benmia

My husband and I will be is Quebec City in early June and then will travel to Montreal. We do not want to have a car in either city, but are deciding whether to rent a car for a day and drive or take the train. Is there any where that we would want to stop or see along the drive? What would our best option for a car rental be and what would it approximately cost? Thanks in advance.

Daniel_Williams

Hi

It’s about three hours between the two cities on the fastest autoroute driving so depends if you want a longer day of it. Some people speak positively of driving the Chemin du Roy along the Saint Lawrence River although I’ve never done that so will leave others to comment.

Trois Rivières and Drummondville are about halfway along the way. TR is quite a historic small city (older than Montreal) although much was lost in a 1908 fire. I appreciated the small section that remains around the rue des Ursulines as well as the lively main drag on Ave des Forges. All quite walkable. Drummondville has a 3 x 3 block area that’s more historic, the rest is more modern residential development, so I’d be inclined to pick TR to explore if choosing between those two.

You could opt to head toward the Laurentians north of Montreal or areas like the Eastern Townships but this would make for quite a long day. You’ll note I’ve just done a trip report on Saint Hyacinthe which I quite liked and is en route and I’ve enjoyed hiking on Mont Saint Hilaire also but for these two, you’re getting quite close to Montreal so most travellers prefer to get to the city when they’re that close.

Bon voyage! Daniel