Travel Directions

Getting into Quebec City:

The first thing to do when coming to WWTmod2008 is to travel to Québec City. Important for you is to realize that this year the 400th anniversary of the foundation of the city is celebrated which means that there is a large touristic interest in the area this summer. While the main celebrations activities are mainly organized around the end of June/early July, you can already expect filled planes in June… The message: book early!

Basically there are two main approaches to get into Quebec City: You fly into the Jean Lesage airport of Quebec City or you fly into the Montréal-Trudeau airport and take a bus to Quebec City.

1. Fly into Quebec City

The just renovated airport Jean Lesage at Quebec City (YQB) is not a large airport, but it is well connected to a number of hubs that allow you to travel efficiently into Quebec. Visit the airport’s website at to find out which possibilities you have. In short:

• Air Canada is having very frequent connections from its hubs Montreal-Trudeau (YUL) (every hour) and Toronto (YYZ) (every 2 hours). Since it is member of the Star Alliance (including Air China, ANA, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore Airlines, Swiss, United Airlines, US Airways, etc.), good worldwide connections can be offered.
• Continental Airlines is having 4 daily flights into Quebec City from Newark (EWR). It is member of the SKYTEAM alliance which allows you to fly in with Air France, Alitalia, Delta, KLM, Korean Air, Northwest, ….
• Northwest Airlines another member of the SKYTEAM alliance provides another two direct connections to Quebec City through its US hub, Detroit (DTW).
• Air France has apparently made a special deal with Air Canada in view of the 400th anniversary of Quebec City and offers direct sales of Air France tickets to Québec.
• Air Transat, a charter company, is offering direct flights from Paris.

2. Fly into Montréal-Trudeau and take a bus to Quebec City

Montreal is a major North American hub for many airlines and it is connected well with Québec through a direct bus connection offered by Orléans Express. There are 4 direct connections from the airport (leaving at 11am, 2pm, 5pm and 9:30pm) that take 4h15 to get into Quebec City.

You can also take the Aerobus just outside the airport’s arrival hall that takes you to the bus station in the centre of Montréal where you can take the almost hourly Orléans Express to Quebec City.

Getting from Quebec City to the venue:

The whole concept of our Modelling seminar is to make sure that the participants are not tempted to do other things than sit together and enjoy each other’s company… Following that principle we have chosen a venue that is at a certain distance of main distracters such as a city with beautiful historic sites, cultural events, etc. Nature is the only distracter we felt acceptable with the concept.

What comes with such a choice is of course that accessibility through public transport is non-existent and that, given the distance, a taxi drive to the venue (40 minutes) is a bit more expensive (75$ is the regular one way fee).

In order to reduce your travel expenses and also for your convenience, we will organize a shuttle service on Friday May 30th, Saturday May 31st and Wednesday June 4th: we’ll rent a few cars and have modelEAU students involved in the local organization drive back and forth between the venue and Québec airport and the Orléans Express terminal at Québec’s Gare du Palais.

If you want to benefit from this Shuttle service, we want you to send us an e-mail to wwtmod2008shuttle@modelEAU.org with your flight numbers and (expected) arrival and departure times. Prior to the conference, we will send more detailed information regarding your shuttle (and an emergency phone number in case flights are delayed, etc.).

Staying around Quebec City before/after the conference:

It is obvious that conferences are always interesting times to see something more of the region. While the conference venue is already located in an excellent environment for walks, climbing, biking, etc. there are a few interesting activities nearby that you may want to take advantage of.

First of all, there are the 400th anniversary festivities in Quebec City. While Québec is already worth visiting on its own, the 400th anniversary adds quite some special flavor. Being there in June makes that the full tourist blow has not started yet, which will make your visit more enjoyable. Special attention should be drawn to the highly appraised Musée National des Beaux Arts de Québec where 271 pieces from eight of the Musée du Louvre departments will be on display from June 5th onwards. In addition excellent exhibitions of local artists, including Inuit art, are on permanent display.

Further, June is the period during which whale watching at the Saguenay fjord (2 hours drive from the conference venue) is at its peak. The mixing zone between the fjord’s outlet and the brackish Saint-Lawrence water is especially rich in nutrients and is an excellent feeding ground for different whale species, among which the white belugas for which the region is famous.

Please visit the Chateau Mont-Sainte-Anne website to see what else is being offered in the region. For instance, certainly worth a visit as well is the 1847 Irish typhus epidemic memorial at the quarantine island Grosse Île where European immigrants entering Canada were “disinfected”).

As local organizers we are willing to organize group excursions on for instance Saturday May 31st or Wednesday June 4th. Please send an e-mail to wwtmod2008excursion@modelEAU.org indicating your interest and we’ll try to organize things such that we can go together.

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