What's on in Ottawa, Canada through the year

Peak crowds — Winterlude, Winter / Christmas break in Canada

• Season

  Rideau Canal Skateway

  5 Jan – 5 Mar · usuallyIce season

  Almost eight kilometres of frozen canal is ploughed into something people commute to work on. It opens only when the ice measures thick enough, which some winters is early January and some winters is barely at all. Source ↗

• Festival

  Winterlude

  30 Jan – 17 Feb · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  Three weekends of ice carving in Confederation Park and a snow playground across the river in Gatineau. The whole thing is free and outdoors, so it lives or dies on the cold. Source ↗

Busy — Winterlude

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Rideau Canal Skateway (5 Jan – 5 Mar (usually)), Winterlude (30 Jan – 17 Feb (usually))

Busy — March break / semaine de relâche in Canada

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Rideau Canal Skateway (5 Jan – 5 Mar (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in April.

Peak crowds — Canadian Tulip Festival, Ottawa Race Weekend

• Festival

  Canadian Tulip Festival

  8–20 May · usuallyWildflowers & bloomsCrowded

  A million bulbs along Dow's Lake, descended from the wartime gift the Dutch royal family sent back. Peak is usually the second week of May and lasts about ten days. Source ↗

• Festival

  Ottawa Race Weekend

  22–26 May · usuallyMajor festivalCrowdedClosures

  Tens of thousands run the last weekend of May and the bridges over the canal and the river close with them. Downtown hotels sell out on those two nights. Source ↗

Busy — Summer break in Canada, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in June.

Peak crowds — Canada Day, Ottawa Bluesfest

• Holiday

  Canada Day

  1 JulNational holidayCrowdedClosures

  The capital's day: Parliament Hill and the surrounding streets close to traffic and fill from morning, with fireworks over the river at night. Everything else in town shuts. Source ↗

• Festival

  Ottawa Bluesfest

  6–19 Jul · usuallyMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  Ten days of stages on the open gravel at LeBreton Flats in the second week of July, and blues is now the smallest part of the bill. There is no shade on that site. Source ↗

Busy — Summer break in Canada, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in August.

Peak crowds — Gatineau Park colour, Summer break in Canada

• Nature

  Gatineau Park colour

  25 Sep – 20 Oct · usuallyAutumn colourCrowded

  The maples across the river turn about ten days before the city trees do, usually peaking in the first week of October. The parkways through the park fill on those weekends.

Busy — Gatineau Park colour

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Gatineau Park colour (25 Sep – 20 Oct (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in November.

Busy — Winter / Christmas break in Canada, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in December.