3 nights in Montreal 2 in Quebec city early August (rental, restaurants)

[joemits]

American traveling with wife and two young kids (14 and 13). Any "must see" or off the beaten path. We do not know French but are learning some basics. Will we have any issues in Quebec city? They both look like beautiful places.

[Acajack]

Language-wise, you won`t have any more problems than you would in a non-English part of western Europe.

[joemits]

thanks, I kind of figured that with the language thing. How about any place that we should not miss while we are there?

[Acajack]

If you tell me what you are interested in, I can tailor my responses to your interests.

Are you more cultural or sporty? Outdoors or indoors?

[joemits]

all but sporting I guess. Heck I'm even a big fan of the Nils (80's punk band form Montreal) and may check out one of Alex Soria's old haunts. But this will be a family vacation. We like architecture, urban parks, cafes, museums. Good bike rental place for the family to check out the sights would be nice too. Thanks

[Acajack]

I will have some more specific answers for you when I get some time, but for the moment you might want to check out these two threads:

https://www.city-data.com/forum/canad...ous-plait.html

https://www.city-data.com/forum/canad...-city-kid.html

[Acajack]

Regarding Montreal, the old city may not be as spectacular as Quebec City's, but it is still very interesting. It is full of restaurants, shops, cafés, cobblestone streets, etc. The centre of it is Place Jacques-Cartier.
Vieux-Montréal : site officiel

There is an interesting architectural museum in Old Montreal (Vieux-Montréal) called Pointe-à-Callière. It is a few blocks away from Place J-C.
Pointe-à-Callière, Musée d'archéologie et d'histoire de Montréal - Home

As a large city, Montreal has many interesting museums. The museum of fine arts (musée des beaux arts) is your typical big city art museum. It is north of the old town and north of the main shopping street (Rue Ste-Catherine). The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (http://www.mmfa.qc.ca/en/index.html - broken link)

There is a pretty decent contemporary art museum on Ste-Catherine heading east but still right in the downtown core
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal :::

It is probably worth it to go up to the top of Mount Royal to see the view of the city that is built all around it:
Accueil

Some famous Montreal churches:
Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal
bienvenue
Oratoire St-Joseph :: Accueil

One street I really like in Montreal is St-Denis, which is just northeast of downtown, in the hipster district of Plateau Mont-Royal:
La Rue St-Denis a Montreal, quartier Le Plateau

The Olympic Park area in the east end of the city also has quite a few sights:
RIO - Must see! - Montréal Tower Observatory
Biodome
Jardin botanique de Montréal - The Montreal Botanical Garden [Jardin botanique de Montréal / Montreal Botanical Garden]

If you are looking to rent bikes, you will probably be interested in Bixi. It works and is highly popular. BIXI - Accueil

[Acajack]

Forgot this (since you said you were interested in architecture):
Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) | An international research centre and museum devoted to architecture

[joemits]

wow thanks! some very good stuff. merci beaucoup

[Acajack]

Thinking about this again and most of the big festivals are already done for the year, but there is this one in Quebec City getting ready to start:

Accueil - Les Fêtes de la Nouvelle France SAQ