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The Best Day Trips from Montreal, With the Transport Actually Checked

Montreal sits in the middle of a day-trip map most cities would kill for: two capital cities within train range, the Laurentians starting forty minutes north, a national-park beach you can reach on transit, and - for six weeks a year - the sugar shacks. The transport details below were checked against the operators in August 2026, because the difference between a great day and a stranded one here is usually a timetable.

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By Oliver10 min readPublished
Table of contents
The Chateau Frontenac above Quebec City, the greatest day trip from Montreal
Photo: Letartean · CC BY 3.0

In Brief

What are the best day trips from Montreal?

Quebec City is the king: about 3 hours 15 minutes by VIA Rail to the Gare du Palais or the same by Orleans Express coach from CAD 25, for the only walled city north of Mexico. Ottawa is closer at roughly two hours by train, Mont-Tremblant's pedestrian village is under two hours' drive north, and Oka's national-park beach is the summer swim. In March and April the answer changes entirely: that is sugar shack season, the most Quebec day out there is.

Key takeaways

  • Quebec City: ~3 h 15 min by VIA Rail or Orleans Express coach (15 daily departures, from CAD 25)
  • Ottawa: ~2 h by VIA Rail, around five departures a day - the easiest rail day trip
  • Without a car you can still do Oka's beach (exo bus and REM), Saint-Sauveur area coaches and the Townships by Limocar
  • Fort Chambly is the half-day sleeper: CAD 10 entry, 35 km out, youth 17 and under free
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The 10 best day trips, ranked

Ordered by how well they repay a full day - factoring travel time, what you can actually see, and how easy they are without a car.

  1. Quebec City, a day trip from Montreal

    270 km northeast · ~3 h 15 min by train or coach

    Quebec City

    The one unmissable trip

    The only walled city north of Mexico: Petit-Champlain's funicular lanes, the Chateau Frontenac above the St Lawrence, the Plains of Abraham and street performers all summer. It is a long day - the first train out and a 20:00 return give you seven-plus hours in the old town, which is enough to fall for it and start planning the overnight.

    Getting there
    VIA Rail runs about five trains a day from Central Station to Quebec City's Gare du Palais, averaging 3 h 19 min - book online early, since fares are dynamic and the good buckets go first. Orleans Express coaches match the time downtown-to-downtown with 15 departures a day from 6:00 to 22:00, from CAD 25 booked about a week out. Driving takes 2 h 45 min to 3 h on the A-20 or A-40.
    Find Quebec City toursGuided day trips and skip-the-line tickets
  2. Ottawa, a day trip from Montreal

    200 km west · ~2 h by train

    Ottawa

    Museums & Parliament

    Canada's capital compresses well: Parliament Hill's gothic Centre Block, the free national galleries and museums along Sussex Drive, ByWard Market for lunch, and the Rideau Canal - a skateway in deep winter, a boat channel in summer. Free-museum Thursdays and the tulip festival in May are the calendar bonuses.

    Getting there
    VIA Rail's Montreal-Ottawa run averages 2 h 04 min with roughly five departures a day each way - the most comfortable and most bookable rail day trip from the city. Driving takes about two hours on the A-40 and Ontario's 417.
    Find Ottawa toursGuided day trips and skip-the-line tickets
  3. Mont-Tremblant, a day trip from Montreal

    130 km north · ~1 h 45 min-2 h by car or bus

    Mont-Tremblant

    Mountain resort day

    The pedestrian resort village is a pastel-coloured pleasure machine at the foot of the Laurentians' highest peak. Summer brings the panoramic gondola (adult CAD 33, child CAD 22, mid-May to mid-October), the lake beach and the luge; winter is the ski hill itself with the village lit like a snow globe. Either season, the village costs nothing to wander.

    Getting there
    Driving the A-15 then QC-117 takes a bit under two hours. Without a car it is workable but wants planning: Autobus Galland runs the year-round intercity coach from the Gare d'autocars, and the Skyport shuttle serves Tremblant seasonally - its published winter season runs limited days, so check the current timetable before promising anyone a ski day.
    Find Mont-Tremblant toursGuided day trips and skip-the-line tickets
  4. Magog and the Eastern Townships, a day trip from Montreal

    120 km southeast · ~1 h 15 min-1 h 30 min by car or coach

    Magog and the Eastern Townships

    Lakes, wineries & fall colour

    Quebec's lake district with a New England accent: Magog's waterfront on Lake Memphremagog, Mont-Orford's Sepaq trails above it, Bromont's old village, and the Brome-Missisquoi wine route threading between them. In late September and early October this is the fall-colour drive within reach of the city.

    Getting there
    Limocar coaches link Montreal with Magog, Bromont, Granby and Sherbrooke - around 30 departures a day on the Sherbrooke corridor - with fares in the booking engine rather than published. Driving the A-10 east is the flexible option, and the only way to string the wineries together.
  5. Oka and its beach, a day trip from Montreal

    60 km west · ~1 h-1 h 30 min by car or transit

    Oka and its beach

    The beach day

    Parc national d'Oka's long sandy beach on the Lac des Deux Montagnes is Montreal's swimming hole, backed by pine woods, a calvary trail and paddleboard rentals. Sepaq's day fee is about CAD 10 for adults with children 17 and under free, which makes it one of the cheapest full family days in this list.

    Getting there
    By car it is under an hour via the A-13 and A-640. Transit genuinely works in summer: the REM to Deux-Montagnes then exo's bus 604 corridor toward Oka - check exo's seasonal beach-service page for the summer routing before you set out, because the last leg changes by season.
  6. Saint-Sauveur, a day trip from Montreal

    60 km north · ~45 min by car

    Saint-Sauveur

    Closest mountain fix

    A steepled village of restaurants and outlet boutiques underneath Sommet Saint-Sauveur, which flips with the seasons: night skiing and snow tubing in winter, and in summer Quebec's largest mountain water park plus the Viking alpine coaster. The cheat-code Laurentians day when Tremblant feels too far.

    Getting there
    Forty-five minutes up the A-15 into the lower Laurentians, by the operator's own reckoning - close enough that leaving after breakfast still buys a full day. The Galland Laurentians coach corridor serves the valley for the carless.
  7. Fort Chambly, a day trip from Montreal

    35 km southeast · ~40 min by car

    Fort Chambly

    History half-day

    A squat stone French fort from 1711 glowering over the Chambly rapids, with Parks Canada interiors on the fur-trade frontier - adults CAD 10, youth 17 and under free. The town wraps the visit with the Chambly Canal towpath and two of Quebec's best-known microbreweries. An honest half-day that pairs with an afternoon on the river.

    Getting there
    A forty-minute drive across the Champlain Bridge and down the A-10 and A-35 to the Richelieu River. Parking at the national historic site is CAD 6 for the day, card only.
  8. Mont Saint-Hilaire, a day trip from Montreal

    40 km east · ~35-45 min by car

    Mont Saint-Hilaire

    The hiking fix

    The Monteregian hill with the best summit-to-effort ratio near Montreal: an hour's climb through sugar-maple forest to the Pain de Sucre lookout over Lac Hertel and the plain, at its absurd best in the first half of October. The reserve's trails are the closest serious leaf-peeping to the city.

    Getting there
    An easy drive out the A-20 to the Gault Nature Reserve entrance - McGill University's mountain, not a Sepaq park, with its own entry fee at the gate. Arrive before mid-morning on fall weekends or the car park will decide your plans for you.
  9. A sugar shack in season, a day trip from Montreal

    30-60 km, various · ~45 min-1 h by car

    A sugar shack in season

    March & April only

    The most Quebec day that exists: all-you-can-eat tourtiere, oreilles de crisse, eggs in maple syrup, then taffy rolled on snow outside. The celebrity end is Au Pied de Cochon; the traditional family shacks deliver the same ritual for less. If your trip lands in maple season, this outranks everything else on the page.

    Getting there
    The cabanes a sucre cluster in the maple belt around the city - Rigaud, Mirabel, the Monteregie - and run roughly March to late April while the sap flows. A car is essentially required, and the famous rooms book out: Au Pied de Cochon's sugar shack in Mirabel releases its spring tables months ahead through its own reservation system.
  10. Burlington, Vermont, a day trip from Montreal

    150 km south · ~2 h by car plus the border

    Burlington, Vermont

    Two-country day

    A college-town Saturday in another country: the Church Street pedestrian marketplace, craft breweries that take beer more seriously than is strictly sensible, and the Lake Champlain waterfront with the Adirondacks across the water. The novelty of lunch in the United States is the point - and the reason to check everyone in the car has their documents.

    Getting there
    Two hours down the A-15 and Interstate 89 through the Champlain border crossing - bring passports, because this is an international trip and US entry rules apply in full. Weekend afternoon queues at the border can add anything from minutes to an hour, so cross early both ways.

Montreal to Quebec City: the day trip worth planning around

One trip on this page justifies building the whole itinerary day around it. Quebec City rewards the early start like nowhere else within reach, and the mechanics - checked against VIA Rail and Orleans Express in August 2026 - decide how much of it you actually get.

  • The train: VIA Rail from Central Station to the Gare du Palais, about five departures a day averaging 3 h 19 min. The Gare du Palais is the best-placed arrival station in Canada - you walk out of a 1915 chateau-style hall straight into the lower old town.
  • The coach: Orleans Express runs 15 daily downtown-to-downtown departures from 6:00 to 22:00, averaging 3 h 15 min, with fares from CAD 25 booked around eight days ahead - usually the price winner, and the frequency means a missed return is a shrug, not a crisis.
  • The car: 2 h 45 min to 3 h on the A-20 or the A-40. It loses to both on a pure day trip - parking inside the walls is scarce and the drive adds nothing the train window does not do better.
  • Shape of the day: out on the first departure, seven hours in the old town - Petit-Champlain and the funicular, the Dufferin Terrace boardwalk under the Frontenac, lunch inside the walls, the Plains of Abraham if legs allow - and a 19:00-20:00 departure home.
  • The honest caveat: this is the trip most worth NOT day-tripping. If your Montreal stay has a night to spare, sleeping inside the walls turns the best day on this page into the best 24 hours in eastern Canada.

Day trips from Montreal: FAQ

The questions travelers ask most when planning day trips from here.

Quebec City and Ottawa, without question - both are relaxed rail or coach days with proper frequency, and both stations land you in the middle of things. Beyond those two, transit thins fast but does not vanish: exo and the REM reach Oka's beach in summer, Limocar serves Magog and the Townships corridor, and Galland runs the Laurentians line toward Saint-Sauveur and Tremblant. The trips that genuinely need a car are the sugar shacks, Mont Saint-Hilaire and the winery routes.

Yes, and thousands do it every summer week: about 3 h 15 min each way by train or coach buys roughly seven hours in the old city on the early departures, which covers the walled town properly. The honest advice in the spotlight above stands, though - it is the one destination on this page that repays an overnight more than any saved hotel dollar, because the walls after the day-trippers leave are a different city.

Roughly March to late April, tied to the freeze-thaw rhythm that makes maple sap run, with the exact weeks shifting by the year's weather. Book before you fly if it matters: the famous rooms, above all Au Pied de Cochon's cabane in Mirabel, release tables through their own reservation systems and sell out far ahead, while traditional family shacks around the Monteregie hold space longer. No car, no cabane - they are rural by nature.

Yes - it is a full international border crossing into the United States, and every person in the vehicle needs a passport or an equivalent approved travel document, with US entry requirements applying in both directions. Build slack for the queue at the Champlain crossing, which can run from minutes to an hour-plus at weekend peaks. If anyone in the group has visa complications, keep the day in Quebec: Magog gives you the lakes-and-small-town feeling without the paperwork.

Quebec City for atmosphere - the old town under snow, with the Carnaval in early February, is the postcard Canada actually delivers. For activity, Saint-Sauveur's night skiing and tubing are 45 minutes away and Tremblant is the full resort day. The seasonal wildcard is late winter, when the calendar hands you the sugar shacks. The one to postpone is Oka, whose whole point is the beach.

Less than the equivalents from most big cities. Quebec City by coach starts at CAD 25 each way booked ahead, with rail dynamic above that. Fort Chambly is CAD 10 plus CAD 6 parking with under-18s free; Oka runs about CAD 10 per adult with children free plus transit or fuel; Tremblant's gondola is CAD 33. The expensive outliers are a celebrity sugar shack dinner and any last-minute train on a Friday - both solved by booking the week before.

Every trip on this page starts in Montreal

Each of these is a day out and back, so the thing that decides the whole trip is where you sleep between them and how far that is from the station. These go into the detail:

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Photo credits (10)

Photos via Wikimedia Commons, used under their respective licences.