The newly renovated and expanded Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (IATA: YOW) is Ottawa's main airport with regular arrivals and departures from most major Canadian and many American cities. Services outside North America, however, are limited to a daily flight to London Heathrow and a daily flight to Frankfurt with Air Canada. Air France, KLM, and Swiss International Airlines provide shuttle bus service between Ottawa and Montreal that facilitate connections with their flights operated from Trudeau International Airport. This trip takes about two hours. Via Rail also operates a shuttle bus from the Dorval train station to nearby Trudeau International Airport. This free shuttle service allows one to travel from Ottawa to Dorval (a suburb of Montreal) by rail, and then transfer directly to the airport on a dedicated on-demand bus.
Macdonald-Cartier is easily reached by public transit or taxi and most of the major car rental agencies have a presence at the airport terminal in the parking garage. A taxi to downtown hotels should cost between $20. and $30., while a taxi to nearby hotels should not cost more than $10.. YOW Airporter operates a mini-bus shuttle to most downtown hotels for $14 one-way and $24 return.
To reach downtown via public transit, take the #97 bus (the only bus at the airport) and get out at the Mackenzie King transitway stop (14 stops away) at the Rideau Centre shopping mall. If you take this route before 6:00AM, you will likely follow the more meandering early morning route but will still get to Mackenzie King. To get to the train station, you still take the #97 bus but get out at Hurdman station (10 stops away) and transfer to the #95 eastbound bus to the next stop which is the train station. The bus fare is $3.25 ($2.60 with pre-purchased tickets) which gives you 1.5 hours of unlimited bus travel or $7.50 for an all-day pass. Exact change is required, Remember to ask the bus driver for a transfer even if you do not intend on transferring to another bus--OC Transpo security personnel may get on the bus at any given stop and ask passengers for proof of payment. You will be required to show your transfer or else you will be fined. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it can be embarrassing and expensive.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Ottawa
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Ottawa - updated May 2024
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Ottawa Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
