From a new zipline across the Ottawa River to the World Figure Skating Championships, the world’s largest Lego theme park and a new production of Monty Python’s Spamalot, 2020 looks like it’s going to be another great year for road trips in Ontario, Quebec and New York state. Here are my 20 recommendations for your 2020 day trips and weekend getaways in Ottawa and beyond. Kick off the new decade in style!
Cirque du Soleil’s Crystal comes to Ottawa
Cirque du Soleil is back in Ottawa this summer with its trademark blend of acrobatics, music, one-of-a-kind costumes and opaque storylines—but this time, it’s all on ice. Crystal will be at the Canadian Tire Centre from July 2 to 5, and tickets are already on sale.
Luge opens at Camp Fortune
Ever wanted to be an Olympian? This year, you’ll have a new chance to pretend. In spring 2020, Camp Fortune in Chelsea plans to open a luge run with a vertical drop of roughly 130 metres (400 feet). Yikes!
Montreal hosts the World Figure Skating Championships
Attention, all you fans of the double Lutz and the triple Salchow: The ISU World Figure Skating Championships are coming to Montreal for the first time in 88 years, and you can see the action from March 16 to 22.
Tap and Cork Route opens in the Ottawa Valley
In late 2019, tourism boards, breweries, wineries, distillers and cider makers throughout the Ottawa Valley unveiled the new Tap and Cork Route. The self-guided route features destinations on both sides of the Ottawa River, including producers in Calabogie, Pembroke and Quyon. Don’t forget to pick a designated driver!
Interzip Rogers takes zipliners across the river
Touted as the world’s first interprovincial zipline, Interzip Rogers is a cool-looking new attraction will have thrill-seekers zipping 36.6 metres (120 feet) above the Ottawa River from Ottawa to the Zibi site in Gatineau. It’s scheduled to open in summer 2020. (P.S.: If record-breaking ziplines are your thing, you could check out Canada’s largest aerial adventure and zipline park, Skywood Eco Adventure in Brockville, or the longest continuous zipline in the United States, the 1.7km (5,523 feet) line at Catamount Mountain Resort in New York’s Hudson Valley.)
World’s largest Legoland opens in New York state
Speaking of the Hudson Valley, Legoland New York Resort will be the world’s largest park devoted to the iconic building toy when it opens in Goshen, New York, on July 4, 2020. Kids can go crazy, with 50 rides, attractions and shows.
New hotel slated to open in Montreal’s Mile End
Not much information is available at the minute about the new Hôtel Mile-End, slated to open in late 2020 in the increasingly trendy Montreal neighbourhood. According to a blog post from Tourisme Montreal, the hotel will have everything from a basement cinema to a main-floor gallery and a rooftop terrace. Colour me interested.
Cornwall and Kingston host major curling championships
Hurry! Hurry hard! Tickets for the 2020 Ontario Curling Championships in Cornwall are on sale now. Men’s and women’s teams will be sweeping across the ice at the Ed Lumley Arena from January 27 through February 2.
But wait—that’s not all! The winner of the men’s tournament in Cornwall will go just down the 401 to Kingston to compete in the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier between February 29 and March 8. Tickets for that are available now, too.
Canada’s Wonderland opens diving attraction
Canada’s Wonderland, just north of Toronto, is set to unveil Mountain Bay Cliffs in 2020. The attraction will see park-goers flinging themselves off cliffs of various heights into a pool of water below. The highest dive is 7.5 metres (25 feet). You go, and tell me all about it…’kay?
Syracuse set to welcome new market and food hall
The Salt City Market is scheduled to open in downtown Syracuse in fall 2020. The project will feature food vendors (selling local and international products), a café, a bar, event space and more. Sounds like a tasty new reason to visit the upstate New York city.
Guide offers woodland walks in Lanark Highlands
I recently found out about Laurie Lynn Clark, who offers walking tours and other restorative activities in Lanark County. I’m particularly intrigued by a walk she offers along the Purdon Orchid Trail in late June and July to see the displays of ladies’ slippers.
Mega-concert comes to Toronto
Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer are going on a huge combined tour this summer, and music fans are already salivating. It looks like the closest the three bands will get to Ottawa is Toronto, where they’ll play the Rogers Centre on August 24.
Quebec City distillery combines escape room with gin tasting
Fortunately, the escape room experience at the Stadaconé Distillery in Quebec City takes place before participants take part in a tasting of the distillery’s gins. Otherwise, they might stay trapped in the escape room’s colonial explorer scenario indefinitely. (Closer to home, there’s also a new spot in Kingston called the Wonderland Escape Rooms and Board Game Lounge that offers a range of board games you can play before or after your puzzle-solving experience.)
Hummingbird starts making cannabis-infused chocolate in Smiths Falls
The former Hershey factory in Smiths Falls is once again producing chocolate, but these aren’t your grandma’s Hershey Kisses. Almonte’s Hummingbird Chocolate has struck a partnership called Bean and Bud with cannabis producer Canopy Growth to produce chocolate products infused with cannabis. (You know, the jokes about creating and slaking the munchies just write themselves, folks.) The facility’s visitor centre is open seven days a week.
The Stratford Festival stages Hamlet and Monty Python’s Spamalot
Southern Ontario’s Stratford Festival is staging a diverse program in 2020, ranging from Much Ado About Nothing and Hamlet to Chicago and a brand-new Ann-Marie Macdonald play, Hamlet-911. As if all that weren’t enough, you can wave your metaphorical tankard of ale at Monty Python’s Spamalot.
Trevor Noah returns to Ottawa
I’m a huge Trevor Noah fan. If you are, too, and you missed his stop at TD Place in 2019, I have good news for you: He’s coming back to TD Place on September 25, 2020. The last show was so much fun that I already have tickets for the next one.
The ROM explores the world of Pooh
Kids and kids-at-heart can immerse themselves in the world of everyone’s favourite honey-loving bear when the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto hosts the only Canadian stop on the tour of Winnie-the-Pooh: Exploring a Classic (March 7 to August 3). Original manuscripts, sketches, memorabilia and more will be complemented by lots of interactive fun. (While you’re at the museum, you can also catch Egyptian Mummies: Ancient Lives. New Discoveries. This show, which ran in Montreal in 2019, will be at the ROM from May 16 until September 7.)
New shuttle offers rides between Quebec City and Jacques Cartier Park
If you’re heading to Quebec City without a car and you’d like to explore the trails, forests and river valley of nearby Jacques Cartier National Park, here’s good news: Quatre Natures has launched a daily, year-round shuttle service between the Quebec capital and the park. Reservations required.
Massena nature centre offers year-round activities
The Eugene L. Nicandri Nature Center opened in Massena, New York, in May 2017. Visitors can explore five hiking and cross-country/snowshoe trails, borrow guidebooks and binoculars for a bit of birdwatching, check out indoor wildlife displays, and enjoy free activities such as scavenger hunts and craft days.
Looking for more ideas for your 2020 road trips? Check out my gigantic list of local tourism boards in Ontario, Quebec and the U.S. Northeast and my post about five cute towns near Ottawa.