Ottawa is maybe okay if you over 60 and freezing is your thing.

The festivals are cool but generally geared towards oldsters.

Personally,I think the city is visually ugly and its people generally lack luster.

If you want to visit a Canadian city, skip Ottawa and go to Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver which I highly recommend.

Well kept pleasant city.  The do roll up the sidewalks at 5:30 p.m. though.

A dreary, freezing in the winter, muggy and bug invested in the summer, company town. (The Company is the federal government)

Do yourself a favour and give it a miss. However, if you do have to go, make sure you cross the bridge to Hull, the Quebec city on the east side of the river. It is as different from Ottawa as New Orleans is from Des Moines. It has been said that if anyone wanted to destroy Ottawa, they could blow up the bridge to Hull, wait two weeks and everyone would be dead of boredom.

nice city really nice

We only saw the Parliament Buildings, but from what I can tell, Ottawa is very nice.

what do you think of winnipeg..? i think its a dazzling little town that is filed with history and meaning... however there is alot of crime and fighting but it is much better than americas crime rate... winnipeg is frezzing.. but they are buiilding some new attractions like the mts center was just built and now they are building the FIRST human rights museum in canado :O xD lol lattteeeeerr

Ottawa is boring! There needs to be more improvement in the entertainment district. For example in the empty field behing hunt club road should be a huge complex with a playdium, huge theatre excetera like booming cities like calgary vancouver and toronto.

I liked Ottawa a lot with plenty so see and not too much hassle. Politics and history, of course, is the main draw.

Visitors to Canada often get to Toronto and Montreal but miss Ottawa and Quebec City....domage, how sad. Ottawa and Quebec Cities are gems in my oppinion...Well worth the trip.

The Ottawa Senators do in fact lick balls!

Ottawa merrits a nice day trip and is easily reached from Montreal as a side excursion. It has a nice outdoor market area, it's very clean and has a very impressive collection of museaums. Most especially the Museaum of Canadian Civilization across the river in Hull is worth the trip here. The Parliament buildings are gorgeous especially when viewed from the opposite side of the river in Hull up on the high bluffs. After a day though there isn't a whole lot to do here but it's a very pleasant and clean city.

A very nice city!Senators SUCK!!

The most terrible city that exists in Canada. People here have arrogant and despicable attitudes. To believe that this city actually is the`''Capital of Canada'' would even push me to move to Quebec and support seperatism. As a native maritimer, I cannot believe how dead this city is compared to the Atlantic provinces. No nightlife, no feasible attractions, no beaches... nothing... It's the biggest wasteland I've ever encountered. After living here for 5 long years, I do not blame Quebec wanting to separate from this poor excuse of a country. As for the Maritimes and the West, they should annex themselves to the U.S.A. After all, the Western provinces do not need Ottawa to guide them through their finances. Ottawa and the rest of Ontario would all do us a favour by living within their own ego-centric world and leaving the rest us alone.

I lived here all my life. It's OK. You could likely cover all the decent sights in a few days , like the Rideau Canal and the Parliament buildings. If you like museums, theres a brand new war museum that was just built, although I haven't been. There's a few other tourity places too, like the, Civiization Museum (actuall in Hull, Quebec), the Art gallery and the Mint. The Byward market is a nice place to go and eat. There are lots of street musicians to listen too (good ones too, not just some drunk with a harmonica) If you're into whitewater kyaking or rafting, the Ottawa River has some good rapids. It can get pretty boring living here though. Canada Day (Jul 1) is an immense party, where hundreds of thousands of people crowd downtown and go crazy. I' generally don't even attend that anymore, but it's a big party. If you come here, definately come during summertime. Ottawa is a desolate, frozen wasteland in the winter and all the events happen in the summertime anyways.

The nice thing about Ottawa is the Ottawa River. Largly ignored by the people of the city, the Ottawa is majestic and is one of the great rivers of North America. Almost primordial in it's appearance, it spills over two cataracs as it makes it journey to the St. Lawrence. Ottawa has treated it's namesake river with total indifference and disregard, and if the river were an entity, I am sure it feels the same way about it's namesake city. There is also the Rideau River and canal. Interesting, but lack the majesty of the Ottawa. As for the city - it has got to be one of the most boring Western Capitals there is, with some of the most tedious boring people I have ever come across.

Ottawa is better than it was 20 years ago. Decent night life and Barrymores is not to be missed. Hull was a lot wilder when I was in school. Beautiful parliament buildings and the Rideau canal is nice too...you can see businessman skating to work.

Ottawa is a great place. Once you get to know it, it's much better than other Ontario cities. Decent restaurants, decent bars, it's bilingual and has an overall good entertainment scene. Very pretty for a city of that size. I find it a bit boring but Canada is a boring place. I noticed that cnadians love to call it that, but forget to mention that places Winnipeg or Clagary are cathedrals of boredom. Hell, Toronto is the capital of boredom. But Montreal rocks, i'd go back there anytime.

The cherry on top of a great country.

agr eat and beautiful city

one of the most lovely and prettiest cities in the world, also the capital of canada :)

a really nice little city!