In Montréal, gay and lesbian travelers head straight to the Gay Village, lying primarily along rue Ste-Catherine est between rue St-Hubert and rue Papineau, where there are numerous meeting spots, shops, bars, and clubs. Gay Line (tel. 514/866-5090 or 888/505-1010 outside the 514 area code; www.gayline.qc.ca) describes current events and activities in English, daily from 7 to 10pm. Try to visit Montréal during the annual Diver/Cité, the Gay & Lesbian Pride Festival; it takes place in late July to early August, with a parade, concerts, parties, and art shows (tel. 514/285-4011; www.diverscite.org). During the second week of October in Montréal, the Black & Blue Festival is 7 days of gay benefit parties at various locations throughout the city (tel. 514/875-7026; www.bbcm.org). Two additional websites that may prove useful are www.gaywired.com and www.fugues.com. The latter is a leisure guide to gay life in Montréal and other Québec cities; you can find the printed version in bars and hotels in and around the Village. Additional information is available at The Village Tourist Information Centre at 576 rue Ste-Catherine est opposite the Berri-UQAM Métro station (tel. 514/522-1885; www.infovillagegai.com).

The gay community in Québec City is relatively small, centered in the Upper Town just outside the city walls, near Porte Saint-Jean. At the end of August, a 5-day gay festival, Fête Arc-en-Ciel, is held in the city. Call tel. 418/264-3365 for information.

The following travel guides are available at most travel bookstores and gay and lesbian bookstores, or order them from Giovanni's Room bookstore, 1145 Pine St., Philadelphia, PA 19107 (tel. 215/923-2960; www.giovannisroom.com): Out and About (tel. 800/929-2268 or 415/644-8044; www.outandabout.com), which offers guidebooks and a newsletter 10 times a year packed with solid information on the global gay and lesbian scene; Spartacus International Gay Guide and Odysseus, annual English-language guidebooks focused on gay men; the Damron guides, with separate, annual books for gay men and lesbians; and Gay Travel A to Z: The World of Gay & Lesbian Travel Options at Your Fingertips, by Marianne Ferrari (Ferrari Publications; Box 35575, Phoenix, AZ 85069), a gay and lesbian guidebook series.