Road-trip, Detroit to Québec!

So, thinking of travelling from Detroit to Québec, "La Belle Province"?

The 401 can be (and will be!) boring - so, you've been warned! We always recommend "first-timers" to stop around Toronto or Niagara Falls for a day - alternate the destination on the way back from Montréal; this will make the trip more enjoyable.

Past Toronto east, the larger big city will be Kingston - this is also close to the head of the "Thousand Islands" - and I recommend the 1000 Islands Parkway rather than the highway if the weather is beautiful and want to take a break. You can take a boat ride in Gananoque to enjoy some fresh St-Lawrence air, and get out of the car.

Past Kingston, the next city of importance is Cornwall - and then Montréal.

Montréal:

Historic Old Montréal:

Old Montréal is a must-see location for its amount of historic buildings. This is a nice walkable area - and you can stop for a crêpe at "Crêperie Chez Suzette" in Old Montréal - . There is the Montréal Science Center on King Edward Pier, at the end of St-Laurent Blvd.
A fun place to eat is "Le Cabaret Du Roy", a restaurant that offers period-style (ie, 17th century!) food and entertainment. It's an evening thing...

A nice museum to get an idea of Montréal's historty is "Pointe-À-Callière" - it's located in modern building.

Notre-Dame Basilica on Notre-Dame and St-Sulpice is a great looking cathedral, from the inside as well as the outside.

Montréal by foot:

• Ste-Catherine Street
• On Ste-Catherine street, mainly a shopping district, you'll find a variety of stores - notably, Mexx is not available in the region of Detroit, nor is Simon (which is headquartered in Québec City).
• St-Laurent Street:
• This street divides the East ("French" area) from the West ("English" area) of the island. North of Sherbrooke is a fun walk, with plenty of little cafes to stop in. You'll find as well some side streets which are pedestrian - Prince Arthur Street is well known for terrasse restaurant dining.
• St-Denis Street:
• As well as having restaurants, St-Denis steet (north of Sherbrooke) also has design and fashion stores that are fun to explore.
• Montréal Chinatown:
• Just off Old Montreal, north of Autoroute Ville-Marie on St-Laurent Blvd, is our local Chinatown. It's always fun to travel around the world - just around the corner!

Vistas, Olympic Stadium and Botanical Garden:

The Olympic Stadium area is also a nice place to stretch your legs; you can get to the top of the mast of the stadium, and take on the vista - surely, it was more fun when there was actually a baseball team playing in the stadium. It's also adjacent to Montreal's botanical garden, which about 15 years ago added a Japanese garden section.

The Biosphere Environmental Museum, on Ile-Ste-Helene in the St-Laurent river, is the USA pavilion for the World Expo of 1967. It's a great environment-theme stop.

A nice stop in Montréal is the Mont-Royal Park - it's a great, green space to take a walk and take pictures. The movie "The Whole Nine Yards" was filmed in Montréal, and some scene are from there, for instance at the Belvedère on the mount. The university I attended to is on the north face of that park.

Foodies:

• For a bite, we like Reubens for a "Smoked Meat" sandwich - aka, a Reubens, but without the gooey sauerkraut... and with mustard - not Thousand Islands or Russian dressing!
• The Bar-B-Barn, on Guy Street, is a meat-lover spot for its ribs and steaks...
• For breakfasts, you can trust locations such as "Eggspectation" and "Chez Cora" - they have healthy (& hearty!) menus.

For treats, be prepared to taste something different - ketchup-flavored chips, dill pickle-flavored chips... "this is not Kansas anymore"...

Montreal Events:

In August, you just missed the Just for Laugh festival, which is really, really fun...!

The road to Québec:

I suggest you travel by Highway 40 - it's more picturesque once you pass Trois-Rivières (Three Rivers) - one of our favorite stops off that highway is Deschambault.

The small church, built a few hundred years ago, on a cliff near the river, has a gorgeous park that provides great photo ops.

There's also a greasy spoon (Casse-croute du Cap) where you can stop to pick your lunch, and enjoy on the picnic tables on the church's ground.

Quebec:

Well, that's a destination in itself - Old Québec is a walled city!

Old Québec is identified as "Haute-Ville/Upper Town" - where the Château Frontenac is located - and "Basse-Ville/Lower Town" - where you'll find "le Petit Champlain", a charming cluster of buildings stuck in time. Place Royale is found there, and many places that you'll want to stop in: the Lower portion is the oldest continuously inhabited colony north of the 45th parallel!

You'll find a few ways to connect the lower town to the upper - a Funiculaire and the famous "Escaliers Casse-Cou" (loosely translated to "stuntman's staircase" as these have been fairly steep in earlier versions!). While in the Haute-Ville, don't miss Paillard - a great pastry shop on St-Jean street.

Quebec Shopping:

Hidden among the usual "tourist" shops in both Old Québec and Old Montréal, you'll find a medieval boutique - Excalibur, on St-Jean street in Québec, and St-Paul street in Montréal - which should be entertaining.

Day-trip out of Québec:

From Cap Diamant (where the Chateau Frontenac is located), on the Terrasse Dufferin, you can look out to Ile d'Orleans (an island) - this island is also a nice day-trip out of Quebec, in particular Sainte-Petronille and St-Jean-de-l'ile-d'Orleans. The island is also close to Chute Montmorency (Montmorency Falls) - making the day-trip more valuable.

You can come back to Montreal by Highway 20, but as highway 40, once you've cleared Quebec, it's fields. You'll get a different vista coming back to Montreal, and you'll see Pont /Jacques-Cartier and downtown Montreal, with mount Mont-Royal as a backdrop.