Downtown Montreal
As the centre of Francophone Canada, Québec truly stands apart from the rest of the country. Its French heritage flavours everything from its architecture to its cuisine, and there’s a vast area of wilderness to explore outside of the main centres Montreal and Québec City.
Although the winters sure are long – spring was still making up its mind on my rainy visit in May – Canada’s largest province is well geared up to cope, and its active resorts such as Tremblant work well year-round. Arguably the best time to visit is July-September, culminating in the colourful changing of the leaves.
Bridge & Wickers product director Rachel Gleave says the province is a great bet for families. The flight time is a manageable seven hours and there is a variety of experiences on offer, from whale watching to scenic rail journeys. And Gleave says it’s great for self-drives as Québec City and Montreal are just 150 miles apart and most points of interest are within a few hours’ drive.
Bridge & Wickers clients typically spend time in Montreal before heading to Québec City on one side of the Lawrence and then looping back on the other side, stopping off en route to explore rural regions, stay in cosy lodges and explore historic towns.
“As it’s only seven hours from the UK it could also be promoted as a long weekend destination, much like New York and Boston,” says Verity Rice, Hayes & Jarvis’s regional product manager for the US and Canada.
Rail packages are increasingly popular for Kuoni, whose new America & Canada brochure, out this month, includes more tailor-made tours and self-drive options featuring the province.
Québec also features alongside Ontario on Tauck’s new Canada’s Capital Cities plus Niagara Falls tour, launching later this month. Priced from £2,425, and available between May and October 2012, it includes two nights at both the Hilton Bonaventure Montreal and Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac in Québec City, along with experiences such as visiting a sugar shack and the stunning Montmorency Falls.
Montreal
The residents of Canada’s second-largest city sure like a party. Montrealers will wrap a festival around pretty much anything, from fireworks and burlesque to the comedy festival Just For Laughs, while nightlife centres such as Crescent Street are testament to their love of a tipple.
It’s a big foodie town and restaurants abound. High-end joints like Toque sit alongside local institutions such as Schwartz’s Deli, famed for its smoked meat sandwiches, and there’s no shortage of places serving up that Québecois staple, poutine – a hearty muddle of chips, cheese curd and gravy.
Montrealers are justifiably proud of their local food markets and Jean-Talon and its flashier sibling Atwater are great places to stock up before heading off on a Bixi rental bike down the St Lawrence River for a picnic (London’s bike rental scheme was modelled on Montreal’s).
If the weather’s good, quaint neighbourhoods like Le Plateau, with its vintage shops, boutiques and Victorian houses, are great for a rummage and a wander, while the Olympic Tower, on the site of the 1976 Olympic Games, offers cracking views over the city.
The historic buildings and cobbled streets of Old Montreal have starred in many a movie. The Place D’Armes is home to the impressive Notre Dame Basilica, while St Paul street staples such as Marché Boncouers indoor market cater to shoppers.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged their ‘give peace a chance bed-in’ at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth. These days good spots for celeb spotting include Hotel Le St James, while the Ritz-Carlton Montreal will emerge early next year from a £60 million revamp.
From Montreal, options include heading east on the Via Rail network to the beautiful Gaspe Peninsula, featured on Frontier Travel’s three-night Romance by Rail tour, or, more commonly, via road, rail or air to Québec City.
Quebec City
It’s hard not to love Québec City. As Sarah Jackson, Kuoni’s market manager for Canada, says: “It’s perfect for all ages and is great for first-time visitors but also offers a lot for people who have been before. It is also a perfect gateway for people wanting to explore farther afield.”
Founded in 1608, it’s North America’s sole surviving walled town and instantly recognisable thanks to the impressive Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac hotel, perched on a bluff over the old city.
Québec City is very easy on the eye and, smaller and more compact than Montreal, is great for exploring on foot. Steps and a funicular railway link the upper town (haute ville) with the lower town (basse ville), with its shops, cafe bars, galleries and restaurants. At night, costumed guides lead groups around the old town and the views over the Lawrence from the ramparts are magnificent.
Whale-watching tours on the Lawrence, offered by everyone from Kuoni (May-October) to Attraction World (£100 per adult and £50 per child), are a popular option. And beauty spots such as the Beaupre Coast, Island of Orleans and the Montmorency Falls – all featured in Attraction World’s Beaupre Coast and Island of Orleans option (from £45 per adult / £23 per child) – are within easy reach of the city.
If clients are visiting between January 6 and late March, Rice urges them to check out the Ice Hotel, a few minutes’ drive from downtown. “Clients can stay over, drink at the bar – even get married there,” she says.
The current talk of the town is the new scenic train service from Québec City to Le Massif de Charlevoix, which opens this month. The train skirts the Lawrence from Montmorency Falls to La Malbaie, home to the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu and a base for activities from horse riding to whale watching, and also serves the new ski resort of Le Massif. Operators featuring the train include Bridge & Wickers, which is offering it as part of a tailor-made package from £210 return.
The Le Massif train runs from Québec City to Le Massif de Charlevoix
Mauricie
Having had your fill of the two cities it’s time to hit the country. My taste of the great outdoors came courtesy of the Mauricie region, roughly midway between Montreal and Québec City.
Mauricie’s flagship property is Sacacomie. This monument to woodwork featured in the Johnny Depp flick Secret Window and it’s a top seller for Bridge & Wickers. However, the area abounds with cosy lodges, or ‘auberges’, offering homely accommodation, hearty fare and a packed range of outdoor pursuits.
A short drive from Québec City got me to my base for a few nights, the cosy Auberge Le Baluchon. The property’s main selling points are its food, the spa and its stable of horses. In between some relaxing spa treatments and great five-course dinners I managed to squeeze in some hiking and horse riding on the 15 miles of trails amid forests and pastures criss-crossed with rivers.
In winter, Le Baluchon offers non-motorised activities such as cross-country skiing and horse-sled tours. For clients who hanker for motorised activities like snowmobiling and quad biking suggest the nearby Auberge a L’eau Claire. With 157-rooms it’s larger and a bit more basic than Le Baluchon, but its new Pavillion rooms are lovely and the lake setting is gorgeous, with great fishing between May and October. Another draw is its big pool, while activities range from bear watching to walks with trappers.
I also checked out Lac Blanc, a rustic three-star set amid 3,500 hectares of forest. Owner Gaston is a real character and the place has a real warm, family feel, with just 15 rooms in the main building and 48 more in its cottages, although more are under construction.
Kids will love Lac Blanc’s Indian Package. Guests stay one night in the hotel, one in a teepee and take two days doing activities such as storytelling and canoeing. However, I chose instead to cap off my Québec journey with a seaplane tour off the lake, taking to the skies with local operator Hydravion.
Surveying the panorama of lake-dotted forests broken by the occasional lodge playing peekaboo amid the trees was the perfect end to a perfect trip.
Sample product
Bridge & Wickers offers a trip taking in Montreal, Québec City and Sacacomie Lodge in Mauricie from £1,756, valid until October 16. The price includes Air Canada flights from Heathrow to Montreal, domestic flights from Québec to Montreal, transfers, seven nights’ accommodation, three days’ car hire and return trip on Le Train du Massif de Charlevoix. bridgeandwickers.co.uk, 020 7483 6555
Hayes & Jarvis is offering a five-night, room-only package at the three-star-plus Delta Québec in Québec City from £799, including flights from Heathrow with Air Canada departing January 10, 2012. hayesandjarvis.com, 0871 200 2211
APT is offering reduced prices on some tours in its 2012 Canada & Alaska brochure. An eight-night Eastern Canada Highlights option, which includes two nights each in Québec City and Montreal, alongside Toronto and Ottawa, costs from £1,665 for departures between May and September. APT can also tack on a seven-night Holland America Line cruise from Montreal to Boston, priced from £1,600. aptgroup.travel, 0845 604 0792
