Rideau Canal National Historic Site

It was a great experience to see the canal lock system. Nice little walk. Beautiful sunny day. You can try cycling too. One of the best tourist attractions in Ottawa. End of the journey to River. I went during early spring. Pretty sure more happening after May.Surrounded by Parliament Hill and old structural buildings.

Very nice to walk in the canal. Its a largest natural ice rink in Canada & its really fun to walk. Some places we saw the small holes were we can see the water from the canal popping out. Its it's completely safe to ski.. must visit in winter without fail..

It was a great experience watching the locks of the river. Though it was not big enough but you can walk around and spend some time !! Its a historical site in Ottawa and it is just close to senate building.

What an amazing canal going through the heart of Ottawa with awesome views of the city the whole way. Super romantic trail system (especially at sunset) along the canal edge for a nice walk or ride, with breathtaking sites of parliament and all the historic buildings and architecture of Ottawa. There are boat tours you can go on and skating in the winter months. Definitely check this out if your in Ottawa you can't miss it and definitely a historic site to see.

We had a great time skating. Loved that we could rent a big sleigh in case one of the kids (or mom) got tired! It was super easy to push as well. Some nice spot to stop on the ice for a bite to eat. Can't miss the beaver tails! Also some great restaurants at Dow's lake for a warm up and great meal! Loved the little fireplaces we could stop at to warm up. Parking was difficult to find! This was the only challenge!

Very fun to skate but a severe lack of parking in the area. Locals told me they've changed nearby 3 hour parking to 1 hour making parking extremely difficult. The $20 parking across from Dow lake was the only to be found. The skate was great, plenty of friendly staff for safety, medical, lost kid on the canal overseeing skaters. Would've like to see a few more ice maintenance fixing big ruts and potholes. Plenty of places to warm up, buy a beaver tail and hot coco.**Overall, a great experience. **Tip: only bring a small bag for your shoes- skate carrying minimal stuff. Tip2 check Twitter for current canal status ( they could tweet more like daily)Please like this review if helpful.

Beautiful historical place, you can see a lot of boats and how gates open and closed, very cool.

Absolutely loved skating on the canal! Nothing like feeling the wind on your unprotected Canadian face as you twirl effortlessly down the frozen surface...and then feel the hardness of the ice as you trip over a crack and fall. But seriously, only downside is that it's really hard to see at night if the ice is bad. Really small thing, everything else is awesome, especially the beaver tails!

The city works really hard to keep this clear of snow and regularly floods it at night for a beautiful FREE skating experience. Even though the weather was windy and cold (-11), there are little spots to stop and rest, have a hot chocolate, poutine or a beaver tail, get in out of the cold or just sit by the fire and warm up. Conditions of the ice can be checked on line before going and parking maps are available on the same website. Weekends are busy but weekdays are gloriously empty.

Perfect place to view the beginning of the Rideau Canal, how boats goes in and out from or to the Ottawa river. Nice trailbehind the parliament and a gift shop with nice souvenirs. In 2019, a groundhog was very friendly and we could feed it.