Side Trips

You don't have to travel far from Montréal to reach mountains, parks, or bike trails; in fact, enjoyable touring regions are a mere 30-minute drive from the city.

The Laurentians (to the north) and the Cantons-de-l'Est (to the southeast) have both seen the development of year-round vacation retreats, with skiing in winter, biking and boating in summer, maple sugaring in spring, and vineyard-touring and leaf-peeping in fall.

The pearl of the Laurentians (also called the Laurentides) is Mont-Tremblant, eastern Canada's highest peak and a winter mecca for skiers and snowboarders from all over North America. Development has been particularly heavy in the resort town here.

The region has dozens of other ski centers, too, with scores of trails at every level of difficulty, and many are less than an hour from Montréal. The area loses none of its charm in summer (and in fact gains some with thinned-out traffic); that's when ski resorts become attractive, green mountain properties close to biking, fishing, and golfing. It's even possible to participate in cattle roundups.

The bucolic Cantons-de-l'Est were known as the Eastern Townships when they were a haven for English Loyalists and their descendants; some Anglophones still refer to the region by that name by today. It's blessed with memorable country inns, former homes of early 1900s aristocracy, and the beautiful Lake Massawippi. As with the Laurentians, many of the same trails developed for winter sports are used for parallel activities in summer. The mountain of Bromont, for example, has marked paths for mountain biking, and Mont-Orford Park is the focal point for hiking trails linking six regional parks. Rock climbing, whitewater kayaking, sailing, and fishing are additional options, with equipment readily available for rent.

Because the people of both regions rely heavily on tourism for their livelihoods, knowledge of at least rudimentary English is widespread, even outside such obvious places as hotels and restaurants.