Ottawa Just Got 76 New Museums This Week & Some Of Them Are Pretty Random

Consider your summer plans sorted, Ottawa, because you can now visit a ton of new museums in the city, and it's not all just artifacts and paintings. On June 20, Ottawa Tourism revealed 76 unofficial museums for us to celebrate all of the culture and creativity in the capital region.

So, what exactly is an unofficial museum? Well, special museum status has been given to different festivals, attractions, venues and restaurants around Ottawa as a way to attract tourists to the city and highlight some hidden gems.

Did you know that Ottawa is home to seven of Canada's nine national museums? Now there are 76 new museums added to the roster, and some of them are pretty unique.

There's the Unofficial Museum of It's Not What You Think, which is actually just a BeaverTails visit, the Unofficial Museum of Zoning Out that takes you to Maple Island, and the Unofficial Museum of Taking a Good Selfie that will take you on a walk down the staircase behind Parliament Hill.

The museum status and fun names showcase local businesses in a new light and are also a way of reminding us of the creative fun we can have around the city. The Unofficial Museum of Treating Yourself, for example, is the small-batch ice cream shop, Moo Shu Ice Cream. Yum!

There's also the Unofficial Museum of Legendary Eggrolls at Ottawa's oldest Chinese restaurant, Golden Palace, or the Unofficial Museum of Unplugging at Nordik Spa-Nature, the largest spa in North America.

"We’re proud of our museums — they’re among the best in the world. By granting museum status to 76 grassroots institutions this summer, we’re showing the world the range of cultural experiences that Canada’s capital has to offer, and signalling to the world that Ottawa is ready for visitors," said the CEO of Ottawa Tourism, Michael Crockatt, in a press release on June 20.

From the Unofficial Museum of Airplane Mode that whisks you away to the Tavern on the Falls to the Unofficial Museum of Pizza by the Metre, where you can feast on massive pies, there are a bunch of stops to add to your Ottawa bucket list.

If you're visiting from out of town or are craving a staycation, there is also a "Third Night on Us" campaign where if you book three consecutive hotel nights through the Ottawa Tourism website, the third night is on them (but this is just for a limited time only).