Gatineau

Gatineau is a city in the Outaouais region of Quebec, on the north shore of the Ottawa River, across from Canada's capital, Ottawa. It is part of the official National Capital Region which constitutes the fourth largest urban area in the country, after Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. With 291,041 inhabitants in 2021, it is the largest city in the administrative region of Outaouais. Gatineau straddles the Gatineau River, a tributary of the Ottawa River.

Understand
Gatineau (municipality) is a city resulting from the amalgamation of the older cities of Gatineau, Hull, Aylmer, Masson-Angers and Buckingham. The old city names are still used as the sector names of the amalgamated Gatineau. The majority of Hullois and Gatinois are francophones, and most are bilingual.

Hull (population 65,000) is the original centre of the city, the most densely-populated (but not most populous) area in the Outaouais region and the closest to Ottawa. On the west bank of the Gatineau River and north of the Ottawa (Outaouais) River, Hull is directly opposite Parliament Hill, Lowertown Ottawa and the Byward Market.

Hull was founded 1800 by Philemon Wright as a lumber camp on the Ottawa River and therefore predates Ottawa, although the town's former principal industry of manufacturing matchsticks led to a major fire; little or nothing from the 1800s remains in Hull today. The downtown waterfront was once heavily industrialized by Scott and Eddy, the two main paper makers, and the Ottawa river was used to generate hydroelectric power. The city's largest employer is the federal government with 20,000 civil servants working in Hull and thousands more who commute to Ontario daily.

Aylmer is a small-town suburb directly west of Hull. Gatineau (secteur), the bedroom community for which the amalgamated municipality was named, is to the east of the Gatineau River. Further downriver is Buckingham, a small rural village. Head further afield and one quickly finds open farmland and the occasional maple sugar shack, a seasonal tradition where trees are tapped and sap distilled to produce Québec's famous maple syrup.

Head north from Hull and one quickly arrives in Gatineau Park; the Camp Fortune and Edelweiss ski areas are also north of the city, near Chelsea and Wakefield respectively.

Get in
Gatineau is just across the river from Ottawa, which is on the Trans-Canada Highway and offers rail connections to Toronto-Kingston and Montréal. An autoroute connects Gatineau directly to Montréal (A-50).

By bus

 * From Ottawa by city bus:

By plane

 * Air connections are also available in Ottawa locally and Montréal (200 km distant)  with direct connections to intercity passenger rail at Montréal-Dorval airport.
 * Air connections are also available in Ottawa locally and Montréal (200 km distant)  with direct connections to intercity passenger rail at Montréal-Dorval airport.

By bus
Gatineau's transit system is the. It operates service to Ottawa and a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line, Rapibus. Single ride is $4.50.

By bike

 * There is an extensive network of bike paths throughout the area as well as in the National parks. Enjoy the fresh air and natural beauty while exercising. Long time advocacy group Bike Ottawa (since 1984) maintains an extensive website with a set of interactive bicycle route maps that rate all bicycle routes through Gatineau and Ottawa on a 1-4 scale, with 1 being child-friendly and 4 being very stressful. They also make available information on infrastructure progress. Contact them also with questions about routes, concerns and popular destinations. Although it is a volunteer-run organisation, they are usually fairly fast in responding. #ottbike is the commonly used hashtag on social media.

See

 * Grand Hall, Level 1. The world's largest collection of totem poles, quite an amazing sight when all assembled together.
 * Canada Hall, Level 3. A very well done and surprisingly interesting presentation of Canadian history, with countless life-sized walk-through exhibits and recreations of villages, towns and cities at different stages.
 * Canada Hall, Level 3. A very well done and surprisingly interesting presentation of Canadian history, with countless life-sized walk-through exhibits and recreations of villages, towns and cities at different stages.



Festivals
Gatineau shares several activities and festivals with the capital, Ottawa. These include the Ottawa Bluesfest and the Winterlude (Bal de Neige) winter festival. In 2001, les jeux de la Francophonie were hosted jointly by Ottawa and Hull.



Speciality and seasonal
The érablière, cabane à sucre or maple sugar shack is a seasonal tradition across a wide region extending from southeastern Ontario to Québec's Eastern Townships. With rare exception, these are found in the countryside near tiny rural villages. Local maple syrup is produced seasonally; the sap begins to flow early during the spring thaw and is collected for distillation. This places the start of the season at the mercy of the elements, although there is usually fresh syrup to be had in late March or early April - usually before the last of the snow is gone. Maple sugar shacks are typically large rural communal dining halls in which diners fill up on a dietician's nightmare of traditional high-calorie lumberjack food, cost starts around $20/person but varies as some venues offer entertainment, "tire sur neige" (maple toffee on snow) or sled rides. Once the season ends, many of these venues close or are used for other agritourism activity - an open field often becomes a summer campground.



Drink
Québec has traditionally had less restrictive liquor laws than nearby Ontario: minimum drinking age is 18, beer and wine are available in corner stores and the rules on opening hours for bars are less restrictive. The Promenade du Portage area in the Hull sector city centre is known to attract rowdy, drunken patrons from across the Ottawa River.



Go next

 * Gatineau Park is a 10-minute drive north from downtown Hull, near Chelsea.
 * Ottawa, Canada's Capital, is directly across the Ottawa River.
 * Wakefield is a small, picturesque, artist village about a 25-minute drive north on highway 5.