Shannon O'Brien Travel Itineraries

The best destinations

Photo of Quebec
Photo of Quebec

The Best of Quebec

#37 best destination in the world

Map view

Mont Tremblant Resort

Photo of Tremblant

Best time to visit: Jan-Feb, Dec

Cost: $$

  • Mont Tremblant Ski Resort is a year-round resort in the Laurentian Mountains
  • It is best known as a ski destination, but also features Lake Tremblant suitable for swimming and two golf courses in the summer months
  • The mountain and resort are part of the Mont-Tremblant National Park

Saint Joseph's Oratory, Montreal

Photo of Montreal

Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov

Cost: $

  • Saint Joseph's Oratory is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and national shrine in Montreal
  • It is Canada's largest church, with one of the largest church domes in the world
  • Founded in 1904 by Saint André Bessette in honour of his patron saint, Saint Joseph, the Oratory is the product of numerous architects and thousands of workers in a process spanning six decades
  • With its monumental scale, Renaissance Revival facade and contrasting Art Deco interior, the Oratory is recognizable not just in Montreal but around the world

Plains of Abraham, Quebec City

Photo of Quebec City

Best time to visit: Jan-Feb, June-Sept, Dec

Cost: $

  • Historic area within the Battlefields Park in Quebec City, established in 1908
  • The land is the site of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, which took place in 1759, but hundreds of acres of the fields became used for grazing, housing, and minor industrial structures
  • The park is today used by visitors for sports, relaxation, outdoor concerts, and festivals

La Ronde

Photo of La Ronde

Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov

Cost: $

  • Amusement park in Montreal, built as the entertainment complex for Expo 67, the 1967 World Fair
  • It is the largest amusement park in Quebec and second largest in Canada
  • It occupies Saint Helen's Island's northern tip–a man-made extension to the island in the vicinity of where the small Ronde Island had once been, and the origin of the park's name

Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal

Photo of Montreal

Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov

Cost: $

  • Basilica in the historic district of Old Montreal, where the interior of the church is regarded as a masterpiece of Gothic Revival architecture
  • It is filled with hundreds of intricate wooden carvings and several religious statues
  • Unusual for a church, the stained glass windows along the walls of the sanctuary do not depict biblical scenes, but rather scenes from the religious history of Montreal
  • It also has a Casavant Frères pipe organ, dated 1891, which comprises four keyboards, and 7000 individual pipes

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Photo of Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov

Cost: $

  • Art museum in Montreal, that is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space
  • Founded in 1860, it is the oldest art museum in Canada
  • The permanent collection includes approximately 44,000 works

Canadian Museum of History

Photo of Canadian Museum of History

Best time to visit: March-May

Cost: $

  • National museum on anthropology, Canadian history, cultural studies, and ethnology in Gatineau
  • The purpose of the museum is to promote the heritage of Canada, as well as support related research
  • The museum's collection contains over three million artifacts and documents
  • Permanent exhibitions include First Peoples Hall, Canadian History Hall, the Canadian Children's Museum, the Canadian Stamp Collection, and two exhibitions on the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast

Mount Royal Park Loop

Photo of Mount Royal

Walk difficulty: Easy

Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov

Cost: $

  • Mountain in the city of Montreal, and the best-known hypothesis for the origin of the city's name
  • The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park, one of Montreal's largest greenspaces
  • The park was originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (who also co-designed New York City's Central Park) and was inaugurated in 1876

Montmorency Falls, Montmorency Falls Park

Photo of Montmorency Falls Park

Walk difficulty: Moderate

Best time to visit: Jan-Feb, June-Sept, Dec

Cost: $

  • Large waterfall on the Montmorency River, protected within the Montmorency Falls Park, that is higher than Niagara Falls
  • There are staircases that allow visitors to view the falls from several different perspectives, a suspension bridge over the crest of the falls, and a funitel that carries passengers between the base and the top of the falls

Old Montreal

Photo of Old Montreal

Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov

Cost: $

  • Historic neighborhood within Montreal, which is home to the Old Port of Montreal
  • Founded by French settlers in 1642 as Fort Ville-Marie, Old Montreal is home to many structures dating back to the era of New France
  • The 17th century settlement lends its name to the borough in which the neighbourhood lies, Ville-Marie