Québec is Canada's largest province and the heart of French-speaking North America, settled by the French in 1608 and shaped for four centuries by the St. Lawrence River that cuts through it from the Great Lakes to the Gulf. Most of the province sits on the Canadian Shield — the rolling Laurentides north of Montréal, the steep Charlevoix coastline, and the boreal forest beyond — while the populated corridor runs along the south shore between Montréal, Trois-Rivières, and Québec City. French is the working language; English is spoken in central Montréal and at hotel front desks, but signage, menus, and most rural service is in French only, which Japanese travellers find charming rather than difficult.
Maple Fun has worked Québec since the 1990s and we open a seasonal Montréal office every September and October to handle the autumn maple rush — our busiest two months on the eastern circuit. We run multi-night stays inside the walls of Vieux-Québec rather than commuting from suburban hotels, time Mont-Tremblant and Charlevoix for the late-September to mid-October foliage peak, and book Hôtel de Glace and Carnaval de Québec accommodation six to nine months out because both sell through quickly. Cruise ships unload up to 10,000 day visitors at Québec City between mid-September and late October, so we route our groups to the Old City early morning or after 5pm.
Canada's second-largest city and the cultural capital of French North America, built around Mount Royal and the Old Port. Vieux-Montréal's cobblestone streets and Notre-Dame Basilica are the standard half-day walk; the Plateau and Mile End offer the bagel shops, smoked meat counters, and café culture that Japanese repeat visitors come back for. YUL airport is the standard east-coast entry, with direct service from Tokyo Narita seasonally and year-round connections via Toronto.
The only walled city north of Mexico and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985, dominated by the Château Frontenac above Cap Diamant. Three hours by highway or train from Montréal. We stay inside or just outside the walls — Auberge Saint-Antoine and Fairmont Le Château Frontenac are our usual choices — so guests can walk Petit-Champlain and the Plains of Abraham without coach transfers. Winter Carnival in February and the autumn cruise season are the two peak windows.
Ninety minutes north of Montréal in the Laurentian Shield, Tremblant is Eastern Canada's premier mountain resort — a pedestrian village at the base of a 875-metre peak, gondola to the summit, and sugar maple forest on every slope. We use it as the autumn foliage anchor in late September and early October, and as a winter ski stop. The drive up Autoroute 15 through Sainte-Adèle and Saint-Sauveur is itself the leaf-peeping route.
The St. Lawrence widens dramatically east of Québec City, and the Charlevoix coast — Baie-Saint-Paul, La Malbaie, and the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu — sits where the Laurentian mountains meet the river. Beluga and minke whales feed at Tadoussac June through October. Île d'Orléans, the agricultural island just downstream of Québec City, is our standard half-day excursion for cider houses, sugar shacks, and strawberry farms — twenty minutes from the Château Frontenac by coach.
Thirteen days across Canada's full breadth — Toronto, Niagara, Ottawa, Québec, the Rockies, and Victoria. The…
Ten days of golden Québec, crimson Ontario, and the great châteaux — Mont-Tremblant, Montmorency Falls, Algon…
Ten-day scenic routing through Laurentides, Montmorency Falls, Sainte-Anne Canyon, Île d'Orléans, Algonquin a…
Eight days at the world's largest winter carnival — the Ice Hotel at Charlevoix, dog sledding, Montmorency Fa…
