Winterlude
February 3-20, 2012
Welcome to our Winter Festival section | Winter Festival of Lights Niagara Falls | Montreal High Lights Festival | Festival du Voyageur | Le Carnaval de Quebec
Held for three spectacular weeks, Winterlude (Bal de neige) is an outdoor, winter rendezvous with ornate ice sculptures in the Rogers Crystal Garden, a gigantic snow playground, and the world’s largest skating rink, at almost 8km long. The rink is a section of the Rideau Canal, first opened in 1832. Every Winterlude, this strip of the canal is cleared for the Winterlude Triathlon, the Bedzzz Annual Bed Race and ice-skating demonstrations.
For those gourmands who need something other than warm cocoa to fill them up after a day at the festival, the Taste of Winterlude is waiting for you. With more than 55 restaurants in Ottawa offering special prix-fixe dinner menus, wine pairings and other culinary collaborations, you can dine out at a different spot every night for the entirety of the festival. And for dessert, take a stroll across the Ottawa River and cross into Gatineau, Quebec, to Jacques-Cartier Park where you can stroll through the snow-powdered Snowflake Kingdom. The centrepiece of the park is the collection of submissions for the annual Snow Sculpture competition. Participants compete for the grand prize with their enormous snow-sculptures, each of which must measure five metres high, three metres long and three metres deep, with a weight of approximately 40 tonnes! But watch out for the Ice Hogs – distant cousins of the ground hog who live and breathe the excitement and wonder of winter. They’re never shy to involve the “small,” parka-wrapped humans in their snow frolicking games!
Check out Cheapflights Canada’s Hotel Picks for Winterlude, located in Gatineau and Ottawa:
- Novotel (Ottawa)
- Lord Elgin Hotel (Ottawa)
- Les Suites Hotel (Ottawa)
- Chateau Cartier (Gatineau)
- Best Western (Gatineau)
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