Anyone hoping to be in Ottawa over Canada Day weekend is quickly running out of options when it comes to places to stay.
The celebrations surrounding the 150th year since Confederation are taking place across the country, but the nation’s capital is the epicenter of the party.
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Ottawa will be hosting a series of eye-popping fireworks displays, concerts and other special events to mark the occasion, and hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend.
As a result, the city’s hotels have been booked solid for months, and the same goes for most inns, hostels and B&Bs.
In the absence of traditional accommodation options, here are a few back-up plans worth considering. The closer we get to the July 1 weekend, the trickier it will get to find a place to lay your head — so don’t procrastinate!
Urban camping
In anticipation of the huge influx of visitors, the city of Ottawa had planned to transform about a dozen public spaces into pop-up urban campgrounds. There were to be hundreds of spaces for tents and even full RVs.
Earlier this week, however, the city announced that it was reducing the total number of camping zones (from 11 to five) after only 79 individual registrations were received.
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City officials estimated that by the closing date of June 15, only 100 registrations would come in, which would only fill up about 14 per cent of the available spots.
As July 1 approaches, however, the city acknowledged that it might need to bump the number of sites back up if a lot of last-minute visitors are suddenly trying to find a place to pitch a tent.
Rental websites
Websites like Airbnb and Vacation Rental by Owner (VRBO) still have a handful of listings for Canada Day weekend, and new ones are popping up on a semi-regular basis.
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But a word of warning: even the most basic one-bedroom apartment won’t come cheap. Local owners are taking advantage of the weekend’s popularity, and prices per night are into the hundreds of dollars.
“The City does not license short-term rentals, such as Airbnb, but advises visitors to use reliable providers, check for security measures on their websites, and be diligent in carefully screening potential rentals,” said city spokesperson Nadège Adam.
Crossing the river
Visitors often forget that there’s a whole other city, Gatineau, right on the other side of the Ottawa River.
While a quick online search reveals that its hotels are also booked up, visitors should remember to include Gatineau when they search for short-term rentals by owner and other alternative accommodations. You might get lucky.
A free shuttle service over the river will be available on Canada Day between the National Art Gallery and Jacques-Cartier Park. Regular bus service will also be operating.
Rural options
This is more challenging to pull off, especially given the scarcity of parking in the downtown core over Canada Day weekend. But if you have a vehicle and are willing to travel up to an hour to and from Parliament Hill, there are towns and villages scattered all across the countryside with room at the inn.
From Perth (one hour by car) to Arnprior (45 minutes) to Wakefield (30 minutes north into Quebec), you might still find rentals, the occasional campsite or perhaps even hotel accommodation if you call and check for last-minute cancellations.
Visitors who go this route should avoid driving right into the downtown core on Canada Day weekend, however. Instead, the city is encouraging people to take advantage of the thousands of parking spaces outside the centre of town, then take public transit toward Parliament Hill and back out again.
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OC Transpo is offering free trips into the core on Canada Day itself, as well as free access to its numerous park-and-ride lots.
Thousands more spots can be snatched up at the city’s malls, including Bayshore, Billings Bridge, Carlingwood, Place d’Orléans and South Keys, as well as Algonquin College, Carleton University and at Canada Post’s centre on Riverside Drive.
What not to do
The usual warnings are being given by the city ahead of the busy Canada Day weekend, with visitors being encouraged to book through reputable websites and carefully screen private rental properties before putting down a deposit.
Squatting in abandoned buildings or in public parks is a major no-no. If you’re planning to bring your vehicle, camper van or RV into the city, by-law enforcement officers will be out making sure they aren’t parked or set up in illegal or unsafe areas.
Anyone unsure about where they can put their vehicle is being told to double-check online or by calling the city’s 311 service.
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