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I'll give this one to Sacramento, simply because of the weather (Ottawa is COLD!), and it's somewhat cheaper. UC Davis beats University of Ottawa, too. But I actually like Ottawa, as a city, better. Simply more interesting, more vibrant, better public transportation, and better scenery. Ice skating on the Rideau Canal > boating on the American River.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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I went to Ottawa in the fall during great weather and rented an AirBnb for a few nights. Its core around Parliament has charm. I like the Byward Market area, good walking city and lots of interesting museums. It's a medium size city and there are actually farms and rural parts within the city limits. Gatineau Park across the river in the fall was amazing, lots of beautiful lakes up there. It has enough to do to make a weekend out of it, and some museums that I haven't seen that I might back for. It's only two hours to Montreal and about four from Toronto.
I don't know in what way I'd compare Sacramento to Ottawa, two different animals. I'm not very familiar with Sac, honestly have only passed through on I-5. Ottawa isn't a hugely compelling national capital outside of the sphere of Canada, but I never thought of Sacramento being all the impressionable as a city. It kinda has that government town distinction. It's in a sweet spot location wise with easy access to Tahoe and the Bay area.
I've been to both and think they both underperform.
Sacramento's Old Town is immensely tiny and outside of that and the State Capitol, I was having a rough time filling a day of sightseeing. The Downtown is very clean and has some B-list attractions, but nothing to keep you too distracted. There was a buzz around town though and a big protest on the State Capitol steps. The State Capitol, I should add, is stunning and definitely Top Ten.
Ottawa has more sights. I stayed at the Prison Hostel, saw Parliament Hill and the Notre Dame Basilica and the Byward Market area. It has nicer architecture and more museums. But my god was it quiet and dull. Other than the tourists all over Parliament Hill, it was oddly quiet. It's also a pretty ugly city. You could tell it had good urban bones until the 70s when the zoning ran amok. Now you have stunning architecture surrounded by brutalism, and commie-looking structures. Quite ugly.
Weather was way better in Sacramento. Ottawa was cold and rainy. Sacramento, true to form, was sunny and warm.
I've been to both and think they both underperform.
Sacramento's Old Town is immensely tiny and outside of that and the State Capitol, I was having a rough time filling a day of sightseeing. The Downtown is very clean and has some B-list attractions, but nothing to keep you too distracted. There was a buzz around town though and a big protest on the State Capitol steps. The State Capitol, I should add, is stunning and definitely Top Ten.
Ottawa has more sights. I stayed at the Prison Hostel, saw Parliament Hill and the Notre Dame Basilica and the Byward Market area. It has nicer architecture and more museums. But my god was it quiet and dull. Other than the tourists all over Parliament Hill, it was oddly quiet. It's also a pretty ugly city. You could tell it had good urban bones until the 70s when the zoning ran amok. Now you have stunning architecture surrounded by brutalism, and commie-looking structures. Quite ugly.
Weather was way better in Sacramento. Ottawa was cold and rainy. Sacramento, true to form, was sunny and warm.
Old Sacramento is only one portion of Downtown Sacramento and the Capitol is right up the street. So really all I get from this post is you didn't really explore other areas of Downtown Sac, let alone other parts of the city...
I have heard Ottawa called a lot of thing but ugly is certainly not one of them. Ottawa is a truly beautiful city and yes it has it's commie blocks but generally the city is green, clean, tons of parks, gorgeous, grand, and unique architecture, great inner city and character filled neighbourhoods, and the Rideau Canal running right thru the centre. Few cities in NA are even remotely close as being as beautiful as Ottawa.
Being the national capital it has a lot of really good museums,
including my fave, The War Museum. Unfortunately, unlike DC, they're not free.
Maybe boring compared with Montreal (which is less then 2 hrs down the road),
but holds more interest for me than boring Sacramento.
Yeah, I know Sacramento's climate is better overall but Ottawa has a classic
true four seasons climate ...ice skating on the Rideau Canal in winter,
fantastic fall colors just to the north of the city in Gatineau.
Speaking of Gatineau, that is another cool thing about Ottawa, the province of Quebec
is literally across the river and is about 90% French speaking...so you get to
experience that too, try out your high school french
Last but not least ...Ottawa has the Ottawa River flowing by with rapids
and scenic Rideau Canal ...you can travel by boat from Ottawa to Lake Ontario.
Being the national capital it has a lot of really good museums,
including my fave, The War Museum. Unfortunately, unlike DC, they're not free.
Maybe boring compared with Montreal (which is less then 2 hrs down the road),
but holds more interest for me than boring Sacramento.
Yeah, I know Sacramento's climate is better overall but Ottawa has a classic
true four seasons climate ...ice skating on the Rideau Canal in winter,
fantastic fall colors just to the north of the city in Gatineau.
Speaking of Gatineau, that is another cool thing about Ottawa, the province of Quebec
is literally across the river and is about 90% French speaking...so you get to
experience that too, try out your high school french
Last but not least ...Ottawa has the Ottawa River flowing by with rapids
and scenic Rideau Canal ...you can travel by boat from Ottawa to Lake Ontario.
I agree with all of the above. Ottawa is definitely more exciting than Sacramento. I chose Sacramento only just because I don't know how I'd handle the cold in Ottawa. Sacramento is two hours from SF and Ottawa is under 2 hours from Montreal...both SF and Montreal are very interesting cities. But Montreal has more historical charm and a better subway than SF.
How's traffic in Ottawa? Sacramento traffic is better than bigger cities like Seattle and SF but for a city of its size Sacramento traffic is pretty bad. Sacramento light rail is also very inadequate, old, and not well-ridden. Ottawa just got its first electric light rail line and I bet it'll surpass Sacramento's in ridership very soon.
Not horrific but probably worse than most people would expect.
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