If you’ve visited Canada, tell me your thoughts on Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver BC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve only been to Vancouver. It has awesome options for a foodie. I had a lot of fun as a shopper — enjoying both Canadian and British stores and brands. Friends with kids absolutely loved Stanley Park. I think it would be a great travel option for most people. History buffs might want to also visit Victoria.

I loved Victoria! If you include Victoria in the mix then I'd bump up my Vancouver ranking.

QC, Vancouver/Victoria, Montreal, Toronto

[Anonymous]

I've been to Toronto and Montreal and loved both.

[Anonymous]

we loved montreal and quebec city. it is super easy to get around, great food, feels european and the weather was fantastic in the summer.

[Anonymous]

Maple syrup farms can be really fun to go for a family pancake breakfast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve only been to Vancouver. It has awesome options for a foodie. I had a lot of fun as a shopper — enjoying both Canadian and British stores and brands. Friends with kids absolutely loved Stanley Park. I think it would be a great travel option for most people. History buffs might want to also visit Victoria.

I've been to all four. As a (sort of) foodie, I found Toronto to have the most food diversity. Lots of different ethnic groups. As a vegetarian, I found Vancouver to be the best.

[Anonymous]

I've only been to Toronto, and love it. It's one of my favorite big cities (others being London and Chicago) because it's approachable. It's easy to get around, people are friendly, there's lots of great, diverse food options, a walking path along the lake, etc. DH and I are aiming to take our three kids there at some point sooner rather than later.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Vancouver, lived in Toronto for 5 years and have visited Montreal and Quebec each a few times.

Quebec (the whole province) has the best food in all of Canada by far. I read that Vancouver has the most restaurants per capita in North America, but that was pre-COVID. It’s very foodie with great seafood and ethnic restaurants. Toronto is also good for foodies.

Vancouver is not great for museums. Probably Toronto had the best museums of the 4.

Vancouver is an outdoor lovers paradise, but only May - October. It’s a beautiful city on the water surrounding by mountains - really gorgeous. The drizzle in other months kind of sucks. One of the main reasons l moved away.

Quebec City feels very European, has lots of intact older buildings, is great for history and culture and has great festivals.

Toronto bills itself as the NYC of Canada. I agree but it’s a poor substitute. My favorite place there is Toronto Island.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think you can go wrong with any of those cities. They all have great food. Not as many museums in Vancouver but lots of outdoor activities to make up for it.

[Anonymous]

I love both Toronto and Montreal, but especially Montreal.

Montreal is the best bike city in North America, I’ve heard. We had so much fun riding their bixi system (basically citi bike) all around the city. The restaurants are awesome and a lot are byob.

Toronto is also cool, but feels more like an American city than Montreal. We stayed in the Kensington neighborhood, I think it’s called.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Vancouver, lived in Toronto for 5 years and have visited Montreal and Quebec each a few times.

Quebec (the whole province) has the best food in all of Canada by far. I read that Vancouver has the most restaurants per capita in North America, but that was pre-COVID. It’s very foodie with great seafood and ethnic restaurants. Toronto is also good for foodies.

Vancouver is not great for museums. Probably Toronto had the best museums of the 4.

Vancouver is an outdoor lovers paradise, but only May - October. It’s a beautiful city on the water surrounding by mountains - really gorgeous. The drizzle in other months kind of sucks. One of the main reasons l moved away.

Quebec City feels very European, has lots of intact older buildings, is great for history and culture and has great festivals.

Toronto bills itself as the NYC of Canada. I agree but it’s a poor substitute. My favorite place there is Toronto Island.

Another Vancouverite here - agree with all of this! Best time for Vancouver is July - September, weather is amazing and the city sparkles!

[Anonymous]

Toronto and Vancouver are my favorites for our family of four. The scenery, the food, the beauty and things to do are awesome in both of these cities. I went to Montreal in November and didn’t think it was anything spectacular, except for the food. Quebec City is interesting because you feel transported through time. But our favorites remain Vancouver and Toronto.

[Anonymous]

Do you want to fly or drive? I think it would be fun to drive from here to Montreal it's only 9 hours and you go through beautiful, rural New England. Fun in the summer I should add

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you want to fly or drive? I think it would be fun to drive from here to Montreal it's only 9 hours and you go through beautiful, rural New England. Fun in the summer I should add

You don't drive through New England to get to Montreal. I mean you could, but its not the direct route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you want to fly or drive? I think it would be fun to drive from here to Montreal it's only 9 hours and you go through beautiful, rural New England. Fun in the summer I should add

You don't drive through New England to get to Montreal. I mean you could, but its not the direct route.

i stand corrected. you could drive voa Vermont or via upstate NY. It will take longer than 9 hours though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Quebec City is smaller and really french is a kind of backwater way. But beautiful and historic and walkable. Plus lots of nature-ish things to do outside of town - syrup farms, waterfalls, hiking etc - that are easy to get to because the city is so small.

Montreal is a moderate sized city, has it's own cultural scene that's very different than anywhere in NA but not similar to anything in europe. It straddles the line between a regular midsized city that has typical chain stores for shopping on busy streets, but also has a distinct grungy montreal vibe that is cool to some folks (me!) but could feel low rent and off putting to others. Just for example, lots of restaurants that are converted row houses that still feel kind of grimy inside but you're getting an awesome creative gourmet meal that's not expensive. It also has interesting historical stuff, the old port, hiking on the mountain, museums, etc. Montreal does have tons of good eating......

Toronto is a typical large north american city, and has tons of city stuff to do - good shopping, restaurants, museums, sports events, festivals, etc. It's my favorite of the four, but i like being in cities.

Vancouver is a moderate sized city (probably similar to montreal) and i think really disappointing if you're looking for a cool urban city. But outdoorsy people love it because it has a lot of nature right in the city. And tons of nature stuff to jump to pretty close to the city. So don't go to vancouver for shopping or dining or sports or other "city" stuff. Go for the outdoors vibe.

I have been everywhere except Vancouver and agree with this assessment. If you go to Montreal you can still do a side trip to QC, so 2 for the price of one. As a foodie I am sure you will enjoy them all. With teens I might choose Montreal or Toronto as there is more the see and do. Loved Toronto island for family fun as mentioned by a previous poster. QC was a good day trip for me via bus tour from Montreal. Oh, there is a spa on a barge in the water in Montreal..loved it!