Quebec City
Quebec City is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec.
Quebec City is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459 and the Quebec City census metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is the twelfth-largest city and the seventh-largest metropolitan area in Canada. It is also the second-largest city in the province, after Montreal. It has a humid continental climate with warm summers coupled with cold and snowy winters.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Quebec City
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Old Quebec
Historic neighborhood in Quebec City, Canada, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site
500 m · Wikipedia - 02
- 03
- 04Centre Vidéotron
Indoor arena, hockey venue and concert venue in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
3.5 km · Wikipedia - 05
- 06
- 07
- 08
- 09
- 10
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
Quebec City's main sight is the Old Town, the upper part of which is surrounded by a stone wall built by both French and British armies. It is now a tourist district with many small boutiques and hundreds of historical and photographic points of interest. Some of the buildings are original structures, while others are built in the same style and architecture as former buildings.
- 01The Citadel
- 02Porte Saint Louis
The oldest of the gates to the city, standing at the western end of the street with the same name.
- 03Porte Saint-Jean
Leading to the west, also this gate to the city has been rebuilt several times, the current version is from 1939-40.
- 04Porte Kent
Leads to the west of the city, and was constructed as the last of the city gates in 1878-79, but is the only one that has retained its original shape.
- 05Porte Prescott
Connects the upper and lower town, and first built in 1797 and named after Robert Prescott who was the general governor of Canada then.
- 06Église Notre-Dame-des-Victoires
Next to Place Royal, this is considered the oldest stone church in North America.
From Wikivoyage: Quebec City, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
Horse-drawn carriages. A one-hour tour of the Old City. Quebec-Lévis ferry. From Basse-Ville (Rue des Traversiers), you can take this car ferry to Lévis and enjoy the great view of Old Quebec and Chateau Frontenac en route. The crossing takes 15 minutes and there are departures up to every 20 minutes. As of 2019, pedestrians pay $3.65, with discounts for children and seniors; cars with driver pay $8.65.
- 01Promenade des Gouverneurs
Scenic walk starting at the top of the Funiculare, continuing along the wall over looking the old city.
- 02Dufferin Terrace
Boardwalk along (east of) the Chateau Frontenac.
- 03Festival
From Wikivoyage: Quebec City, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
All restaurants in the Old City post menus out front in French and English. Look for the table d'hote specials for a full-course fixed price meal. On the cheaper (but very satisfying) side, have a traditional tourtière québecoise (meat pie), or a poutine (fries, gravy, and cheese curds). The café culture is very much a part of Quebec City as in most of Europe.
From Wikivoyage: Quebec City, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Quebec City
- Airports
- Quebec Jean Lesage (YQB), 14 km · Montreal / Pierre Elliott Trudeau (YUL), 246 km
- Stations
- Gare du Palais, 600 m · Port of Quebec, 800 m
- Montréal → Quebec City222 km · quickest by road, 4h 17m · C$31–41
- Ottawa → Quebec City366 km · quickest by air, 5h 49m · C$120–190
- Hamilton → Quebec CityTrain, bus, flight, ferry and road, side by side
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Quebec City
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Quebec City. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get aroundCross with the ferry for $3.65 (an experience in itself) and bike west on the south shore until you reach the Quebec Bridge and cross back on the north shore to connect with the Samuel-de-Champlain promenade and Corridor du Littoral.
- Get aroundDriving in the Old Town can be tricky, since the cobblestone streets were designed for narrow 17th-century horse carts rather than 21st-century SUVs.
- Get aroundBy charter bus Operates a ferry across the St.
- Get aroundThe ferry operates throughout the year between 6 am and 2 am.
- Get aroundThe ferry departs typically once an hour to Quebec City and once an hour from Quebec City, but frequency of departures increases up to every 40 minutes to Quebec City during the weekday morning rush hour and up to every 40 minutes to Lévis during the weekday afternoon rush hour.
From Wikivoyage: Quebec City, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 01359 km
- 02703 km
- 033,214 km
- 043,233 km
- 053,326 km
If you know how people move in Quebec City – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Quebec City
- Léviscity in Chaudière-Appalaches, Quebec, Canada2.4 km
- Château Frontenacgrand hotel in Quebec City300 m
- Stadacona16th-century Iroquoian village near present-day Quebec City; origin of the name "Canada"2.9 km
- Notre-Dame-des-Angesparish municipality near Quebec City, Canada1.9 km
- La Cité-Limoilouborough of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada2.4 km
- Cap Diamantpopulated cape in Quebec City, Canada700 m