Québec City is the capital of the province of Québec and the only walled city north of Mexico in North America — a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1985) with the only remaining fortified city walls in North America, a 4.6 km stone wall encircling the Old City (Vieux-Québec) that was built by the French (from 1620), reinforced by the British (after the 1759 Conquest) and is still entirely intact; the old city within the walls has more 17th and 18th-century French architecture than anywhere outside France. The defining moment of Quebec City's history — and of Canadian history — was the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham: British General James Wolfe defeated French General the Marquis de Montcalm in a 15-minute battle on the plateau south of the city walls; both generals died in the battle; the French-speaking population came under British rule; and the cultural and linguistic duality that defines Canada (French and English as co-official languages) was born on this plateau. The city is built on a dramatic Cape Diamond promontory above the St. Lawrence River — a 98 m cliff face overlooking the St. Lawrence — and the château-style Fairmont Le Château Frontenac (1893, the most photographed hotel in the world by number of photographs) crowns the promontory. The Old Lower Town (Basse-Ville) has the Petit-Champlain neighbourhood (the narrowest commercial street in North America, cobblestoned, with the funicular connecting it to the Upper Town) and the Place Royale (the exact site where Samuel de Champlain founded New France in 1608, the oldest commercial district in North America). In winter (December-March), Québec City hosts the Carnaval de Québec (the world's largest winter carnival, 3 million visitors in 3 weeks) and the Ice Hotel (Hôtel de Glace, rebuilt annually with 3,000 tonnes of snow and 500 tonnes of ice).
The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac (1893, designed by Bruce Price in château style, the most photographed hotel in the world — more photographs taken of this building than any other hotel) dominates the Québec City skyline from its 98 m Cape Diamond promontory; the Dufferin Terrace (the 425 m wooden boardwalk promenade in front of the hotel, with views over the St. Lawrence River) and the toboggan run (a 1680 m slide from the terrace to the Petit-Champlain neighbourhood below, January-March) are the quintessential Québec City experiences.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe fortification walls of Québec City (4.6 km, begun 1620, completed by British after 1759, the only intact walled city in North America north of Mexico) can be walked in their entirety in 2 hours — the Citadelle of Québec (a star-shaped fortress built by British from 1820, still an active military garrison and the official residence of Canada's Governor General) has the 10 am Changing of the Guard ceremony (June-Labour Day, the only Commonwealth ceremonial guard change in Canada outside Ottawa).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Plains of Abraham (the plateau south of the city walls, now a 108-hectare national urban park) is where the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham lasted 15 minutes but determined the history of Canada — British General Wolfe scaling the cliff the night before the battle to surprise the French; both generals dying during the battle; and the French-speaking population coming under British rule; the Battlefields Park Interpretation Centre (Joan of Arc Garden) and the Martello Towers (circular stone towers, 1812) tell the story.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideRue Saint-Jean (the main restaurant street of Old Québec) has the best concentration of traditional Québec cuisine — poutine (the Québec invention: French fries topped with cheese curds and beef gravy, invented in rural Québec in the 1950s), tourtière (a double-crust meat pie of pork and spices, eaten at Christmas réveillon), crêpes sucrées with maple syrup and Québec artisan cheeses (Oka, Louis d'Or, Comtomme — French-tradition cheeses from Québec's fromageries).
The Québec Funicular (1879, still operating the original 1879 cliff railway connecting Upper Town to Lower Town, a 64 m descent at 45°) descends to Rue du Petit-Champlain — the narrowest commercial street in North America (3 m wide in places), cobblestoned, with boutique shops, Québec artisan crafts, crêperies and cafés; the street itself is one of the most photographed in Canada; the descent by funicular gives the best perspective of the Cape Diamond cliff face.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePlace Royale (the exact site where Samuel de Champlain established the first permanent French settlement in 1608 — New France, which eventually became the largest French colonial empire in North America, stretching from Louisiana to the Great Lakes) is the oldest commercial district in North America — the Maison Chevalier (1752, the finest surviving French colonial merchant house in North America), the Église Notre-Dame-des-Victoires (1688, the oldest stone church in North America) and the interpretive museum of New France.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Lévis ferry (10-minute crossing of the St. Lawrence to the South Shore, CAD 4 each way, operates year-round including in winter when the river partially freezes and icebreakers clear the crossing) gives the most extraordinary panoramic view of Québec City — the Château Frontenac, the city walls, the Cape Diamond promontory and the Lower Town below, all visible from the middle of the river; the Lévis waterfront has Chez Victor (the finest burger in the Québec region) and the view back across the river.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMontmorency Falls (10 km east of Québec City centre) at 83 m is 30 m higher than Niagara Falls — a single-drop waterfall on the Montmorency River; the suspension bridge across the top of the falls (the spray on the bridge in summer is cool and heavy), the via ferrata cliff climb alongside the falls and the winter ice cone (a 30 m cone of ice formed by the freezing spray at the base, natural landmark of Québec winters) are the highlights; accessible by bus (CAD 4, 30 min from Vieux-Québec).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideÎle d'Orléans (20 km east of Québec City, a 34 km island in the St. Lawrence, declared a cultural heritage site — one of the few rural areas in Québec that preserves the original French colonial agricultural landscape) has 6 municipalities with 17th-18th century farmhouses, cider mills (the island is the apple-growing heart of Québec), strawberry farms, artisan cheese producers, maple sugar cabins and the oldest inhabited area of North America outside the original indigenous territories; Samuel de Champlain named it Île de Bacchus (Island of Bacchus) after the wild grapes he found.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré (35 km east of Québec City) is the most visited pilgrimage site in Canada — 1.5 million pilgrims annually, with miraculous healing attributed since 1658 when three sailors were saved from a shipwreck after praying to Sainte Anne; the current basilica (1923, Romano-Byzantine, 90 m towers) is the fifth church built on this site; the walls are covered with the abandoned crutches and walking frames of those claiming miraculous cures; the adjacent Cyclorama of Jerusalem (a 360° panoramic painting of Jerusalem, 1895) is extraordinary.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe sugar shack season (mid-March to late April in maple syrup production) is the defining Québec culinary experience — a cabane à sucre visit includes the tire sur la neige (hot maple taffy poured on snow and rolled onto a wooden stick before it solidifies, the most elemental Québec food experience), pea soup, baked beans, cretons (pork rillette), blood pudding, ham slices and crêpes with maple syrup; year-round, some sugar shacks run tourist cabane experiences; Québec produces 72% of the world's maple syrup.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Hôtel de Glace (Ice Hotel, January-March only, 15 min from the city) is rebuilt each winter with 3,000 tonnes of snow and 500 tonnes of ice — 44 rooms with ice bed platforms and animal-skin sleeping bags, an ice chapel (real winter weddings held here), the ABSOLUT ice bar with ice glasses, the ice slides and ice sculptures; summer alternative: the Festival de Jazz (July) at Place d'Youville brings North American jazz acts to the outdoor stage in the St-Jean-Baptiste neighbourhood.