Skating is a great way to stay active and have fun outside in the winter. Outdoor skating offers a way to embrace the season while being active enough to stay warm. There are many opportunities to strap on your skates and glide around outdoor skating rinks all across Canada, but we’re sharing a few of our favourites. Lace up your skates, visit one of these 10 great rinks and get gliding!
Rideau Canal, Ottawa, Ontario
Canada’s capital city is home to the world’s largest skating rink, the Rideau Canal Skateway. Gliding down the Skateway, which is 7.8 kilometres in length, is a great way to see the city. The Skateway starts just steps from Canada’s Parliament Buildings and extends to Dows Lake. Skating usually starts in January, depending on temperatures, and rentals are available. There are places to rest and get hot chocolate and snacks as you skate. One of the most fun and festive times to visit is during Winterlude in February, when many other activities are underway.
Nathan Philips Square, Toronto, Ontario
During the winter months the reflecting pool outside Toronto’s City Hall becomes a popular skating rink, and skating on it is one of the quintessential winter experiences in the city. The downtown location means you’re skating in the heart of the city with a unique backdrop. Skating is free and skate rentals are available. There are also changing rooms and places to get snacks and hot drinks. The downtown location is convenient if you’re planning to check out more of what the area has to offer.
Grouse Mountain, Vancouver, British Columbia
If you’ve never had the chance to go skating on top of a mountain, you can get that experience in Vancouver. Skate high above the city on Grouse Mountain’s mountaintop skating pond, the only one of its kind on the West Coast. Ice skating is complimentary if you have a Grouse Mountain Alpine Experience ticket, membership, lift ticket or winter pass, and skate rentals are available. The skating rink is open from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m. daily during the winter.
Cameco Meewasin Skating Rink, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
On the bank of the South Saskatchewan River in downtown Saskatoon is where you’ll find the Cameco Meewasin Skating Rink. The scenic skating rink, located in Kiwanis Memorial Park, is often known as one of the best outdoor skating rinks in Canada. Skating is free and there are a limited number of skates available to borrow for free.
Bonsecours Basin, Montreal, Quebec
Montreal’s Old Port is home to this popular outdoor skating rink where you can skate while taking in views of charming Old Montreal. Skate rentals and lockers are available, and the best part is you can listen to music while you skate. The rink plays music every night of the week, and from 10 a.m. until noon Mondays and Wednesdays for “ballroom matinees”. Each evening the musical theme is different, from classical on Mondays, to retro music on Fridays.
Red River Mutual Trail, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Once the temperature dips low enough, the Red River Mutual Trail in Winnipeg opens, and it’s a big hit for both locals and visitors. It holds the Guinness World Record as the longest naturally frozen skating trail in the world and covers parts of both the Assiniboine and Red Rivers. One particularly unique feature of the trail is the artist-designed warming huts along the way. Each year a competition is held to determine who will design the structures that function as both shelter for skaters as well as art installations.
Olympic Plaza, Calgary, Alberta
Originally built as the site for the 1988 Winter Olympics medal presentations, Olympic Plaza is an urban park in downtown Calgary. During the winter months the site turns into a skating rink, the only outdoor chilled ice surface in Calgary. Being in the centre of the downtown area the rink is easily accessible and close to other attractions in the city.
Arrowhead Provincial Park Ice Trail, Huntsville, Ontario
Arrowhead Provincial Park, which lies just north of Huntsville, is home to a 1.5-kilometre skate path where you’ll be surrounded by snow-covered trees as you skate. Skating through the forest is a unique experience and one that has become very popular, making the Ice Trail a must-do for many Ontarians as well as visitors. On Saturday nights in January and February (weather permitting), the park hosts “Fire and Ice nights” where the trail is lit with hundreds of tiki torches.
Lake Louise, Banff, Alberta
One of the most scenic spots to skate in Canada is on Lake Louise when the glacier-fed waters of Banff National Park freeze over and create numerous rinks worth a skate. Some of these include the rink at The Chateau Fairmont Lake Louise, known as one of the most beautiful ice skating rinks in the world; the rink at The Fairmont Banff Springs, which has a heated shelter; and Bow River, a skating oval that gets cleared on the river when weather permits.
Emera Oval, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Halifax’s Emera Oval is the largest outdoor, artificially-chilled ice surface east of Quebec City; it’s equivalent to three NHL hockey rinks and can accommodate up to 1,500 skaters at once. Open seven days a week, the rink also offers many free public recreation programs like learn-to-skate programs and speed skating clinics, weekly themed events and special events both on and off the ice. Admission to the rink is free as are skate and helmet rentals.
What did we miss? What are your favourite outdoor skating venues in Canada?
(Featured photo: AJ Batac)
