The best places to visit on a Canada school trip are Quebec City and Montreal for a French-language trip, and Toronto, Niagara Falls and Ottawa for an English-speaking one. Quebec City and Montreal are the ones most U.S. groups choose, because they put students in a French-speaking city without a transatlantic flight.
Landmark builds custom trips to any of them. The itineraries below are simply where most groups start.
Canada is the rare destination that is international without being far. That is the whole case for it, and it comes with one piece of paperwork no domestic trip has.
The short version:
- Old Quebec — the only walled city north of Mexico
- Château Frontenac and the Citadelle — the view and the fortress
- Montmorency Falls — taller than Niagara, and crossable on foot
- Old Montreal — cobblestones and a bilingual working city
- Montreal’s Olympic Park — the stadium, the tower and the Biodôme
- The Winter Carnival — if your dates fall in February
Below is each place, what students get from it, and the documentation question that catches groups out. You can request a quote at no cost before committing to anything.
Canada School Trips at a Glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Where Landmark goes | Anywhere in Canada a group asks for. Quebec City and Montreal are the most requested, and Toronto, Niagara Falls and Ottawa are all regularly built |
| Typical trip length | Two to five days. Quebec City runs 3, 4 and 5 day itineraries in summer and winter |
| Strongest curriculum fit | French language, colonial and North American history, culture and geography |
| Documentation | The one real difference from a domestic trip. Flying requires a passport for everyone |
| Best season | Both. Winter is the point in Quebec City; spring and fall are milder in Montreal |
| The French angle | Students use the language in a city where it is the working language, without a transatlantic flight |
| Published itineraries | Six for Quebec City and three for Montreal. Anything else is built to order |
The Places Worth Building a Trip Around
These are the stops most groups build around, and they are where our published Canada itineraries go. For each one, what students actually see.
| Place | What students see |
|---|---|
| Old Quebec Quebec City | The only walled city north of Mexico, and a historic district recognized by UNESCO. Cobblestone streets, Place Royale and a Lower Town that is genuinely old rather than restored to look it |
| Château Frontenac and the Citadelle Quebec City | The hotel that defines the skyline, and above it a star-shaped fortress still in military use. Together they explain why the city sits where it does |
| Montmorency Falls Just outside Quebec City | Quebec City’s tourism board puts it at 83 meters, about 30 meters higher than Niagara Falls, with a suspension bridge directly over the top and a staircase down the cliff beside it |
| Old Montreal Montreal | Cobblestones, the old port and Notre-Dame Basilica, inside a city that is bilingual in daily practice rather than on signage alone |
| Olympic Park Montreal | The 1976 Olympic Stadium and its inclined tower, with the Biodôme and Botanical Garden on the same site. The science stop on a humanities trip |
| The Winter Carnival Quebec City | If your dates fall in February. Ice sculpture, night parades and a city that leans into winter rather than enduring it |
Our guides to school trips to Quebec City and Montreal school trip activities go deeper on each city, with sample days in our 4 day Quebec City trip and 3 day Montreal itinerary.
The Documentation Question
This is the part that makes a Canada trip different from a domestic one, and it is worth getting right early.
Flying requires a passport. That applies to every traveler, student and adult alike, with no exceptions worth planning around.
Crossing by land or water is where it changes. U.S. Customs and Border Protection states that U.S. and Canadian citizen children under 16, or under 19 if traveling with a school, religious group or other youth group, need only present a birth certificate or other proof of citizenship to re-enter the United States.
Adults do not get that exception. Chaperones need a passport, passport card, Enhanced Driver’s License or a Trusted Traveler card.
Two cautions. Entry into Canada is governed by Canadian rules rather than American ones, and a border officer can always ask for more. A passport removes every one of those questions, which is why many groups simply require one.
Our post on whether you need a passport for a student trip to Quebec covers this in full, and your Travel Consultant will tell you what your particular group needs.
Why French Is the Real Argument for Canada
Canada does something for a French class that no domestic destination can, and it does it without a transatlantic flight.
Quebec City and Montreal are not bilingual as a courtesy. French is the working language, which means a student ordering lunch is using the language rather than performing it.
That matters because French is taught in roughly a third of U.S. public high schools, so a great many classes have students who could use a trip like this and never get one. Our comparison of Italy and France for a student trip sets out the language data.
For groups that want the immersion framed explicitly, see French immersion school trips to Quebec City, and translation apps for a French immersion trip for what helps on the ground.
Visiting Quebec City in Winter, or Not
Most destinations have a season you avoid. Quebec City is the opposite, and it is worth deciding deliberately.
| Season | What you get |
|---|---|
| Deep winter | The Winter Carnival in February, snow in the Old Town, and a city built around the cold. Landmark runs dedicated winter itineraries for this reason |
| Spring and fall | Milder walking weather, lighter crowds and easier packing. Better for a first trip or a younger year group |
| Late spring | Sugar shack season earlier on, and long daylight for walking Old Quebec |
| Either way | Pack for the actual temperature. Our winter packing guide exists because groups underestimate it |
See Winter Carnival student tours and what to pack for a winter school trip to Canada.
Matching Places to What You Teach
| The unit | Where to go |
|---|---|
| French language | Both cities. Quebec City for immersion, Montreal for a bilingual working city |
| Colonial and North American history | Old Quebec, Place Royale and the Citadelle |
| Geography and earth science | Montmorency Falls and the St. Lawrence |
| Science and biology | Montreal’s Biodôme and Botanical Garden at Olympic Park |
| Culture and the arts | Montreal’s museums, markets and festival calendar |
| Indigenous history | The Huron-Wendat traditional site outside Quebec City |
| A mixed year group | Quebec City in winter. It is the trip students talk about afterwards |
Our Quebec City school trips and Montreal school trips are built around these pairings.
Toronto, Niagara Falls and Ottawa
English-speaking groups often look at these first, and all three are trips Landmark builds. The French-language case is what makes Quebec City and Montreal the most requested, not the only option.
| Place | What students get |
|---|---|
| Toronto | Canada’s largest city, with the CN Tower, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Ontario Science Centre and Hockey Hall of Fame. The strongest option for a group that wants a big-city trip without a language barrier |
| Niagara Falls | The geography stop that needs no explaining, and close enough to Toronto that many groups pair the two. Worth noting that Montmorency Falls, outside Quebec City, is the taller of the two |
| Ottawa | The national capital, and the civics trip: Parliament Hill, the Canadian Museum of History across the river, and the national galleries. The natural counterpart to a Washington, D.C. trip |
Our 3 day Toronto school trip itinerary shows how one of them comes together. For anywhere else in Canada, tell your Travel Consultant what you have in mind and it gets built around your group.
What a Landmark Trip Includes
A package typically covers a private group tour for your group only, a custom itinerary built around your curriculum, transportation, student-appropriate hotel accommodations, admission to every scheduled site, the meals named in the itinerary, a professional Tour Director traveling with your group, and restaurant and driver gratuities.
On average, Landmark’s fully inclusive trips range from $300 to $400+ per traveler per day, or about $1,200 to $3,500+ total for an all inclusive package. Airfare is an additional variable cost.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Per traveler, per day | $300 to $400+, fully inclusive |
| All inclusive package | About $1,200 to $3,500+ in total |
| Transportation and hotel | Included, with student-appropriate accommodations |
| Admissions and guided visits | Included for every scheduled site, booked by Landmark |
| Meals named in the itinerary | Included, with restaurant and driver gratuities covered |
| Tour Director | Included, traveling with your group start to finish |
| Airfare | Quoted separately. Many Northeast groups travel by motorcoach instead |
| Travel protection | Optional coverage, bought separately rather than included |
| Passports and documentation | Not included. Families arrange their own |
See what a school trip package includes.
Who Is Landmark Educational Tours?
Landmark Educational Tours is a 100% employee-owned domestic and international educational travel company headquartered at 1 Central Street, Suite 205, Middleton, Massachusetts, reachable at (888) 886-2781.
Landmark plans and operates fully managed, custom class trips for public districts alongside private, religious, prep and independent schools. Every trip is a private group tour, and each group travels with a Landmark Tour Director who is an employee of the company.
Landmark is a member of the Student & Youth Travel Association (#13443), along with ABA Member #84360, IATA Code 22576046, BBB Business ID 544197, California Seller of Travel 2168995-50, and ETOA membership. More on the about Landmark page.
Planning a Canada Trip
Four things make a first conversation productive: a rough headcount, the year group, the subject the trip supports, and whether you want winter or not.
Raise documentation on that first call. It is the one part of a Canada trip that depends on families rather than on us, and it is far easier handled early than late.
A Landmark Travel Consultant will build the itinerary around what your class is studying, free, with nothing held until you say so. If you are still choosing, the best international school trip destinations sets Canada against the wider field.
