Outaouais
Cities
Understand
Outaouais in French and Ottawa in English are both from the same Indian word. One wonders what it sounded like.
Talk
You will find in the Outaouais region a really bilingual population. You can easily get understood in French or English in most places, being so close to Ontario.
Get in
By car
If you come from Montreal, you are likely to take either Autoroute 50 (which bypasses Route 148 on the Québec side of the Ottawa river) or Trans-Canada Highway 417 on the Ontario side.
Get around
By car
Driving in Gatineau and Ottawa is fairly simple. Finding a parking spot is not a big problem maybe except downtown Hull and even so... it is nothing compared to Montreal.
By bus
- STO - Société de Transport de l'Outaouais - This is the main one in Gatineau. All bus routes go through Ottawa. - http://www.sto.ca
- OC-Transpo - This is the one from Ottawa. Some bus routes are going to Gatineau. - http://www.octranspo.com
- Greyhound - If you want to get to more remote areas like Maniwaki, Papineauville, etc. and you don't have a car, you might be able to get there by bus.
By boat
You can sail on the Ottawa and the Gatineau rivers and the Rideau canal.
By bike
There are many bike paths in the region, especially in Gatineau.
See
- Grands feux du casino - Fireworks at the Lac Leaky Casino.
- Olympiques de Gatineau - The local hockey team, on the Ligue de Hockey Junior-Majeur du Québec.
- Maison de la culture, Gatineau - Musicians, signers and humourists.
Do
- Ski at Mont Ste. Marie, Camp Fortune, Edelwisse, Mont Cascades, or Ski Vorlage
- Bungee jump at the Great Canadian Bungee - highest bungee jump in the Americas
- Golf
- Mont Cascades water park
- Camping, and beach tourism at the regions numerous lakes.
- White water river trips. The Ottawa River and smaller nearby rivers Noire, Coulonge, and Dumoine.