ByWard Market, Ottawa, Guía del visitante y qué hacer cerca

ByWard Market is a historic market district in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, and one of the oldest and largest public markets in Canada. Its blocks of produce stalls, food shops, cafés, pubs and restaurants sit in Lowertown, a short walk from Parliament Hill, which makes it a natural place to start or end a day in the capital.

The story behind it

The market's roots go back to the 1820s, when Ottawa was still called Bytown. The town took its name from Lieutenant Colonel John By, the Royal Engineers officer sent to build the Rideau Canal. As the settlement grew around the canal works, the area east of the waterway was laid out with a public market space at its heart. The market district takes its name from By himself, through the ward that carried his name.

Bytown became Ottawa in the mid-1800s, and the market stayed a part of daily life through every change. Farmers, bakers and merchants came here to trade, and the streets filled with taverns and shops to serve them. Today the old market function still runs alongside a busy dining and nightlife scene, so the district feels both historic and lived in.

What to look for

• The outdoor produce and flower stalls around the market square, where growers and vendors set up in the open air and the colours and smells change with the season.
• The mix of old brick buildings along the side streets, many of them now housing shops, cafés and restaurants behind much older facades.
• The street art and murals that appear on walls and in alleyways around the district, which reward a slower look.
• The sense of the neighbourhood's layout: a grid of lively streets only a short walk from the canal, Parliament Hill and Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica.

Tips for your visit

• Walking around the market streets is free, and you can easily spend one to two hours here, longer if you stop to eat.
• Morning is a good time for the stalls and a quieter stroll, while evenings bring a livelier crowd to the pubs and restaurants.
• Individual shops, stalls and indoor venues keep their own schedules, so check current opening hours before you plan around a particular one.
• Parliament Hill, the Rideau Canal and the National Gallery of Canada are all close by, so the market combines well with a wider day on foot.

See it on a quest

Murder Mystery: Death in the Shadows in ByWard Market, Ottawa is a good way to see the market as more than a place to browse. You reach it on foot as one stop of a longer route through the surrounding streets, the app tells you about each place as you get there, and you solve a puzzle on the spot, so you look closely at the details around you. There is no guide and no group to join, so you can start whenever you like. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group.