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Visitors arriving by air will land at Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, where transportation to central Montréal can be arranged. From here you can also make connecting flights to other Canadian and foreign cities, as well as other regions of Québec Province. Montréal has a second airport called Mirabel used for vacation charters and cargo flights.

Jean Lesage International Airport is located about 15 minutes from Québec City and is serviced by several major US airlines, a Cuban carrier, Air Canada and Air Transat, a charter company with direct flights to Paris.

Gare Centrale is where the Amtrak trains arrive from the US and VIA trains pull in from other points in Canada. This is also where you connect to buses for Québec City and daily services for other Canadian cities.

Cruise ships arriving in the Port of Montréal anchor at the Iberville Terminal, within walking distance of Vieux-Montréal. Arriving in Montréal by cruise ship, gracefully sailing under the Jacques Cartier Bridge and into Vieux-Montréal, is a romantic introduction to the “Paris of the Americas.”

A brand new cruise terminal is welcoming the floating hotels into the Vieux-Port. Traditionally, the cruise season extends from April to October.

To reach Montréal by car use either Hwy 401 from southern Ontario, which becomes Hwy 20 at the Québec border, and cross the Pont Galipeau bridge, or take Hwy 40 from Ottawa which crosses the Pont Ile aux Tourtres. The Cantons de l’Est auto-route (Hwy 10) is fed by US freeways 91 and 93, with other US East Coast travelers using Hwy 15 – both of these lead to Pont Champlain. Québec City visitors can choose either Hwy 20 or Hwy 40, both from Montréal, or Hwy 138 if traveling to Québec City from the east.

One of the most exciting and scenic ways of arriving in either city is aboard the hydrofoil called Les Dauphins du St-Laurent. This craft also stops at Trois-Rivières in both directions (see Trois-Rivières).

Since Montréal is an island city, shuttle boats (navettes) are in use, but only in fair weather, which fluctuates according to the winter icepack. A shuttle service is available from the South Shore community of Longueuil, generally from the end of May until mid-October.

One of the best viewpoints of this city is from the ferry crossing to the town of Lévis on the south shore of the St Lawrence River (see Ferry, Québec City to Lévis).

There are two major bus stations serving Québec City, one under the Gare Centrale station in the old town, and the other in Sainte-Foy.