A 24 Hour Guide to Outaouais: Exploring Québec’s Food, Culture and Wellness from Gatineau to Chelsea
Outaouais is the part of our Canada itinerary that made us slow down. After the energy of Toronto and the capital-city feel of Ottawa, this Québec region brought the perfect balance: peaceful river views, fascinating history, freshly baked bagels, locally distilled gin, charming village life, scenic forest drives, French-inspired cuisine and a spa evening that felt like a complete reset. It was the kind of place where the pace naturally shifted, encouraging us to linger a little longer and enjoy the quieter moments.
It is also a reminder that a trip to Canada isn’t all about its big cities. With the right route, you can seamlessly weave in nature, wellness and smaller communities without feeling like you're venturing too far off the beaten track. Outaouais offers the best of both worlds – easy to reach, full of character and the perfect place to recharge before continuing on to your next destination.
This guide was created with Tourisme Outaouais and Air Transat (who have direct flights to Ottawa); designed to ensure that you get the very most out of this beautiful region.
Start in Gatineau
We began our journey by taking an aqua taxi with ‘Water Taxi, eh?’ from Ottawa Locks to the Canadian Museum of History. It was a memorable way to cross into Québec, with panoramic views of both sides of the river.
Photography by Pippa Moyle, using a Sony RX100 VII from MPB
The Canadian Museum of History
The Canadian Museum of History is a strong cultural starting point. Housed in a riverfront building designed by Indigenous architect Douglas Cardinal, it introduces visitors to thousands of years of social and human history, including Indigenous cultures, stories and achievements. It gives the region context before the itinerary shifts towards nature and into wellness.
It’s an incredible museum, where even the building and grounds are enriched in stories and meaning; making it an architect's ideal excursion too. The tour guide spoke passionately about the many elements that made this building a masterpiece, and we’d strongly recommend booking a tour to experience that infectious enthusiasm too.
You can spend all day here exploring the many exhibits, events and collections. But if like us you only have a few hours, we’d recommend the Grand Hall to explore Northwest Indigenous cultures through monumental poles and important works of art. Followed closely by the Canadian History Hall and the First Peoples Hall.
Photography by Pippa Moyle, using a Sony RX100 VII from MPB
Lunch at Bobino Bagel
After the museum, Bobino Bagel is an easy lunch stop situated opposite. It brings colour, coffee, fresh bagels and a casual local feel. They bake their bagels in the store with a range of choices including sesame, cinnamon raisin, blueberry, garlic and plain.
They also serve soup for those who are gluten free, as the bagels aren’t yet suitable. Every bagel comes with its own sliced pickle, which they also sell in store amongst other local producers. It was a great place to reset before the next leg of our journey into Chelsea village.
Drive to Chelsea and check into Lofts du Village
From Gatineau, Chloe from Tourisme Outaouais drove us 15 minutes to the village of Chelsea, a municipality north of Gatineau and a popular place to stay for those wanting a balance of city exploration and escaping into nature.
It’s close to Gatineau Park and has a compact village feel, making it easy to move between tastings, accommodation, food and the Nordik Spa; all of which we went on to enjoy.
We stayed at Lofts du Village, a stunning collection of uniquely designed lofts with everything you need to escape into nature with optimum comfort. It’s in the very heart of Chelsea and moments from the entrance to Gatineau Park, which we’ve crowned one of the best places we stayed during our trip to Canada.
Explore Square Old Chelsea and do a distillery tasting
The Square Old Chelsea is home to lots of small businesses and restaurants: Chelsea Pub, Biscotti & Cie, Lofts du Village, La Maison Bleue, La Petite Grocerie, Distillerie du Square, La Cocktailerie, and La Terrasse du Square. They also often host local markets that attract visitors from across the county; when we were there, the Square was hosting a ‘thrift and sip’ – second hand clothes shopping with a choice of many great drinks from local vendors.
Distillerie du Square and their cocktail bar, the Cocktailerie, is a lovely afternoon stop, with local, nature-inspired spirits and a chance to learn more about the region through flavour. We did their popular tour and tasting session, buying a bottle of ‘Picbois’ and regretting not buying Bella Ciao (their version of an Aperol Spritz). Although we did see the latter at numerous bars across Montréal in the final stop of our Canada girls trip.
Dinner and spa time
Dinner at L'Oree du Bois brings the more classic, French-inspired side of Québec into the itinerary. Expect a rustic setting, local ingredients and a sense of occasion without having to travel far from Chelsea. We loved walking to L’Oree du Bois from Lofts du Village through the woodland and past a rushing river, but it’s also accessible via car or taxi with a car park outside the entrance. It was one of our favourite meals of the entire trip.
After dinner, we went to Nordik Spa Village Chelsea; the largest spa in North America and one of the most famous reasons why people know about Outaouais. The spa sits on the edge of Gatineau Park and is designed for thermal relaxation. Bring swimwear and sandals, and treat the evening as the moment where the trip stops being about movement and starts being about stillness.
The spa is made up of multiple pools of different temperatures, rooms with headphones to help you relax, saunas, body scrubs, cold plunges, fires to relax around and a delicious restaurant. Our favourite experience was Kalla; a saltwater pool that allows you to lie back and weightlessly float into the ultimate relaxation. You do need to pay a little extra to experience it, but it’s worth every penny.
With a combination of a comfortable bed, delicious dinner and the spa, it’s safe to say that we slept very well that night.
Morning in Gatineau Park
The next morning, we enjoyed a leisurely delicious breakfast at Biscotti & Cie, with the “best breakfast” being awarded to Chloe’s choice of french toast with pistachio, white chocolate and raspberry.
We then walked for a few minutes to Nomades du Parc, where we hired electric bikes for an unforgettable ride around Gatineau Park. Gatineau Park offers forest, lakes, scenic routes and viewpoints, and an e-bike experience is a brilliant way to see more without making the day feel too intense.
Nomades du Parc are experts in Gatineau Park and can recommend lots of different routes based on what you’d like to see as well as your cycling ability. We travelled to Pink Lake and the Mackenzie King Estate with Lac Kingsmere. The bikes were really easy to ride and the electric element made it really easy to get up those hills.
Two more idyllic spots to travel to is the Champlain Lookout, known for impressive views over the Ottawa River, and Lac Meech, which is a popular swimming spot. Whilst we didn’t have time to get over there, it’s certainly on our list for when we return to this beautiful part of the world one day.
Lunch before Montréal
Our final stop of our 24 hours in Outaouais was lunch at Chelsea Pub; where we refuelled with a Bella Ciao, Poutine and a conversation with Chloe about how we really didn’t want to leave.
She then kindly drove us back to Ottawa station for the train to Montréal with VIA Rail, where we proceeded to discuss what a beautiful escape that was and how much we love this country.
This article was created in partnership with Air Transat, Bonjour Quebec and Tourisme Outaouais as part of the City Girl Guide to Canada.
