$15
/person
Scheduled monthly
Scheduled tours
This is your chance to experience one of our tours at an excellent price.
Expert guides, personalized and local content, thought-provoking material.
Packages
Choose from our packages below. We offer one large monthly tour for each of our walks, as well as small private tours upon request. We also customize for many occasions (conferences, school trips, professional retreats), so do get in touch if you have something special in mind.
Explore Ottawa Through a Different Perspective
Our guided walking tours are designed to offer more than just a sightseeing experience. Discover Ottawa’s fascinating history, unique neighbourhoods, hidden stories and memorable landmarks while exploring the city on foot with a knowledgeable local guide. Each tour combines interesting facts with engaging stories, giving visitors a deeper understanding of the people and events that have helped shape Canada’s capital.
Whether you are visiting Ottawa for the first time or have lived here for years, our walks can reveal something new. We welcome individuals, families, groups and organizations looking for an enjoyable and informative way to experience the city.
Private and Customized Ottawa Tours
Looking for something tailored to your group? Our private tours can be adapted to your interests, schedule and occasion. From educational school outings and corporate events to conferences, team activities and professional retreats, we can create a walking experience that fits your needs.
Get in touch with Ottawa Detours to discuss your ideas and discover how we can help you experience Ottawa in a memorable way. Come walk with us and uncover the stories that make the city unique.
Why Ottawa (de)tours?
There really isn't anything like our company around Canada. For the past 5 years, we've tirelessly crafted and perfected a model that is as thoughtful as it is fun. Our experts lead you on a thematic tour of Ottawa that goes off the beaten path, exploring areas like immigration and citizenship, public space, surveillance, architecture, or the social lives of statues, among others.
"Public" space: are you sure you belong?
They are often tucked away underground and on rooftops, behind unmarked doors or hidden in plain sight. Join us as we explore a range of ‘pseudo-public spaces’ and experience how they can make us feel welcome or uncomfortable.
Food waste: how do you tr(eat) your food?
Just us as we root through the complicated attitudes, perceptions, and actions making up our food waste ecosystem.
What's (not) so brutal about brutalism?
For the love of concrete - the often unappreciated legacy of the grand and heroic buildings, landscapes, and urban plans that transformed post-war Ottawa.
Citizenship: right, privilege, curse?
Who gets to be a citizen? Come discover the contentious and often negotiated history of Canadian citizenship.
Monthly dates don't work for you, or want a more intimate walking tour experience?
Can city and farm coexist?
Explore scientific agriculture at the Central Experimental Farm and see the intricate relationship with Ottawa and Canada.
Are statues stuck in time?
Join us as we explore how Canadian confederation (and colonialism) have shaped Ottawa's built environment.
Do you feel watched?
What does surveillance mean to you? Does it evoke Snowden, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, or google and facebook listening in on your conversations?
Elgin Street - Ottawa's Champs-Élysées?
Join us as we explore how nationalist narratives get created and are mixed with memory, nostalgia, and love of country.
Excited we exist? Join one of our tours today!
"What a lovely tour - I have been living here for 20 years and didn't stop to appreciate the mixed architecture found within this lovely city. I have to say I will never look at Ottawa in the same way - which is a good thing. Definitely recommend this to anyone. Certainly not a typical tour that can be appreciated by visitors and permanent residents alike."
Tripadvisor review
2016
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