Wanderlust Woman heads north for solo travel to Montreal, Canada, eh!

Wanderlust Women on the East Coast are lucky in that another country is a short car ride away and it offers a perfect weekend getaway to Montreal, Canada. I had my doubts as to whether this woman with wanderlust would enjoy the same vacation destination which her Dad loved so much but I was pleasantly surprised by Montreal.

Montreal offers a great weekend escape because you can just hop in your car and head due north from the Big Apple and voila – you’ve arrived at the closest city to a European village as you can get without crossing the Atlantic. It’s a short five or six hour drive until you reach the border where my Canadian saga begins. As we near the border crossing, your truly, global traveler with 3 passports full of immigration stamps, realizes she may be in trouble. You see, post-911, Americans now need a passport to cross the Canadian border, who knew. Afterall, it had been 20 years since I last went there as a grad student. I found a very friendly and accomodating agent at the border who said she’d let me in but didn’t know if they’d let me back home……..oh sure, laugh now. I felt like I was entering Berlin when the Wall was still up!

Once the drama was over it was maybe another 30 – 45 minutes to reach downtown Montreal. I had booked a hotel on Priceline, named my own price, and for $75 I was able to get a great room with a view at the Intercontinental Montreal (It kills me after subsequently reading on Trip Advisor that someone else did the same trip and got a similar room for $65. I should’ve listened to Mr. Shatner in all those commercials)

I found Montreal was a very easy city to navigate and the hotel concierge offered a great walking map. There are numerous restaurants and the food was excellent no matter where I stopped. There is the hugely commercial district, which offers great shopping, and you must visit the underground city.  ( Montreal and its tough winters planned accordingly and the city boasts an underground mall to die for.)

Spring offered the perfect time to enjoy one of the many ferry trips you can board at the waterfront, which also has an IMAX theater and science center. After the boat ride, climb the hill directly in front of you and you will find the most charming European-like village of cafes and shops and street artisans.

Montreal's Notre Dame Basilica

Montreal’s Notre Dame Basilica is absolutely beautiful. It sits across from a pleasant park, where you can grab a horse-drawn carriage ride to saunter around in style. At the time I was there, the Basilica was hosting an amazing light show, “And Then There was Light,” which chronicles the city’s history and is available in several languages for foreign visitors.
(Inside Tip:  Buy your tickets as soon as you arrive because it sells out early)

Horse drawn carriage around Montreal

And those of you who follow Wanderlust Women know that no weekend break for me would be complete without a spa break. I booked an appointment at Rain Spa in the La Place D’Armes Hotel and was not impressed. It was better than the massage in Athens, where I was beaten to a pulp, but not as good as the treatment I always receive at Sorrento’s Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria. Geeze, I wish some editor would pay me to travel the world’s spas and report!

Restaurants:  La Iguana (a mariachi band entertains you as you sip great margaritas) and Egg Spectations (wonderful breakfast and brunch…..even if you don’t want eggs)

Shopping: the underground mall and La Senza for lingerie

Tourist Tips: Avoid the Casino (BORING!!! and not worth the long drive to get there) and don’t confuse the Biodome (with the zoo and rainforest) and the Biosphere (nothing but a birdseye view of the city and park below)