Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa, Canada

Canadian Tulip Festival

Date: in May (Ref: May 13-23 in 2022)
Location: in Ottawa
Tulip sites: in Commissioner's Park (main site), at the Rideau Canal etc.

We can see more than a million tulips.
The highest concentration of tulips is in Commissioner's Park. There are 300,000 tulips there. There are more than a dozen varieties and many colors of tulips such as yellow, white, pink, orange, red, mix of yellow & red etc..

Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa

 

 

Episode of Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa

Canadian Tulip Festival is held in Ottawa where is the capital city of Canada.
Ottawa is the city which has a Parliament of Canada. Tulips Festival is held at various sites such as Commissioner's Park beside Dow's Lake and the Rideau Canal which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
When Tomo & Chouchou went to the Tulip Festival in Ottawa, it was cloudy. However very colorful tulips were enough bright and they brought a joy to us.
Ottawa is very organized and beautiful city. Parks are also beautiful. So the tulips were very matching to the city of Ottawa.
There was a big tent where we could take a rest at Commissioner's Park. We could have lunch inside the tent. There were cafe/bar and grill so we could eat and drink at Commissioner's Park.
Music was put on all the day so we could also enjoy many genres of music there.
We could easily spend half a day at Canadian Tulip Festival.
Canadian Tulip Festival was a good opportunity to enjoy spring in the capital of Canada.

information

Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa 

Commissioners Park: 9am-7pm
※9am-10pm on Fridays and Saturdays for events, arts, café, bar etc.

In the evening on Fridays & Saturdays, we can enjoy the concert at Commissioner's Park and firework over Dow's Lake. We can enjoy the tulips, of course, and also the wireworks and Canadian music through Canadian Tulip Festival.

Shuttle "Tulip Express"
It runs every 30 minutes only during the festival
from downtown to Commissioner's Park at Dow's Lake
Service: 9am - 6pm, 9am - 11pm on Fridays & Saturdays
Cost: $2 each way

ATTENTION!!

Above information was as of 2015. During COVID-19, services were changed. Please check updated information from official website.
Canadian Tulip Festival in 2022 is scheduled from 13 May to 23 May.

Relating article 

* Winterlude & Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa  

 

Winterlude & Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa, Canada

<Winterlude>

the Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa.

It's designated as National Historic Site of Canada &

 a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ice sculpture in Winterlude

Episode of Winterlude

Tomo&Chouchou visited some winter festivals in Quebec, Canada such as Quebec Winter Carnival and Montreal Snow Festival. We also visited winter festival in Ottawa called "Winterlude".

There were many activities in Winterlude. We especially liked the Rideau Canal Skateway.
The Rideau Canal is the landmark of Ottawa. It's designated as National Historic Site of Canada and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Rideau Canal naturally freezes in winter and people can enjoy ice-skating.

The rideau Canal skateway is the largest natural ice skating rink in the world. 
And plus, it's free to stake!
If we don't have our own skates, we can rent them there. We can also rent a sleigh and push it for the people who cannot skate by themselves. In our case, we rent skates there. 
The Rideau Canal Skateway was very long. So there were several huts and snak stations at the several spots along the canal. We can buy and drink a cup of hot chocolate if we feel cold or if we want to take a rest while skating. The Rideau Canal Skateway was long. And of course, it was very cold. So we drank hot chocolate to feel warm. It was a very nice moment.

After enjoying ice-skating, we looked around other places. Next interesting event of Winterlude for us was the ice carving! Many ice sculptures were displayed during the event. Ice sculptures were very beautiful.  We really enjoyed the ice art.

We think the Rideau Canal Skateway is the best activity to enjoy in Ottawa winter festival. We were very satisfied with the fact that we skated in the UNESCO world heritage site. We also appreciated the natural ice skate rink. We really enjoyed the nature and winter activities!

Tomo&Chouchou's advice for Rideau Canal Skateway

Normally we can skate at the Rideau Canal Skateway until the end of February.
But it's a natural skating rink so it will depend on the weather. Please check the ice condition before going.



Winterlude
Event Date: beginning of February – mid-February
Location:
The festival takes place at a few different sites in the city of Ottawa
- Rideau Canal Skateway
- Crystal Garden in Confederation Park
- Snowflake Kingdom in Jacques-Cartier Park (Gatineau) : the world's biggest snow playground 

You can see ice sculptures and skate on the Rideau Canal on both weekdays and weekends.

Most other activities (refer below) are held on the weekends.
- learn to skate clinics
- a hockey tournament
- a winter triathlon
- children's entertainment

- Annual Accora Village Bed Race
- Ice Dragon Boat Festival 

The Rideau Canal Skateway
open daily from beginning of January until beginning of March (it depends on the weather)
stretching 7.8km from downtown next to the National Arts Centre to Dows Lake (Pavillon)

You can rent skates or sleighs around the National Arts Centre and Dow's Lake Pavillon.

To know the ice condition, visit below website.
http://rcs.ncc-ccn.ca/#conditions



Relating articles

* Montreal Snow Festival

* Quebec Winter Carnival