Saturday morning water traffic - Rideau Canal beneath Ottawa’s Flora footbridge

The Rideau Canal runs between Kingston and Ottawa, going along lakes, rivers and 20 kilometres of canals cut into the soil and rock. It was built between 1812 and 1832 to create a supply route from Ottawa to the Great Lakes, away from the St. Lawrence River, based on the lessons learned from the War of 1812. Since then, it has seen many upgrades and was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007.

The waterway runs for 202 kilometres via 45 locks. In 2019, almost 62,000 boats travelled through the locks: two-thirds from Ontario, one-quarter from Quebec and the rest coming north from the United States.

If you want to travel the waterway and don’t have a boat, you can rent a houseboat or a boat. They have eight different styles of luxury houseboat to accommodate your friends or family for meals, sleeping and even showering aboard. You can book them for three to seven nights, with a week costing $1,719 to $36,89, depending on the model you choose. No boating licence or experience is needed to rent their boats.

If you are planning a trip, it takes four to six days to make it from one end to the other, depending on how busy each lock is and how long you need to wait. You could cover it in three days, but that pace does not allow you to enjoy the experience at the same level.

For a relaxed week-long venture, you can cover the entire canal and still see many of its sights. However, if you want to stop and shop or spend a day or two on walking tours, then build in a buffer to truly embrace the experience.

If you are planning to paddle the full route, the trip would take eight days with limited stops. Again, to really enjoy yourself, slow down and take it all in.