Québec
Independent Québec City and Montréal: People, Places, Culture
Program No. 20338RJ
Gain a comprehensive understanding of Montréal and Québec from experts, learning about the art, architecture, history and cuisine of these two great French Canadian cities.
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9 days
8 nights
10 meals
4B 2L 4D
2
Old Montreal
Montreal, QC
4
A Day for Food-Lovers, Montréal Boroughs
Montreal, QC
5
Basilica de Notre-Dame de Montréal, Transfer to Québec City
Quebec City, QC
6
Old Québec City, Chateau Frontenac, Music Tradtion
Quebec City, QC
7
Citadel, Plains of Abraham
Quebec City, QC
8
Île d'Orléans, Montmorency Falls
Quebec City, QC
9
Program Concludes
Quebec City, QC
At a Glance
Enjoy French Canada’s two very different cities — cosmopolitan Montréal and charming Québec City — and revel in the fine cuisine, history and artistry of both cities, with plenty of cultural insights from longtime residents.
Activity Level
Let's Go!
Urban walking of two miles or more over varied terrain; some stairs. Participants need to carry their own luggage and on the train each participant is restricted to one piece of baggage and one carry-on bag.
Independent City Discoveries
Learn with a Group Leader and enjoy educational programming while also getting substantial independent time to explore on your own. Most Independent City Discoveries include lectures, self-guided excursions and passes for public transit and museums.
Best of all, you’ll…
- Discover Québec, with its eclectic architecture, streets and monuments — eloquent, perfectly conserved testaments to its evolution.
- Delight in a day for food lovers that'll lead you on an adventure through the many flavors of Montréal, strolling along beloved Saint-Laurent Boulevard.
- Enjoy independent study time with the benefit of insight from our local expert, entry to five major museums and the Botanical Garden and a metro pass.
General Notes
This program is an active exploration of Montreal and Québec City and includes substantial free time and directions for self-directed excursions.
Featured Expert
All trip experts
Andrée Girard
Andrée Girard has been an active figure on the arts scene in Québec and in Canada for over 25 years. She worked as a broadcaster for CBC radio and television before becoming programming director for CBC French radio’s Chaîne culturelle for several years. She was also a founding member and director of the Conseil québécois de la musique. Over the course of her career, she has been associated with the creation of the Opus Prize, as well as the development of the Canadian Conference of the Arts.
Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.
Andrée Girard
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Andrée Girard has been an active figure on the arts scene in Québec and in Canada for over 25 years. She worked as a broadcaster for CBC radio and television before becoming programming director for CBC French radio’s Chaîne culturelle for several years. She was also a founding member and director of the Conseil québécois de la musique. Over the course of her career, she has been associated with the creation of the Opus Prize, as well as the development of the Canadian Conference of the Arts.
Sylvie Nadeau
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Born and raised in Montreal, Sylvie Nadeau loves Quebec's largest city, the province's vibrant, creative multicultural hub, which she has been exploring her whole life on foot, by subway and on her bike. A professional in the travel industry for over 30 years and a recipient of several awards honoring the quality of her work, Sylvie hosts and coordinates the activities of Road Scholar groups with competence and enthusiasm. Her funny French accent and infectious joie de vivre give all her programs and tours a very personal color. A sports enthusiast, Sylvie is offering a new series for active travelers in addition to the many programs she already coordinates, all highlighting the many colors of Quebec as presented by passionate Quebecers dedicated to sharing the richness of their unique Canadian Province.
Michel Jutras
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Originally from Montreal, Michel Jutras holds a master's degree in the management of cultural organizations and has extensive experience in leading educational excusions. Passionate about researching history, especially the history of the dietary and culinary traditions of Quebec, he is working on a large collection of ethnological texts, the first volume of which has already been published, while the second is currently being printed.
Marie Legroulx
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Marie Legroulx, a native of Québec City, has a bachelor's in history and a master's in Québec literature. She taught French and Québec literature at local universities for over 20 years. In 2008, she returned to college to become a professional in the tourism industry, and has since been leading historical, architectural and literary explorations. Québec history and language are topics close to her heart since she is a twelfth-generation Québécoise whose ancestors settled on the St. Lawrence River in the mid-seventeenth century.
Julie Bélanger
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A Montrealer by birth, Julie has diplomas in cultural animation and teaching. With her warm and dynamic personality, her prime objective is to share her passion and knowledge of Montreal and Québec City as well as little secrets of the living style of each community.
Françoise Baby
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Françoise Baby loves to share her enthusiasm about Montreal with visitors. She has a penchant for great food — her mother is French! — history, and architecture. What she enjoys most about being a local expert is interaction with Road Scholars. Her wish is that they come away with a cultural experience. The two most frequently asked questions Françoise gets are whether she is a native Montrealer and what is her favourite “thing” about the city. The answers are “yes”, and the multiculturalism that best defines Montreal.
Ian Beaulieu
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Ian Beaulieu is passionate about intercultural exchange. He has been involved in tourism for 20 years and has welcomed people from all over the world. It is his pleasure to help them discover Quebec culture. He specializes in both corporate and educational travel. He is an international group leader and pays particular attention to the quality of the meeting with the participants. A sportsman in his leisure time, he combines health and travel in order to share all the beautiful moments that life offers.
Suggested Reading List
(5 books)
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Independent Québec City and Montréal: People, Places, Culture
Program Number: 20338
Montreal & Quebec City Guide – Lonely Planet
Montréal and Québec City really serve it up. You've got old-world grandeur, new-world sensibilities and big-city charms - there's enough neighbourhoods, restaurants and festivals to keep you mon-dieu'ing for months. This guide, penned by a Montréal-based author, gets you straight to the action.
Pick & Mix: buy and download individual chapters from this book
You could download free: Introducing Montreal (Very interesting…)
Champlain's Dream
In this enthralling biography, acclaimed historian David Hackett Fischer brings to life the remarkable Samuel de Champlain—soldier, spy, master mariner, explorer, cartographer, artist, and Father of New France.
A People’s History of Quebec
A People’s History of Quebec is a lively guide to a little-known part of North American history. It tells of the settlement of the St. Lawrence Valley, but also of the Montreal and Quebec-based explorers and traders who travelled, mapped, and inhabited most of North America, and embrothered the peoples they met.
A short history of Quebec
A Canadian classic, A Short History of Quebec offers a concise yet comprehensive overview of the province from the pre-contact native period to present-day constitutional struggles. The authors bring a refreshing perspective to the history of Quebec, focusing on the social and economic development of the region and its diverse peoples.
Shadows on the Rock
Set in seventeenth-century Canada, an evocation of North American origins highlights the men and women who struggled to adapt to the new world even as they clung to the one they left behind. The novel covers one year of the lives of Cecile Auclair and her father Euclide, French colonists in Quebec.