Secret Ottawa: The Unique Guidebook to Ottawa's Hidden Sites, Sounds, & Tastes

by Laura Byrne Paquet

Takes you behind the scenes of the official tourist sites—Parliament Hill, the Rideau Canal, the National Gallery of Canada—and into the places only locals know. From restaurants where Cabinet ministers do lunch to Canada’s only Cordon Bleu cooking school, from Elvis Lives Lane to a bog carpeted with Arctic wildflowers, and from outlet shops for lingerie to dim wine cellars awash in live jazz, this guidebook shows you how to dig under the government-approved surface to find the city other tourists—and many residents—miss.

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

About the author

Laura’s first encounter with the written word was inauspicious: her birth announcement appeared in the classified section of her hometown newspaper under the heading “Livestock for Sale.” Despite that, she became a writer. Focusing on soft adventure, history, quirky attractions and intriguing people, she’s written for more than 80 publications and websites in Canada and elsewhere. She has spoken about travel and other topics on TVOntario, CBC Radio’s “Cross-Country Checkup” and “All in a Day,” “CTV Morning Live” and other programs. Laura has also written or co-authored 14 books, including Ottawa Road Trips: Your 100-km Getaway Guide. She blogs about travel in Eastern Ontario, West Quebec and upstate New York at OttawaRoadTrips.com, which received the Travel Media Association of Canada’s award for Best Travel Blog in 2021.

Reviews

[Mark Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun guidebook to off the path places and sights.