Montreal Family Vacations

North America has its own affordable version of France, just over the New York border in Canada. Walk on the cobblestone streets in Montreal, stopping at the patisseries, creperies and small boutique stores, and it's hard not to feel like you're in Paris. The city is set on an island on the shores of the St. Lawrence Seaway. You can rent bikes and ride along the Lachine Canal, stopping for a French lunch of baguettes, cheeses, pates and fruit at the Marche Atwater, a large farmers' market.

With its many family-friendly sites, Montreal is the perfect cosmopolitan getaway. To get the perfect vantage point of the city, head to Mont Royal, the mountain Montreal was named after, and look at the skyscrapers downtown. At the Botanical Garden, the highlight is the Insectarium, where kids get to see all kinds of creepy crawlies like tarantulas, praying mantis and the large, flying goliath beetle, which -- thankfully -- lives somewhere in Africa. Also at the Botanical Garden is The Courtyard of the Senses, where you can smell and taste many different plants.

Across the street, in the old Montreal Olympic site, is a zoo called the Biodome. Walk in a circular fashion through four different temperate zones to see the animals. On the waters of the St. Lawrence Seaway sits a former warehouse that is now home to the Labyrinthe, a whimsical maze. There's even an amusement park, La Ronde, which is an affiliate of Six Flags.