Travel Ottawa Canada

Downtown Ottawa’s main thoroughfare is the Sparks Street Mall. Sparks Street became North America’s first outdoor pedestrian mall in 1966 when automobile traffic was permanently diverted to other streets.

Ottawa’s downtown is dense and lively during the day, with federal employees creating much of the pedestrian traffic.

Due to its proximity to Quebec and the high concentration of federal employees, a substantial amount of French is spoken in Ottawa. From my unscientific estimations, I’d say about 1 in 5 conversations I overheard downtown were in French.

Ottawa also has an active Europe-esque cafe culture, with cafes and bars throughout the downtown and surrounding neighborhoods.

Alive and vibrant by day, much of Sparks Street Mall closes shop after 4 pm. According to several locals, Sparks Street used to be the location of much of Ottawa’s nightlife, but now caters almost exclusively to the daytime working crowd.

As one of North America’s premiere pedestrian cities, Ottawa is a hot spot for street food. Popular items include poutine as well as pogos (what Americans call “corn dogs”) Most trucks also carry the standards such as burgers, fries, chicken sandwiches, and Italian sausage.

Like much of Canada, Ottawa is a cultural mosaic of customs and languages from around the world.

And like much of Canada, the three most prevalent languages are English, French, and Chinese (in that order).