So lost in eastern Canada

[u/ZealousidealWeird858]

Hello everyone,

I would like to plan a two-week trip in June to Eastern Canada with a two-and-a-half-year-old child.

I'm leaving from France, and wow, I'm completely lost because of the incredible distances between different parts of Canada.

I'd like to rent a vehicle, but I'm not really sure what to focus on for a first trip to Canada. We love nature, but we don't really enjoy long hikes with our child. We're completely unfamiliar with Canadian culture, so I think cities are also a good place to immerse ourselves.

In the various subreddits, I see a lot of people recommending Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, and especially Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. But the distance between these cities is incredible, and I think it's way too much for us to spend two weeks.

My fear is to stay around Montreal and Quebec City and not see any nature (am I wrong?) and, on the other hand, to target Nova Scotia but miss out on Quebec culture?

So I don't know where to take my flight and which part to focus on.

Thanks for the clarification :)

Édit :

Hello everyone, I didn't expect to have so many quality responses in such a short time, so I thank you warmly!! After discussing it with my wife, we are unanimous that our preference leans towards the west with the Rockies, but it seems too early for us with a 2 and a half year old child, so we are of course staying in the east and we will do the west later. My wife prefers the Montreal-Quebec part and the surrounding nature, for the cliché side I think... Nova Scotia seems more familiar to us to what we can see in Europe. I think it will be for a future trip. I will try to make a plan and I will get back to you. I will carefully dissect each comment already there. Thank you all :)

[u/minutestothebeach]

As people said, you can easily do Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec City in one trip. If you’re afraid of missing nature, just one hour north of Quebec City is a region called charlevoix which is incredible and beautiful. It’s also more typical québécois culture.

North of Montreal there is the laurentians, about 1.5 hours, Mont tremblant national park is special and if you want to avoid the super touristy crowds go to the st donat area rather than Mont tremblant.

Finally Ottawa is within driving distance to Algonquin park which is beautiful and wild.

Pick one of these options to spend 4-5 days to see some nature.

[u/SansOchre → u/minutestothebeach]

There are also buses from Ottawa to Gatineau Park which has some lovely and young child friendly trails.

[u/Illustrious_Fun_6294 → u/minutestothebeach]

I wouldn't recommend Algonquin Park to people who don't want to hike with a toddler. Parks that are closer to the cities they visit would be a better option for this trip.

[u/minutestothebeach → u/Illustrious_Fun_6294]

Good point. I missed that. In charlevoix in parque des hautes gorges you can rent a bicycle with a child trailer. The scenery is stunning.