Travel Mindset: Quebec Summer Wish List

In the winter of 2014, I visited Montreal for their Lumière and Nuit Blanche festivals. It was so lovely, and definitely made me fall in love with the city I hadn’t been to since I was a child [growing up in Vermont] — but it was so cold. Right then and there I decided I really needed to return when it’s warm!

The chance hasn’t manifested itself yet but with another summer approaching I keep thinking of Quebec and what it might be like to experience this Canadian province sans snow.

A recent article on Travel Mindset has got me thinking. They list hundreds of things to do in an “Ultimate Summer Bucket List” and many of them are right up my alley.

Since my first festival experience in Quebec was so good, I think I’d like to repeat the idea and attend the:

• Foresta Lumina light show in Coaticook
• Feux Loto-Québec, Montreal’s International Fireworks Festival
• Festival d’été de Québec outdoor music festival in Québec City
• or, Francofolies de Montréal, the world’s largest French-speaking music fest!
  

  Image Courtesy of Québec Original

And because the food in Quebec was another favorite part of my last visit, and because I always love “testing” beer and wine, I’d most definitely need to:

• go in search of the more than 3,000 different local brews that are created in Quebec,
• follow the Wine Route which is a tour of 21 vintners in the Eastern Townships,
• stop at one or more of the 12 apple orchards along the Cider Route in Montérégie,
• get a traditional Tourtière du Lac-Saint-Jean,
• visit Dieu du Ciel for what’s supposed to be really great beer and pizza,
• or, go to the Musée du chocolat de la confiserie Bromont!
  

  Caption: The Wine Route, Chapelle Ste. Agnès Vignoble Image Courtesy of: ©TQ/J.-F. Hamelin

One of the things that interests me most about all of Canada is how well they seem to respect their First Nations and so I would want to make a stop in Wendake, an ancestral site full of dance shows and legends.

While I’m learning, why stop at just First Nations culture, I think I’d also want to learn about archaeology, ethnology and culture at one of the oldest institutions in the country, the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec.

Of course I wouldn’t want to waste the gorgeous weather by NOT spending time outdoors so I think I’d also need to:

• walk the 22-meter high suspended walkway over a giant fault at Parc national d’Aiguebelle,
• see the six great rivers and 400 lakes and streams of Parc national du Mont-Tremblant by canoe,
• chase some waterfalls at Le Parc de la Chute-Montmorency,
• or, hike around Forillon National Park, which is supposed to be one of Quebec’s most breathtaking landscapes!
  

  Photo Credit: @TQ/C

Since I LOVE luxury hotels, I don’t think the trip would be complete without spending a night or two in Old Quebec at the Château Frontenac which is now one of the city’s ritziest hotels.

And since the only thing I love more than a luxury hotel room is a good spa, of course I would need to:

• get a massage in a room that looks like an Egyptian Tomb at Tyst Spa Lac St-Joseph,
• take a mental trip across the pond to the Nordik spa-nature in Chelsea,
• or, better yet actually stay at Spa Eastman for the ultimate in luxury!
  

  Image Courtesy of ©TQ/J.-F. Hamelin Caption: Spa Eastman

Before leaving, because I think you always see things from the air that you can’t see from the ground, I’d also want to take a helicopter tour of Quebec City so that I could see what makes it a UNESCO World Heritage City!

Check out The Ultimate Summer Bucket List For Quebec on Travel Mindset and tell me, what would YOU do?

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All photos courtesy of Travel Mindset, Québec Original and the Photographers credited under images. This post was made possible by Tourisme Québec and Travel Mindset.