Day Trips from Montreal

The Laurentians' crown jewel offers six rivers, 400 lakes, and hiking trails that smell of pine resin and damp earth. You'll hear nothing but loon calls and wind through maple forests older than Montreal itself.

Rolling hills dotted with Victorian villages and family-run vineyards producing ice wine and crisp whites. The terroir here tastes of minerals from ancient seabeds, completely different from Niagara wines.

Five river islands 20 minutes from downtown Montreal where you can bike through marshes that smell of wild mint and hear red-winged blackbirds trilling from cattails.

North America's only walled city north of Mexico, where cobblestones echo with history and the smell of fresh crepes wafts from Rue du Petit-Champlain's stone buildings.

Where the Ottawa River meets Lake of Two Mountains, featuring sandy beaches that feel like ocean coast and trails through oak forests where the ground crunches underfoot.

Alpine village where church bells ring over Victorian main street and the smell of woodsmoke drifts from stone houses. The hills rise gently here, good for afternoon hikes.

Following the river south through farmland where corn fields rustle in the breeze and 18th-century stone mills still grind flour you can smell from the road.