Downtown Ottawa is the central area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Like other downtowns it is the commercial and economic centre of the city. It is sometimes referred to as the Central Business District and contains Ottawa’s financial district. It is bordered by the Ottawa River to the north, the Rideau Canal to the east, Gloucester Street to the south and Bronson Avenue to the west. This area and the residential neighbourhood to the south are also known locally as ‘Centretown’.  

The downtown also contains a number of apartments, hotels, and condominiums as well as the older single family homes and townhouses along its edges. From Wellington to Laurier, Elgin Street is the site of several landmarks, the Château Laurier, the National Arts Centre, Lord Elgin Hotel, Shaw Centre, the Ottawa Courthouse, and Ottawa City Hall. The downtown employs about 100,000 people and currently holds around 20 million square feet of office space.  

East of the canal, but west of King Edward Avenue, including the Rideau Centre and the ByWard Market, is also normally considered downtown, and is referred to locally as ‘Lowertown’. The residential neighbourhoods around the central business district are also generally referred to as being downtown. These include Centretown to the south and Sandy Hill and Lower Town to the east. North of the Ottawa River the centre of Gatineau, Quebec can be considered an extension of Ottawa’s downtown.