travel dates: July 2024
We stayed at KOAs for both of our stops in Quebec partially because both Montreal and Quebec City have well-reviewed, conveniently located KOAs and partially because we kind of wanted some familiarity and sense of knowing what to expect. And, indeed, both KOAs were very much….KOAs, with all the amenities we usually see and with helpful, bilingual staffs. The Montreal South KOA was an excellent base for exploring the city, and impressed us with amenities that were nicer than expected for a Journey-designated campground. In particular, it had probably the nicest patio sites I’ve ever seen (alas, we did not stay in one) and a really beautifully done (albeit small) pool.
Location/Transportation
The Montreal South KOA is less than 20 miles from downtown Montreal, but it’s in a suburban/rural area that didn’t feel at all congested to us (I was trying to decide whether to call the area rural or suburban before settling on the /, and I just checked the campground’s website and realized that ALSO called it “rural/suburban”…so I guess I nailed it!). I mentioned in my last post that there’s a railroad museum a few minutes away; aside from that, we didn’t find much in the local area that sounded terribly intriguing (although of course it’s possible that some of the smaller towns nearby are absolutely charming and that we should have explored them). Montreal itself was definitely the draw. The drive into Montreal could be as short as half an hour or so, but the one time we drove we hit a ton of traffic that made things take longer and got pretty frustrating, so we mostly relied on Montreal’s excellent public transportation.
Montreal has a brand new (just opened in 2023) light rail system called the REM (with driverless trains! Like you’re in the future!) and we found it really pleasant and easy to use. From the campground, we drove 20 minutes to the Brossard station, where there’s ample surface parking, and took the train into the city. I won’t go too much into pricing details since they’re likely to change, but when we were there there was some free parking and some paid parking. We were able to find free parking when we went in on a weekend, but had to pay on a weekday. We bought 3 day unlimited passes for around $28 that gave us access to the light rail and the subway system (buses, too, if I recall correctly, but we didn’t end up taking any buses).
Everything is super clean and new-feeling, and the ride into the city is lovely, with view of the skyline across the water as you approach.
The subway system is similarly convenient and efficient. We all noted that it felt both faster and smoother than most subways we’ve been on, and some googling revealed that Montreal’s Metro system is unusual in that it uses all rubber tires, which give a smoother ride and accelerate faster. Fun!
As always with campgrounds near cities, I’ve spent a long time talking about transportation logistics. With most campgrounds all there is to say is how long it takes to drive to various nearby attractions, but cities are more complicated.
Campsites
For the most part, this is a pretty standard-issue KOA, with a whole bunch of pull-throughs laid out in a grid. Our site was one of these, and was totally fine:
We did note that some of the site, particularly toward the back of the campground, were a little on the short side (in fact, it looks like, judging from that picture, we needed to park at a bit of an angle with the van).
There are also a few different areas for tent campers, a long row of back-in sites reserved for long-term residents, and a few cabins (all the bare bones “Kamping Kabins” I believe). We were especially impressed with the patio sites, though. I feel like throwing in some patio sites and charging more for them is a big trend at KOAs these days and that a lot of times those sites aren’t really much better (or any bigger) than the regular sites. Not so here!
We didn’t really spend a lot of time hanging out at the campground, so it likely wouldn’t have made sense for us to get one of these, but for a longer stay or a different kind of trip, it would have been really nice.
I just checked prices and availability for a random July weekend in 2026, and it looks like (as of February) there’s still plenty of availability with prices starting at around $90 CAD (and, it should be noted, pretty steep upcharges for more than 2 people in a site). The fancy patio sites (there are less fancy ones, too) are around $150 CAD.
Amenities
We didn’t take full advantage of the amenities since we were mostly off exploring, but we did note that the pool was lovely (sort of a residential style pool, and right on the main road, in front of the office, somewhat oddly), and the bathhouses were very nicely done (though they lacked AC, which was a very noticeable omission when we were there in July):
There’s also a playground, dog park, a small mini golf course, and a community room (which was hopping while we were there).
next up: onward to Quebec City!
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