Outdoors in Manotick

Manotick sits on the Rideau, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a working navigation channel, and most of what there is to do outdoors here follows from that. This page covers where you can actually put a boat in, which golf clubs will take a public tee time and which will not, what is in the parks, and what a fishing licence costs. Fees and season dates move every year — the ones below are the 2026 figures with a link to the authority that sets them.

Getting on the water

The village has more river access than most people realise, but only some of it takes a trailer. Hard ramps are at the Manotick boat launch off Bridge Street, at the Long Island Aquatic Club on South River Drive, and at Kars Community Park. Everything else on this list is a car-top, canoe or kayak launch, or a dock. Note that swimming is prohibited at Chapman Mills and that there is no supervised City beach anywhere near Manotick — the City runs four, all of them far away at Westboro, Britannia, Petrie Island and Mooney's Bay. The nearest real swimming beach is the unsupervised sand at Baxter Conservation Area in Kars, where the RVCA tests weekly for E. coli from mid-June to the end of August.

Long Island Locks and running the canal

Long Island Lockstation at 390 Nicolls Island Road is three locks in flight with a total lift of about 7.6 m and roughly a 45-minute transit — arrive at least an hour and a half before closing. There is overnight and day docking, potable water, washrooms, picnic tables and lockstation camping, plus the big stone arch dam. Phone 613-692-3030. Manotick sits at the top of the Long Reach, a lock-free stretch of roughly 25 miles, which is why the village became a milling site in the first place.

You need two separate things to run a powered boat here. A Pleasure Craft Operator Card is proof of competency and is required for any motorised craft, including an electric trolling motor. A Pleasure Craft Licence is a separate vessel registration, required at 10 hp / 7.5 kW and above. Neither is a canal permit — for the locks you buy a Parks Canada lockage permit, priced per foot of boat. For 2026: a single lock and return is $1.50 a foot, one day $2.25, six days $6.50, a one-way transit $6.00 and a seasonal recreational permit $11.25. Overnight mooring is $1.50 a foot and a seasonal recreational mooring $12.25. Lockage is free from 19 June to 7 September 2026 under the Canada Strong Pass. The 2026 navigation season runs 15 May to 12 October.

Speed and wake

The rule that actually governs the residential shoreline is federal: no power-driven or electrically propelled vessel may exceed 10 km/h within 30 metres of shore in Ontario. That covers the whole built-up stretch through the village and past the estate lots. Beyond that, observe posted limits and remember the RVCA's own warning at both its Manotick-area sites — this is a busy navigation channel, not a lake.

Golf: two private clubs in the village, and everything else is public

Manotick has two golf clubs and both are private. Rideau View Golf Club at 6044 Rideau Valley Drive North (613-692-4112) is an 18-hole par 72 dating to 1957. Carleton Golf & Yacht Club at 6627 Marina Drive (613-692-3531) is 18 holes, par 71, and member-owned; guests play with a member. Neither publishes green fees, because neither sells them. The other private clubs within reach are Ottawa Hunt & Golf (27 holes, founded 1908) and Hylands (36 holes). Everything else in the south Ottawa and Rideau corridor takes public tee times.

Parks, courts and rinks

Centennial Park at 5572 Doctor Leach Drive is the centre of gravity: the Manotick Arena and Community Centre, six lit tennis courts, four pickleball courts, two lit softball diamonds, soccer and multi-use fields, a play structure, a seasonal outdoor rink with washrooms and change space, and an approved sledding hill. David Bartlett Park on McLean Crescent is 35 acres at the north end of Long Island with canoe launches, barbecues and washrooms, and it carries the local off-leash dog area — dogs must be leashed south of the fence on the pathway, and may be off leash in the rest of the park. Other village parks: Chris Bracken Park (soccer, play structures), Bracken Field, George McLean Park (diamond plus a lit community-maintained rink), Echo Park on Marina Drive, and the passive river parks — A.Y. Jackson, Manotick Remembrance Park with its six memorial gardens and Veterans Walk, Anne Robinson Park and the Mill Street parkette.

There is no splash pad or wading pool in Manotick, and no City pool — swim lessons mean driving. In winter there are five community-maintained outdoor rinks in the ward: Centennial and George McLean in the village, Meadowbrook, Carsonby at the Harry Craig Centre, and Alfred Taylor in North Gower. All are community-run and unsupervised, so ice depends on volunteers and weather rather than a published date. Indoor public skating, family skating, adult 50+ skating and 18+ hockey all run as drop-ins at the Manotick arena.

Trails

The Chapman Mills boardwalk is 1.5 km of accessible riverside walkway on the west bank running to the foot of the Vimy Memorial Bridge — the easiest good walk near the village. Baxter Conservation Area in Kars has about 5 km through hardwood forest, wetland and meadow, with an accessible boardwalk and a mobility mat down to the water. The Osgoode Link Pathway is the local rail trail, running from Osgoode toward Leitrim Road. Further afield, the Rideau Trail runs 387 km from Kingston to Ottawa and the Ottawa-Carleton Trailway forms part of the Trans Canada Trail out through Richmond. There is also a published Manotick bicycle tour of about 55 km looping through Kars and North Gower on shared roadways and trail. Twelve public water-access signs marking kayak launches and fishing spots were installed around the village by the Manotick Culture, Parks and Recreation Association.

Fishing

The Rideau here is in Fisheries Management Zone 18. You will find largemouth and smallmouth bass, northern pike, walleye, muskellunge, yellow perch, black crappie and panfish. One local rule worth knowing: the muskellunge minimum size on the Rideau River is 112 cm, not the 91 cm that applies generally. Seasons and limits are reissued annually — check the current summary rather than trusting any page, including this one.

A licence is required, with exemptions for Ontario and Canadian residents under 18 or 65 and over (carry ID), Canadian Armed Forces members and veterans, holders of accessible parking permits, CNIB cardholders, and Indigenous people exercising Aboriginal or treaty rights. For 2026 the Outdoors Card is $8.57 and a one-year Ontario resident sport licence is $26.57, or $15.07 for conservation; a one-day sport licence is $12.21. There are several free fishing days each year. Shore and dock access is at Chapman Mills, W.A. Taylor, the Tighe Street stairs, Kars Community Park and the marked village access points.

The conservation areas, and the parking pass

The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority runs eleven conservation areas and charges parking at five of them, at $10 a day or $60 a year, payable on site or through PayByPhone. The two that matter locally are Baxter (7498 Carter Road, Kars — beach, 5 km of trails, interpretive centre, picnic shelter, a separate dog swimming area) and W.A. Taylor (3240 River Road — boat launch, fishing, nature trail). Chapman Mills and Richmond are free. RVCA's own head office is at 3889 Rideau Valley Drive, right here in the village. Further out, Rideau River Provincial Park at 2680 Donnelly Drive near Kemptville runs 8 May to 13 October in 2026 with 186 campsites, a boat launch and three docks.

Common questions