Diefenbunker: Canada's Cold War Museum

We're Open!

Find out what we’re doing to keep you safe.

When you’re ready, we’re ready for you.

We’re open! We look forward to welcoming you back underground.

Proof of vaccination and photo ID are required.

To ensure your safety, and that of your family, as well as our staff and volunteers, we’ve put extensive safety measures in place, changed how you purchase your tickets, and introduced some new ways to explore the Bunker.

Please read our detailed safety protocols on our We’re Ready for You page.

Diefenbunker Canada’s Cold War Museum is delighted to announce it has been awarded the #SafeTravels Stamp.

The Safe Travels Stamp is an international symbol designed to allow travellers to recognize governments and companies around the world, which have adopted health and hygiene, standardized protocols – so consumers can experience ‘Safe Travels’.

HOURS

New reduced hours

Wednesday – Friday: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Saturday-Sunday: 10:00 am – 3:00 pm

We suggest at least 1 hour to explore the museum. Please plan accordingly and arrive during your specified time.

Time slots are:

10:00 am
11:00 pm
12:00 pm
1:00 pm
2:00 pm (Wed-Fri only)

We strongly recommend buying tickets in advance to visit the museum.

Buy Tickets

*Proof of vaccination and photo ID are required.
*The Admissions desk closes 30 minutes before the museum closes. Tickets cannot be purchased after this time.

Holiday Hours and Special Closures

Statutory Holidays: CLOSED

See all holiday hours & special closures here.

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

DOWNLOAD OUR NEW AUDIO GUIDE

We have an informative free audio guide that gives the history of the Diefenbunker.

While there is now free Wi-Fi throughout the Bunker, we encourage you to download the audio guide to your preferred device before your visit. Don’t forget your earbuds/headphones!

Download our Audio Guide .mp3 in:

English/Anglais

French/Français

German/Allemande/Deutsche

Mandarin/Mandarin/中文

Arabic/Arabe/عربى

Inuktitut/Inuktitut/ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ

Russian/Russe/русский

Spanish/Espagnol/Español

About Canada’s Cold War Museum

The Diefenbunker is a massive four-story underground bunker, built between 1959 and 1961. During the Cold War, top officials were to take shelter here in the event of a nuclear war. It was active as Canadian Forces Station Carp until 1994.

Today, it operates as a not-for-profit, charitable museum with award-winning tours and programs.

Let’s learn more about the Diefenbunker from home with our collection of online activities and resources. You can explore:

If you have questions, let’s connect on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. We will happily answer any of your questions.

About the Cold War

The Cold War is the period between the end of the Second World War in 1945 and ends with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. It was a period of tense conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union and each country’s respective allies.

Learn more in this 2-minute video from Historica Canada explaining the Cold War and Canada’s role.

Shop Online

We’re very excited for you to browse through our new online Bunker Boutique! Here’s a peek at our online collection.
Shop anytime from home!

Caution Radioactive Material Toddler Tee

Take Shelter Baseball Shirt

One Nuclear Bomb Tee

Take Shelter Baseball Shirt

Keep shopping >>>

The Machine Room Virtual Tour

Did you know?

The bunker ran on hydroelectric power during its years of operation, much like it is today. In the event of a lockdown situation it was important that the bunker continued to be powered.
The machine room had 4 diesel generators to power the bunker. Only 2 generators were required to keep the bunker powered in an outage. The first generator would provide power to communications only. The second was to provide power to the rest of the bunker.

Click on the image to learn more about the machine room and all its functions. We also interview one of the employees who worked in the machine room.

Virtual Tours

You can view the Diefenbunker from any device and even with VR goggles if you have them! Click on the image to open the tour.

Machine Room

400 Level

300 Level

200 Level & Vault

Ways to Support

During the unprecedented times, we’ve had many people ask to help. Thank you.

As a private, non-profit museum, we depend on visitors for 75% of our operating revenue. We need your support now more than ever. There are many easy ways that you can best support us so we can continue to teach, inform, and inspire you through lessons learned from the Cold War. See below and click on the blue squares to follow the links!

We miss you all and can’t wait to reopen our blast doors and welcome you underground again.