Canadian War Museum Admission

Such a fascinating museum and tour. The whole museum became very overwhelming as the detail, anrchitecture and information is incredibly heavy and sobering. My guide was really informative, engaging and made the visit even better. And… we have Hitler’s car?? Absolutely chilling.

Wow, what an amazing place. There was so much information. We thought we would be there for a couple of hours and were shocked when we realised we had spent 4 1/2 hours looking around. There was still more we could have done but the museum was closing down. They have a nice cafe where you can buy drinks, hot and cold food.

So much to learn about Canada 🇨🇦 It should be on top of things to do if u wanna learn more about Canada

This was well worth the visit and way more than expected. I good tribute and all historical battles with UN also. I recommend to anyone in Ottawa please check this museum out and great gift shop

A Great War museum that is built like a bunker and feels that way when you go inside. The shinning star of the collection is Hitler’s cars. Most of the vehicles are from all over the place and very electric mix. The windows are amazing on the outside as it spells out in Morse codes, Lest we forget’.

The museum was amazing! We visited last week and it’s probably one of the best war museums I have been to. The way it’s set out through all the stages of war throughout Canada’s history is really well done. There was lots to look at and read for all age groups, although smaller children may find parts of it a little boring. The admission price was also very fair and reasonable considering how much there is to see. The only downside was that, as we visited during the week, there were A LOT of school children — literally buses full of them! I have 4 children myself so it didn’t bother me, but it’s definitely worth considering if you prefer somewhere quieter during your visit.

It was a good experience and I highly recommend.

This is a really cool museum. it has multiple sections, starting from the wards between the indiginous peopleof cananda, leading up to the modern day, it then also has this fantastic collection of vehicles etc downstaris which you can check out. i spent 4 hours here, and left because it was closing time.

First time attending the War Museum. Very impressed with content and delivery of the information.

We had been to the War Museum 15 years ago and it had left an impression then, our recent visit was no different. Such and powerful building with excellent displays and amazing artifacts. You could easily spend a day here and not see it all. Nice cafe in the building if you want to break up your visit. Highly recommended, a must do when in Ottawa for every Canadian.

I've been to this museum twice and brought a friend visiting from overseas to drop by. With a vast collection, there is a lot to see. Some parts of the tanks are plastic. You can easily spend about 3 hours in there browsing through their collection. The collections are well organized and the crowd size is really small. I'd definitely recommend the Canadian War Museum if you're into war history and artifacts.

So my stamina for museums can be less than some and particularly for history I find it can be overwhelming since I know I just won't absorb everything. With that in mind - I enjoyed the museum more than I expected and we spent longer than I had originally planned. We visited the The Last Voices temporary exhibition (this was spectacular, and I found it very moving), Early Wars In Canada (Gallery 1), The South African and First World Wars (Gallery 2), had lunch at the cafe (decent and more reasonably priced than I was worried it might be), and finished with the Lebreton Gallery. In hindsight I regret starting with and spending so much time with Gallery 1 - It's well done but I have seen many similar exhibits of that time period and it's not one that I am personally particularly interested in. The tanks and equipment of the Lebreton gallery are very cool in that you can get up close and see them. It's very visceral. At this point I was tired and my brain was ready for a nap and not more information so we ended up missing out on Gallery 3 and 4 which I think I would have enjoyed a bit more than 1. My recommendation is that if you have a limited amount of time do some research on their website and prioritize what you want to see first. We went Friday morning / afternoon and it was fairly uncrowded overall but there were some school groups that were a bit loud.

The Canadian War Museum offers a moving and immersive journey through history. Exhibits are beautifully curated, blending powerful artifacts, tanks, and firsthand stories from many eras. Interactive displays and thoughtful memorial spaces make the experience both educational and emotional—a must-visit that truly brings the past to life in real time.

Huge and well curated museum. Separate sections for the main conflicts that Canada has been involved in. We spent several hours and weren't able to finish it all. Great exhibits and information explaining all the context. Cafe is very basic.

I was very amazed on the collection of stuff at this War Museum. One of the highlights was how many Tanks are at the War Museum. World War 2, etc. Number of stuff related to Canadians at War time being firearms, Tanks, etc.

This was our second time visiting the Canadian War Museum because to be honest - one visit was not enough to truly take in and appreciate everything! We really like the fact that they have different, changing exhibits in the McCrae exhibit hall. Last time we were here it was a Holocaust exhibit, this time it was "In their Own Voices" honoring the last remaining veterans who gave so bravely and so freely when they answered the call of duty! a Definite Must see while visiting! So many pavilions, stories and artifacts chronicling Canada's rich and vibrant history and our involvement in early day conflicts right up to the cold war! Whether you are eight (8) or righty-eight (88), there is truly something here for every one to see! Give yourself plenty of time though as you can count on a good 4-5 hours exploring all the stories and interactive exhibits and giving them your well deserved attention! Not to mention the main gallery with the tanks and other army vehicles and planes used in early WWI and WWII times. The museum is MASSIVE and was a great experience that left us both proud and humbled in getting a glimpse of what it must have been like going through these devastating wars! Our grand parents and great grand parents would be proud to have these stories told! Lest we forget! Taking in this museum is well worth the price of admission. PS the Cafeteria makes an amazing SMASH burger if you need to take a break and recharge the batteries! Enjoy! Vince & Cath Aug. 2025

I really enjoyed this Museum. The museum is set up by year so that you can focus on years that you're interested in. The artifacts and displays are extremely well done. I particularly enjoyed the display of military vehicles on the lower level. You should allow at least half a day to explore the museum.

When visiting Ottawa, everyone should put this on their list of places to visit. An extensive look into Canada's contribution to conflicts around the world. After a while, though, I was getting tired as everything started to look the same. When visiting, be sure to go across the street to the Holocaust Monument

This is a fantastic museum. I spent 4 hours in there and could have done more. It is well laid out and presented and a reasonable cost too. It is an easy 10 minute walk from Parliament Hill as it is just out of town. Recommend for sure to anyone going to Ottawa.

It is a very interesting museum with a nice display of historical artifacts and educational sets. It was $22 per adult and children under 17 years old free. Parking is $16 for about 3 or 4 hours. It is great place to expand Canadian history.

Very nice museum. We learnt a lot about Canadian war history and all the UN Peacekeeping work Canada has been involved with. We only had 2 hours and it's definitely not enough. Would definitely recommend a visit even for non-war history buffs.

Amazing museum..give yourself lots of time! There are museum helpers that will give you more information on certain things... in particular when we were down stairs... their enthusiasm and knowledge was very very appreciated!!

Staff don’t care about your safety ! Review first - this is a very thoughtfully and informative museum with enough to keep those of easily bored interested with different styles and mediums and helpful me make sense of what happened when and why - great museum in all. However in the elevator I noticed the elevator is 6months outside its certification which may seem like nothing but is actually a big deal. I informed the information desk who couldn’t have cared less and who sent me to the security who cared even less and sent me back to information who tried to get lippy with me and then placated me saying they would pass it on - I visited yesterday afternoon if management needs to know who needs some training. Not acceptable Rob

This is a fantastic exhibition that covers Canada involvement in all wars since a nation, and continues with peacekeeping activities. Very extensive, and to do justice requires at least a half day, possibly more. Pro tip - free admission after 1700 Thursdays, but closes at 1900, so will not be able to cover it all. Easy access and also a comfortable 2k walk from parliament buildings.

I absolutely loved the Canadian War Museum! It was a fascinating experience, filled with new insights and discoveries.

This museum houses such an in depth collection and history of Canada’s role in every major war to present day. The collection of uniforms, tanks, weapons, and war paraphernalia is impressive. The constant war background noises can be a bit overwhelming. The tank exhibit is a must see!

I was very surprised by the Canadian War Museum. It's truly excellent. And it was much bigger than I expected. It's actually a little overwhelming as I wasn't expecting as many exhibits and galleries. If I had a complaint, I was disappointed in the limited exhibits on 18th and early 19th century conflicts. While there was an okay number of exhibits on the 1759 battle for Quebec that resulted in the French ceding present-day Canada to the British, everything from Champlain to the War of 1812 was lumped together and a little rushed. The inclusion of pre-colonial Indian/Native/First Nation history didn't fit well either. In particular, I was a little shocked at the lack of attention to the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Those two wars were significant in the creation of Canada. I felt like there was more on Canada's role in the Boer War than the War of 1812. The museum's main focus was World War I and World War II, which I suppose is understandable because those wars are more recent. I spent about two hours at the museum and still didn't really have enough time.

The museum was very butiful and i had fun with my friends. The tank reproductions were really cool and well done. The models were very well done too. It was the best museum I have visited in my life.

The museum serves as both an educational facility on Canadian military history and a place of remembrance. The museum houses a number of exhibitions and memorials, in addition to a cafeteria, theatre, curatorial and conservation spaces, as well as storage space. The building also houses the Military History Research Centre, the museum's library and archives. Now with that said, you can see Memorial Hall as the only exhibition that is free to the public, with Memorial Hall being accessible through the lobby. Basically the museum follows a timeline and I would suggest that follow this which will inevitably lead you to the World Wars, and beyond. The suprise for me was the The LeBreton Gallery: this jumps out on you, firstly from above and then on the ground floor. Here you will find most of the heavy equipment - Tanks/Armour, Artillery and military vehicles. Another highlight for me was the Victoria Crosses on display. The theme of regeneration inspired the museum's architect, Raymond Moriyama, to incorporate energy-efficient features, recycled materials and a green roof where poppies grow in the summer. Meaningfully, the design also features windows that spell out “Lest We Forget” in Morse Code. As well, a single window in Memorial Hall is designed so that the sun illuminates the headstone of the Unknown Soldier each year at 11 a.m. on Remembrance Day, November 11.

A fantastic museum, which was extremely interesting however the ticket office staff and the gift shop staff need some serious retraining in customer service, ticket office girl said how much we owed for 2 tickets and never game us "I've entrance is over there" didn't even give us a map of the place, it felt like a buge inconvenience to her, perhaps what was playing through her ear buds was more interesting!!! But the guy in the gift shop was just out and out rude, the only 3 words he said was " debit or credit?" After us spending $40 a please is obviously to much to ask for, my husband did say something at this point as it was disgraceful to be so rude to customers, enjoyed the museum but you need to address such rudeness from the staff, I must add the staff in the actual museum were extremely helpful

This is a spectacular museum in our nation’s capital! We visited with a friend from out of town and quite enjoyed the free visit on Thursday evening. As there is so much to see and read, make sure you give yourself enough time - we will need to go back a few times to ensure we see it all. One warning is that it was quite crazy to find the underground parking as there were virtually no directional signs….we almost found ourselves crossing into Quebec! Once we got there it was fabulous and so many available spots - but check your directions before you leave to ensure you know how to letter.

The driver and guide were awesome! Lots of info and of course opportunities to stop and take photos!! So happy I booked. Visiting from Whitehorse, Yukon. I lived in Ottawa for 6 years and for some reason have never done this fantastic bus tour. Thanks so much

Spent the whole day at the museum. Very informative about all wars Canada was involved in. A lot of artifacts to see, huge collection.

This is the second time I’ve been to this museum. Today I spent some time looking at the hardware of war in the Breton gallery. Tanks troop carriers howitzers military ambulances as well as some naval guns. Then upstairs to gallery 4 to view the post WW2 period up to present day. Very well presented with a Canadian take on recent events. I’d spent time in the WW2 and earliest Canadian conflicts during the previous visit. After lunch in the cafe which was very nice and good value and a brief trip to the Byward market and Notre Dame basilica I headed back to the museum for a quick tour of WW1. The other great thing about the museum is how uncrowded it is with plenty of time and space. Maybe it ramps up at weekends and with school trips? But compared with recent trips to the British Museum and National Portrait gallery in London which were heaving with tourists it’s an oasis of learning and educational calm. The shop is pretty good too. Well worth a visit.

This museum is large with great displays. Some interactive. I found the whole experience educational and at times quite impactful. The artifacts, machines, vehicles are also very well displayed and gives you a glimpse to the conditions, space and intensity our service members have to work in. We spent approximately 3 hours here. But easily could have spent longer.

Dry east to read and learn the history. Great pictures to help you learn. My daughter loved reading the information could have spent the who day there. Great gift shop

The story of HOPE as expressed in the architecture and the life story of the Canadian-Japaneze architect. The tour guide told the story in a manner that was emotive and evoked introspection.

I had been to the war museum as a kid on a field trip but decided to take my boyfriend while we were visiting from BC. We allotted four hours and then had another tour planned right after. Lesson learned we should have gave ourself 4.5 hours even. There are four main sections and we spent about an hour in each section. Sections range from pre-confederation to Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan. We loved our time at the museum and would definitely recommend to anyone in the area visiting.

As I arrived too late for the tour--Google Map not being updated on all the construction in and around downtown Ottawa, I missed the tour by a wide margin. This pointed-out one of the flaws in an on-line or app. ticket, namely-- un-foreseen circumstances. Also, although I originally booked my tour on my laptop, after doing so, I needed to have the ticket transferred to my cell ( no access to a printer ), but couldn't manage that. I took a photo of the confirmed booking, yet once I had downloaded the Viator app. to my phone, there was nothing listed on " My Bookings". Possibly someone who is more " tech.-savvy" could have resolved this problem, but that wouldn't have helped with the matter of arriving late. Henceforth, I will only buy one ticket for such a museum tour, as I had to anyway. You never know what problems can arise , on holiday. So, I doubt I will use your service in future,

I wasn’t sure that I would have enjoyed myself going to the Canadian War Museum because it’s not really my scenery but I was pleasantly surprised by the whole experience. We went there early and there was already lots of people roaming the Museum. Once there, I knew I would stay there for longer than I anticipated because there was so much to see and I wanted to take my time to see everything. Every corner of the Canadian War Museum had something to offer and could be learned about. I went with the mindset that I wasn’t going to like it but I left the Museum feeling grateful that I had the opportunity to visit this place. I recommend everyone to visit the Canadian War Museum at least one time in your life.

This is an excellent museum to visit in Ottawa IF you have strong interest in military history. If you are on the fence because of limited time in Ottawa and don't have a particular interest in military history, then it may make sense to skip it - in part because of the time required to see it well and the total cost (with parking). There are four main exhibits (early days, WWI, WWII, Cold War). For each exhibit, you are routed through a one way, circuitous (but clear) path - and then you end up back at the central "hub" so you can tackle the next exhibit. I spent about three hours walking though the four exhibits, moving fairly quickly; more time would be needed to see things in greater detail, reading most of the text, etc. In addition to charging for admission, this museum also charges for parking (even though they have their own dedicated museum parking lot under the building!). Plan on paying an extra CAD 15 for three hours of parking (plus CAD 24 for the museum itself). My one big complaint with this museum is that it does a very disappointing job displaying their impressive collection of vehicles. There is a large, well-lit hall for the collection (the LeBreton Gallery), but the many of the vehicles are jammed close together around the edges of this hall. Many are packed so close together, you can't see the sides of the vehicles. Some are jammed in with and surrounded by other vehicles so that you can't see them well at all. This is odd as there seems to be plenty of empty space available. From a discussion with staff there, it seems a key goal for the museum management is keeping lots of empty space available in the hall so that they can host weddings there, as those events bring in good revenue. Prioritizing weddings (at a war museum?) over the core mission of displaying military artifacts seems like a really odd and unfortunate decision by the museum leadership. I noted a surplus of staff at the museum. For example, after you pay for your ticket at the counter, you go through some doors and then there are three (!) nice staff members waiting to validate your ticket; it reminded me a bit of hidden unemployment work in the USSR in the old days. I guess the wedding revenue (and poorly displaying the vehicle exhibits) is necessary to keep all the staff employed? In the WWII exhibit, the museum has a Supermarine Spitfire, one of the most famous aircraft of all time. And this particular Spitfire is one of the very oldest Spitfires in existence in the world! The curators/exhibition designers have this very special artifact positioned so that you can only see it's underside (with the sides obscured in darkness). In a museum with more interest in displaying significant military artifacts (vs. hosting weddings), it would make sense to move this to a plinth in the well-lit vehicle hall (like their very well displayed CF-101 Voodoo aircraft). Despite those complaints, this is still a worthwhile museum for military history enthusiasts.

Great Museum, we spent almost 4 hours walking through all of the exhibits and it was great getting to see the gallery room with all of the tanks lined up from different countries. Real interesting exhibits and displays well thought out and informative.

We all know history from the country we live in. But seeing that same history as described by those of another country is a real eye opener and a great way to learn more about events you thought you understood. This museum is huge and the displays/ information is well laid out. If you plan to just walk through it then maybe 90 minutes will do but to really see this museum and understand everything they present I would say 3/4 hours minimum, some might move slower or need a second day if you have trouble standing for longer periods of time. Cost seemed high to me when I checked it out online but once we saw it I understood the price was justified. One note though. Call first and see if they are expecting any school groups on the day you might visit. I school groups will be there go a different day as teachers and museum staff do not supervise students and it becomes a playground not a museum on those days

I loved the thoughtful presentation of Canadian history from multiple perspectives. My video-game obsessed teenager loved seeing real weapons, tanks etc up close and personal. A win-win really! Could spend several hours there, we only allowed 2.5 and there’s a lot we missed.

Our grandson is a war history buff and he couldn’t have a bigger smile on his face which reflected how happy he was to be there. Totally worth the entrance fee.

Overall experience was average relative to the admission price. Strangely quite a few of the displayed pieces are not well lit, the artifacts are frequently in dark shadows. There are some interesting large paintings as well as "nose art" on the ramp down to the lower level but the angle of these pieces means they have reflections from the exterior windows so can't be viewed properly. Most of the exhibits that used computer displays had multiple malfunctioning terminals (touch screens didn't work) or missing headphones. The adobe flash warning dialog box was appearing on some. A lot of the pieces are either uniforms or guns. I was hoping for a more varied display of technology. Rarely was the inside of vehicles shown. (Photos attached don't capture the mentioned issues.)

Really good - actually much better than expected! We went to the War Museum on a Thurs evening (pre book free admission on Thursday’s)…..this may have been a mistake as we thought 2 hours (5-7pm) would be enough time - it was not. Depends on your interest level but 3 hours would be recommended as there is a lot here! Contains exhibits that are well presented, interesting and better than just “items in a glass box” type of presentation - everything from complete history of war involving Canada to equipment, memorabilia, archival items - so very detailed. You can read as much or little as you want and still be engaged. That said it was insanely busy with school groups the night we went making it tricky to see some areas as it was crowded (and loud - very loud). Would recommend to almost everyone - kids who are studying a lot of this info in Social Studies to war enthusiasts.

CDN W M was excellent....... organized, staff courteous and helpful.... Printing off of tickets was a nuisance........no confirmation that the printing was complete.....and since my printer is on another floor it became an issue of whether the ticket printout had happened.

A very interesting take on the wars of the world from the point of view of Canadian involvement. Lots of wonderful material, memorabilia, and equipment, extremely well presented.