Montreal Photo Spots: Budget Day-Trip Base
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Shoot the city fast, then the regional trips are the real payoff
Two days covers the city’s photogenic core. The day trips beyond it are where a day-trip-base itinerary earns its keep, wine country, alpine lakes, a second old city, and a national capital, all within a few hours of Gare Centrale.
The city core
Old Montreal’s cobblestones and Place Jacques-Cartier work at any time of day. Notre-Dame Basilica’s interior, deep blue and gold, needs the roughly $16 daytime ticket, or the evening AURA light show (about $33.50) for something different. Bonsecours Market’s silver dome catches the light well from Rue Saint-Paul. Up on Mont-Royal, the Kondiaronk Belvedere is the free skyline shot, sunrise or sunset both work, over Frederick Law Olmsted’s park.
Quebec City (~3h)
Old Québec’s UNESCO World Heritage district and the Château Frontenac are the reason this day trip exists in photos as much as in person, cobblestone streets and river views from the Dufferin Terrace. Go for the light, not just the sight, since you’re spending most of the day getting there and back.
Ottawa (~2h)
Parliament Hill and the Gothic Revival Centre Block, best from across the Ottawa River or from Major’s Hill Park, are the capital’s obvious frame. A full day trip gives enough daylight for both a morning and a late-afternoon pass.
The regional trips
Eastern Townships fall foliage, late September into October, turns the wine route and Lake Memphremagog into the best color of the whole itinerary. Mont-Tremblant’s lake and gondola views work in every season, ski slopes in winter, hiking trails and water in summer. Montérégie’s apple orchards peak in early fall, and Montebello / Parc Omega’s wildlife park is the one genuine wildlife-photography day trip on this list. Time a spring trip around a sugar shack visit, late February through April, for the maple-boiling steam and snow-and-syrup scenes you won’t get any other time of year.
Read more: the hidden gems guide covers more regional stops worth the detour.