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Nepean, Ottawa — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Nepean quarries cut the sandstone of Parliament Hill; this Ottawa district lies west of the inner core in Ontario, around Bells Corners and Merivale Road.
About Nepean
Where to stay in Nepean
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Nepean is not a separate booking market, and a room here is a room in Ottawa, chosen for its position west of the inner core. The area has run as part of Ottawa since 2001, so the capital's roads and transit are what carry a guest in and out. Distances inside Nepean are long.
The eastern side, close to Fisher Avenue and the Rideau River, shortens every run to Parliament Hill and the national museums; Bells Corners and Barrhaven sit further out, where the district reads as suburb rather than quarter. You might choose it for a car trip, quiet streets and easy parking rather than a walking holiday.
About Nepean
What are the main landmarks in Nepean?
Nepean keeps a domestic heritage list, weighted to farmhouses and small congregations rather than monuments. Kilmorie house on Withrow Avenue sheltered one of the area's earliest settlers, and Fairfields, a Gothic Revival farmhouse on Richmond Road, held five generations of the Bell family. Merivale United Church anchors Merivale Road.
Four further names belong to adjoining parts of Ottawa rather than to Nepean: Trinity United Church, Britannia United Church, The Olde Forge and 295 Greenview Avenue all stand roughly a kilometre beyond the district's northern edge.
What is the history of Nepean?
Nepean began as Township D, surveyed in 1792 across the ground west of the Rideau River. Its first town hall stood in Westboro, which Ottawa annexed in 1950, after which the township's centre moved out to Bells Corners. The name honours Sir Evan Nepean, a British under-secretary of state.
City status followed in 1978 and lasted until the 2001 amalgamation with the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, which folded the whole of it into Ottawa. The label outlived the council.
Where is Nepean?
Nepean covers roughly 217 square kilometres between the Rideau River on the east and Eagleson Road on the west, reaching south to Bankfield Road below Barrhaven.
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Updated September 2026