Due to the COVID spike in Florida, I’m canceling my vacation planned for there next week. I live in NJ and can pretty easily drive to Montreal or Quebec City, which I understand are both wonderful cities.
Are restaurants, bars, museums, and other tourist attractions open these days, or is everything on lockdown?
Canada recently opened its border to vaccinated Americans. There are formalities: you have to upload documentation to the “ArriveCan” app/website. You have to have been fully vaccinated with a Canadian-approved vaccine for 14 days, and you have to have a negative test within three days (I think).
Details: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/arrivecan.html
Once you get here: things are pretty open at the moment. You can go to restaurants and eat inside, for example (wear your mask except when at table). Out in the open, you may not have to wear a mask.
Tourisme Québec: Summertime in Québec | Seasons | Bonjour Québec
Case counts are ticking upward again, so I expect that to change.
Quebec is preparing to implement ‘vaccine passports’ as of September 1st: Coronavirus vaccine passports coming to Quebec on Sept. 1 to limit fourth wave damage | CTV News
Thanks! Our plan is go leave this Friday and I’m getting tested today and will install that app today as well. Hopefully things don’t close down in the next 1.5 weeks!
Interesting you should ask today. My daughter and family just arrived for a visit about 3 hours ago. She and their son are Canadian citizens but not her husband. They had been fully vaccinated a couple months ago and were tested a day or so ago. They have filled in the ArriveCan forms and went through without difficulty. They were not asked to get new tests, although the possibility was there. They had vaccination passports issued by NY State.
For fully vaccinated people, restaurants and other venues are open on a limited capacity. They are even planning a limited jazz festival in September. So things are reasonably open.
On the other hand, I know a married couple who is experiencing problems going to Canada. He has dual Canadian-American citizenship and has been able to go to Canada to visit his family. She is an American citizen and has been having difficulties getting permission to travel to Canada with him. (Both are fully vaccinated.)
Admittedly this is Ontario rather than Quebec. But I wouldn’t assume that there will be no difficulties.
…and it looks like we are entering a fourth wave.
Can confirm all of the above. Just returned from a trip to see family/friends in Montreal. The only irritating wrinkle was having to be tested at the airport on arrival in Montreal, even though I had been tested 48 hours prior. Additionally, making sure I scheduled an appointment to be tested at the airport before my return flight to the US. The test on arrival was a PCR test and was free of charge. The departure test was a quick result (30 min wait or so) antigen test and was $149CDN.
$149?!! Yike!
It’s possible to find a test site in the city that will be a little cheaper but results take longer and it’s harder to find an appointment. Biron test facilities at the airport are worth the (in)convenience.
Canada only opened to non-essential travel on August 9th. Were they trying to get into the country prior to that?
This was based on a conversation I had with them last Thursday, which would have been August 5. I was not aware there had been any significant changes this week.
I have my negative COVID result on my phone and printed, and I’m almost done filling out the ArriveCan app. The annoying part is, they want to know where I would quarantine if they don’t accept my vaccine and test results, and the real answer is that I would just turn back and go someplace in the US for vacation (we’re driving, so would probably find a place in Upstate NY or something), but that’s not an option.
If your driving, then turning around is always an option. It gets tricky when you arrive by air. That said, I don’t think you need to worry about having your vaccination and test results rejected unless there is something obviously amiss, like you’ve tested positive and are still intent on entry to Canada.
Yeah, I don’t think I’ll get turned away, but I can’t even fill out the ArriveCan thing unless I claim to have a place to stay for 14 days, which I don’t really. Maybe I’ll just pick a hotel in Montreal.
I’m crossing my fingers that things remain open until one week from Monday!
Hotel Ruby Foo’s on Decarie and Jean Talon. It’s an institution. 
I’ll take it under advisement.
I just asked my daughter who arrived yesterday and she answered the 14 day question with my address even though they are leaving on Sunday.
The border, everywhere in Canada, is now open to American visitors, since Aug. 9. And they had no wait at the LaColle crossing. They could have been required to take a new test on arrival, but were not.
My son who visited by air for 17 days from mid-July did have to take a test on arrival (free) and on leaving (he paid $135 at a place just north of Metropolitain on Decarie, but no waiting).
Maybe I’ll use your address, too. “Hari Seldon, 3 Foundation Road, QC.”