It’s been a while (2019) since we’ve been to the Montreal area of Canada. But we made it during the early part of September 2023. In addition to Montreal our adventures took us to Three Rivers (halfway between Montreal and Quebec City, Kingston, and Ganonoque (gateway to the 1000 Islands). We biked about 130 miles during our time in Canada, with a lot of running and walking too. Overall, a very active trip with the Montreal portion being very hot (near 90 and humid most days).
We stayed at the Marriott Springhill Suites in Old Town Montreal. It was nice being right in Old Montreal as we step outside of our hotel. Old Town Montreal still has that European feel that allows you to sometimes forget that you’re still in North America. Although most people spoke at least some English, there was still plenty of French being spoken throughout the city.
We really enjoyed the Keg restaurant right next door to our hotel. We ate there twice, seating outside, observing all the tourists passing by on St. Paul Street . The salmon and the burger were both outstanding. After exercising most mornings and afternoons (running and biking) we usually walked all over Montreal in the evenings. Sometimes listening to various street performers, sometimes exploring different parts of the city (like the video below of a cook making something in a Chinatown window front).
When you think Montreal, you typically don’t think white water rafting. But some level 3 waves are actually on a small section of the St. Lawrence Seaway (did not take the phone/camera on the raft for pictures). The company, Rafting Montreal, really does a great job. Their equipment, process, and guides were all excellent. It was probably the favorite event our time in Montreal. We had a hot, sunny day and the cool water flooding in the raft through the rapids felt so good. Our guide gave us extra time to swim time at the end of our hour in the rapids, as we were the final trip of the afternoon and it was so hot.
We really enjoyed the extensive bike paths/routes throughout Montreal and beyond. Whether it was biking along a canal, the St. Lawrence Seaway, or the city streets there was so much to see and explore. Montreal is definitely a bike friendly city.
We decided to take a day trip to Three Rivers (about 1.5 hours north of Montreal) instead of Quebec City (having been there before). Three Rivers had a good bike path (Route 5) following the St. Lawrence Seaway and a nice, albeit small, historic section of town. They also had a very nice, new area where the three rivers converge. However, the downtown area was not too much to write home about.
We spent our last two days in Kingston, Ontario – on the way home from Montreal. We loved the Waterfront Residence Inn right in the heart of Kingston. We discovered a great restaurant called Wooden Heads Gourmet Pizza near the waterfront in downtown Kingston. The pesto pizza was incredible. In fact we wound up eating there both nights we stayed in Kingston (had some a great chicken salad the 2nd night).
Canadian beer, as a whole, is not at the top of my favorites list and the beer festival we tried upon arrival expectedly disappointed. However, the music wasn’t all that bad.
However, we really enjoyed our boat tour of the thousand islands. It was our first time seeing them and was very interesting and peaceful. The narrated tour explained the history and how people currently live on the islands.
Although we’ve been to Kingston once before (during a summer break period), it was this trip that we discovered what a major college town Kingston is with two universities in the city.
We really enjoyed our time in Kingston (again) as a convenient stop on the way home from Montreal. I’m sure we’ll be back again!
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