Canada · Ontario · Ottawa
Kanata, Ottawa — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Rink lights carry over low roofs in Kanata, a district of Ottawa west of the National Capital Commission Greenbelt, built around the Canadian Tire Centre.
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Where to stay in Kanata
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
Kanata puts a bed within reach of the Canadian Tire Centre, 22 km west of Ottawa's downtown core and outside the National Capital Commission Greenbelt. Match nights are the reason to book out here. The district's own centres of gravity sit along Terry Fox Drive and Eagleson Road, near Hazeldean Mall and the offices of the Kanata North Business Park, which is the ground you want if the working week rather than the capital brings you west.
Otherwise the calculation is simple. Stay in Ottawa itself when the days run downtown, and in Kanata when the arena or the business parks do.
Few places to stay in Kanata — most visitors book in Ottawa nearby.
About Kanata
What are the main landmarks in Kanata?
Kanata's landmarks stand along its arterial roads rather than around a square. The Canadian Tire Centre, opened in 1996 as the Palladium, carries the home games of the Ottawa Senators. Holy Redeemer Roman Catholic Church serves its parish from Rothesay Drive, and Hazeldean Mall, the first enclosed shopping centre built in Kanata, sits at Eagleson Road and Hazeldean Road.
Two names often filed here sit outside the district: Bell Centennial Arena stands in Bells Corners, inside the National Capital Commission Greenbelt, and CFS Carp, the Diefenbunker, lies in the rural village of Carp to the northwest. Neither is in Kanata.
What is the history of Kanata?
Kanata was planned before it was built, laid out from the 1960s on farmland in March Township as a garden city of separate neighbourhoods, each with its own centre. Beaverbrook, Glen Cairn, Bridlewood, Morgan's Grant and Kanata Lakes grew that way. Ontario incorporated Kanata as a city in 1978, drawing its ground from March Township and from parts of Goulbourn Township and Nepean, and that separate city lasted until 2001, when amalgamation folded it into Ottawa. The old line still shows.
Kanata Ward was split in 2006 along Highway 417 into Kanata North Ward and Kanata South Ward.
Where is Kanata?
Kanata occupies Ottawa's west end. Highway 417 runs through it, the Carp River drains the western side, the National Capital Commission Greenbelt closes the east, and Stittsville adjoins the south.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in Kanata?
Central Ottawa: Visitors whose days run in Ottawa's downtown core rather than the west end.
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Updated September 2026