We spent a week cycling around the Eastern Townships of Quebec, enjoying beautiful bike trails, parks, lakes, and delicious food and drink. Here are photos and recommendations from the first day of our Eastern Townships self-guided cycling tour. It is a pleasure cycling from Montreal to Granby, Quebec.
Begin in Montreal
Day 1 involved a few hours at the bike shop in Old Montreal acquiring our rental bikes, getting them fitted, and gearing up with the panniers. By the time we left the city and rolled across the two bridges, it was almost noon.
Quebec Bike Paths
What a pleasure! We rod on bike paths almost the whole way, and they were nice paths. Well-paved, separated from the road, with good views, these bike paths are fun to ride. We are looking forward to a week of almost all separated cycling paths. For people who spend their days cycling in “lanes” marked by painted images of bicycles in Toronto, this was heaven!
Read more about our cycling adventures on a tour in South Africa
A Stop in Chambly
After a few hours cycling from Montreal, we stopped at a wonderful beer bar/beer museum in Chambly, QC, and recommend Bedondaine & Bedons Ronds.
First, it’s a beer museum. The owner collects all sorts of beer paraphernalia: bottles, caps, glasses, clocks, posters, trays, most of it Canadian. He needed to open this place just to get the collectibles from overtaking his house!
Also, it’s a really good brewery. We tried a few beers on day 1, and again when we returned on our way back to Montreal. They have a variety of beers from blondes and reds to dark beers, and everyone we tried was tasty and on point.
Plus, they have a limited food menu which is delicious. We had a terrine plate that was way bigger than we expected and featured a few different kinds of meat, all scrumptious!
If you’re in the area, I recommend! It’s warm and cosy inside, and there’s a street-side patio to relax on a nice day. When we arrived, it was raining pretty hard. We missed the worst of it and got inside before it was torrential. By the time we left, it had lightened considerably, so we timed it well. It was a good time to stop in a really good place.
Chambly to Granby
The ride to Granby from Chambly improved due to the weather but we were a little dirty by the time we arrived at our Airbnb. Still, the route was beautiful and almost all protected bike paths. We love that!
I’ll be posting more from our cycling travels through the beautiful Eastern Townships of Quebec.
If you ever want to bike outside of Montreal, I highly recommend going east and cycling from Montreal to Granby Quebec. You could make a weekend of it and stay in one of the cute towns and explore. We felt safe on the bike paths, and saw many others out enjoying Quebec summer.
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This looks so fun! I was really impressed with some of the bike lanes in Montreal, so it is fab to hear that they continue beyond the city into the beautiful countryside!
I LOVE the sound of the beer museum too. My husband would love that part!
My dad really loves to cycle – he literally cycles everywhere, even between nearby cities – so he would enjoy this route! It looks like a nice way to get some exercise while touring the area, especially if the weather cooperates!
Sounds like it would be perfect for your dad, Krista! The bike lanes are perfect and there’s so much to do in the region.
Would like to do this one day, looks so exciting! Thank you for sharing! ????
WOW! I’m impressed; this is definitely a trip I’d consider, especially on dedicated bike paths. In Quebec I enjoyed cycling part of the P’tit Train du Nord route and parts of the Magdalen Islands. I heard trails around Lac Saint Jean are just as appealing. I’d love the beer/bar museum for both the beer and what sounds like fascinating memorabilia.
Yanno, usually I wouldn’t even be able to imagine biking that route, BUTTT when I visited Montreal, the first thing I noticed were how nice the bike lanes are! So I bet if I lived there, I would definitely be up for biking this route!