Brantwood Park is a huge and beautiful park. It has a lot of amenities and is right by the Rideau…read moreRiver. It has a lot of open green space, great for picnics! If picnicking on the grass is not your jam, there are plenty of picnic tables as well, along with benches. There is a basketball court, 2 tennis courts, 2 baseball diamonds, a wading pool, 2 play structures (a newer more modern one and an older wooden one), 4 swings for big kids, 4 swings for small kids and a tire swing. The park is by the Rideau River and there are benches and Adirondack chairs along the riverbank and the view is beautiful. There's also a small parking lot with free parking, although free street parking is also available and not too difficult to find. Brantwood Park is one of my favourite parks in the city. I love having picnics there and just walking around to get exercise while enjoying the view of the river. Definitely worth travelling across town to visit. Interested in other parks in Ottawa? Check out my Park Series Collection here on Yelp: https://www.yelp.ca/collection/fhwH7F0hdh8_PpmaXsHSmw?utm_content=Collections&utm_source=ashare

Enjoyed playing shinny here, good place to visit to enjoy playing. Hopefully coming back to play…read moreagain because the facilities are great. Ice is in perfect condition, locker rooms are clean and tidy and there's plenty more the Sportsplex has to offer. Overall terrific experience, wouldn't change anything about this place whatsoever.

The Neapean Sportsplex is a multi-purpose facility, with services and lessons for swimming,…read morecycling, and other fitness and recreational activities. They have a lot of programs for people of all ages, children and seniors in particular. I actually didn't come here for anything fitness-related. I worked here for one day for a company that was holding a giant warehouse sale for one weekend only. The next day, I just came with my family for the sale itself. It was held in one really large room that seemed like some type of auditorium or gym, as it was really huge and cold, with the concrete tile floor. It hurt to stand on it for a long time, but then again, that's because I was standing in one spot. If this was, indeed, a kind of gymnasium, the floor would be perfect for running around and the cooler temperature would be a great advantage when you're working up a sweat.

My husband and I stumbled upon this park as we were waiting for our food order from Toasty Arepas,…read morewhich is around the corner from this park. Optimist Park is a really functional and awesome park. It looks fairly new, and I discovered that it was built in 2017. It has a wading pool AND a "real pool" where you can swim laps. Both pools have lifeguards. It has a play structure with swings and slides. It has a rink where you can skate in the winter, which is converted into a basketball court in the summer. There are tables with built-in chess/checkers boards. There are ping pong tables. There's open green space, benches and picnic tables. There are painted hopscotch patterns on the ground, as well as an alphabet wheel (I'm thinking to teach kids the alphabet (?) but maybe there's some sort of game of which I am not aware, lol). It's such a great community park. It's in a part of town where the average household income is less than the national average, and crime rates are higher than many other parts of Ottawa. I am happy to see that there is a park like this in this neighbourhood. This park is in fact a lot nicer than many parks in more affluent neighbourhoods in Ottawa. The pools have lifeguards who are municipal government employees. There also appeared to be a building there staffed by either City employees or perhaps volunteers from the Optimist Club that maybe ran some programs (sorry, I'm not really sure, as I didn't fully check it out). I wholeheartedly support programs that reach out to youth, especially at-risk youth. It was Frederick Douglass who said "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men" and I believe that this is so true. I feel that the city planners did well with Optimist Park.

I went to the Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex to attend a music class, but checked out all the…read morefacilities while I was here. This is a great centre for anyone in Orleans, but would still be great even if you could get to it from farther away, since this complex has a lot to offer. There is an extensive program listing in the City of Ottawa catalogues including sports instruction, music, art, fitness and other classes. I had a friend who taught here and she got full access to all the facilities as a benefit. The gym here is great and so is the pool. Weekend mornings are busy with kids hockey, figure skating and swimming.

It's a top quality facility. I go there to play squash every week and the quality of the squash…read morecourts is better than other places I have seen at other places in Ottawa (such as Carleton U) and the price of admission is cheaper too ($8.00 for adults and $6.15 for students). For indoor racquet sports they have both squash and racquetball courts, including squash courts with a sort of staging area behind the court, which is a nice touch. They also have a pool, arena, fitness equipment, and a large number of other facilities. I haven't used the pool yet but I have heard good things about it while the fitness equipment looks nice (although I am not exactly an expert in judging the quality of fitness equipment). Changing facilities are on the small side, but the washrooms and shower area in the men's area are nice and clean, including a hot tub. Also parking is free, which is an added bonus compared to university owned recreation facilities.

It is an older place but there's good things about it…read more First the parking lot is huge and it's easy to drive your car there. Then the locker rooms are huge. It's easy to fit an entire team in there without having to step over the Equipment when you walk across the room. Finally, the cantine is the cheap and the staff is really cool over there.Your review helps others learn about great local businesses. Please don't review this business if you received a freebie for writing this review, or if you're connected in any way to the owner or employees.

Woodroffe Park is an awesome park. It's fairly large. It has lots of open green space, a baseball…read morediamond (complete with bleachers), benches and picnic tables, a big play structure for kids, 2 sets of swings, and a Zipline-like structure. It has a wading pool which is open during the warmer months. During the colder months, the wading pool is flooded and turned into a free-skating rink where you can do laps or free skate. The baseball diamond is also flooded and turned into a hockey rink for hockey games. There's washrooms and change rooms. Lovely park that's worth traveling to from other neighbourhoods. No parking lot though, just street parking. Check out my reviews of other parks in and around Ottawa in my Ottawa Parks Series: https://www.yelp.ca/collection/fhwH7F0hdh8_PpmaXsHSmw?utm_content=Collections&utm_source=ashare

They make you sit inside even when there is like no rain????!?!???…read moreThey do not have value.

I turned to Dovercourt to try to get lifeguarding lessons for my daughter. Unfortunately, classes…read morewere full. Having said that, the administrator with whom I spoke was very helpful and sympathetic. When more instructors were added to meet the demand, she called and got my daughter in. The courses were organized and well taught. So, I found the people at Dovercourt do their jobs well, and seem to truly give a damn. It is rare to find such character and expertise. I highly recommend this recreation complex.

Tucked away in the back side of Lowertown near the Chinese Embassy, this is a great off leash park…read more A very quiet neighbourhood, traffic wise, no need to worry about pets that accidentally stray across the bordering streets. Also on the river, so pets can refresh themselves on a hot day. Shared space with tennis courts and a park for small children, note that this park has one of the only interactive Water Features in Ottawa (a great place for kids to cool off in the summer) Many families are wary of dogs, so be sure to keep your animal under control and on the open soccer field area. The park and park that continues northeast along the river is not off leash designated, so be wary of this. You also share the park with vagrants who use this park at night, but they usually keep their trash to a minimum. Occasionally a used needle can be seen, but almost always capped. The Shepherds of Good Hope run a great program where volunteers patrol the park a number of times daily, collecting this refuse. I live a block away and have only seen one since I have taken my dog daily. A great offleash park