6 Helpful Things to Know Before you Visit Québec City

If you travel enough, you’re bound to come across some that don’t live up to your expectations. Unfortunately, this was my experience with Québec City. 

Whenever this type of thing happens, I have to think: Is it the place, or is it me? In the case of Québec City (and most places I find underwhelming), I think the problem was me.

I had been looking forward to visiting Québec City for years. I was excited to visit the city people say feels like a slice of Europe in North America. In fact, when I first discussed visiting Québec with my friend, we originally planned to only visit Québec City. At the last minute, we also included Montréal and ended up really enjoying it.

When we finally stepped off the train, we were looking forward to exploring Québec’s most visited city. However, that excitement quickly faded. We ventured out of the station and into the streets where the vibes just started to feel a little off. That underlying feeling of disappointment and uneasiness with us throughout our 2.5-day visit. 

I think if we were to revisit knowing what we know now, we would have a much more fulfilling trip. If you’re thinking about visiting Québec City, I encourage you to go and see it for yourself. 

And maybe keep in mind these things I wish I knew before visiting Québec City.

1 – Allocate At Least Four Full Days to Your Visit

Like a fine wine, sometimes the key to enjoying a city is giving it enough time to breathe. I believe this might be the case for Québec City. We only had about two days in a city that probably takes about four to five days to truly appreciate. 

In many cities I’ve visited, you can get a nice “taste” of them in a couple of days. However, having more time to really explore, relax and take a day trip always helps you appreciate it more. With everything there is to do and see in Québec City and its surrounding areas, I think a lot of its charm is probably discovered with more time. 

If I visit again, I will take more time to explore outside the tourist areas, visit more museums and take day trips. Which brings me to point #2…

2 – Take Day Trips

One of the reasons to spend more time in Québec City is to take day trips to the surrounding areas. If you have more than two days in Québec City, you can take a number of interesting day trips. Examples of some day trips I’d want to take if I returned include:

• Montmorency Falls: This waterfall is the second most-visited tourist attraction in Québec City after the Old City. It is larger than Niagara Falls and only about 2-3 hours by car or bus outside of Québec city. It is supposedly a year-round destination. The falls are supposed to be equally beautiful in both summer, when they’re gushing, and winter, when they’re frozen. You can also explore some hiking and walking trails in the area when visiting the falls.
• Île d’Orléans: Île d’Orléans is an island near Québec City known for its fertile soil and vineyards. It is the main wine producing in the province of Québec, known primarily for its white wines. You can visit this island on a day trip to tour vineyards and taste Québecois wines.
• Wendake: The Hurons-Wendat are First Nations people that welcome tourists to learn about their culture on a day (or overnight) trip to Wendake. This area is about an hour outside of Québec City. It has tours, workshops and other activities that celebrate their culture. If you choose to visit this area, I recommend first visiting the Museum of Civilization. This visit will help you ground yourself in some historical context of the indigenous communities in eastern Canada.

3 – Stay in a More Residential Area of Town

When researching areas to stay in Québec City, the Saint-Jean-Baptiste area near Old Québec was one of the most recommended areas. The reason for this recommendation is to be near the main tourist attractions, restaurants and shops. Ordinarily, I would recommend staying closer to major tourist attractions, especially when staying in the city for only a limited time. However, Québec City proper is pretty small. I believe you can stay a bit farther from the tourist areas while having them still be easily accessible. 

Staying right next to the Old Town meant that the nearby restaurants and bars were largely tourist traps and were very crowded. To be honest, parts of this area felt a bit like Downtown Disney, consisting of kitschy shops and restaurants with mediocre food and overpriced souvenirs. Québec City is the most visited city in the province of Québec, so it gets a lot of tourists. I obviously have no problem with other tourists considering I am one, but I also don’t enjoy walking through streets that bombard you with tourist trap after tourist trap.

Staying near this area probably turned us off of Québec City more than anything else on this list. We had to go down side streets to find places we wanted to eat and drink. On our last day in the city, we walked for about a mile in the opposite direction of the Old City and enjoyed the vibe much more. I believe if we’d stayed in an area of town more like this, we’d have had a better experience while still being able to access the big tourist sites.

4 – Double Check Museum Hours

One thing I was most looking forward to in Québec City was the museum scene. I looked up the hours for the museums on both Google and their websites. Because we were visiting during a holiday weekend, I knew some museums we wanted to see might have altered hours. After Google told me they would be open, I went to their websites to see if I could glean any additional information. The websites looked pretty up-to-date to my eyes, and they shared their hours with no caveats for holidays. For this reason, I assumed the museum hours would be as listed.

Well, what happens when you assume? I was wrong about most museums except for the Museum of Civilization. If I’d called the museums rather than relying on their websites for updated information, I’d have learned they had altered hours. Some of the museums we were planning to visit were:

• Francophone Museum
• Citadel
• Morrin Centre
• Basilica de Notre Dame 

Properly understanding these hours would have helped us prioritize places to visit during our limited time in this city. Also, it might be better to avoid Québec City on holiday weekends.

5 – Avoid Walking Through Rue du Pont

We arrived in Québec City via train from Montréal. Upon arrival in the picturesque train station, we learned our Airbnb was only about a 20-minute walk from the station. Having been reassured (by the internet) that Québec City was very safe, we decided to walk to our accommodations. 

My friend and I were walking towards our Airbnb area when we arrived at Rue du Pont, near the YMCA of Québec City. At first, it seemed like we were walking up to a small greenspace with families. However, things seemed a little bit off. We started to feel a little uncomfortable as we realized some people seemed unwell and were engaging in open drug use. One person in one of the businesses in this area saw us through the window with our bags, obviously not from the area, and was hysterically pointing and laughing at us. 

The vibes were off, so we looked on phone to find a nearby cafe where we could get coffee and regroup as we waited for our Airbnb to be ready.

We sat in a cafe a couple of blocks away where we had breakfast and coffee. When the Airbnb host messaged that our room was ready, we were prepared to go walk to it. However, based on our experience after the train station, we wanted to get a local’s opinion before taking off on foot.

We asked a waitress at the cafe if the route to walk to our accommodations was safe, and she said:

“For the most part, but try to avoid Rue du Pont.”

“Rue du Pont?”

“Yes, usually nothing will really happen to you there, but it can be uncomfortable.”

It dawned on us that that was the street we had just walked down, not 10 minutes after arriving in this city. The only street this waitress recommended we avoid.

This is why people don’t let me navigate.

This street sort of set the tone for our time in the city, and we never quite got over feeling a little on edge during our visit.

6 – Do Not Rely on Ubers

Finally, Québec City does not have a ton of Uber drivers.. We tried to order Ubers exactly twice. Once to get to our Airbnb from the cafe, and once to go to the airport. Both times, it took several minutes for a driver to accept our ride, then another 20-30 minutes to be picked up by a driver. I recommend relying on other methods of transportation as much as possible. There are buses, taxis, rented cars and a lot of walking streets so you can avoid Ubers as much as you can.

The Positives

I’ve talked a lot in this blog about things that went wrong in Québec City. But we had plenty of positive experiences as well. These positives also contribute to me thinking I was the problem during my visit to Québec City, and that it deserves another chance. 

Museum of Civilization

People consider the Museum of Civilization one of the best museums in Québec. Exhibits include a history of the First Nations people in Québec and their hopes for the future, and creative solutions to the issues of climate change. We spent about 90 minutes going through the exhibits in this museum and enjoyed learning more about history, culture and the environment. This museum is in the middle of the Old City and near the Old Port, so you can easily visit it on the way to or from other major attractions in the city.

Château Frontenac

Château Frontenac is considered the “most photographed” hotel in the world, and it’s no wonder why. It is a beautiful historic hotel absolutely fit for royalty. We went to the hotel with the intention of seeing the architecture and decor, but there was more to do inside than we expected. On the bottom floor of the hotel, there is a small art gallery. There is also a crypt in the basement you can visit for a small fee. We walked through the art gallery and then got one (overpriced) drink in the classy hotel bar.

Old City & Port

Old Québec City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most intact fortified old town north of Mexico. The Old City is the place to go in Québec City for the strongest European vibes. The architecture, squares and narrow alleys transport you right across the Atlantic.

Québécois Wine

Québec City is the place to go in the province to go wine tasting. We didn’t have time to visit the vineyards on nearby Île d’Orléans, but still wanted to try some local wine. We found a small restaurant and wine bar serving local Québécois wine, but didn’t know what to order. While there was no option for a wine tasting on the menu, we asked the bartender if it would be possible to create one. They were more than happy to oblige and gave us a tasting with a mix of reds and whites, with plenty of Québécois wine included. This tasting allowed us to try a variety of local and international wines.

Place d’Youville & St. John Gate

Place d’Youville is a public town square bordering Old Québec. In the warmer months, it hosts public events like the city’s Pride parade festivities, and in the winter hosts an ice rink. On the edge of Place d’Youville is St. John’s Gate, which is one of the remaining fortifications of the Old City of Québec. You can climb to the top of the fortifications for an amazing view of the city and distant mountains. This area is a beautiful place to watch the sunset. At the bottom of the fortifications, you can also read a bit about the history of the fortifications.

Getting Away from the Tourist Hotspots

As the province’s most visited city, there are the usual streets filled with restaurants and bars packed with tourists, especially near the Old City and Place d’Youville. However, walking away from this area and/or exploring the smaller streets that are off of the main tourist strip can help you find more local spots. We really enjoyed the small alleyway jazz bar, the dive bar hidden above a narrow flight of stairs, and the small breakfast place 20 minutes from our Airbnb. Venture away from the “best of” lists, take local recommendations and read through local subreddits to find these types of places. You’ll be glad you did.

Practicing my French

Québec City is 97% Francophone, and you’ll definitely hear more French than English being spoken. I got to put my seven years of French classes to practice in Québec City more than Montréal. In Montréal, people would default to English as soon as I started trying to speak French. In Québec City, people more often responded to me in French, gave me French menus and even slightly conversed with me in French. Don’t worry, if you don’t speak any French, just about everyone speaks fluent English and offers English menus as well. But I was delighted to be able to use more French here than I typically can traveling in North America.

Final Thoughts

Québec is only the second province I’ve visited in Canada. The first was British Columbia where I visited Vancouver for a few short trips, and Victoria for about a week. The comparison of Montréal to Québec City reminds me of comparing Vancouver and Victoria. I’ve definitely enjoyed my trips to Montréal, Vancouver and Victoria, and hope to enjoy a future (longer) visit to Québec City.

Did you visit Québec City? Did you love it as much as everyone else seems to, or feel more ambivalent about it like we did? Let me know your thoughts!