Okay, so you know you want to celebrate Canada’s birthday in Canada’s capital. Eventually, you have to choose exactly what to do. It’s not an easy decision, but we’ve tried to help by summarizing the activities right here.

Go downtown

Downtown Ottawa will be full of fun from morning until night. There is plenty to see and admission is free for all of it:

Changing of the Guard

Concerts at Parliament Hill, Major’s Hill Park and the Canadian Museum of History

Free galleries at City Hall

The ByWard Market

Fireworks

Plus… admission is free at these museums on Canada Day:

National Gallery of Canada

Canadian Museum of Nature

Canadian War Museum

Canadian Museum of History

Your best strategy to get to and from downtown Ottawa on July 1 is with OC Transpo.

Stay in your community

Want to stay closer to home? Look for notices, social media and web postings by your local community group to find information about the party nearest you. Most of the action is on July 1, but some events are go for the entire weekend. Here is what we know about so far:

Step back in time

City museums will be open for regular programming on Canada Day: Nepean Museum, Fairfield House and Cumberland Heritage Village Museum, Pinhey’s Point Historic Site and Billings Estate National Historic Site.

Admission is also free to the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology, and the Diefenbunker, Canada’s Cold War Museum.

Take in a ball game

It’s Canada Day at RCGT Field as the Ottawa Champions begin a home stand against Japan.

Go to the beach

Lifeguards will be on duty at Ottawa’s supervised beaches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from noon to 7 pm.

Britannia Beach

Mooney’s Bay Beach

Westboro Beach

Mayor’s Canada Day Breakfast for Seniors

Sadly, tickets to this annual event have been sold out for weeks. In fact, the annual seniors event at Lansdowne’s Aberdeen Pavilion sells out every year. If you missed out this year, mark your calendars for 2020!