Some mornings, Montreal feels small. The same coffee, the same street, the same routine. This Saturday: take Highway 20. Head for Quebec City. Two hours, and the world changes scale.

7AM: DEPARTURE FROM MONTREAL

Wake up early. Not out of discipline: out of instinct. The best days begin before the city awakens. Take the A-20 East, or the A-40 if you prefer to drive along the river earlier. The exit to Quebec City comes quickly when coffee is coursing through your veins.

NOON: COFFEE AND HERITAGE

Arrive at Petit-Champlain. Carrera Café for lunch coffee: a well-pulled espresso, perhaps a charcuterie board. The terrace facing the river sets the tone for the rest of the day. Then, the Upper Town: the ramparts, the museums, Rue Saint-Jean, depending on your mood.

EVENING: THE FINISH LINE

Last coffee before heading back. Old Quebec by night has an inimitable charm: the stone facades catching the golden light of the streetlights, the calm that settles in after the day's tourists have left. Then the drive home, satisfied.