traveler123

I've been through New Hampshire and Vermont during the peak fall foliage season and really loved the scenery. I've had Montreal and Quebec City on my potential travel list, so I'm wondering if late Sept/early Oct would be a good time to go there? Is the fall foliage in the Quebec area as vibrant as in New England? I loved seeing the deep red and orange shades of the maple leaves.
Are there any good foliage routes to drive through (as day trips from either city)?

mountainmum

Yes the fall foliage is as good, if not better, than New England. Late September early October works. www.BonjourQuebec.com has a section that monitors the peak leaf time. The Eastern Townships, specifically the Sutton region is amazing for foliage, running chair lifts to the top of Mont Sutton for an even better view. Also this is 15 minutes from the premier Quebec Wine route. Vineyards are open for touring and tasting with many activities. Lodging can be booked through Hebergement Sutton. Great chalets or condos, fireplaces etc.As a plus the US dollar goes farther in Canada. You can fly into Burlington, VT (1 1/2 hours by car to Sutton) often much better deals than Montreal (1 1/2 hours also)

china_cat

Yes, Quebec City is quite beautiful in foliage season. I agree with mountainmum about the Eastern townships too. If your budget allows for a splurge, take a look at Manoire Hovey for a night or 2. Its marvelous, and the foliage on the lake is spectacular.

PamSF

AGree about the Eastern townships. A drive through them in and of itself is lovely. Just know..there is mostly French spoken there and in a dialect that is sometimes difficult to negotiate for us high school French taught folks.

Ackislander

The Eastern Townships are a surprise because most of the towns have English names and most of the people are French. One has to assume that they learn more English in school than we do French, but that does not mean they are comfortable using it (as many of us are reluctant to use our high school French or Spanish) or they may not use it for political reasons. Anyway, buying food and gas was something of a challenge.

Furthering PamSF: it _is_ a different dialect. When we were in Paris a couple of years ago, a French Canadian movie on television was subtitled into standard French, the way an English-speaking person with a heavy accent might be subtitled on the news. I understand vaguely that French Canadian sounds a lot like the French spoken several hundred years ago, as spoken Australian is thought to sound a lot like Shakespeare spoke!