If you live in the Northeast Corridor, the easiest way to travel internationally and feel like you’ve gone to Europe without crossing the ocean is a quick one-hour flight to Canada. This is especially the case if you’re traveling with kids and you don’t want to deal with time zone changes and transportation logistics. I’m not just recommending this trip for the ease of travel though, Montreal and Quebec City are great places to visit, with amazing food and lots of kid-friendly activity. The itinerary below is based on two nights in Montreal and three nights in Quebec City with a ten and six year old. We took a Via Rail train between the two cities to avoid renting a car and needing to figure out parking once arriving in our destinations.

The Practical Takeaways

• Montreal and Quebec City are a great summertime trip with kids – you can’t beat the Canadian weather in August.
• Receive a stamp in your passport (don’t forget those!), brush up on your French, and enjoy the quaint cobblestone streets in Old Montreal and Quebec City.

Montreal

Accommodations

We stayed at the Saint Sulpice Hotel in the heart of Old Montreal. It’s ideally located – you can walk to any destination within Old Montreal and easily access public transportation. The room layout is somewhat awkward with a narrow hallway, but it is a good option for families. There is a bedroom with one bed and a living room with a pull out couch. Our room was ready right away and the service was great throughout our stay.

Food

Montreal is known for its culinary scene and the options are limitless. The list below is based on having just two days. This is simply not enough if you’re there for the food. Also, I’m not commenting on Montreal bagels. The New Yorker in me struggled with an opinion on these, though we did enjoy some from La Fabrique de Bagel while at the train station.

• Soda and Slice: This was our first stop when we were tired and hungry after travel. It was good New York style pizza and the homemade sodas were fun to chose from. It’s a bit hard to get seating, so be prepared to stand and eat if you can’t grab stools.
• Tommy Cafe: This breakfast place is beautiful and the food is equally photo-worthy – and (more importantly) tasty. The couple sitting next to us told us they visit Montreal frequently and always stop here for breakfast. We decided to pass on the french toast with cotton candy and lucky charms.
• Schwartz’s Deli: This is on every list of places to eat in Montreal. It’s clearly a favorite for locals and tourists alike. There are two lines: one to eat inside and one for sandwiches to go. We opted for corned beef sandwiches to go and ate them at a playground in Plateau Mont-Royal. We found these just as good as New York’s Second Avenue Deli but in a much more reasonable size. (For more on our New York recommendations, visit my NYC blog post).
• L’Usine de Spaghetti: We loved our dinner here! I had the lamb chops with spaghetti and lemon – a combination I don’t believe I’ve seen anywhere else. The location was perfect for strolling with ice cream through Old Montreal after dinner.
• Olive and Gourmand: We waited in line for breakfast before Olive and Gourmand even opened. We didn’t think any breakfast could be better than Tommy Cafe – then we ate here. I can’t even begin to describe how good this breakfast grilled cheese sandwich was!

Activities

We packed a lot in for a short period of time. With more time, we would have gone to the top of Mount Royal Park and Biosphere, and perhaps walked more neighborhoods. All of the places below were within walking distance of our hotel except for Jean Talon Market – we (partially) walked there from Schwartz’s Deli (which we got to by taxi) and then took the subway back to Old Montreal.

• Montreal Science Museum: The kids were thoroughly entertained here. The exhibits are very interactive and experiential, such as the kaleidoscope tunnel. And truly, you can’t go to Canada without visiting an exhibit on the science of playing hockey!
• Jean Talon Market: This open air food market was full of fresh berries and and never-ending rows of bright peaches, apricots and plums. We picked up multiple cartons of blueberries and ate them all as we walked through the stalls.
• Saint Basilica Aura Show: You can visit the Basilica during the day, but we chose to purchase tickets for the Aura Show at night. Lights are projected with corresponding orchestral music for a multimedia display, highlighting the gothic architecture. It’s quite a unique show. Note: line up early for good seats. You should sit somewhere in the middle so you aren’t craning your neck up front for the full view.

• Voiles et Voiles: When we mention Montreal, this is what our kids bring up first and it continues to be one of the most memorable experiences. Voiles et Voiles is a pirate ship themed ropes course along the waterfront with a cityscape backdrop behind it. There are various levels, from easy routes for toddlers up to the double black diamond course. After completing a level, they permit you to move up to the next challenge. After achieving the first few levels, my daughter (10), her friend (9), and my husband, tried the double black diamond. This was not for the faint of heart. At times, I closed my eyes as they struggled to make it from log to log at 35 feet in the air. But, THEY DID IT and had never felt so proud….and exasperated!
  
  Note: Bring water and snacks to refuel. Also, the only way to bring a phone/camera in is by sneaking it in a zippered pants pocket. Bags and all other items are locked in a storage area.

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Quebec City

Quebec City is quaint, picturesque, and welcoming. It is also extremely walkable, as long as you factor into your planning the steep hike between upper town and lower town. While the two areas are adjacent to each other, maps are deceiving when taking into consideration the climb it takes between them. If you don’t have physical limitations, the walk is very doable, and our kids even had fun racing up and down the steep pathways, but you probably won’t want to do it multiple times throughout the day.

Accommodations

We stayed in an AirBnB in the lower area. I would highly recommend this location and apartment. With two bedrooms and lots of light, it gave us plenty of space to spread out and feel comfortable – particularly in the morning and when we needed an afternoon break. The building may have been over 100 years old but there is a tiny elevator and the apartment is freshly renovated. Also, we were able to walk to it from the train station with our luggage.

Food

Like Montreal, you could spend days eating your way through Quebec City. There were many places on my list that I’ll have to save for next time. For breakfasts we ate in the apartment and for lunches we stumbled upon convenient places near activities. The two places below for dinner were outstanding and I highly recommend. Both required advanced reservations.

• La Buche: Everything about this restaurant is fun. The food is fun (they have poutine on the kids menu!), the atmosphere is fun, even the bathrooms are fun (our kids may have had to go at least three times throughout the meal just so they could use the sink again). I expected it to feel touristy, and while everyone there was likely a tourist, it felt like an authentic Canadian experience.

• L’Orygine: This restaurant was a bit of a leap for us. It was extremely expensive and not terribly kid friendly, but I’d made the reservation after reading about how amazing the food was. It was worth it. We had some of the best and most interesting food we’d ever eaten anywhere. The menu is seasonal and creative – I had the steak with blue cheese, carrots, broccoli, and crispy shallots, pictured below. While fancy, nothing felt pretentious and, upon request, they adapted menu items, including drinks, for the kids.

Activities
We did a lot of walking through the obvious destinations, including Chateau Frontenac, Dufferin Terrace, and Rue du Petit Champlain. In addition to these places/activities, we also enjoyed:

• Changing of the Guard: Sticking with the theme of “Europe lite,” here’s a chance to see the changing of the guard without going to London. Soldiers in their scarlet regimental dress replace the the guards at the Citadelle entrance after a 24 hour duty. Advance tickets are required for the 10am musical performance.

• Grand Feux Loto-Quebec (i.e. Fireworks): Every Tuesday and Thursday night in August, Quebec City hosts music and fireworks in a park along the waterfront. This is free, open to the public, and a fun way to end the day. The fireworks display does not start until 10pm. Our kiddos were pretty tired but determined to stick it out for the show.
• Museum of Civilization: This museum was a perfect indoor activity for everyone. It was hard to pull the kids away from all the nooks and crannies in the “My Place” exhibit – we only got them to leave because the museum was closing.
• Benjo/St. Roch neighborhood: Benjo is the Quebec version of FAO Schwartz – a big toy store with interactive areas. While the store itself is fun, it gave us a destination in a neighborhood away from the tourist center to explore. There were plenty of lunch spots and coffee shops around.
• Half-day trip to Montmorency Falls, the Island of Orleans, and the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré: We signed up for a bus tour to take us to all three destinations. Montmorency Falls, impressive and higher than Nigagra Falls, was definitely the highlight. Because we were on a bus trip we had little time to explore or take the cable car ride. You can also see the falls from a boat and it’s is only a 20-minute Uber ride from Quebec City.

A Few Extra Tips

• We had a difficult time finding a market to buy breakfast food and snacks for the apartment. Eventually we found this cute convenient store that carried some essentials. I’d only wished we’d known about it sooner.
• I have some regrets about not renting a car to drive from Montreal to Quebec – this would have allowed us to do some excursions in the providence beyond the city and at our own pace.
• We did not realize that the funicular in Quebec City was cash only for a 30 second ride to upper town. We did this one time – otherwise we walked.
• A trip to Montreal and Quebec City is not complete without shopping at Roots. My daughter and I wear our matching comfy Roots sweatshirts every weekend.
• For another easy trip from the east coast to take with kids, visit my post on Puerto Rico.