The Canadian Tulip Festival is held in Ottawa every year during the first half of May. More than three million tulips decorate the Ottawa and Gatineau regions during the largest tulip festival in the world.
Admission is free to parks, including Festival Plaza, near City Hall, and Landsdowne Park, next to Queen Elizabeth Drive, where you will see colourful tulip beds. You will also find tulips at Parliament Hill, 300,000 tulips at Commissioners Park, at Dows Lake, and 75,000 tulips at Major's Hill Park (located between Parliament Hill and the ByWard Market neighbourhood).
Hotel packages
Ottawa and Gatineau hotels offer affordable Tulip Celebration packages with two nights' hotel accommodations for two adults. Packages include a Tulip Passport, with restaurant and spa discount coupons, passes for free museum admission and a Tulip Boutique gift.
May tulip getaway packages also include Rideau Centre savings and discount coupons and admission to the Bytown Museum, a special exhibit at the National Art Centre and/or a Lady Dive tour. The Lady Dive amphibious doubledecker bus or trolley offers bilingual two-hour tours of Ottawa.
Tulip Festival packages from ReservationOttawa.com include a Tulip Passport, a Lady Dive tulip shuttle bus ticket for one day and dinner at Restaurant L'Orée du Bois, located at the Gatineau Park entrance. Tulip Season packages include dinner at a selection of Ottawa restaurants, admission to one of seven Ottawa museums and a Lady Dive Ottawa tour. You can buy this package with Ottawa hotel accommodations and breakfasts, for one to three nights.
Obama cookies
Do you know where to buy Obama cookies in Ottawa, while you are at the Canadian Tulip Festival?
Go to Le Moulin de Provence, located at 55 ByWard Market Square. US President Barack Obama stopped at the bakery during his February 2009 Ottawa visit to get some maple leaf-shaped cookies, decorated with red and white icing, for his daughters.
Tulip festival events
The Canadian Tulip Festival begins with a Liberation street party on Sparks Street. It celebrates the 1945 liberation of Holland by Canadian forces.
Celebridée features bilingual presentations by famous authors, commentators and satirists. The Euro Mirror Tent, at Festival Plaza, features a cabaret with jazz and swing music.
International Pavilion highlights the cultures, music and foods of 30 countries and a Beer Garden, serving Beau's beer. The colourful tent is located at Landsdowne Park. Admission to the International Pavilion is free during the 18-day tulip festival.
Bon Appetit Ottawa, held at the Aberdeen Pavilion in Landsdowne Park, features foods and drinks prepared by Ottawa's best restaurants, wineries, breweries and caterers.
Ottawa tulip festival history
Princess Juliana of the Netherlands gave 100,000 tulip bulbs to Canadians in the fall of 1945, after World War II ended. The tulips were a thank you to Canadian troops for liberating Holland from Nazi occupation and to Ottawa citizens for welcoming the Dutch Royal Family, who took refuge in Ottawa during the war. Princess Margriet, the younger sister of Queen Beatrix, was born in Ottawa.
The gift of tulips from Dutch royalty and the Dutch Bulb Growers Association continues every year.
Ottawa tulip season
Visitors can follow a 15-kilometre Tulip Route through Ottawa and Gatineau to see tulip blossoms.
Tulips begin blooming in Ottawa in mid-April. A tulip meter on the Tulip Festival website shows the percentage of tulips in bloom.
TRAVEL INFORMATION
Ottawa Tourism: www.ottawatourism.ca
Canadian Tulip Festival: www.tulipfestival.ca
More things to see and do in Ottawa:
Ottawa Getaways
Fun Things To Do In Ottawa
Ottawa Museums Passport
Family Travel Deals in Ottawa
Winterlude in Ottawa
Maple Syrup Month in Ottawa
Remembrance Day Ceremonies in Ottawa