Hotels near Canada Aviation and Space Museum

One very large hangar at a working airfield, holding more than 130 aircraft from a Silver Dart replica to a Lancaster bomber and the surviving nose section of the cancelled Avro Arrow, which is as close as Canada gets to a national what-if. Hours are simple and reliable: daily 09:00 to 17:00, open on statutory holidays except 25 December.

Admission is 17.25 dollars for adults, about 10.70 EUR, 15 for over-60s and students 25 and over, 12 for youth 3 to 17, free under 2, and 43.25 for a family of up to six with a maximum of two adults. Active military, veterans and Indigenous Peoples enter free, as does everyone on 1 July and 30 September. The detail that makes this entry worth its slot is that admission is free every single day from 16:00 to 17:00. Under the Canada Strong Pass, 19 June to 7 September, youth are free and 18 to 24 pay half.

The downsides are location and comfort: it is a bus or car trip rather than a walk, parking is 4 dollars an hour to a 9.50 daily maximum, and the hangar is cold in winter and hot in summer. Flight simulators and the virtual reality experiences cost extra. For children under eight the Canada Science and Technology Museum is the better of the two Ingenium sites.

Pro Tip: Arrive at 15:45, pay nothing from 16:00, and spend the free hour on the Second World War hall and the Avro Arrow nose. One hour is genuinely enough unless you are an enthusiast, and it turns a 17.25 dollar museum into a free one.