Montreal in 7 Days: Budget + Day Trips
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7 days: the city, then 5 day trips across Quebec and eastern Canada
Two days in Montreal, then five day trips: Quebec City, Ottawa, and Trois-Rivières by VIA Rail, plus the Eastern Townships and Mont-Tremblant by rental car. Budget $80-115 a person per day shoestring in the city or $155-260 mid-range, plus Quebec’s 14.975% sales tax. Only have 6 days? See the 6-day itinerary , which drops Trois-Rivières.
Book these before you go
- VIA Rail tickets for Day 3 (Quebec City), Day 4 (Ottawa), and Day 7 (Trois-Rivières)
- A rental car for Days 5 and 6, the Eastern Townships and Mont-Tremblant aren’t on the rail network
- A Quebec City hotel instead of the day trip, if you can flex your schedule; it’s genuinely better as an overnight
Day 1: Old Montreal and Notre-Dame
Old Montreal’s cobblestones and Place Jacques-Cartier are free to walk. Notre-Dame Basilica’s blue-and-gold interior runs about $16 by day. Keep bags zipped in the square’s crowds, the city’s most pickpocket-reported spot, not a violent one.
Day 1 real costs: Notre-Dame ~$16, transit ~$7.50.
Day 2: Mont-Royal and Mile End
The Kondiaronk Belvedere is a free skyline panorama. Wander the Plateau and Mile End free, pick a bagel side between Fairmount (1919) and St-Viateur (1957), dinner at Schwartz’s Deli (1928), about $9.75.
Day 2 real costs: Schwartz’s ~$9.75.
Day 3: Quebec City, mostly a travel day
Old Québec holds the region’s actual UNESCO World Heritage listing (1985), about 3 hours each way from Gare Centrale by VIA Rail. See the Château Frontenac and Old Québec’s streets; an overnight beats a day trip here if you can manage it.
Day 3 real costs: VIA Rail fare varies by booking window, plus sight admissions.
Day 4: Ottawa
About 2 hours each way by VIA Rail, close enough that a full day covers Parliament Hill and the capital’s sights comfortably.
Day 4 real costs: VIA Rail fare varies by booking window.
Day 5: Eastern Townships wine route
About 1-2 hours southeast by car, the Eastern Townships (Cantons-de-l’Est) are a true day trip, the wine route, Magog and Lake Memphremagog, Bromont and Sutton, and the Balnea spa. Best in fall foliage season.
Day 5 real costs: rental car, winery/spa admissions vary.
Day 6: Mont-Tremblant and the Laurentians
About 1.5 hours north by car, Mont-Tremblant works as a day trip or an overnight, a ski village in winter, hiking and lakes in summer.
Day 6 real costs: rental car, lift tickets or trail access vary by season.
Day 7: Trois-Rivières
About 1.5 hours northeast, on the same VIA Rail line as Quebec City, Trois-Rivières is a true day trip and a scenic stop in its own right rather than just a station along the way. If wildlife is more your speed than another historic town, Montebello and Parc Omega, about 2 hours west by car, are the alternative, with the Fairmont Château Montebello there if you’d rather turn it into an overnight.
Day 7 real costs: VIA Rail fare varies by booking window (or rental car if swapping in Montebello).
Book all three VIA Rail legs, Quebec City, Ottawa, and Trois-Rivières, as early as your dates allow, and reserve the rental car before Day 5; fall foliage weekends book both out fastest.