WINTER IN EASTERN CANADA

Ottawa is a winter wonderland at Christmas time. The lakes become skating rinks and the special Christmas markets have a lovely, rosy, festive feel. Ottawa is also a city that offers you a mixture of cultures. Eat out in the French restaurants, bistros and cafés that line the buzzing Byward Market area. Pop into an English-style pub, or spend time exploring galleries and museums – like the impressive National Gallery and the Museum of Civilisation – or stroll along the Rideau Canal, a World Heritage listed waterway. Your hotel – the Westin Ottawa – stands beside the canal, so it is the ideal base for discovering this great city.

Stay: Three nights in a deluxe room in Ottawa’s Westin hotel.

Take a train to Quebec City. You’ll travel in business class through outstanding scenery, on a route that takes you via the beautiful city of Montreal.
Quebec is a fascinating city and staying at the Auberge Saint-Antoine – set in the heart of the Old Port – gives you the chance to explore it to the full. You’ll discover a unique walled citadel so historic (Quebec City is Canada’s second oldest settlement) it is now an acclaimed UNECSO World Heritage Site. You can also visit an extravagant French-style chateau and the wonderful Plains of Abraham. Quebec Parliament and the Old Port are also major photographic opportunities, especially at Christmas time when they’re likely to be covered in snow giving them a fairytale-like appearance.

Stay: Three nights in a Luxe King River room in the Auberge Saint-Antoine.

Your next train ride – in business class, of course – takes you back to the awe-inspiring city of Montreal.
There is plenty to do and see in Montreal and the festive season gives this energetic city an extra glow. Montreal’s old quarter features high gabled buildings boasting colourfully decorated skylight windows. The Notre-Dame Basilica dominates the skyline with its grand dome, especially picturesque with a cresting of snow. The downtown quarter around St-Catharine Street offers over 3000 shops full of Christmas fayre and – when you’re shopped out – you’ll find a huge list of museums to visit; the famous McCord Museum of Canadian History is not to be missed.

Stay: Three nights in a deluxe room in the Ritz Carlton.

Take your international flight from Montreal back home.