Rideau Canal, and the national monuments to the museums.

Once you’ve explored the city on magical evening strolls, hop in your vehicle and head out to Wesley Clover Parks in the city’s west end for Magic of Lights. This dazzling annual event (November 19 to January 8) features two kilometres of displays with nearly a million LED lights, including a 200-foot-long light tunnel and whimsical characters. A little further afield, you can experience Saunders Farm’s new Amazing Winter Wonderland Drive-Through Experience–a sound and light show with a heart-warming storyline. While there, hop on a wagon ride, get lost in the Farm’s giant hedge mazes, visit with Santa and his Elves and shop for holiday decor. Plan another weekend drive around Upper Canada Village, a quick 45-minute trip to the  historic site’s annual Alight at Night event, where you can stroll through a brightly lit 1860s-themed village.

Holiday shopping in style

If last-minute holiday shopping is on your itinerary, Ottawa’s CF Rideau Centre features some of the biggest retailers around, all under one roof in the heart of downtown. Close by, the ByWard Market and Downtown Rideau are always festive season destinations, with artisans and local shops offering gifts for everyone on your list. In fact, Ottawa is a city of neighbourhoods–the Glebe, Sparks Street, Bank Street, Hintonburg, Wellington West and more–all boasting unique local retailers you simply won’t find anywhere else.

Returning this year, the Ottawa Christmas Market at Lansdowne is Ottawa’s first European-style holiday market. It includes a lineup of over 35 vendors selling crafts and gift items from quaint wooden cabins, plus live music, picture-perfect lighting displays, food, drinks and visits with Santa.

Explore our past

Familiar with the capital’s national museums? This holiday season, they’re offering a great lineup of special exhibitions. At the National Gallery of Canada, take in the winning artworks in this year’s Sobey Art Awards, which the Gallery says will transport visitors “into the worlds of these artists from five distinct regions of Canada, each offering new ways of seeing, thinking and being.” The Canadian Museum of History’s massive Canadian History Hall allows visitors to discover the events, personalities and historical currents that have shaped Canada — from time immemorial to the present day. And at the Canadian Museum of Nature, you can come face-to-face with four owls and a Bald Eagle.

Embrace the great outdoors

From cross-country ski and snowshoeing trails in the city and surrounding Greenbelt and Gatineau Park, to snow biking and tobogganing, Ottawa ranks amongst the most outdoors-oriented cities in Canada. While the Rideau Canal Skateway doesn’t typically freeze before Christmas, the city has an array of artificial skating pads that’ll surely freeze over before the Rideau Canal Skateway – one downtown at Ottawa City Hall and another at Lansdowne Park, so name a few.

…And don’t forget to relax

End 2021 by relaxing (it’s been a year to remember!). Just 20 minutes from downtown Ottawa in the beautiful Gatineau Hills is Nordik Spa-Nature, North America’s largest spa.

Back in town, raise some holiday cheer at one of almost fifty craft breweries that now call Ottawa home. There’s even a company called Brew Donkey that offers half and full-day brewery tours by bus, in both the urban and rural areas of the city. And if your tastes run to the more refined, book a holiday High Tea at the storied Fairmont Château Laurier.

If you’re looking to get into the holiday spirit, Ottawa’s ready to welcome you with open arms this festive season.

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