Thinking of summer vacation in Quebec or Edmonton? Which is better?
 

This is my first post to this board. My husband and I are looking for a fun, but cheap summer vacation to get away from the kids! We like sight seeing such as great views from high hills or mountains, shopping at quaint shops for crafts or things for the home, eating at small restaurants with great food, maybe small hikes along hill or mountain trails. We also love canyons, caves, boat tours, and train tours. We don't ski and we aren't much into the night life, because we don't drink. We are boring midwesterners, I'm afraid! We are interested in Canada. I've been doing some reading about Quebec or maybe Edmonton. Has anyone been to either of these in July? What did you especially like? Thanks for any help! Pomcoach http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

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Pomcoach

Edmonton itself is not much to see... but it is very close to Rockies, a couple of hours drive to Jasper. You can then visit glaciers there. If you go during summer months, you might also want to go to Calgary, which is 2 hour drive south from Edmonton. They have annual Stamped, a cowboy event.

Quebec City, on the other hand, is a French town. It is very European like, with Cafes and a Chateau. If is also close enough to Montreal so you can visit two cities in one trip.

If you are not into drinking and partying in cafes and bars... then Rockies is better choice.

You may stay at Jasper (next to Edmonton) or Banff (next to Calgary). You can enjoy hot spring tub while breathing fresh air from Rockies glaciers at the same time. I really enjoy it while I was there.

Canada is a nice country to visit. With current exchange rate of 1 to 1.6... everything is cheap up here. You also do not need passport to enter. You can pick up a rental car with your US driver's license at around US$20 a day, even cheaper than riding cabs.

If you have more specific questions, don't be afraid to ask. I am a Canadian who likes to travel...

You should also consider Niagara Falls, Ottawa Parliment, or Victoria gardens.

As a former Edmontonian for many years, I can fill you in on there. Edmonton is the capital of Alberta, located about 9 hours drive north of the US Montana border. Summers are generally warm (avg. 75-85 F) with long days and short nights in July.

There is the Edmonton Klondike Days festival which occurs usually in the 2nd-3rd weeks of July - it's a carnival celebrating the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898, which Edmonton had a minor part in. It has a large midway, parade, outdoor events. In addition, Edmonton has a number of other festivals all summer long - they usually have a week long Busker fair (street performers), an ethnic celebration for 3-4 days around the end of July and others that I'm sure you could check out on the web. In all, there is generally some type of festival happening each week during the summer. Another great one is the Fringe Festival - an internationally known event with about 100+ different plays from all types of troupes - very worthwhile if you are into live theatre, but I think that is in the August timeframe.

If you like shopping, there is West Edmonton Mall (WEM) - the largest shopping mall in the world (yes, bigger than the Mall of America) - indoor amusement park, hundreds of stores, theatres, restaurants, ice hockey rink, world class wave pool and water slide park, etc. Also a pretty good hotel for a couple of nights - check out the theme rooms for some fun! But book early!

Edmonton is situated in the middle of the Alberta prairies, so is kind of flat, although the river valley running thru the middle of the city is beautiful in the summer, with end to end walking/biking trails, etc. You will find Edmonton to be very friendly, very safe, and very family oriented.

Other attractions - Muttart Conservatory if you like flowers, the Science Museum is great for kids, art galleries, the Provincial Museum and and they have a very good farmer's market in the older area of town along with your quaint craft type stores.

The Rockies are located about 4-5 hour drive away - either Jasper (which is way less crowded) directly west, or Banff (very crowded and expensive in the summer) which is southwest thru Calgary. If you are looking to stay in the mountains, go to Jasper over Banff. Scenery is just as pretty but Banff is a huge Asian tourist site - overhyped in my opinion. Jasper is less developed/spoiled, cheaper and less crowded as mentioned.

The glacier tours are located about halfway between Jasper and Banff - you travel up to and onto the glacier in a bus on some of the biggest tires you've ever seen! A nice trip for sure. But to get there, is the long way around from Edmonton to Calgary!

The "foothills" are halfway to the Mountains and give you great views, lot's of hiking trails and probably even cheaper. Check out Hinton and Edson as a couple of towns on the way to Jasper.

Calgary is a worthwhile stop also (3 hour drive south of Edmonton) - it does have the Calgary Stampede which is the biggest Rodeo in Canada and worth a visit. It usually starts the first Friday in July and goes for 10 days. (Klondike Days then begins in Edmonton the first Friday following the Stampede!) If you want to go to the Stampede to see the Rodeo events, I'd suggest booking some tickets soon as they go fast for the good seats. You can do that from any web browser - just type Calgary Stampede and navigate from there.

From Calgary - you can see the mountains and can be in Banff in an hour and Lake Louise is another hour's drive. And LL is one of the most beautiful sites in North America! Plenty of hiking trails, etc. Try for at least 1 night in either the Chateau Lake Louise (small rooms but a wonderful experience in terms of scenery and great food), or the next door Deer Lodge hotel (even better food in the attached restaurant).

Overall, Edmonton/Calgary is a very nice trip and introduction to western Canada. Since you're from Iowa, you will see alot of similarities in the land and the people - big blue skies and friendly faces wherever you go.

On the other hand, Quebec (Montreal, Quebec City) is a completely different experience and one not like anything else in Canada or the US. Quebec City is the capital of Quebec (the province), a very old city that looks and feels very European as noted by MoreMiles. Great food and drink, but very very French. They are more accomodating to Americans speaking English than they are to Canadians who don't speak French! http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/cool.gif

If you go to Quebec, definitely split your time between Quebec City and Montreal. Montreal is much larger (3rd largest city in Canada) and is very cosmopolitan in nature, more things to see/do in terms of sites, events, bars/restaurants, entertainment, etc. Quebec City is a much smaller and more provincial type city. But you can't go wrong in choosing either city if you want to eat well, see the history of French Canada and enjoy Europe without the costs!

Situated next to both is the Laurentians, which is the eastern mountain range - plenty of hiking, biking, etc out there.

It's really 2 very different choices you have to pick from. Either way, you should have a great time, especially with the value of the American dollar in comparison to Canadian - you will find prices to be the same number but you will have almost twice as much money in your pocket to spend!!

Enjoy yourself.

ps - email me if you have more questions about Alberta in particular. And if you do go to Edmonton, be sure and check out the Blue Pear cafe - some of the best food I've had in a long time (and not just because my younger sister is one of the chef's there - it's consistently ranked in the top 3 restaurants there!).

[This message has been edited by NeverAtHome (edited 02-12-2002).]

[This message has been edited by NeverAtHome (edited 02-12-2002).]

Thank you both, so very much for the myriad of information and time you put into answering my questions. You both have been so helpful! At the present time, we have 1/2 way decided to fly into Montreal and divide our 9 days between Montreal, Quebec, the Laurentian Mountains, and possibly whale watching in Tadoussac. Everything in Canada just sounds so wonderful; it is very hard to decide. I took French in highschool and college. I would love to hear it spoken again. Montreal and Quebec sound very lovely and romantic. We plan to stay at the Marriott Chateau Champlain in Montreal and in Quebec at the Radison Hotel des Gouverneurs.
Canada all sounds too good for just 1 vacation, so we may go again, next summer, to a different part of Canada. I am saving both your comments for future reference. Thank you so much! Pomcoach http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

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Pomcoach

... I took French in highschool and college...
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As an American tourist, if you have the ability and interest to try and speak, even a little bit of french, you'll certainly experience the warmest hospitality and appreciation from the people of Quebec that you could imagine. NeverAtHome's comments about Quebecers and Montreal residents are correct, but if you can attempt even basic french, your visit will undoubtably be enjoyable.

mpc1

Glad to help Pomcoach.

Enjoy your trip to Quebec. You are sure to have a good time.

-NeverAtHome-

I am going to the library this weekend to get some tapes for practicing my French. I cannot wait to hear it spoken again! My French will be pretty poor, I'm sure, and I'll be quite timid to try it. I'm sure I'll sound like a fool and say the wrong thing. But I want to try and laugh at myself anyway. Just hope nobody gets mad at me for saying things poorly! Thank you both again for all your help! Pomcoach http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

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Pomcoach

Actually, Montreal is by far the 2nd largest city in Canada, not 3rd. Vancouver is the 3rd biggest and not even half of the population of Montreal.

Glad you choose Quebec, Summer is fun here. Alberta is more the Rookies and the Great Nature like Banff and Jasper whereas the cities themselves could be kind of 'boring' because they are more business oriented than for tourists.

I sure cannot thank you all enough for all the information. We have finally got our air tickets to Ottawa. We fly into Ottawa, and will maybe see the Parliament there if we have time. Then we'll drive to Montreal for 3 days, then Quebec City for 4 days, then back to Ottawa, and fly out in the morning. Right now, I'm busy trying to get our rooms on Priceline. So far, I've just booked the first and last night in Ottawa at "Arc The Hotel" for $40. I'm trying to keep costs down. Montreal and Quebec City look much more expensive than Ottawa. Once I get the rooms buttoned up, we'll start to plan our itinerary for each day. It's very exciting. It'll be our first time out of the U.S. Thanks to everybody for all the help! Pomcoach http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

Montreal, Quebec, and Ottawa are all excellent choices. You would, however, be spending a great deal of time in the car, and the drive from Montreal to Quebec is both long and not terribly interesting.

If you were looking to spend a few days in a delightful area, consider the town of North Hatley, Quebec. It's about 90 minutes (maybe less) from Montreal, in a particularly pleasant setting on Lake Massawippi, surrounded by green hills. During the day, lots of places to hike and explore (or rent a canoe and explore the lake), and you'll find loads of extremely nice B&Bs and restaurants as well. North Hatley is in a historically-interesting region called the Eastern Townships -- an area where many colonists loyal to Britain relocated during and just after the American Revolution.

Thank you very much Wideman,
I will get out the map and look at all these driving distances. North Hatley sounds to be exactly what we're looking for. We like history and small hikes and views. I'm so glad you told me! Pomcoach http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

Guava, I stand corrected on city populations - not sure why I thought Vancouver was bigger than Montreal.

The term we Albertans affectionately use is the Rockies. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...um/biggrin.gif

Pomcoach, North Hatley might not show up on every map. It's about 10 (16km) miles ESE of Magog, and Magog is roughly 60 miles (100km) east of Montreal, just off Hwy 10.

We stayed at the Manoir Hovey, which was a comfortable enough place.

Eastern Townships is about 2 hours from Montreal. Personally, I wouldn't recommend there as there are better places that worth visit. If you are into history:

1) Quebec City - Vieux Québec: If you don't belive that you find yourself in Europe just after a few hours of driving, you will believe when you see it. There is a fully array of museums, historical buildings. If you come in July, you may catch la Fête de Nouvelle-France (New France Festival)celebrating the history of Quebec as a French colony some 300 years ago. People would dress in traditional costumes throughout the old part of Quebec city.

2) Montreal - Vieux-Montréal

Not as big as Old Quebec but a few streets packed of old style of buildings mostly dated back in the 19th century or early 20th century with lots of cafés and restaurants. Worth half of day at least.

If you are into nature:

Consider Mont-Tremblant, about 60 minutes north of Montreal. This is a world famous mountainous town for great nature, not as spectacular as the Rockies but it's different. Enjoy great hospitality and the Laurentian forrests. But if price is a concern, you need to calculate your costs carefully as this is a world famous site, things aren't cheap.

Everything sounds so wonderful in Canada! I have been so busy teaching that I haven't really looked at maps and things to do in the cities. I need to get a good map of Quebec from the AAA today. If you happen to know, and don't mind me asking, is Mont-Tremblant closer to Montreal or to Quebec City? Could we leave Montreal and stay 1 night in Mont-Tremblant, and then go on to Quebec City? I also need to see what there is to do in Mont-Tremblant. We love old fashioned train rides too and beautiful scenery and views, small hikes, that kind of thing. It all sounds so wonderful, I can't wait!
I have been bidding on Priceline for our rooms in Montreal and Quebec City. Maybe it's good my bids haven't been accepted so far. Maybe we'll stay in North Hatley or Mont-Tremblant for a night or 2. I just checked Priceline for Mont-Tremblant, and they have up to 2 1/2* hotels. We need to use Priceline as much as possible to keep our costs reasonable. Thanks again for everyone's help. Au Revoir! Pomcoach http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif