Cost of living in Ottawa (house, neighbourhood, theatre)

[still_looking]

Hi all,

We are considering a move from Boston to Ottawa and have various questions that I would appreciate your responses:

1) What is the non-housing cost of living in Ottawa like?

2) Are there good Asian grocery stores in Ottawa? Is there good possibility you will find the same grocery that you can find in a good Asian store in the US?

3) Where is a good place to live (given that I have a three-year old kid)? My criterion would be a place with lots of activities for kids with convenient, frequent public transport to Queen's Street downtown.

4) If we want to learn French, what are good programs?

5) Are there any French-speaking community activity that my wife can participate in (she will need to take the kid with her)?

6) What should I bring to Canada if cost saving is important (please igore the shipping cost issue for the time being)?

7) We would like to pick up skiing. What are affordable places that we can go to within an hour or two of driving?

Thanks.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by still_looking

Hi all,

We are considering a move from Boston to Ottawa and have various questions that I would appreciate your responses:

1) What is the non-housing cost of living in Ottawa like?

2) Are there good Asian grocery stores in Ottawa? Is there good possibility you will find the same grocery that you can find in a good Asian store in the US?

3) Where is a good place to live (given that I have a three-year old kid)? My criterion would be a place with lots of activities for kids with convenient, frequent public transport to Queen's Street downtown.

4) If we want to learn French, what are good programs?

5) Are there any French-speaking community activity that my wife can participate in (she will need to take the kid with her)?

6) What should I bring to Canada if cost saving is important (please igore the shipping cost issue for the time being)?

7) We would like to pick up skiing. What are affordable places that we can go to within an hour or two of driving?

Thanks.

1) Boston is a pretty expensive place by American standards. It is difficult to comment because I don't know what you will be spending on. Overall, expect it to be comparable to Boston, and even slightly higher for consumer goods.

2) Canada's largest Asian supermarket chain, T&T, just opened a large supermarket in the south end of Ottawa. There is also a Chinatown just to the west of downtown with many Asian shops.

3) There are no really bad areas in Ottawa, though some are nicer than others. Suburbs like Orleans, Kanata and Barrhaven would have more stuff for kids since the central parts of the city have more households without children. Though by no means is central Ottawa a no-go zone for families. Just not as family-oriented as the burbs. And all areas of Ottawa including the suburbs I mentioned have good bus service to downtown Ottawa where Queen St. is located.

4) There are several options for French classes. Many adults go to La Cité collégiale, which is a college in the east end of the city. The University of Ottawa, which is downtown, also offers night classes for people who want to learn French. If you are asking about kids, the options are numerous within the local school system.

5) French-language community activities are rarer than one might think in Ottawa. If you are going to find anything close to decent range of stuff, it would be in the east end suburb of Orleans. Also, some stuff in French (like theatre and concerts) takes place in downtown Ottawa, likely to take advantage of the large French-speaking clientele just across the river in Gatineau, Quebec.

6) Sorry. No advice for you there.

7) If you are living in central Ottawa you can be downhill (on a modest hill) or cross-country (on an amazing network) skiing in about 15 minutes. Add another 15 minutes for Orleans, Barrhaven or Kanata. If you are beginners at downhill skiing, any of the ski centres close to Ottawa but in Quebec should be fine to start off. There is excellent skiing more or less two hours away from Ottawa in Quebec's Laurentians (northeast of Gatineau and north of Montreal)), especially at Mont-Tremblant.

[still_looking]

Thank you, Acajack.
Which area is closest to the train station, since I may need to make frequent visits to Montreal by train? Is the area close to the University of Ottawa friendly to families? How long does it take to get to Queen St (near Parliament Hill) from these areas by bus and what are these bus routes? Does anyone know good preschools in these areas, including private ones?
Thanks again.

[Cornerguy1]

Try this site for planning any outings by public transit in Ottawa Welcome to OC Transpo


Ottawa train station info, including map Ottawa train station | VIA Rail

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by still_looking

Thank you, Acajack.
Which area is closest to the train station, since I may need to make frequent visits to Montreal by train? Is the area close to the University of Ottawa friendly to families? How long does it take to get to Queen St (near Parliament Hill) from these areas by bus and what are these bus routes? Does anyone know good preschools in these areas, including private ones?
Thanks again.

The train station is in the east-central part of Ottawa, so east end Orleans is the closest of the main suburbs to it. Kanata is due west and Barrhaven is southwest.

The area around the University of Ottawa is pretty much right downtown and is known as Sandy Hill. You could pretty much walk to Queen Street from this area. It does have some families and the overall feel ranges from bourgeois to student ghetto, varying from street to street. Housing is generally older and quite expensive by Ottawa standards. Probably close to double or more the cost of comparable digs in the suburbs.

Cornerguy gave to the link to Ottawa’s bus service. Any neighbourhood in urban or suburban Ottawa will have extensive bus service to downtown. If you live in Kanata, Barrhaven or Orleans, you will almost certainly have express bus service within a block or two from your house to and from downtown during weekday rush hours. Since Ottawa has an extensive network of busways and buses only lanes, the buses can bypass traffic jams and are often faster than driving your car downtown. I would say the average time to get downtown from any of the three main suburbs is about 30 minutes.

A monthly express bus pass is in the $100 range, but you get 15% back when you do your federal income tax return.

[still_looking]

Thank you for your responses.
Any other perspectives would be appreciated. For example, what goods (non-housing, non-services) are considered cheaper in Canada (say Ottawa) compared to the US (say Boston)?