Day Trips from Ottawa

One of the best things about Ottawa's location is how quickly you can be somewhere completely different. Within an hour, you are in the Gatineau Hills, the Rideau Lakes, or one of a handful of small Ontario towns that have more character per block than most cities manage in an entire district. Within ninety minutes, you are deep into Lanark County, or heading east toward the St. Lawrence, or crossing into rural Quebec where the landscape opens up and the pace slows down in a way that feels more like a different country than a different province.

The small towns are the main draw for a lot of day trippers, and they should be. Almonte, about forty minutes west of Ottawa, is the one most people have heard of. It has a main street with actual independent shops, a textile museum, a waterfall right in the centre of town, and a few good places to eat. It is a genuinely pleasant place to spend half a day. Perth, a bit further on, has a similar appeal but with a more laid-back feel and a beautiful riverside setting along the Tay. Merrickville, south on the Rideau Canal, is smaller still, but the combination of the locks, the galleries and the village itself makes it one of the most picturesque stops in Eastern Ontario.

Scenic drives are another strong option, especially in fall. The Gatineau Hills route, starting from the Champlain Lookout and winding through Chelsea and Wakefield, is the best-known drive in the region for good reason. The colour peaks in late September to early October, and on a clear day the views from the lookouts are some of the best in the Ottawa Valley. Further afield, the Thousand Islands Parkway east of Brockville offers a completely different kind of scenery, all river and rock and small islands dotting the St. Lawrence.

For families, the calculus is a bit different. You need destinations that hold a kid's interest, reasonable drive times, and the ability to stop and stretch without it turning into a detour. Gatineau Park works well for this because it is close, has beaches in summer and short trails year-round, and you can easily combine it with a stop in Chelsea for ice cream or lunch. The Diefenbunker in Carp, about thirty minutes from downtown, is a Cold War bunker turned museum that older kids find fascinating. Parc Omega near Montebello lets you drive through animal enclosures and see elk, bison and black bears from the car, which is hard to beat for keeping younger kids engaged.

What we try to do with these guides is give you a realistic sense of what each trip involves. Drive times, what to do once you arrive, where to eat, and whether the trip is actually worth the effort on a given day. Some of these places are best in a specific season. Some are underwhelming on a weekday. And a few are popular enough on weekends that the experience suffers. We will tell you all of that upfront, so you can plan accordingly.

Timing and season matter more than people think for day trips. The small towns are at their best in fall when the colour is out and the shops lean into the season, but they can feel sleepy on a January Tuesday. Scenic drives peak in late September and early October, and on a clear weekday you will have the lookouts nearly to yourself. Summer weekends bring crowds to the most popular stops, so if you have weekday flexibility, use it. Winter day trips are fewer but not nonexistent. Wakefield, with its covered bridge and a few good restaurants, is a solid cold-weather outing, and the drive through the hills is pretty even without the leaves.

If you are looking for a starting point, the small town escapes guide is the most popular, and for good reason. But if you have already done the obvious towns, the scenic drives guide will push you in directions you might not have considered.