La Grande Aventure

This itinerary is the starting point for your tour, but it’s not set in stone. If there are days you would like to change, or specific places you’d like to go, we can work with you to create a personalized program that fits the needs of you and your students.

Day 1: Montreal

Bienvenue à Montréal, the second largest French-speaking city in the world. Meet your ACIS Tour Manager and begin your visit with a walking orientation tour of Old Montréal. Your tour will end with dinner amidst the ancient stone walls and hand-hewn wooden beams in the heart of Old Montréal.

Day 2: Montreal

After breakfast, walk to Notre Dame Basilica, for a tour of “the Jewel of Montréal”, and one of the most beautiful churches in the Americas. Next, you will participate in a comparative French cultures class at an accredited French language school. (If unavailable, the group can take part in a historic Chasse au Trésor that will test you on what you have learned thus far about the rich history of New France). This afternoon spend some time exploring and souvenir- and gift-shopping in Montréal's Underground City. After dinner, transfer for an evening of ice skating at a 10,000-square-foot, indoor ice-skating pavilion.

Day 3: Quebec

Breakfast at your hotel, then transfer to the Parc Olympique, the venue of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games for a private tour of the Olympic Stadium and pools. After your ‘Big O’ tour, you will make a two-minute, 556-foot ascent on the Funiculaire to the top of the world's tallest inclined tower. After lunch on your own, depart for Quebec City. Your visit will begin with a walking orientation tour that will introduce you to the historic Château Frontenac, the Terrasse Dufferin, and the beautiful Notre Dame de Québec Cathedral. After dinner, pause for a group photograph on the Promenade des Gouverneurs.

Day 4: Quebec

After breakfast, meet the bus in front of the hotel and transfer to a tour the Morrin Centre, Québec’s first public prison where you will be put in the shoes of a convict who was incarcerated there. After your history lesson, board the bus for a brief city sightseeing tour that will end back in the Quartier Petit Champlain where you can have lunch on your own. Next, we take to the ice for a lesson in curling – Canada’s favorite sport after hockey and an afternoon you won’t forget. After dinner, walk to the Plains of Abraham for a visit to the unique stone fortification that was erected in the mid-nineteenth century to protect Québec City, followed by an interactive lesson about military strategy of the era at the Martello Tower.

Day 5: Quebec

This morning, learn where copper comes from, how it is extracted and fashioned worldwide at the Albert Gilles Boutique et Musée. Next, depart for a visit to the magnificent Basilique Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré. This gothic cathedral is renowned for its enormous proportions and superb stained-glass windows. Then visit Montmorency Falls, where you will walk over a footbridge that passes directly over the 275-foot-high falls. Tonight, enjoy an all-you-can-eat dinner at an authentic French-Canadian cabane à sucre, where you'll spend the evening learning traditional dances and folk songs. The evening will end with a parting taste of maple syrup served on snow.

Day 6: Departure

After breakfast, attend a multi-media presentation at the Musée du Fort about the epic Battle of the Plains of Abraham, fought in Québec City in 1759. After an early lunch, there will be time for last minute shopping before returning home.