Montreal is wild. We won’t be surprised if you drink an entire bottle of Veuve, spend all your money at strip clubs and watch the sunrise as you walk back to your hotel. Montreal is famously a party city that can suck you in and spit you out.
But while it’s a great, cosmopolitan city, Montreal is also known for being an excellent hub to awesome outdoor day trips. Nobody will have to twist your arm to check out these amazing activities and attractions that make the perfect excursion.
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Arbraska
85 Chemin Bourget, Rigaud, QC, Canada
There’s no place you can tap into your inner Tarzan like Arbraska. While you won’t swing from vines and fight gorillas, Arbraska, about an hour from Montreal, is an outdoor facility that offers a handful of activities 150 feet high in the treetops. Think suspended bridges and zip lines. Sure it might sound like something more suitable for kids, but there are some extreme courses like La Rafale (one must pass a physical test to access), which is basically walking through treetops on wire alone.
inner Tarzan | 150 feet high | bridges and zip lines
Cap-Saint-Jacques Nature Park
Parc-nature du Cap-Saint-Jacques, Montreal, QC, Canada
Who knew Montreal had a beach? We did. Over the spring and summer months, the beach at Cap-Saint-Jacques Nature Park becomes the most sought-after place to unwind on the sand, and not many tourists outside of Canada really know about it. Only 30 minutes away from downtown (maybe an hour and a half or so on bus), the beach at Cap-Saint-Jacques is surprisingly nice, and you can hit up all sorts of water activities like kayaking and windsurfing. Also, there’s plenty of bike and hiking trails throughout the park.
sandy beach | 30 min away | biking and hiking
Iles de Boucherville National Park
Îles-de-Boucherville National Park, Boucherville, QC, Canada
Iles de Boucherville National Park is for dudes who like to get their hands dirty. There’s no beach among these amazing five islands, but there’s tons of guy-centric activities like canoeing and fishing. It feels a lot more “wilderness” than Cap-Saint-Jacques, and while there’s no hunting, you can come face to face with white-tailed deer and tons of birds. It’s also a lot closer to downtown Montreal, about 30 minutes on public transportation.
canoeing and fishing | wilderness vibe | wildlife
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, VT, United States
Montreal happens to be one of the closest major cities to Burlington, Vermont (about an hour and a half drive). You’ll probably never come out this way ever, and a day trip from Montreal is not unusual. Not only do you get to experience the infamous Canadian-US border control, which is all sorts of amusing, you also get to see the hometown of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Again, not a joke. Who knows if you’ll also “feel the Bern” and run into our favorite Democrat politician, who was mayor of Burlington for 8 years.
cross the border | Ben & Jerry's factory
Canadian Railway Museum
Canadian Railway Museum, Rue Saint Pierre, Saint-Constant, QC, Canada
Yes, we are recommending you go to a railway museum for your bachelor party. Not cool enough for you? If that’s your reaction, then it’s you who’s not cool enough for the Canadian Railway Museum. This institution in Saint Constant, about 30 minutes from the city via public transportation, features awesome technological and engineering breakthroughs in rail travel, which is a lot cooler than you think: unless you’re a brakeman or a runaway bandit, you’ll never see trains this up close and personal. You’ll be amazed how many of your groomsmen are secretly into train spotting.
awesome rail travel breakthroughs | genuinely cool
Mont Tremblant National Park
Mont-Tremblant National Park, Chemin du Lac Supérieur, Lac-Supérieur, QC, Canada
Mont Tremblant is probably the most famous national park outside Montreal. Here, travelers go gangbusters with the outdoor activities, especially skiing during the winter months. Over the spring and summer, there’s tons to do, but we recommend the Via Ferrata Du Diable, basically the only place in Quebec you can do this. It’s a hiking-climbing path built along the Vache Noire rock face: you basically hike across the side of a mountain with nothing but a steel cable harnessing you in. The pay off is the insane view you’ll get during the trip to the 2,000-foot high summit.
outdoor activities | Via Ferrata Du Diable | 2000 ft summit
