A thru-hiker taking a four-day break from the Appalachian Trail has given the rest of us a handy template for a Montreal city break — and it reads like a checklist of the things that make Quebec's biggest city worth a long weekend.
The trip, running Friday 11 to Monday 14 September 2026, starts with a drive up from Vermont and a smooth border crossing (even with a van full of camping gear). First stop on arrival: La Banquise, the 24-hour poutine institution where the writer and friends split two loaded versions — one topped with chopped steak, bacon, onions, fried pickles and garlic Caesar sauce, the other with pulled pork, creamy cabbage salad and sour cream. It's the kind of place where the menu runs to dozens of poutine variations and nobody judges your 11pm choices.
Saturday belongs to Formula One. Between watching qualifying on TV, the group rides the metro — each station has its own distinct design, which makes navigating genuinely interesting — out to Parc Jean-Drapeau to walk the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Outside race weekends the island is a public park with gardens, and when the track opens to pedestrians you can inspect the famous sausage curbs and the 'Wall of Champions' up close. The writer's verdict: the circuit is far tighter in person than it looks on screen.
Food is the through-line of the whole weekend. There are savoury and sweet crepes (ham and cheese, then tiramisu) at breakfast spot Froid Ou Chaud, a farmer's market stocked with dozens of bread varieties, smoked meat sandwiches at Lester's Deli, oysters and chocolate dumplings at Bar Suzanne, and — non-negotiable before leaving — a fresh bagel from St-Viateur, one of the two legendary 24-hour bagel bakeries that anchor Montreal's ongoing bagel rivalry with Fairmount.
The quieter moments are just as persuasive: parks full of pickup soccer and picnics on a warm September evening, an artist's district with cafes that feel lifted from Paris, and a delightfully odd night out — a live band performing the GoldenEye 64 soundtrack backed by visuals on a dozen CRT televisions. Even the dogs get a highlight: the local park drains and refills its pools chemical-free for one day each year so dogs can swim safely before winter.
Who is this for? Anyone planning a food-forward city break within driving distance of the US Northeast, or travellers combining a New England trip with a taste of French Canada. Montreal rewards wandering on foot, and a long weekend is enough time to eat your way through the classics, ride the metro to a Formula One circuit and still leave with a list of places you missed. The writer, for the record, headed back south to finish the final miles of an Appalachian Trail section hike through New Hampshire's White Mountains — but the city clearly made an impression.
