Montreal offers the best of French-Canadian life in a gorgeous city children will love. You barely have to leave the United States to experience a new world of culture and history. On this day, you won’t even have to leave the city to experience a tropical rainforest in the totally unique experience that is the Biodome. Explore nature and the history of the planet as a family (with a little shopping thrown in!) on this wonderful day in Montreal.

Built in 1882, the Redpath Museum is the oldest building in Canada built specifically to be a museum. This natural history museum is located on the campus of McGill University. It houses extensive collections from the fields of biology, ethnology, geology, mineralogy, paleontology and zoology. See whales, seals, sea turtles and other marine vertebrates who lived at the same time as dinosaurs in the Back to Sea exhibit. The Dawson Gallery uses fossil specimens to show some of the most remarkable events in the history of life on earth. The Mineral Exhibit features minerals from Quebec, which has produced a greater variety of minerals than any other region in Canada. The Zoological Collections contain over 10,000 vertebrates and 14,000 invertebrate specimens. This museum is a perfect attraction for visitors of all ages.

Montreal Lively and Festive

This upscale street is full of life all year round. Between Roy and Gilford streets, more than 300 shops line Saint-Denis Street. The delightful boutiques display the latest trends while cafes and restaurants fill their terraces with patrons of all ages. Saint-Denis Street serves as a primary thoroughfare to the Latin Quarter, where many of the bars and restaurants are located, to the Plateau Mont-Royal, where you will see some Montreal’s distinct style of architecture. This charming street has an authentic feel that you won’t find anywhere else in Montreal.

Explore four different ecosystems under one roof at the Montreal Biodome. Before it became an indoor nature exhibit, the Biodome was originally constructed for the 1976 Olympic Games as an arena for track cycling. The Tropical Rainforest ecosystem replicates a rainforest in South America and is the largest exhibit at the Biodome, housing thousands of plants and animals. The Laurentian Maple Forest ecosystem is a reproduction of one of the most beautiful forests in Quebec. The climate in this exhibit changes from one season to the next, unlike the Tropical Rainforest exhibit which stays the same temperature year round. View hundreds of fish in the salt waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence ecosystem. The Sub-Polar Regions consist of the Labrador Coast, which replicates the Arctic north of North America, and the Sub-Antarctic Islands, recreating the Antarctic south of South America. The Biodome is a one-of-a-kind facility that the whole family will enjoy.

Interested in booking or planning a vacation to Montreal right now? Check out some of the amazing offers currently available for airfare and hotels at Kayak, Orbitz and Priceline. See more lodging options at Hotels.com and Hilton. Get started on your next trip today!