Driving to Montreal

[Anonymous]

We are driving to Montreal later in the summer, then going to Quebec. I'm looking at routes there and back. I want the drive to be part of the vacation and not just a means of getting to Canada.

I have two teenage boys fwiw.

Possibilities:

DC->Western Mass->Burlington, VT-Montreal

DC->Mystic CT->Brattleboro, VT-Montreal

Then back (we will be anxious to get back I think, so one stop only maybe?):

Quebec City->Portland ME->DC
Quebec City->Boston->DC

I would welcome suggestions.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I've only driven from Boston to Montreal, but I loved being able to see Lake Champlain! U of VT is a beautiful campus in the summer, too.

[Anonymous]

Lake George? Adirondacks?

[Anonymous]

Np here. How many hours is the drive?

[Anonymous]

FT ticondaroga area. Lake George. Very drive able. Overnight in the area. Easy drive to QC the next day.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I did this a few times, driving up 81 to 88 to 87. We always stop around Lake George (batting cages and ice cream!) and in Cooperstown for the Baseball Hall of Fame. I-87 up through the Adirondacks is a super nice drive. Ft. Ticonderoga was great and we also liked Lake Placid (sort of out of the way, but cool).

[Anonymous]

I would not do Portland, ME on the way home. That's way, way out of your way. I'm also not sure I'd stop in Boston, if you're planning that as your only stop on the way--that is a LONG two days of driving (Quebec City-Boston and Boston-DC). And Mystic, CT is also really far out of the way on the way up. Granted, my kids are much younger, all of those routes sound miserable to me.

We drive to our family's cottage in the Laurentians every summer and do what the PPs suggest and stay somewhere in NY State off Rt 87. Lake George is lovely--book a hotel ahead of time. Cooperstown isn't too far out of the way if that would be of interest to your kids. If you really don't want to drive the same route twice, I'd do NY/Rt 87 one way and Vermont/Rt 91/89 the other.

Note that the border crossing on Rt 87 is going to be the busiest; you can check the wait ahead of time but unless you hit it first thing in the morning, it will likely be about an hour. Perhaps less going north, but definitely allow an hour coming south. The crossings in Vermont will be a lot quicker. Also, check for road and bridge closures in and out of Montreal. Summer is construction season up there and the traffic in and around Montreal can be an utter nightmare if and when they close a bridge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not do Portland, ME on the way home. That's way, way out of your way. I'm also not sure I'd stop in Boston, if you're planning that as your only stop on the way--that is a LONG two days of driving (Quebec City-Boston and Boston-DC). And Mystic, CT is also really far out of the way on the way up. Granted, my kids are much younger, all of those routes sound miserable to me.

We drive to our family's cottage in the Laurentians every summer and do what the PPs suggest and stay somewhere in NY State off Rt 87. Lake George is lovely--book a hotel ahead of time. Cooperstown isn't too far out of the way if that would be of interest to your kids. If you really don't want to drive the same route twice, I'd do NY/Rt 87 one way and Vermont/Rt 91/89 the other.

Note that the border crossing on Rt 87 is going to be the busiest; you can check the wait ahead of time but unless you hit it first thing in the morning, it will likely be about an hour. Perhaps less going north, but definitely allow an hour coming south. The crossings in Vermont will be a lot quicker. Also, check for road and bridge closures in and out of Montreal. Summer is construction season up there and the traffic in and around Montreal can be an utter nightmare if and when they close a bridge.

Thank you, this is very helpful. I think you are right about misery. We don't want misery.

We are not huge baseball fans and my kids aren't interested in Cooperstown. Lake George is a possibility, however. Do you have any suggestions as to where we could stay in that general area?

Last night DH and I talked about this route:

DC--> Burlington, VT--> Montreal.

We would stay in Burlington for two nights - it is about 8-8.5 hours to Burlington. We could consider in the alternative leaving the night before and staying at a cheap hotel just past the Tappan Zee Bridge in order to wake up Friday and only have ~5 hours ahead of us to get to Burlington, in order to have more time there. In that case the route would be:

DC-->Westchester, NY --> Burlington, VT --> Montreal

For the return we are thinking about:

Quebec City--> North Conway, NH (we have good friends there) -->Boston (my family is there) --> DC

Does that look more pleasant?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions re: Lake George.

[Anonymous]

If you are departing via Burlington, you could also drive up through the Champlain Islands and cross via the Alburg border crossing. It's such a small crossing that the first time we used it we wondered if we were in the right place.

http://www.ezbordercrossing.com/list-of-border-crossings/vermont/alburg-noyan/#.U7rLmrHLLIg

The Champlain Islands are absolutely beautiful, very remote. I've been to Burlington and Montreal many times and love driving that route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are departing via Burlington, you could also drive up through the Champlain Islands and cross via the Alburg border crossing. It's such a small crossing that the first time we used it we wondered if we were in the right place.

http://www.ezbordercrossing.com/list-of-border-crossings/vermont/alburg-noyan/#.U7rLmrHLLIg

The Champlain Islands are absolutely beautiful, very remote. I've been to Burlington and Montreal many times and love driving that route.

OP here. Thank you very much, this is super-useful. We will plan on crossing there.

DH is thinking that we could leave the night before our vacation start-date and stay south of Albany NY somewhere, so that in the morning we have only ~3 hours' drive to get to Burlington. I think this is the right way to go.

Does that make sense?

[Anonymous]

How long is the drive?

[Anonymous]

I would avoid mystic on the way up...it's not all that and the route through CT sucks. Portland is a fantastic city but as PPs note it is out of the way, but not that much.

I would do the western route through Burlington VT up and go through portland on the way back, but that's just me. Driving back from portland take 495-90-84 through Mass/Hartford on the way back to avoid the worst of Boston traffic and all of 95 though CT.

[Anonymous]

Another suggestion - stop at Attitash on the way up or back for an incredible waterslide and mountain coaster experience. Teenagers will love it.

[Anonymous]

Did something similar recently and stopped in Sarasota springs NY. Was a great pit stop.

Avoid New Haven. Portland ME is crazy but Boston will also take you further east than you need to be.

Five Colleges/valley area is a good pit stop home in Western Ma IMO. But NY state route def. has less traffic.

[Anonymous]

Ok I forgot you are going to QC, but if I recall the roads you end up heading west back to Montreal to get to the states anyway. FWIW, boston is an 8 hour drive to DC, without stopping, if you don't hit traffic, which is a big if.