Montreal to Quebec City
 

We will be spending 10 nights in Montreal next May/June.

I want to spend at least a day in Quebec City or more if I can swing changes to my Hilton stay (using points) without causing problems. The hotel is sold out for the dates we are there (Hilton Bonaventure). We could get in at the Doubletree but the Bonaventure seems to be better located.

What is the best way to get from Montreal to Quebec City? Train? Bus Tour? Cruise? or rent a car?

We will have a 1 yr old and this will be his first real "vacation" and ours with a kid!!!

We travel a lot and are pretty good at getting around but would prefer to use public transportation. I don't mind guided tours but I like the flexibilty of doing things on my own schedule.

How long does the trip between the 2 cities take??

Thanks in advance...I will be asking a lot Montreal/QC questions the next year while planning this trip!!

Thanks
Shannon

Taking the train from Montreal to Quebec City is a nice journey, but could be expensive. You'd better check out rates on the Via Rail website at http://www.viarail.ca.

A car really is ideal to get from one city to the other, and for day trips. The drive takes 2.5 to 3 hours, depending on how fast you drive and how often you stop. You can take Autoroute 40 on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, which IMO is more scenic, or Autoroute 20, which means you'd have to cross the St. Lawrence (through the tunnel) and cross back over the bridge at Lévis to get to Quebec City.

I would suggest spending at least 2-3 days in Quebec City. It's a beautiful city to visit and there are some really nice doable day trips (Montmorency Falls, Charlevoix region).

I hope that helps!

July 2006, just got back from Quebec and took the train from Montreal to Quebec City, one way. Purchased online, advance reservations, for 59CDN per person. don't know if they have any special price for infants. The scenery is not spectacular, but not ugly either. We thought it a bargain, since we did not want to pay to park a car in QC and the one way drop off charge would make car rental pricey. Another plus is the ability to have a taxi take you right to your hotel (we stayed at Clos Saint Louis in the upper old town) and have the driver help with luggage (my travel partner was mobility impaired for this trip. We packed a small "picnic" style lunch to eat on the train, but they rolled a cart by with a variety of snacks. With a small child, you'll probably need all the help you can get and you can play with your child on the train instead of strapping it into a child seat never to move for three hours.

Has anyone done this trip by bus in a day? Ive seen some guided tours. Im thinking of taking the VIA Rail for the day, there and back. Is that crazy?

We just booked the train R/T for one day from Quebec to Montreal. It will give us almost 6 hours to explore Montreal. We wouldn't want to do it if we were driving though.