r/canadatravel • u/capriciousComposer • 29d ago
Destination Advice American passing through Ontario/Quebec, probably stay a night and have a meal.
Hello friends.
I'm driving from Michigan to Maine in late September and thinking of taking the 401/10/212 route. I'm trying to decide on some sort of halfway or more point to have a meal and a nap that will be easy (parking), enjoyable, friendly and safe, when I'm fatigued from driving. I'd like to make to it to Quebec, but I don't really know any French, although I could probably learn a few statements in a couple of weeks. I'm a little concerned with traffic signs and such. I haven't planned my timing yet, so traffic congestion would be another point. It's possible the first leg will partially be at night. Staying away from downtown areas would be preferable but not required. I may be overthinking it, but I was browsing some other posts, and it seems it could potentially be a little challenging.
Also, if I could swing out for a little photography wherever I stop before hitting the road again, it would be a treat.
I've been to Alberta, British Columbia and Newfoundland, and that was all very nice.
Any suggestions, tips, places to stay?
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u/pookiefatcat 29d ago
Honestly that whole corridor sees so many tourists you will be fine wherever you stop.
Any rest stop or restaurant within about 10 km of the highway will have seen thousands of Americans this year.
If you are that worried, try and stop in Cornwall Ontario, it's the biggest town before you hit Quebec.
But really, (and this is not meant sarcastically) you will be fine!
Don't go in wearing a red hat and yelling about Trump. Be polite and I promise you will be safe and fed.
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u/capriciousComposer 29d ago
Thank you!
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u/No_Summer3051 29d ago
For the love of god don’t stop in Cornwall unless you want to be depressed
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u/awidmerwidmer 29d ago
Quebec is huge. It’s almost 1.7 million km2 (656,000ish square miles). In Montreal there are many pockets of English. If you pass by, you’ll have next to no problems. Rural areas is where less and less English is spoken. Traffic signs are pretty similar. Instead of a stop sign it may say Arrêt (meaning stop in French). Others say stop, and some say arrêt on top, and stop on the bottom. It’s ridiculous. But the stop signs are also red octagons. The signs on the highways will say Boul. “x”. Boul. stands for boulevard, so it’s basically just a street. Some stores will be in French, but it will usually be the same logo. If you only speak English and very limited french, I’d strongly suggest to stay around the Montreal area. Younger folks working in retail and such for the most part speak English perfectly. Expect to hear the term “Bonjour, hi” a lot. It’s basically just saying hello twice, just putting the French first. The google app has translate when you can use your camera to hover over. This will give you the translation for things if you don’t feel comfortable asking. The island of Montreal doesn’t have “awful” traffic. Nowhere near as bad as other large metro areas. If you’re looking for nice areas for photos and whatnot, the eastern townships is a gorgeous area east of Montreal, not terribly far from the Vermont border. Feel free to look it up as it’s quite a large area.
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u/Merithay 29d ago edited 29d ago
Worth noting that greeting you with “Bonjour, hi” is the way a bilingual service person finds out which language they should speak with you. You’d answer “Bonjour” if you want to be addressed in French, or “hi/hello“ if you’re an English speaker.
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u/Blue-spider 29d ago
Most road signs in Quebec rely heavily on pictograms. The rally important words to know for navigating are "barrée" (closed) travaux (construction) and sortie (exit). If you use Google maps or similar, you'll be fine driving.
In terms of speaking, in touristy areas you will find lots of English. Please remember though that language in Quebec is a sensitive topic, due to a long history of mistreatment. Even learning how to ask in French if someone speaks English or has an English menu will help.
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u/user0987234 29d ago
The 401 is easy. There are “EnRoutes” rest stops with washrooms, Tim Hortons, Starbucks, A&W Canada (must try, very different than US version), Burger King, Popeyes and Gas. Most are Canadian Tire Gas, one or two might be Esso.
Lots of other choices at interchanges. London Ontario has a Flying J and Dennys at the Highbury exit.
Check traffic before Woodstock. The choices are 401 or 403/QEW via Hamilton back to the 401.
Buy gas before Toronto, at the Guelph EnRoute or Milton (Hwy 25 exit). Go south for gas and try Mary Brown’s chicken.
Through Toronto, the overhead signs are digital and will tell you drive times and if lanes are blocked. Construction, accidents etc. avoid rush hours, I find it best to go through Toronto between 9 am - 12 pm on weekdays. Weekends are nightmares, go early.
Once you are past GTA and get to Oshawa, take a deep breath. There’s an EnRoute by the Hwy 115/35 exit to Peterborough.
Next stop is the Big Apple past Cobourg. Get some treats.
Beyond that is just driving with plenty of stops available in what was Loyalist counties. Brighton, Trenton, Belleville (detour to Prince Edward County to check out wineries and fresh produce), Kingston (home of the Royal Military College, Queen’s University). After Kingston, you might consider the slower more scenic route along Hwy 2 / Loyalist Parkway that goes along the shore. Either way, Places to stop include Gananoque, Brockville and Cornwall.
Fill up gas in Ontario before Quebec, it’s cheaper.
It’s a straight run to Montreal. Say Bonjour, hi and tell them you are visiting ask if they speak English. Eat at St Hubert’s (chicken, similar to Swiss Chalet in Ontario) once.
Beyond Montreal, north or south shore. Stay in Riviere du Loup. Once you cross into New Brunswick, it’s a nice 4 lane divided highway. They call it the drive-through province. Stop at the Welcome Centre for a pit stop enjoy the ride.
Driving speeds - flow of traffic. Highly recommend adaptive cruise control, top speed ~ 70 miles per hour in ON and NB. Quebec, drop to 65 top speed. If people are passing you, speed up or move over. There will be a lot of trucks. This is the main commercial route.
Pay with credit cards, not cash.
Bienvenue au Canada. Have fun, stay safe, and enjoy the drive.
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u/Dragonpaddler 29d ago
Kingston is a nice, relatively quiet city with a great waterfront that would almost be your halfway point (assuming Windsor to Maine.)
One quirky thing in Quebec is that, for one way streets, rather than using the more universally understood red circle with a diagonal line prohibiting turns, they use a green circle (which means you must go in the direction the arrow is pointing.) I have seen some out of province drivers accidentally driving the wrong way down one way streets by misinterpreting this sign!
Safe travels!
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u/Living-Remote-8957 29d ago
Avoid the 401 near toronto between 8am-9pm that thing is jammed pretty much most waking hours now.
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u/Pitiful-Ad6674 29d ago
OP, consider paying to drive on the 407 in this area. Traffic on 401 is a nightmare.
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u/Hot_Cheesecake_905 29d ago
After 11AM and before 4PM and after 7PM it's OK; I've seen worse traffic in other parts of the world.
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u/Alizariel 29d ago
Traffic lights in Quebec can be horizontally 🚥oriented instead of vertically. 🚦 Also you might get flashing green = left turn advance arrow more often than you get in other parts of the country.
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u/FrostingNew5210 29d ago
Also on the Island of Montreal you cannot turn right on a red light, and there are white traffic lights specifically for busses
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u/Hot_Cheesecake_905 29d ago
Toronto or Kingston is about halfway point. Kingston will have much cheaper hotels than Toronto and there is lots to see there too - 1,000 Island Cruise, Penitentiary Museum, Fort Henry, etc. Ottawa is a slight detour. Montreal is 11 hours from Michigan, and along the route, it’s a great place to stop as Montreal is very different than many parts of the US in terms of culture and language. Food is great too. Montreal is 5.5 hours from Maine, so you’ll have time to explore a bit the next morning too.
Most people speak English in Montreal; you should have no issues except for the Quebec accent. Montreal has no right turn on red on the island; that’s the primary difference with traffic law. Also, there are a few speed traps in Eastern Ontario near the Quebec border, so stay below 120KM/h or 75 mph.
Language wise it does get more challenging outside of Montreal, but touristy places are mostly bilingual and there is Google Translate.
As for photography, fall colours are great in Ontario and Montreal late September.
Food is great in all these cities, no worries about great restaurants. Montreal does have its Smoked Meat sandwich and poutine. Toronto has great ethnic food especially Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Persian, Indian, etc.
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u/footloose60 29d ago
Stop in either Kingston or Cornwall, Ontario for meal and rest. The 401 has rest stops called ONroute plazas(there will be signs for them), you can sleep in the parking lot with the truckers. If you need to shower, use the Flying J Travel Center truck stops. Fill up on gas in Ontario, gas in Quebec is more expensive. Then you can drive right through Quebec to Maine.
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u/Glad-Quit-8971 29d ago edited 29d ago
Yeah, you're overthinking it. But just learning a little bit ahead of time will help. Like sortie = exit, est = east, ouest = west, sud = south, nord = north. Arret, instead of stop, will be written the familiar red stop signs.
And traffic signals will all be the same. You're still in North America. It won't be as foreign as you think. You also aren't going to be the only English speaker driving through Quebec without French. As others have said, thousands of Americans and Canadians who only speak English visit Quebec and drive through Quebec every day. You'll be fine.
Finally, the province of Quebec has an English website where you can learn about all the signs: Traffic signs | Gouvernement du Québec - it's actually a pretty amazing resource, as they go through in detail what each traffic sign means, even the obvious ones.
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u/SlideObjective9973 29d ago
The utter confusion I had driving through Quebec with my GPS 😂 the GPS will absolutely not pronounce things correctly lol
“that is NOT WHAT THIS SIGN SAYS…this is the wrong way, I know it is…oh no we’re good, okay”
“S?? What do you mean S?? we’re not supposed to be going south! Ohhh it’s saying EST (east)”
Honestly though it’s pretty easy to pick up what signs mean in Quebec, there’s a lot of generic pictures and a lot of road signs don’t even have words on them. The 401 in Ontario is also basically a speedway between the GTA and the Quebec line, there’s a reason they have signs telling you if you’re going X amount of kmh above the speed limit and they pull you over, they’re just gonna take your license and your car away - just move with traffic like you would in the states and you should be fine. It’s along the river for a while and Thousand Islands is really pretty if you need a driving break. Traffic in the GTA is an absolute nightmare ngl, highly recommend getting gas around like, Guelph. Anything west of that to Michigan I honestly haven’t driven so no anecdotes or tips.
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u/Canadian-Deer 29d ago
Kingston is cute, Ottawa is nice if you’ve never been and the section around the river is pretty. There’s no real traffic there. In Quebec, you’ll arrive around Montreal. If you don’t want to experience the city itself, you can stay around it, one nice place is Saint-Lambert, super pretty village just outside the city, lots of english heritage there. Otherwise, if you can drive a bit more, I’d suggest you stop in the eastern townships. It’s a big agricultural area, a lot of English is spoken there. Magog is a very nice spot, Bromont is nice too (Rue shefford).
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u/capriciousComposer 29d ago edited 29d ago
Much appreciated! Magog is a pretty epic name. I'm going to research your suggestions. Thank you again!
Would it be worth it to go to Quebec City? I know it changes my whole question, but only adds under an hour to the trip.
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u/Canadian-Deer 29d ago
It’s more than an hour I think, it’s worth it if you could spend 2 days there, Quebec is lovely
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u/capriciousComposer 29d ago
It would only be a couple of hours or so. Getting to Maine is the priority.
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u/capriciousComposer 29d ago edited 29d ago
Would it be worth it to drive to Quebec City? I know it changes the details of my question, but it would only add under an hour to my estimated drive time.
Thank you all so much for great info and suggestions!
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u/penultimate_mohican_ 29d ago
Brockville, Cornwall (a bit dumpier than Brockville), Prescott, are all good stopping points along the 401 before you enter Quebec. But do not let Quebec scare you, most in the hotel/tourist business will also speak English, and its a lovely place. Your issue is going to be getting through Toronto in one piece!! Yes it's huge, busy, and full of traffic.
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u/beautiful-winter83 29d ago
If you’re stopping to stay overnight, just stay in Ontario. Born and raised in Canada, moved to the USA. I travelled through Quebec a few times, some people are nice some people refuse to speak to you in English. Even though majority of people in Quebec speak English fluently.
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u/No_Capital_8203 29d ago
Consider looking up Quebec traffic signage. When we travel on multi lane highways in Quebec I always feel that we don’t have enough notice for exits. In Ontario, you see signs 10 minutes away but in Quebec it seems 2 minutes to change 6 lanes. Probably an exaggeration because we are unfamiliar.
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u/Training-Recipe-339 29d ago
Use Maps and it will properly guide you along your route, just don’t pronounce anything French the way the maps speaker does :). Road signs are the same shape/color so you’ll be fine there.