The Rideau Canal begins in the centre of Ottawa and runs south for 202 kilometres to Kingston, linking the Rideau and Cataraqui river systems, lakes and engineered channels. Its Ottawa locks sit beside Parliament Hill, where the waterway drops toward the Ottawa River; farther south, quiet lockstations and small communities reveal a different, slower landscape. It is easy to think of the canal as a green corridor through the capital, but it is also a functioning historic waterway. Parks Canada still operates its locks for navigation, and the route remains close to its original alignment and much of its nineteenth-century infrastructure.
UNESCO inscribed the Rideau Canal as a World Heritage Site in 2007. Its importance is tied to engineering and political history as well as scenery. Built in the early nineteenth century, it was designed as a strategic route that could move supplies between Montreal and the Great Lakes region without relying on the exposed St. Lawrence frontier. Today, boaters and paddlers use parts of the system for recreation, while walkers and cyclists follow paths beside its urban reaches. Visitors can experience the canal in several ways, but the scale of the full route is best understood by treating Ottawa as one gateway, not the entire waterway.