Winter is WonderfulWinters in Ottawa can be chilly, it’s true, but Ottawans embrace the season with enthusiasm!

This winter marks the 42nd season of organized ice skating on the frozen Rideau Canal Skateway. The Canal snakes 7.8 km (4.8 miles) through downtown Ottawa— kids skate to school, people skate to work! It’s the equivalent in size to 90 Olympic-sized ice rinks, giving it the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest naturally frozen skating rink. 

(The full Rideau Canal extends 202 km – 126 miles—to Kingston and Lake Ontario, and is Ontario’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site.)

Skating on the Rideau Canal is the centrepiece activity of Winterlude, the capital region’s annual celebration of all things winter. The event takes place February 3 to 20, 2012.

Most activities are held on the weekends—learn-to-skate clinics, a hockey tournament, a winter triathlon, children’s entertainment—but the ice sculptures, skating on the Rideau Canal and the Snowflake Kingdom children’s snow playground are offered during the week as well (except Tuesday and Wednesday for Snowflake Kingdom).

Foodies will love Taste of Winterlude, which runs from January 26 through February 20. Some of the capital’s best local restaurants create unique culinary events—wine and food pairings, chef demonstrations, walkabout winter feasts.

New in 2012: you can lace up and go for a skate right in front of Ottawa’s City Hall! The City of Ottawa teamed up with the Sens Foundation and the Hockey Canada Foundation to build a refrigerated outdoor skating facility, known as the Rink of Dreams. To be open mid-November to mid-March in subsequent seasons, the new rink offers residents and visitors a longer outdoor skating season.